In this workshop, we explore the classic fairy tale of The Handless Maiden, also known as The Girl Without Hands, on a personal and professional level.
- We will look at the background to the story
- We step into the story through roleplay or visualization
- We see how the story resonates with the group.
- We explore the characters and the symbolic language to see what they may reveal
- We look at creative ways of working with the story with our clients
This workshop is experiential, and participants may be invited to volunteer for some of the activities.
We may be doing expressive drawing and creative writing, so please have some paper and coloured pencils or crayons available.
Stories have been with us since the very beginning of humanity when we gathered around the fire to listen to myths of creation to connect us with our inner selves, our clan and the universe. They have accompanied us through dark times, of war and plague and they are here to accompany us now, with their medicine, in this time of uncertainty and climate crisis.
Fairy tales have been transmitted orally through many generations and they speak of essential human experience which touches us on a subconscious level. The fairy-tale journey into unexplored worlds is paralleled by an inner journey into unexplored regions of the self. As we travel in the shoes of the characters, we observe how they resolve conflicts and overcome obstacles in their paths, and this can help us explore our issues.
Course Content
Presenter
Jennifer Ramsay is a professional storyteller. She has told stories in more than 2,000 events and trained hundreds of people in the ancestral art of storytelling. She works with story medicine in private practice and as a group facilitator in unique workshops, weaving stories into Nature Based Art Therapy, Gestalt therapy, Symbolic Psychodrama and Embodiment work.
She has a degree in Biological Sciences and is part of the global network of Earth Storytellers. The rhythms of nature are very present as she incorporates the Celtic wheel of the year and the lunar cycles into her work.
She is the founder of Story Arte, a centre for Art Therapy and Storytelling in the village where she lives, in the foothills near Madrid.
