Hearths & Highlands: Habitats of Scottish Stories, with Dougie Mackay

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Myth as Medicine course.

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You’re in for a treat. Today I get into all the good things with traditional Scottish storyteller Dougie Mackay. He’s a skilled storyteller deeply rooted in the rich heritage of Scottish folklore, who works with nature connection and inter-cultural exchange.

Here’s some of what we get into:

The Scottish Cèilidh, pronounced KAY-lee, serves as a vibrant ecosystem where storytellers both get their start and sometimes find their life’s calling. Dougie shares the distinction between hearthside storytelling, a cozy exchange among friends, and performance storytelling, where professionals take the stage to enrapture audiences. He also talks about where these two overlap.

Did you think we wouldn’t have a story? Dougie tells an old tale of a man's quest to retrieve his cow from the land of faeries. Through this seemingly simple story, we enter a narrative ecosystem, an invitation to ponder connections between nature, culture, ethics, and the mystical.

Dougie describes his recent visit to Jordan, and how exchanging stories, food and song with the people there countered the cliched propaganda that media often uses to describe the Middle East.

Stories shape our perspective. Where stories with good guys and bad guys foster binary thinking, many traditional tales offer a nuanced exploration of life.

All this and more…

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