Welcome again to my story time!
Take a seat anywhere. I should have some cushions somewhere, but there are some chairs near me as well.
Today's full moon is a doozy, although most full moons are...
This Story 'round my intention will be to delve into more aspects of a Trickster storyteller... the first is a little introduction to HOW one story tells, and the actually Story aspect will have a more transformative focus.

Last storytime I admit fully to re-teaching myself a lesson in real time - in a way, I achieved one of my goals by showing you how a Trickster - and any one of yourselves - can untangle a knot.
Fortunately, it was definitely a lesson I was looking to understand better, otherwise that untangling could have been one that left me.. well in knots! I kid, but in reality, it is true that the best lessons are those learned through serendipity, but sometimes you need to watch out for what ELSE gets untangle... OR tangled - when such a big knot is released. 
For me, it leaves me with almost too much to share this time around.. or maybe that is just on accounts of the full moon?
Regardless, that bit of untangling last time we met allowed me to create the best imagery of how one can think about a story as a living thing.

A story is bound up with it's intentions and there in lies it's seed -- from which it grows. A story is a tree. It grows with each retelling by it's creator, from it's origin. That tree can be passed on in a form of a seed to other story teller's and new trees will grow. They will change overtime, like any wild or cultivated life, but that grain of truth from the original still resides within any future trees. As a Trickster storyteller, I have a forest of stories. I collect the seeds and grow them in my memory for my retellings and rememberings - When I first spoke last week, my intention was to caution those seeking stories from sources that may not be collecting seeds - but simply the parts of the stories -- cutting the stories down into it's resources and commodities with little understanding or awareness of the seed of the original tale. Now, I am not saying that building a story like you do a house, or even like a grafted fruit tree, is a "Wrong" way to tell a story. But it is a disingenuous way to save stories and remember lessons. Sometimes, though, it keeps just enough of the heart and seed of the story that there is an accidental re-emergence of the story tree and lesson - Akin to the Monks in the 10th and 11th century Europe or the writers and archeologists of the early 20th century, recording dying languages and stories - they did their best. To be clear, we are speaking of history and rooted oral and written traditions that lead back in time before hierarchy and patriarchy took root. I will leave touching on current stories for another time.

For me, as a Trickster and a storyteller, making this distinction and solidifying my visualization of my memory and stories as trees gives me a type of anchor from which to not only tell my stories, but to identify tangles in the world as a whole. I am afraid it may be a little bit abstract for now, so let us shift into both a more easily grasped, yet more changeable aspect of being a Trickster!

When speaking on Healthy Trickster Storyteller Traditions, I introduced the Forms taken as the Tangle and the Untangler. That is the the most straightforward way to label the main roles in any story - but the costumes that the Trickster wears are important as well - and Tricksters have magic trick (HAH) for getting their outfit just right.

SHAPESHIFTERS
A full moon seems a perfect time to touch on one of the foundational aspects of Tricksters. Now, it is true that not ALL tricksters are shown to have the ability to shapeshift physical forms, all Tricksters shapeshift some aspect of themselves in their roles of their stories - and in how their stories shift shape and form overtime as well.

HARE'S LORE
There was a time long ago that Hare was held in awe by the people of the isles.  Much further into the past than the generations can remember, hare was viewed as a rightly liminal beast - a creature of contradictions and wonder. One might not think of a little creature as such today, but those ancestors saw true - Hare is both slight yet powerful, prey yet vicious in it's attempts to keep it's life, of the surface and of the depths of the earth, and the Hare's of these lands were dark coated in the summer and white in the winter - which only believing in a little bit of magic made it make sense. And there were their obvious connections to the underhill people, the fairy or fae folk as they would come to be known. One did not have to believe in the old spirits for them to exist - as they exist either way.  And there were always customs and manners that were held to as to keep the peace - offerings and honoring and such. When Milk came to islands, there seemed a certain fascination by the underhill folk, so in addition to the gathered honey, milk was now also left for the spirits - both those that dwelled within and without the home.  As Hare was a form of the Fae, she was also offered milk and honey (and other forms of honoring). 
As time turned, those who were deemed descendant of the fairy - those who were their children from liaisons with the men and woman of the island - those that were linked to land and afforded some of the same courtesies given to the original land's inhabitants as healers, and sages, and guides.... began to be treated more and more as outsiders. There were stories of these wise woman and witches turning into Hares, said so they could profit and beguile, to steal the milk and honey that their ancestors were freely given. And we know what eventually happened to these othered woman. The healers, and land stewards, and guides and liminal beings were removed from their lands in permanent ways, their stories twisted and tangled for the benefit of "men" and in the name of a "higher" power.   
Not only did their shape change, but their role's story changed overtime.


Not what you were expecting? To be honest, I have an unending supply of wonderfully zany and beautiful shapeshifter stories - my favorites will be coming soon, I promise. But in doing some digging into Hare (and for some reason wanting to lean into a trinity of sorts a la a painting I am in the process of creating), I came across my notes on Witches being thought to be able to transform into Hares in the era of Witch Burnings and before. Reading in between the lines -that they seemingly transformed into Hares to steal.. Milk? - it occurred to me that these "witches" were being slowly associated with the Underhill Fae, sovereign beings of the Isles.. So Hares, Fairy, and Witches all seemed to have a common thread and interestingly related tangle.  
After some detangling it became quite apparent that the magic and roots of any land are likely the origin of the prevalent wise woman, healers, and witches of today. My story of shape-shifting became a tale of time, form, and sentiment shifting, with some obvious links to the my attempt to discuss the seed, root and intention of stories as like a tree.


Todays tales and musing may leave you and me with more tangles to sit with than I intended, but I think there is lies another lesson - sometimes untangling needs time to both find and sit with the tangles. 
I wish you safety and care on this Full moon.
Faire Faren my Loves!