Episode 19
When Tides Rise, Build Your Own Boat: Cessair’s Arrival in Ireland | S5 Ep19
Join One of Our Group Writing Programs in 2025!
The Authors’ Knot Program, February - November 2025
An intimate 10-month online writing program for thought leaders, memoirists, and heart-led visionaries working on a book or another “big project.”
The Writers’ Knot Community, January - June 2025
A creativity incubator for writers seeking camaraderie and connection. Mythic imagination meets creative expression in this long-running global writing community.
Our Story
Ireland doesn’t have a creation story, but it does have Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Book of Invasions. The first "invasion" was led by Cessair, a granddaughter of Noah who took her own boat to Ireland to avoid that great Biblical flood.
Our Guest
Carmen Schreffler is a marketing consultant who works with purpose-driven entrepreneurs. She gives entrepreneurs the tools to cultivate rich and diverse ecosystems where they can thrive. She believes in connecting with your natural gifts—intuition, curiosity, and discernment—to guide the creation of a sustainable business that meets your needs and goals.
Join Carmen on Substack for inspiration on weaving the threads of your life and business into a thriving ecosystem: https://wildpreneur.substack.com/
Instagram @carmenschreffler
Our Conversation
- This conversation was recorded in March, 2023.
- What stories get told and passed on. What makes a myth “real”? Who are the “winners of culture”? Which parts of civilization, culture are we meant to rewrite and rewild? Rather than tearing down the master’s house, what if we are meant to build a new boat? Is technology, including artificial intelligence “the next flood”?
- What’s the source of this story? Scholars say it was conceived to further Ireland’s desire to establish Christianity and a Biblical pedigree, but the myth may have been rooted into something much older: an older goddess or memory of the floods that would have come with the end of the last ice age.
- The power of sharing your unique story and art and bringing it through your unique lens in this age of ChatGPT and AI, as entrepreneurs and creatives.
- The work of Mary Reynolds, a “recovering landscape designer,” and author of We Are the Ark. Her work of Acts of Restorative Kindness in order to live in relationship with the earth.
- Article in the New Yorker, The End of the English Major: liberal arts as a way into so many different ways of knowing.
- Carmen’s guiding principle, a quote from Yogi Amrit Desai: “We exist in perpetual creative response.” We remain open minded and open to the moment without judgment and move forward from that place.
- Marisa’s inventions: the reason Cessair and family were not included on the Ark and her meeting with the trinity of goddesses who gave Ireland its name: Éiru, Banba and Fódla.
Music at the start of the show is by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com
Work With Marisa
- 1:1 Writing Coaching: If you are working on a spiritual memoir or wellness professional or a creative entrepreneur who wants to use stories to build your business, book a free consultation with Marisa. Learn more at writingcoachmarisa.com
- Learn about group writing opportunities: www.marisagoudy.com/writing-groups
- Find more of Marisa's writing and get a copy of her book, The Sovereignty Knot: www.marisagoudy.com