51社区

Abstract

This purpose of this study was to discover whether storytellers experience transformation while telling a nonpersonal story in front of an audience. This study shows that important psychological shifts emerged in the process of telling stories. Six storytellers were interviewed regarding a transformational experience that occurred before, during, or after telling a nonpersonal story. The methodologies used were phenomenology, narrative, and transpersonal. Investigating the researcher鈥檚 internal experience of the storytellers after the interviews included what the researcher called 鈥渟ixth-sense somatics.鈥� This process gave rise to somatic and imaginal phenomena that increased the apprehension of implicit information conveyed during the interviews, which also became a means of validating what the storyteller was communicating. The phenomenological findings were approached using the lenses of depth psychology, the imaginal approach of archetypal psychology, and alchemy. These held in check the traditional limitations imposed by phenomenology鈥檚 meaning units and thematized essences and opened a new avenue to discuss the storytellers鈥� transformational experiences. The use of the symbolism in alchemy in conjunction with Hermes and Mercurius became the means to discuss the relationship between the story鈥檚 archetypes, the storytellers鈥� shadow material, and their personal narrative. The intercultural dimension was embarked on as a result of interviewing an African American storyteller. The combination of the researcher鈥檚 internal observations after the interviews and Afrocentric research led to a deeper understanding of the African American culture.