Story Medicine
Story Medicine: Ancient Tales and Their Medicine for Modern Life
Ancient fairy tales, myths, and legends contain profound wisdom for modern life.
Psychotherapist Joe Summerfield explores traditional stories from cultures worldwide - Greek myths, Grimm's fairy tales, Norse legends, Indigenous tales, African folklore, and more - revealing the medicine encoded within them.
Each episode offers three parts: a story told in full, an analysis uncovering symbolic meaning and contemporary relevance, and practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.
Use it your way:
Let these stories accompany your morning coffee, evening wind-down, or household pottering. These tales make perfect companions for quiet moments.
Or engage more deeply: the weekly integration practices form a structured personal development course. Over time, this consistent work can significantly shift your experience of life... and it's entirely free.
Perfect for:
Adults seeking psychological depth, young people exploring life's questions, parents sharing wisdom with children, therapists and educators, mythology enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the collective unconscious and archetypal patterns shaping our lives.
Topics explored:
Jungian psychology, fairy tale analysis, mythology, depth psychology, personal transformation, archetypal patterns, shadow work, individuation, collective unconscious, traditional wisdom, therapeutic storytelling.
New episodes weekly.
Hosted by Joe Summerfield, psychotherapist, relational therapist, and creator of Connected State Therapy. Drawing on Jungian psychology and over 20 years of therapeutic experience, Joe bridges ancient wisdom and modern application. From shadow work to individuation, from grief to wholeness, each story offers medicine for navigating the human experience.
Story Medicine
S1E9 - The Snow Queen: Medicine for Bringing Warmth to Frozen Places
In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen - a beloved tale about a boy whose heart freezes when splinters from an evil mirror lodge in his eye and heart, and the girl who journeys through winter to bring him back.
This story speaks to anyone who's has been close to or loved someone whose heart has frozen; anyone who has watched parts of themselves turn cold and critical; or anyone seeking to understand how fear distorts perception and what it takes to restore warmth.
The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing how the demon's mirror may represent fear's distortion, why connection to higher realms saves us when coldness attacks, and whether Kay and Gerda represent two people or two parts of ourselves seeking integration. Plus three practical integration exercises to help you recognise your own splinters, find the warmth within and around you, and discern when devotion is sacred versus self-destructive.
Learn more about Joe's therapeutic work: www.joesummerfield.co.uk
Connect on Instagram: @joe.therapies
