A Seed Talks Touring Lecture
Folklore
& Women
Witches, shapeshifters, maidens and monsters. The women of folklore — what they meant, what we did to them, and what they still have to teach us.
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Three archetypes. One long argument.
Every culture keeps telling the same stories about women. The figures change costume, but the shapes beneath are stubbornly the same.
The Witch
Healer, midwife, herbalist — and then, suddenly, heretic. How a figure of quiet power became the face of everything a society wanted to burn.
The Shapeshifter
Selkies, swan-maidens, fox-wives. Women who slip their skins — and the men who always, always try to keep them.
The Maiden
Sleeping, waiting, to be rescued. Why the maiden is everywhere in folklore — and what happens when she finally wakes up and walks off the page.
About the Talk
Folklore is full of women. Witches and wives, maidens and monsters, mothers who save and mothers who devour. They are the figures we have used, for centuries, to think with.
This touring lecture moves through the great female archetypes of European folklore — the witch, the shapeshifter, the maiden — and looks at what each one was built to hold. Fear of women’s knowledge. Fear of women’s desire. Fear of women who would not stay.
It also draws on a wave of contemporary feminist thought that has taken these old stories seriously again — not as quaint hangovers, but as a live tradition we’re still inside. The witch trials never really ended. The selkie’s skin is still being stolen. The sleeping princess has started doing her own waking.
Followed by a Q&A.
What to expect
From our guests
“Absolutely fascinating talk by a great speaker. I could have listened for another hour or so.”
“So knowledgable, insightful & engaging. I really learnt a lot & felt inspired.”
“Fascinating and thought provoking presentation.”
The stories we told about them
Are still the stories we tell about ourselves. Tickets on sale now.
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