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Sign up todayCourting the Wild Twin
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Learn moreMaster mythologist Martin Shaw uses timeless story-wisdom to examine our broken relationship with the world
There is an old legend that says we each have a wild, curious twin that was thrown out the window the night we were born, taking much of our vitality with them. If there was something we were meant to do with our few, brief years on Earth, we can be sure that the wild twin is holding the key.
In Courting the Wild Twin, Dr. Martin Shaw invites us to seek out our wild twin––a metaphor for the part of ourselves that we generally shun or ignore to conform to societal norms––to invite them back into our consciousness, for they have something important to tell us. He challenges us to examine our broken relationship with the world, to think boldly, wildly, and in new ways about ourselves—as individuals and as a collective.
Through the use of scholarship, storytelling, and personal reflection, Shaw unpacks two ancient European fairy tales that concern the mysterious wild twin. By reading these tales and becoming storytellers ourselves, he suggests we can restore our agency and confront modern challenges with purpose, courage, and creativity.
Courting the Wild Twin is a declaration of literary activism and an antidote to the shallow thinking that typifies our age. Shaw asks us to recognize mythology as a secret weapon—a radical, beautiful, heart-shuddering agent of deep, lasting change.
Dr Martin Shaw is an acclaimed teacher of myth. Author of the award-winning Mythteller trilogy (A Branch from the Lightning Tree, Snowy Tower, Scatterlings), he founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK.
He has introduced thousands of people to mythology and how it penetrates modern life. For twenty years Shaw has been a wilderness rites of passage guide, working with at-risk youth, those who are unwell, returning veterans as well as many women and men seeking a deeper life.
His translations of Gaelic poetry and folklore (with Tony Hoagland) have been published in Orion magazine, Poetry International, Kenyon Review, Poetry magazine and Mississippi Review. Shaw’s most recent books include The Night Wages, Cinderbiter, Wolf Milk, Courting the Wild Twin and his Lorca translations, Courting the Dawn (with Stephan Harding).
His essay and conversation with Ai Weiwei on myth and migration was released by the Marciano Art Foundation.
Dr Martin Shaw is an acclaimed teacher of myth. Author of the award-winning Mythteller trilogy (A Branch from the Lightning Tree, Snowy Tower, Scatterlings), he founded the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK.
He has introduced thousands of people to mythology and how it penetrates modern life. For twenty years Shaw has been a wilderness rites of passage guide, working with at-risk youth, those who are unwell, returning veterans as well as many women and men seeking a deeper life.
His translations of Gaelic poetry and folklore (with Tony Hoagland) have been published in Orion magazine, Poetry International, Kenyon Review, Poetry magazine and Mississippi Review. Shaw’s most recent books include The Night Wages, Cinderbiter, Wolf Milk, Courting the Wild Twin and his Lorca translations, Courting the Dawn (with Stephan Harding).
His essay and conversation with Ai Weiwei on myth and migration was released by the Marciano Art Foundation.
Reviews
‘Terrifically strange and thrilling. One for all you storytellers.’—Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley
‘A book that comprehends the forests of the soul, written with fierce courage and audacious wildness.’—Jay Griffiths, author of Wild
‘This remarkable, powerful, provocative and timely book is about the same size as your smartphone. Carry it in your other pocket, and every time you reach for your phone, take this out instead. Give your imagination, your activism, your poetic/mythic self some soul food. That’s what I did, and it delighted me every time.’—Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If
‘Courting the Wild Twin revels in the fabulous—the alchemy of story, primaeval nouse and narrative. Shaw is proof of William Blake’s adage that “Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not believed.” A thrilling exploration of ancient ambiguity, this book digs deep into the miraculous mulch of myth.’—Dan Richards, author of Outpost
‘This magical book underlines the ability of storytelling to rewrite reality while functioning as a practical—and highly personal—guide to the rewilding of the self.’—David Keenan, author of For the Good Times
‘Martin Shaw turns words into stories and stories into unpredictable excursions in search of the Wild Twin within each and all. He reveals the importance of this often exiled, yet deeply necessary inner otherness, the very part that holds the secret sense of rapport and essential relatedness that entwines human nature with the heart of Mother Nature.’—Michael Meade, author of Awakening the Soul
‘Courting the Wild Twin beckons us to step through the doorway that stories create, and reveals a pathway to awakening our relationship with the world around—and with ourselves.’—Dee Dee Chainey, author of A Treasury of British Folklore
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