by Tanya Steele
A mysterious Celtic myth storytelling and creative writing session will be held on Saturday 25 March at the Healesville Library from 10.30am to 12pm.
Melanie Blacksmith will host the session which involves myth, storytelling and creative writing.
The storytelling session will run for one and half hours, with attendees invited to share space in a circle.
“It’s an invitation to remember ancient Celtic ways and we begin by sitting in a sharing circle,” she said.
Ms Blacksmiths is a self described “hill walker, wild woman and listener” has a big interest in traditional storytelling and is excited to host the event.
“It’s mysterious and a little bit fun, it also takes a lot of courage,” Ms Blacksmith said.
Some traditional myths will be told live, with the chance for participants to identify how the tales translate to modern day listeners.
Storytelling has existed in many forms for a long time and Ms Blacksmith said it’s a traditional bardic practice that is really common in history.
“People sit around a fire and tell the story, there’s some of those stories that are recorded that are around 9000 years old,” she said.
“We then creatively write through the imagination of a character from that story in our writing session.”
Prior to the development of the sessions, Ms Blacksmith journeyed to Orkney in Scotland to the Fjord of Tongue (Tongue of Thor) by the township of Thurso (Thor) in 2019.
She said the journey was very important to her and hopes the material will resonate with attendees.
“I’m really facilitating an opportunity to hear a story then take it away to other people,” she said.
Ms Blacksmith has travelled widely, but has settled into Healesville in the last few years with her daughters.
She held a workshop last year and had around 25 attendees and said it was very powerful to see people connecting over the stories.
Another session will be held at the Ringwood Library on May 18.
