An Interview with Steven Abell
By Michele White
While attending a fantastic 4 days at PantheaCon 2009 in San Jose, I had the honor of interviewing Steven Thor Abell. You may remember him as the author of the book “Days in Midgard: A Thousand Years On”, which is only a taste of the kind of talent this amazing man has to offer! As our ancestors sat by the fires and told their tales, so too does this modern day Storyteller share his thoughts and stories.
To truly understand what Mr. Abell does, one must experience a live telling of his tales! They are alive with humor and deep within each is a message... Would you know more?
I will attempt to highlight some of the answers he had in response to my questions that I put to him but this in no way captures the flavor of the meeting or the sparkle in his eyes!
Question : You speak of the difference between Myth ~ Legend ~ and History in your book, can you expand on this further by placing the Gods within this framework?
Steve replied to this in a way that made the ideas come to life. I can only paraphrase what he said as I was too captivated to write!
Myth is a way to look at life, not in a literal sense. From the words I got from Steve I pictured myth as a living and flowing thing as he described the way that Tyr was worship at one time as the main Asatru deity, then Odin ~ that they are like two sides of a coin. Similar, yet different.
Legend is the way one lives. A legend tells the tale of the actions and deeds of an individual or tribe. It is the story of the people.
History is what actually happened… the archeological facts and findings within scientific discovery.
To further explain this he said, “Myth gives us a way of looking at life. In these stories, the gods show us how things and ideas in our lives are connected, and help us to know what's important between them. Legends are compelling examples, ranging from partly to entirely fictional, of how people might carry out, or fail to carry out, this understanding in their lives. History is (hopefully) a record of what real people actually did. I think it's important to keep these three kinds of stories separate, as they mean different things and need to be used according to what they are.”
“Some religions put myth, legend, and history into the blender and turn it on High. This creates an intellectual mess that is the source of some of the world's biggest ongoing problems. Asatruar generally do a pretty good job of separating these three. This is one of the things that enable me to be a part of this religion.”
Question: You are quoted as saying “Putting a story on paper is the death of it”, please tell me what this means to you and what it means to the tales within your book.
Ahh here is the heart of what makes hearing Steve’s tales so unique! When asked this, he was very clear that there is a difference between telling a story and reciting a story. The idea I got from him was that a story is alive when it is told, it live and breathes thanks to the teller, it changes and flows from the imagination and the heart of the one that is speaking. Once this very same tale is placed on paper, those who read it or recite it to another cannot touch or feel the spirit in which is was told. It can no longer grow or breathe in the same manner as before. Each time one experiences Steve’s tales is the birth of that tale, it has never been on paper and comes to life at that very moment it is spoken. Alas, not all can witness this birth and so the written word is shared in his book.
Steve’s words to me were, “A story that exists in the mind of the teller and his audience is a living thing that can grow and change. It needs to maintain its integrity, but there is a lot that can be learned by the teller even from very familiar stories. Many of the stories in my book took years to tell me important details that add much to their color and meaning. “
“But once a story is
written down, it becomes an object for replication. This is the difference
between telling a story and reciting or reading it. A story being told is
a verb in current action, a breath of the mind and that mind's gods; a
story being recited or read is a specification being recounted.”
”In my experience, writing a story that I know how to tell, changes the
way it is represented in my mind, and this change seems irreversible.
Before I write a story, I can usually just get up and tell it, even a very
long one. Once I write it, I have to deliberately rehearse it to perform
it again. That's not nearly as much fun. The 2009 Pantheacon was the first
time in several years that I was able to really tell stories there,
because all of the stories were new and not yet written down.”
”An example of a living story can be seen in heathen mythology. In earlier
times, Tyr was the leader of the gods. Later on, Odin became dominant. I
think this is significant because, to my mind, Tyr is the obvious choice
of leader. But look at Odin this way: put the faces of all the gods in
Asgard on coins. Now turn those coins
over. Who do you see? Odin is on the other side of all of those coins,
including Tyr's. How could this have ever happened if the myths were made
immutable in print? A body of myth that is written down and revered only
in that form cannot become what it needs to become. Yes, the written word
is very powerful and valuable, but it does have its drawbacks. We can't
let just anything happen to these stories, nor can we afford to freeze
them forever in some outdated state.”
This made me think long and hard for days about what this meant in regard to our lore!
Question: If you were to tell the living tale of the life of Steven Thor Abell ~ Bard, Folklorist, and Storyteller, what would be the moral of the story and how would it end?
Now this question was a tough one and I give due honor to the man who could answer it so well!
“Beauty”, he said, then he went on to describe how he felt that in his life he “created something that wouldn’t have been, because he existed ~ this is worth living for,” he said. “Beauty matters, without it why bother living?”
“There is a kind of beauty that "just is" in the world. This is the beauty the Vanir help us to know.”
“But there is another kind of beauty: the kind that is deliberately made. This is the beauty the Aesir help us to know.”
“The moral of my life,
and the thing that enables me to survive in it, is knowing that there is
some beauty that wouldn't have been if I hadn't lived it and made it.”
“As a side note, one of my frustrations is not knowing what will
happen here after I am gone. But that will be someone else's story to pick
up and tell, kind of like many of the stories in "Days in Midgard".
“Yes, I hope people will tell stories, and not just to their children.
They are vital ingredients in the mechanics of consciousness. We give them
life, and they help us to live.”
What a wonderful way to look at life! I was truly inspired and left this conversation feeling as if I had been given a gift!
And so, I share this gift with you all and ask that you consider the role of storytelling in your own life. Do you recite a tale from a book to your children? (Which is all well and good.) Or do you reach deep within yourself to tell the living tales of your ancestors, your childhood, your Gods, and the lessons that life has to gift?