This remarkable volume features 63 myths and tales from around the world, retold by Erica Meade, a master storyteller and therapist who provides interpretive comments and suggested uses for applying the stories to our everyday lives. Also included are true-life examples of what can happen when healing stories such as these are taken to heart. David Abram, author of The Spell of the Sensuous, sets the tone with an insightful foreword. Meade provides an absorbing introduction that guides the reader through important background about storytelling, such as its origins and its importance in healing, teaching, and community building. The theme index lists the hundreds of themes that hold psychological, social, cultural, and environmental messages pertinent to our times. Praise for The Moon in the Well: "Erica Helm Meade has given us a valuable collection of teaching stories and many wise ways to use them. A blessing for discovering the modern power of these ancient inspirations." --Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart "This is a lovely conglomeration of stories-Irish, Greek, Persian, Siberian, Chilean, North American. It will be helpful for all of us looking for good stories to tell our children or someone else's children at a crucial moment of their lives." --Robert Bly "More than any other book in years, The Moon in the Well explains the rightful and useful place of myth and stories in people's lives. Erica Helm Meade does this in an engaging way, making connections between myth and story and how people are in the world-as individuals, members of families, communities, in nature, and in other larger senses of the world. Her retelling of stories-some well-known, others not-is alone worth the price of the book." --Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company and author of Multi-Cultural Literacy "A must read collection of stories by Erica Helm Meade. A masterful storyteller, she roots out the old stories we so desperately need to hear. Through artful retelling, she breathes life into them so their magic can go to work. A timely book for everyone who seeks to find meaning and support in everyday life and especially at times of crisis." --Sobonfu Somé, author of The Spirit of Intimacy and Welcoming Spirit Home "Erica Meade is not only an exquisite storyteller, but also a true wisewoman and healer who shows us just how to apply her storytelling medicine so that our lives might be healed and transformed. The Moon in the Well is a gem-anyone who has ever felt the power of myth should run out and buy it!" --Jalaja Bonheim, Ph.D., author of Aphrodite's Daughters and The Hunger for Ecstasy "This is a lodestar of a book, one that can help us find our way through the borderlands our civilization is crossing through now. It gives us stories that are truer than true, reminding us of the deepest human wisdom so we can laugh, and listen to each other and find the compassion to create new solutions for our time. I intend to give this wise compass to everyone on my gift list this year." --Sherry Ruth Anderson, author of The Feminine Face of God and The Cultural Creatives "Erica Helm Meade's thoughtful approach to the use of story enables us all to share story more wisely. A must-own for the professional teller's shelf. And an important collection for public library collections." --Margaret Read MacDonald, professional storyteller and author of A Parent's Guide to Storytelling