Mythsinger Legacy Project

ABOUT THE MYTHSINGER LEGACY PROJECT

The Mythsinger Legacy Project (MLP) https://mythsingerlegacy.org/, a fiscally-sponsored project of Songwriting Works Educational Foundation, continues Daniel Deardorff’s work of restoring myth to culture and community. In 2019, when Deardorff “flew out of this story and into the next,” he left an archive of writings, three albums worth of music, and many live hearthside recordings of his mythtelling and other teachings. In early 2022, MLP began hosting Mythsinger Community StoryNight events online, welcoming an international community of all ages and cultures to gather with us around the virtual storyfire hearth to hear one of the 10,000 year old stories from one of the finest mythtellers of the 21st century.

ABOUT THE BOOK: The Other Within

Daniel Deardorff’s The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture and Psyche is an initiatory journey through ancient myths, wisdom literature, and personal revelation. Having survived disabling polio as an infant, Deardorff knew well the oppressions of exclusion, outsiderhood, and the betrayals endured by all who are “othered.” His book guides us to discover our own true identity and honor the “other” that lives within each of us and within society, the exiled part that carries wisdom so desperately needed for ourselves and the culture at large. Originally published in 2004, the new 3rd edition (Inner Traditions, 2022) includes commentaries by Robert Bly, with a new afterword by Martin Shaw, a new forward by Robert Simmons, an expanded glossary, and words from Daniel's life partner and Mythsinger Legacy Project steward, Judith-Kate Friedman. https://www.innertraditions.com/books/the-other-within

"Daniel Deardorff's The Other Within is one of the most astonishing, thought-provoking, and strategically subversive books I've ever read. It skillfully weaves together thoughts on comparative mythology, depth psychology, and profound musings on disability and art, dancing at the edge of the unsayable to unmake the social structures that oppress us all. Deardorff is an extraordinary guide for an extraordinary journey of soul-making."

- Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity