Speaking a Similar Soulful Dialect
Introducing KnotWork's Storyteller-in-Residence, Erica O'Reilly
What will happen to me if I truly follow my artist’s heart?
What if I trust the stirrings within my soul to create my own way and nothing happens?
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“Why can’t I just be normal? Why can’t I just be like everyone else?”
“Why would you want to be?”
“Because I’m lonely.”
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Blazing your own trail can be exhausting.
Following your heart can be terrifying.
It’s not easy. Embarking on your journey to re-member and reclaim all the magical, mystical, soulfully whole parts of who you are will test you.
And yet, I undoubtedly know…
There is purpose in this path.
Erica O’Reilly, “The Stories We Will Tell”
When I asked
to be KnotWork’s 2025 Storyteller in Residence, I wasn’t thinking of these specific words from her newsletter, Weavings of the Wise and Embodied. They were just more proof I had made the perfect decision.Perhaps you know the KnotWork Myth & Storytelling origin story. I sat at my autumn equinox fire in 2021 and I heard it: “you must tell the stories of the gods, guides, and ancestors.”
It was the voice of the brilliant but obscure Irish sovereignty goddess, Mongfind who I’d gotten to know when writing my book, The Sovereignty Knot.
Mongfind a rare spirit guide in the sense that she’s so deliciously specific in her counsel. In the course of our one-sided conversation, she told me to start a podcast. She even revealed its name.
(In case you’re wondering, no, I do not receive such visitations regularly. I don’t take direct otherworldly dictation and make it real nearly as much as I would like. But this journey has been a special one from the start, and her message has steered me true.)
The three and a half years since I listened to that stirring within the soul have been life-changing. And full. And busy. And, to some extent, lonely. I have a remarkable team in my podcast editor Laura and my assistant Hélène, and I have lost count of the fabulous guests who have joined me at the mic, but ultimately, the journey has been a solitary one.
Every creative decision has been mine to make and every relationship has been mine to forge. KnotWork has essentially been one tremendous solo passion project. That’s a lot to source from one woman’s share of inspiration and drive. (Especially when there’s a business to run, a family to tend, and a new book that wants to emerge!)
As Erica says, blazing your own trail can be exhausting.
Exhaustion doesn’t serve us or the stories. The myths and folklore we’re here to share, the big ideas of the moment we’re ready to explore… they deserve an un-depleted source. They deserve an additional channel.
. And I’m thrilled that Erica will be stepping into this role and sharing one of her own stories every month or so. With Erica as a frequent contributor, and as a visionary ally as I seek to grow the show, I feel a new sense of expansiveness. And, well, freedom.
That’s why it’s so perfect that we’re sharing her story of a heroine named Saoirse whose name means freedom in Irish. “Stars, Stones, and Shadows” takes us across the landscape of County Clare, from caves to cliffs and into the vast imaginal realm. You’ll meet goddesses and animal companions and play in the tides of the soul.
To borrow one more line from Erica, she and I (and you, I would think!) all speak a similar soulful dialect.
I am so excited to continue this conversation in 2025, and beyond.
Erica’s Thoughts
For me personally, Irish mythology and folklore has awoken a wisdom deep within my DNA. Hearing and weaving stories of the sacred, powerful, women, queens and sovereignty goddesses of Éire, it’s as though the cultural parts of me that have felt severed and displaced from homeland, are slowing coming back together.
Brigid. Macha. The Morrígan. An Cailleach.
Áine. Bóinn. Medb. Mis.
Are all a part of my sacred reckoning as I choose to rise.
Nearly a year ago, when I wrote The Stories We Will Tell it felt like sending a flare into the creative ethers. I wanted other soulful trailblazers and he(art)ful rebels to know that they’re not walking their path alone - that when the journey feels exhausting or lonely your soul light is part of a greater tapestry that’s contributing to this life.
I wanted the piece to be honest, vulnerable, yet encouraging.
I wanted you, as a fellow creative soul, to feel inspired to keep going.
I wanted you to know that there is purpose in your soul stirrings.
Recently, revisiting these words feels surreal. Almost as though, the tides of my mind are gently drawing my attention to the ripple effect of my intentions and callings to the universe.
What a gift to have the opportunity to lend my voice into the creative heart, the sídhe, of Marisa’s beautifully curated KnotWork Myth and Storytelling podcast.
I also feel grateful to my past self who continued to put one foot in front of the other - even when she couldn’t see the path.
For, at this point in time, I can look back and see that my flare into the creative ethers was seen and heard.
… as glorious as it is to know that my path is held and witnessed by those of the Other realm; I also carry a deep longing to connect in the physical world (whether in-person or online) with those who are following a similar calling.
Today, I can say: I’ve found them.
Creative souls with a similar calling; who share soulful dialect.
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to sit in the company of incredible women. In the creative spaces facilitated by Marisa, including the Writers’ Knot and Authors’ Knot, I continue to be held and witnessed by brave and creative women who are midwifing their stories into the world. To me, this is matriarchal wisdom at its finest - to hold and be held, to witness and be witnessed, by other women, just as you are.
I believe in the power of intention.
I believe that when we bring the power of our voice, the wisdom of our body, and the magic of our spirit, into a sacred and shared space to be heard and held, I believe we call in our healing.
There is powerful medicine in the sharing our stories.
For our creativity, our dán, our connection to imbas (divine stirrings or illuminative inspiration) are not without purpose.
So, as I look to the year ahead, it is with an immensely grateful heart and spirit that I share:
Let’s take a journey, together.
 | A guest post by
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