Michael J. Meade

MICHAEL MEADE: WHY THE WORLD DOESN'T END
Friday, February 22: Evening Talk & Book Signing at the Unitarian Church, 7:30 pm
When a culture is disintegrating and the stories everybody believed in no longer fit, it’s time to rekindle our connection to ancient wisdom and universal truths. In his new book "Why the World Doesn't End", Mythologist, author and storyteller Michael Meade reminds us that the word “apocalypse” - which has come to mean the end of the world, actually means an “unveiling.” Once we penetrate that veil, it’s not the end--but the beginning of a new story--a new beginning to the old story.

MICHAEL MEADE, D.H.L., is a renowned storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology. He combines hypnotic storytelling, street-savvy perceptiveness, and spellbinding interpretations of ancient myths with a deep knowledge of cross-cultural rituals. He has an unusual ability to distill and synthesize these disciplines, tapping into ancestral sources of wisdom and connecting them to the stories we are living today. He is the author of "Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of The Soul", "The World Behind the World", "The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul"; editor, with James Hillman and Robert Bly, of "Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart"; and editor of "Crossroads: A Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage". Meade is founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a nonprofit network of artist, activists, and community builders that encourages greater understanding between diverse peoples. (starfishian)… (more)

Michael Meade on tour for Fate and Dstiny: The Two Agreements of the Soul.

Facing Fate, Finding a Destiny According to ancient myths, each soul makes two agreements upon entering the world. The First Agreement binds the individual to a distinct destiny that becomes the soul's great project in life. The second level of agreements entangles each person in the limitations of fate and responsibilities for family and community. While all second agreements can be renegotiated, the First Agreement is non-negotiable. If a person doesn't face their fate, they may never find their deep resources and natural gifts. If a person doesn't risk their destiny, they'll never know who they are intended to be. Fate and destiny are the two agreements the soul must make and the core issues we struggle with throughout our lives. Join us for a surprising evening of poetry, stories and discussion, an exploration of identity and meaning, of purpose and passion, and wisdom and love. (daddyp4)… (more)

Michael Meade discusses The World Behind the World.

We are delighted to present this evening with renowned storyteller, teacher, and scholar of mythology Michael Meade. From his Vashon Island home, and from Seattle-based non-profit organization Mosaic, he has long worked a rarely-worked line, that of working with the intimate and immediate (as simple as a room with a few people and a story), and, at the same time, with mythological or cosmological material that would seem to transcend time and place, at least in measure we are used to reckoning in the day-to-day. With his evenings of stories and workshops—often with particular groups such as at-risk youth, veterans, the incarcerated—he has long done this orally. (Mosaic has a great assortment of cd recordings.) Earlier this year saw the publication of a long-awaited second book, The World Behind the World: Living at the Ends of Time (GreenFire). Coming fifteen years after The Water of Life (recently revised, re-titled, reissued), this is original work in the truest sense—new and harkening to origins at the same time. Stories and myths: language, imagination, presence, attention. Kernels of awakening are in this remarkable book. "Michael Meade is a master-storyteller and story-teacher of the soul's unfolding. He addresses the mess we're in and helps us each discover the unique threads, the poetic DNA we must live out. (KingRat)… (more)