Your Instructor: Mary Ellen Hill
Since I was eight years old, I couldn’t wait to babysit the 5 children that lived behind us. I have continued to be delighted and captivated by children. This led me to becoming a teacher at various types of schools, day care centers and now in my backyard studio called the FAD PAD for the last 45 years. My classes range from drama, hand sewing, cooking, gardening, Harry Potter, fairy lore to cosmology. I hold a BA in Education from St. Mary’s College in Indiana and Life Teaching License in Elementary and Special Education. To enhance my teaching skills, I later added a Storytelling Certification from Dominican College in San Rafael, CA. My first public storytelling performance was in a redwood grove amphitheater on Earth Day in 1990. I have been telling creation myths and folktales ever since.
In 1987, I moved from my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana to the San Francisco Bay Area. In California, I received a MA in Spirituality and Eco-Justice from The Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland, CA. As I became immersed in the fascinating ideas and revelations of Creation Spirituality, I was fortunate to study with such visionaries as Brian Swimme, Thomas Berry, and Miriam MacGillis:
I was inspired and amazed when I experienced " The Cosmic Spiral Walk", created by Miriam.
The words of Thomas echoed frequently in my mind: "We need to know the sacred creation story of the emergent Universe, for if we don’t know this story we don't know ourselves…. We must teach this story to the children.”
When I heard Brian say, "We are the primordial fireball becoming aware…. Pursue your destiny with the same extravagant devotion of the stars to their own destiny,” my whole being becoming intensely engaged.
This awareness ignited my desire to articulate the story in my own unique way. I explored how to better awaken to the cosmic evolutionary process and how to lead others into these experiences. I realized that the ancient art of the oral tradition would be a perfect mode of expression for The Cosmic Story. In 1995, my love affair with and study of cosmology and storytelling evolved into my performance specialty, "We Are The Stars That Sing: The Story of The Universe.”
Ultimately, this exploration evolved into an awakening experience for children now known as “We All Contain A Spark!”
This evocative and engaging storytelling performance weaves together a scientific explanation and a mythic interpretation of the 13.8 billion year old evolution of the Universe. It is an educational and magical blending of cosmology and indigenous creation stories that tells how all life, including each one of us, is made of star stuff. Carried along throughout by an original song, this approach engages the left and right brain, as well as captivating the deeply embedded memory of humans gathered together to hear their creation story.
I have performed this at a variety of events. Each telling is unique, created especially for the particular theme and audience. I am thrilled to be teaching this new class online, “We All Contain A Spark!”, for children and all those young at heart for the Creation Spirituality Community. We will explore and celebrate that spark that is within us, in all life and that which ignited the Universe! I invite you and your beloved children to sit around a primordial fire with me while we delve into our cosmic origins together.