The reputation that fairytales have received over the past years precedes itself, which is precisely what made Michelle fall in love with it. She loved the rich imaginary of it all and as she started to also tell more and more of these fairytales, she found her voice changing and herself moving into this interior landscape that was rich in imagery and in human experience. So many of these stories start with wounds, descents, and struggles, like reflective mirrors where she could see her experience in these stories. As she delved deeper into fairytale, the morse she realized that all around the world, people have told these kinds of stories and that there are similar patterns across countries and continents. These stories are all coming out of a human experience; we are all part of one human experience and these stories precisely reflect our shared human experiences. Michelle Tocher has been writing and telling warm, poignant, and humane stories often from a woman’s perspective. She is the author of the celebrated book “How to Ride a Dragon: Women With Breast Cancer Tell Their Stories”. She has recently published the lauded “The Tower Princess” as well as her new play “The Departure Train”. She has had a long career in communications and storytelling as President of Creative Premise LTD., a 10-year Toronto-based health communications company. She produced books and films for many organizations and community leaders, including The Canadian Pediatric Society, the Canadian Career Development Foundation, and the Women Scientists of Waterloo. What we discuss: 01:09 – Introducing Michelle 03:15 – Young Michelle and Myths and Stories 05:22 – The Bardic Tradition 06:58 – Printing of Stories 08:54 – Humans Connecting to Stories 12:28 – “The Wheel of Time” 17:25 – Divine Intelligence and Our Relationship to the World 25:12 – Changing the Inside and Outside World Through Storytelling 30:29 – Gnomes in Fantasy  34:56 – What is the Story We Are Living? 37:47 – Healing Trauma and Imprints of Belief Systems 44:31 – The Clue Within the Suffering 50:14 – Innocence and Imaginative Exploration 52:04 – Michelle Relating to Being Human, Leaving the Body, and what Happens Next? 55:20 – Michelle in Behalf of the Divine Mother 56:26 – Where to Find Michelle   You can find Michelle and her wonderful stories at michelletocher.com, wonderlit.com, and her play thedeparturetrain.com.   To amplify your health with GoddessWell products, go to Goddesswell.co to and use the code SISTERHOOD at checkout to buy one and get one free!   To join a virtual circle with us, go to http://www.globalsisterhood.org/virtual-circles To follow us on Instagram, @theglobalsisterhood @Laurenelizabethwalsh @shainaconners