Mythologies and Storytelling: Searching For Our Stories

By Kristy McCaffrey

The late Joseph Campbell, an American professor and mythologist, describes mythology as first and foremost a way to reconcile the nature of life, which is, at its most basic, cruel, harsh and unrelenting. Humans created mythologies to rise above this, to find gratitude and sweetness in how we all came to exist, from the primordial soup, filled with an endless cycle of life and death and life. Storytelling extends this desire, offering a way to help us find ourselves, to understand how to live. We all have a narrative, and a good story can help us find it by triggering a spark of enlightenment within ourselves.

At their core, stories are medicine, and the best ones, the most complete ones, awaken the soul of the listener. Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, a Jungian psychologist, states, “Stories are embedded with instructions which guide us about the complexities of life.” We’re all searching for our stories. Perhaps artists are closer to the process. But their work, the more important part, is to provide a light to guide the way for others.

There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories. ~ Author Ursula K. LeGuin

We have an archetypal need to be spoken to through stories because they bring us into contact with our inner being. ~ Carolyn Myss, medical intuitive and author

And for my writer friends:

“Modern storytellers are the descendants of an immense and ancient community of holy people, troubadours, bards, griots, cantadoras, cantors, traveling poets, bums, hags, and crazy people.”

            ~Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With The Wolves

I want to extend a warm thank you to all the readers of the Cowboy Kisses Blog. We appreciate your interest in our Old West research topics as well as our books. Here’s to a great 2019 and all the new stories we authors are cooking up.

Since it’s December and the season of giving, I want to send one lucky commenter an autographed print copy of INTO THE LAND OF SHADOWS, a standalone historical western romance with humor and paranormal elements. It’s also a little on the steamy side. If you would like to be entered, please include your email address in the comments. Unfortunately, the print copy is for U.S. addresses only. If you’re international, the prize will be digital. Winner chosen on December 6, 2018.

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