A story lives at the heart of every ceremony.
Our life stories are the bright, colourful threads a Celebrant skilfully weaves into the fabric of a ceremony.
Abegael is so inspired by that image that she has named her celebrancy practice Life Threads Ceremonies. It reflects the words of The Way It Is, a poem by William Stafford:
There’s a thread you follow; it goes among things that change, but it doesnt change. ..while you hold it, you can’t get lost…
For decades, Abegael has been a traditional long-form story teller, retelling sections of big world myths like the Finnish Kalevala, the Welsh Mabinogion, Parzival; Celtic, Greek and Norse mythology; Russian and British fairy tales, and folktales from everywhere.
The imagination of a traditional storyteller is continually being honed to hear the themes in a narrative.
That is why, having shaped and retold countless tales of joy and sorrow, life and death, love and fear, Abegael is so skilled in hearing, writing and telling your story in ceremony.
Whether a love story, a life story, the story of a journey or the tale of a beloved home, she weaves a strong and bright ceremonial garment of words and images to move you to laughter and tears.
Far from her Nova Scotian roots, Abegael is a professional BC storyteller known for her repertoire spanning the quotidian to the mythopoetic.
She has told Celtic myths in classrooms, folktales at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue, funny stories at Word-on-the-Street, and poetry from the Kalevala at the Finnish Hall. Don’t forget those tricksters! Anansi, Coyote, Loki and Raven-who-sets-things-right are always on the edge, peering in, inspiring a tale.
- She has hosted the popular North Shore Storytelling Cric-Craic! monthly storytelling community events for 25 years in partnership with the West Vancouver Community Arts Council at the Silk Purse Gallery on the waterfront.
- She is the BC rep for Storytellers of Canada www.storytellers-conteurs.ca and mentors emerging tellers.
- She has been artistic co-director for Vancouver International Storytelling Festivals and World Storytelling Day concerts, and has received recognitions for her work in mentoring community storytelling initiatives.
- Committed to education through imagination, Abegael was a Waldorf educator for decades, telling stories everyday to classes at all grade levels, from nature stories to fairy tales, myths to biographies.
- Later, she created story-based curricula with the national program Learning Through the Arts, working with the North Vancouver School District.
- Abegael has presented professional development workshops in storytelling for the Imaginative Education Research Group at Simon Fraser University, for Professional Development days in public school districts, with Waldorf and Montessori teaching faculties and for the West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy.
Mostly, she enjoys helping set up story circle traditions in communities.
The mother of a creative Downs’ Syndrome young man, Abegael is inspired by his joy of language and adventure; both she and her son Aiden tell stories to special communities.
Abegael is passionate about storytelling because “There is no power greater than our collective imagination, and storytelling continually renews it.”
www.mythopoetica.ca . (This site has lapsed, and it is relaunching soon.)