THE REDEMPTION OF WOLF MASK

by Rita Grimaldi

In most traditional stories the wolf is a negative force.

But what if I could see Wolf as I see Coyote?

What if Wolf, like Coyote, had two types of behaviour?

What if Wolf is able to have both good and bad behaviour?

Taking that line of thought a step further, what if Wolf was able to redeem himself from his own bad behavior? In other words, what if Wolf was able to learn from his bad behavior and choose to use his abilities and personality for good acts?

So here is what I will do for my Wolf mask.

In January, I will tell another Wolf story. For me, this will be the third story in this mask.

But this time, I will rewrite the story so that Wolf recovers from his bad behaviour. But first, Wolf will die then bring himself back to life and behave in a positive manner.

In this way, I will experience Wolf as having all psychological aspects:

• ·         Strengths and weaknesses
• ·         Good and bad behaviour
• ·         A physical being and a supernatural one
• ·         Both adversarial and protector roles

For me, Wolf will become a deeper being - beyond opposites while containing his opposites.

And best of all, my Wolf mask will become able to tell stories in all aspects of its being.

In three subsequent posts, please join me in seeing how this redemption of Wolf comes to pass.

To be continued…

Rita Grimaldi is a mask maker and performance artist skilled in the art of oral storytelling. Several of her mask diaries appear in earlier posts on this blog. Rita is a member of Peterborough Storytellers in Ontario, Canada. 

She can be contacted at peterboroughstorytellers@cogeco.ca