Free Articles by Jenni Cargill
Articles and stories on this site are copyrighted however they may be freely reproduced as long as the source is acknowledged and an active link made back to this site www.jennicargill.com.au
Frightful Witches and Kissable
Toads
J.Cargill © 2003
Printed in 2004 in Orana Librarian Mag, the National
Storytelling mag, Swag of Yarns and ByronChild
magazine.
As a professional storyteller, I have to confess my prejudices. I am totally
and passionately in love with the genre of folktales. Yes, there are folktales
that are boring or overly violent or model terrible values. These
are the toad stories and yes, sometimes one has to kiss a few toads before
finding the princes and princesses of story. (read
more ...)
Storytelling from the Heart: Casting
the Golden Net
J. Cargill ©
Printed Swag of Yarns
After ten years of working professionally as a storyteller, I began teaching
through the thriving local adult education system. We worked on vocal
variation, sound effects, character voices, use of props and a little mime.
But we also worked a lot on the inner critic, by doing three things: a
creative visualization, practicing something called "Casting the Golden
Net"
as well as doing an exercise designed to cultivate a witness consciousness.
This can be used to counteract free-floating performance anxieties. The
latter two are exercises I learnt while studying full-time at The Drama
Action Centre in Sydney. (read
more ...)
Interview with Master Storyteller
Brian Hungerford
Printed Swag of Yarns
For those of you who don't know Brian Hungerford, he has been described a
national living treasure. He is without doubt a master storyteller with a
very devoted following. He has told stories in 19 different countries for
UNESCO, FAO, the BBC and the British Council. He is also a writer and playwright.
The Exultant Myth Cycle
of the Sumerian Goddess Inanna
Inanna is the older sister of the Goddess Ishtar. Her Descent to the Underworld
is thought to be the mythic source for the famous “Dance of the Seven
Veils.” The songs and hymns to Inanna were written down in about 2000BC.
(About the same time that the sun worshippers in Ireland were creating the
mother mounds at Newgrange where the triple spiral is inscribed.) More hymns
and prayers, poems and stories of Inanna have been discovered than of any
other Sumerian deity. Like many fertility Goddesses, Inanna was constantly
in cycle like the moon, the seasons and nature. She began the year as a young
woman, matured into ripe woman, married, then grew into the crone or wise
woman, to be reborn a young woman with the New Year.