Tales from the Tour

I’m currently on tour on the East Coast, and so far it has been a wonderful experience! The first workshop on Stories for the Future with Bright Flame was wonderful, with an amazing group of around sixty people in the Community Room at WestBeth, an artists’ co-op in the West Village.  We worked with stories on three levels:  our personal stories, with ourselves as protagonists, exploring our identities, our core questions and the beliefs that either help us move forward or hold us back.  We had people draw a simple mask on a paper plate—I’ve done this before and I’m always amazed at what comes out.  For myself, this time, it was an Iberian eye Goddess but somehow in my rendition she looked a lot more like a cartoon space alien.  I will have to ponder the meaning of this!

We also worked with our ancestral stories, with the strengths we draw from our heritage, and also what aspects we would like to release.  Then we ended with a ritual in which we stepped through a portal, out of time, to envision a future we wanted to live in, and plant its seeds in that timeless place.  Lots of singing, drumming, chanting and dancing—and raising of power to help us realize that vision!

On the beautifully decorated stage in Syracuse. Photo by Marie Summerwood.

Then on Sunday I did a talk and reading at Evolver’s new Alchemists’ Kitchen herbal shop and elixir bar in the Lower East Side.  I challenged myself to actually read some of the erotic parts of the book out loud.  To my surprise, I enjoyed it—and hopefully the audience did too!

It’s always a challenge to decide what parts of the book to read, how to convey the essence of it without giving away too much of the plot.  There’s a lot of action in the book—but it’s much harder to find those sections and read them without spoiling it for future readers.  So I tend to read more poetic parts  that are easier to take out of context.  Some times I want to tell people, “Hey, it really is exciting!  Trust me on that.”

And today we had time for a long stroll beside the river with Bright Flame and my old friend the ecofeminist writer and theorist Ynestra King.  And matzoh ball soup and perogi at a Unkrainian restaurant after the reading, with other old friends.  A really nice way to start my travels.

I am now on to Philadelphia, where I have several workshops which sold out quickly and a couple of University talks which are open to the public. Next up on my tour will be Oregon and then Austin in March. You can see the full calendar of all my tour stops here.