Storytelling is...
... an ancient, alive, sacred, co-creative exchange between listener and teller. Storytelling is vast, it is a web, a bridge and a often a lifeline.
Storytelling builds trust, creates communion & compassion with ourselves, others, with the more-than-human world.
We are made of stories. For better and for worse.
" ... This is a time to be intentional about what we are weaving into the web.
A moment to examine what seeds we are sowing with our thoughts and actions and really consider what we wish to live in devotion to.
As the world around us appears to be spiraling into chaos and fear fracturing the airwaves, there is a greater story unfolding. We are part of an epic myth being woven. We are woven in it as we are also each doing the weaving - breath by breath, word by word, thread by golden thread. "
~ Darrah Ananda ~
Greetings!
I am a Wisconsin native who has roamed and roved far and wide and now resides here, once again in the land of red granite, dark wild woods and clear, near bottomless lakes. I stepped onto the path of storyteller 27 years under an Oregon hazelnut tree and have never looked back. I believe storytelling is a co-creative act capable of transformation and forging unprecedented connections with ourselves, with others and with the living breathing natural world. Storytelling cultivates deep listening and opens our imaginations to imagine the unimaginable.
My Blood Ancestors: peasants, pioneers, puritans, immigrants, grandmothers, cheesemakers, tin smiths, poachers, and travelers carrying stories from the Jurassic Coastline to deep loric Bavarian forests, from Great Lakes to Rolling Prairie-lands.
The Land Ancestors : The land I was born on is the land of the Potawatomi Peoples, and the land that I now reside & work on are the ceded territories of the Oceti Sakowin, Ho-Chunk, and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe Peoples.
Storytelling is alchemy teaching adaptability & the consistent truth of change. Storytelling is essential in at this time to all life on this planet. We must wake up to live more robust, compassionate, whole and conscious lives and the co-creative process of storytelling gives us this and more, helping us remember beyond the coding of colonization and finding our way back to our inter-connectedness with the animate world, the unknown, awe!
If you are curious about being more inter-connected, more in AWE, with your life, writing, your creativity, your soul and the living world - consider journeying with me in in the next cycle of Weaving Worlds Story Circle or 1:1 Storytelling Mentoring sessions. Engaging with stories in this deep and conscious way transforms your life.
What's cooking now; Winter & early Spring (in person & virtual) performances and workshops and preparing for the 13th summer reading program tour, and launching my first book; BOREALIS MUNDI - resting in place, loss & grace with public readings around the region. Presale of BOREALIS MUNDI begins February 20th here.
Visit my events page and considering working with me in the many ways this is possible.
Over the decades I have shared my gifts in all four directions in fulfilling & curious ways.
From 1996 – 2004 my deep respect for the land and Gaelic culture ferried me over to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and from that the Hebridean Folklore Project was born. More about that story here. Over the years many of these stories have be retold with permission given and shared with the greatest respect for the extraordinary people and their place. In 2016, with permission the body of analog recordings were digitized and are now archived at the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic.
To book a storytelling or with any questions, please email me! Please check out and "like" my Facebook page to stay current on performances and storytelling opportunities.
Please subscribe to my newsletter if you're keen to dig into this a bit more and keep current with offerings & performances. Newsletters go out about 8-12 times a year and you'll be sharing your email address with me only.
If you see the value of the work I'm doing in the world please consider becoming
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Presently I am based Washburn WI, occupying the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, near the bright strong waters of lake Superior with my partner and a sassy black cat called Pippin. When I'm not listening, musing, telling, resting or writing i stare at snow falling, jump in mud puddles, tromp through winter woods and teach Somatic based yoga.
sweet words...
I went to listen to BOREALIS MUNDI - threshold stories on Madeline Island and it was stunningly beautiful and so meaningful to me. I am still moved by the stories Tracy told and affected by the riveting telling and common threads of humanity that she powerfully weaves together. I literally hardly moved the whole time and she didn't once lose my full attention and engagement. That's saying a lot for a 90 min performance on a beautiful summer night. Tracy is so gifted, and her offerings are always a highlight. ~ Erin T Ashland WI
"...Being transported into the mythical realm through your storytelling was such a profound and incredible experience. One that feels as though it moved me a bit further into a liminal space my heart has been calling for for some time." ~ Nina B. Decorah, IA
"Tracy Chipman brings her full humanity to her storytelling. Whether she is telling a Celtic myth or a story about her Grandmother, there is a vitality and a truthfulness to her presence, through which she calls us to presence too. ...Here, alongside the lash of the waves, there is time to breathe, a tough sense of humour, and also great tenderness. Her voice of wisdom and compassion lives on in me."
~ UK based Storyteller Jackie Singer
"Tracy's vivid words create a magnificent story-scape, another world you can so easily slip into while listening to her. The stories Tracy shares are ones that can be understood from many viewpoints, with many lessons. I've found myself so completely captivated with one in particular that I keep dreaming it up all over again. Please enjoy and cherish the sweet act of listening to the stories Tracy tells!"
~ Liliana C, in Madison WI
"We had 19 children and 12 adults attend our Dreamtime Tales program with a tour
de force storytelling performance by Tracy. The vast beauty of her stories was the richness
of content and description. Mouths watered as they heard a story of jelly-beans falling from the
sky like rain. Children's eye's glistened as they imagined the silky red robes and golden curtains of the emperor's palace in one story. In short, our storyteller had excellent powers of description and expression and she delighted a very jubilant crowd during a bustling opening today."
- Corbin at Sheldon Branch Library, Eugene Oregon
“Tracy's stories and deliverance are spellbinding”
~ Hillary Kurtz, Fairfield, Iowa
"We are always thrilled to have Tracy perform! Whether it's for children, adults, or a mix, Tracy always does such a wonderful job of adapting to the audience! That's a tall order for a performer, but we know we're in great hands with Tracy. " ~ Kayce Henderson, Sparta Free Library, Sparta WI
"Tracy's stories, and storytelling, are a true delight and not to be missed!"
~ Kurt Hanson, Fairfield, Iowa
"I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom."
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes