{"id":2377,"date":"2011-05-22T08:05:45","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T12:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2011-05-18T04:24:52","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T08:24:52","slug":"storytelling-as-soul-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling as soul healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cHow does one learn to tell stories which please kings?\u201d \u2013 Fatima Mernissi, as a young girl.<\/p>\n

In Dreams of Trespass<\/em>, a beautiful memoir of a harem girlhood in Morocco, Fatima Mernissi gives us a stunning example of how storytelling can facilitate soul healing. Her text is one that everyone \u2013 in the West and the East \u2013 knows something about. It is the collection of tales properly called A Thousand and One Nights. <\/em>As Fatima explains what these stories meant to her, and what they mean for Muslim women in general, we become aware that in the West, we have almost no inkling of what they mean.<\/p>\n

Scheherezade, the young bride of a savage tyrant who has killed her many predecessors, must spin a captivating tale every night to make the king postpone his plan to have her beheaded at dawn. Her husband, King Schariar, is possessed by the spirit of revenge. He discovered his first wife in bed with another man \u2013 a slave \u2013 and killing her was not enough to dissipate his raging hatred and distrust of women. He ordered his vizier to fetch, one by one, every virgin girl in the kingdom. He spent one night with each, then killed her. Now there are only two virgins left: the vizier\u2019s own daughter, Scheherezade, and her little sister. Though her father wants her to escape, Scheherezade is willing to do her duty. She has a plan that will change everything.<\/p>\n

As Fatima Mernissi tells it: \u201cShe would cure the troubled King\u2019s soul simply by talking to him about things that had happened to others. She would take him to faraway lands to observe forign ways, so he could get closer to the strangeness within himself. She would help him to see his prison, his obsessive hatred of women. Scheherezade was sure that if she could bring the King to see himself, he would want to change and to love more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheherezade keeps the King spellbound through a thousand one nights, and at the end he is changed. He gives up his habit of murdering women.<\/p>\n

Fatima first heard of Scheherezade from her mother, in the closed world of a harem in Fez. The word \u201charem\u201d here does not mean a stable of concubines and slave girls, but a closed male-dominated world in which women of all ages are kept under lock and key, forced at every turning to think about the hudud<\/em>, the boundary enforced by religion, law and custom. When little Fatima\u00a0 learns about Scheherezade, her first and eager questionto her mother is: \u201cHow does one learn to tell stories which please kings?\u201d<\/p>\n

This, of course, is the question we all need to answer, to heal our relationships \u2013 with ourselves as well as others \u2013 and our world.<\/p>\n

Mernissi notes: \u201cI was amazed to realize that for many Westerners, Scheherezade was considered a lovely but simple-minded entertainer, someone who relates innocuous tales and dresses fabulously. In our part of the world, Scheherezade is perceived as a courageous heroine and is one of our rare female mythological figures. Scheherezade is a strategist and a powerful thinker, who uses her psychological knowledge of human beings to get them to walk faster and leap higher. Like Saladin and Sindbad, she makes us bolder and more sure of ourselves and of our capacity to transform the world and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Harem” by Lalla Essaydi from her stunning recent exhibition at the Edwynn Houk Gallery<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHow does one learn to tell stories which please kings?\u201d \u2013 Fatima Mernissi, as a young girl. In Dreams of Trespass, a beautiful memoir of a harem girlhood in Morocco, Fatima Mernissi gives us a stunning example of how storytelling can facilitate soul healing. Her text is one that everyone \u2013 in the West and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,29],"tags":[174,173,172],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soul-recovery","category-story","tag-arabian-nights","tag-fatima-mernissi","tag-scheherezade"],"yoast_head":"\nStorytelling as soul healing - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Storytelling as soul healing - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cHow does one learn to tell stories which please kings?\u201d \u2013 Fatima Mernissi, as a young girl. In Dreams of Trespass, a beautiful memoir of a harem girlhood in Morocco, Fatima Mernissi gives us a stunning example of how storytelling can facilitate soul healing. Her text is one that everyone \u2013 in the West and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-22T12:05:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-18T08:24:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/05\/Harem-by-Lalla-Essaydi-240x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Storytelling as soul healing - Dream Gates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Storytelling as soul healing - Dream Gates","og_description":"\u201cHow does one learn to tell stories which please kings?\u201d \u2013 Fatima Mernissi, as a young girl. In Dreams of Trespass, a beautiful memoir of a harem girlhood in Morocco, Fatima Mernissi gives us a stunning example of how storytelling can facilitate soul healing. Her text is one that everyone \u2013 in the West and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html","og_site_name":"Dream Gates","article_published_time":"2011-05-22T12:05:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-18T08:24:52+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/05\/Harem-by-Lalla-Essaydi-240x300.jpg"}],"author":"Robert Moss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html","name":"Storytelling as soul healing - Dream Gates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/05\/Harem-by-Lalla-Essaydi-240x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-05-22T12:05:45+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-18T08:24:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/05\/Harem-by-Lalla-Essaydi-240x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/05\/Harem-by-Lalla-Essaydi-240x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/05\/storytelling-as-soul-healing.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Storytelling as soul healing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/","name":"Dream Gates","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Moss","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/941740e4115cce34706832d06aa76b6b","name":"Robert Moss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/777\/7770e3a2cde4458084d9a31237336b92x96.jpg","caption":"Robert Moss"},"description":"Robert Moss describes himself as a dream teacher, on a path for which there has been no career track in our culture. He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}