Weave And Gather

Reviving Stories for the Season of Connection

The world feels splintered, overturned—a fracture that can seep into the spaces we carve for celebration, turning connection fragile, even tenuous.

Yet another path calls. A way that leans into the oldest threads of who we are.

Once, we sat around fires, around tables, around the edges of gardens, listening to the stories our elders carried. They didn’t speak to command or convince, but to teach, to stir the soil of our imaginations. These stories were compost for our souls. They rooted us, binding us to each other, to place, to the long arc of memory.

This season, I invite you to unearth that tradition. Lay down your devices. Gather—whether by blood, by chosen kin, or even with the wild edges of solitude—and make space for the stories that live in you.

Ask: what tales of wonder and awe shaped you? What stories sparked your child-heart into bloom? Speak them aloud. Say the name of the one who first told you, and if you know it, the name of the one who told them. Trace the lineage of the tale, its roots winding deeper than you might have imagined.

And if no such stories come to you, turn to the Earth. Listen to the murmurs of stone and branch, to the dreams your childhood conjured. Share a favorite dream, a fragment of poetry, or a moment when the world opened and let you glimpse its wonder.

Even if you are alone, speak. Tell your story to the trees—they are listening. Tell it to the wind—it carries everything. You are never without an audience when you speak from the deep well of yourself.

And when conversations around the table threaten to unravel into discord, consider this: ask the other person for their story. Ask them what they loved as a child, who whispered their favorite tale, and why it still lingers in their bones. You might be astonished at the warmth that blooms, at how quickly the tinder of connection catches light.

Perhaps this winter, we can all become storytellers again, influencers of relationality and meaning. May we go viral in a storied rebellion of connectedness.

And if this stirs something in you, share your stories here. Let’s build a tapestry of wonder together, stitch by stitch, thread by golden thread.