Our Numinous Nature

• THE GREEN KNIGHT OF CHRISTMAS + CERNUNNOS + A BAPTISM OF BEES | Mythologist | Oliver Lavery

  Oliver Lavery is an English mythologist, folklorist, traveling professional storyteller, and host of The Story Crow YouTube channel from Wiltshire County, England. For this Christmas special we focus in on one of the most mysterious Yuletide tales, the anonymous medieval poem of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight. After a reading about a royal deer hunt, Oliver opens on where he lives, amongst countryside & stone circles in south-western England. Giving us a summary of the The Green Knight legend, Oliver inspires conversations on the mythological & psychological: integrating the wild man within; hunting & ferreting; the Celtic roots behind the Arthurian legends; Cernunnos [the ancient European god of wild beasts]; Green Man; the headdress of a German shaman; and the overuse of the Jungian word "archetype." To wrap up this mythically merry chat, Oliver shares a haunting story about his own numinous experience at a burial cairn on the windy moors of Devon. Check out Oliver's The Story Crow YouTube Channel and follow his van-life Instagram @The_Folk_Bus Readings from Sir Gawain & The Green Knight translated by Simon ArmitageSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• GHOST DOGS OF BRITAIN + THE WILD HUNT & WASSAILING | Folklore Researcher | Mark Norman

  Mark Norman is an English folklore researcher, author, lecturer and host of The Folklore Podcast in Devon, England. We begin with comparative readings about spectral road dogs in Virginia and in England. Mark tells us a bit about his county, of ship scuttlers & Wistman's Wood. Looking for the oldest written account of ghostly black dogs in the United Kingdom, we hear of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and a wild hunt of demonic hunters. From there we focus in on the lore: the Black Shuck event at Bungay & Blythburgh churches in 1577; black dog sightings as omens of death; and protective spirit dogs. We end on how landscape features become part of folklore, the future of folklore, and the winter tradition of Wassailing around the apple orchard. Check out Mark's folkloric books and his popular podcast, The Folklore Podcast. Painting discussed on podcast: "The Wild Hunt of Odin"Readings from Virginia Folk Legends edited by Thomas Barden and Black Dog Folklore by Mark Norman.  Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• ARTEMIS: GODDESS OF THE HUNT + VISIONS FROM HER TEMPLES | Ancient Historian | Carla Ionescu

  Dr. Carla Ionescu, PhD is an ancient historian, author, traveling lecturer, Canadian university professor, founder of The Artemis Research Centre and host of The Goddess Project podcast. With hunting seasons upon us, we begin this odyssey into the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, with the famous myth of the forlorn houndsman, Actaeon. Carla officially introduces Artemis/Diana & explains how Grecian hunters gave her offerings before the hunt, including sweets, animal sacrifices and large communal festivities. We hear of the goddess' symbols in art history & mythology: deer, dogs, bows & arrows, bee eggs, leopard pelts, bears, etc. What was life like 3,000-years-ago at her temples for the priestesses, pilgrims, and worshippers? From there we turn to the personal, as Carla describes some of the mountain & cave temples she's visited in Greece and tells a haunting, mystical story about visionary experiences she's had alone in an ancient cave temple on the island of Crete. We end on vocation, reincarnation, and slave boys saved by honey cakes.  As discussed on the episode, taste some history with a recipe for Ancient Greek Honey Cookies.Follow Carla on Instagram at @ArtemisExpert. Order her book, She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess that Changed the World. And for everything else, visit her website, The Artemis Research Center.Reading of the Actaeon myth from Metamorphoses by Ovid [Penguin Classics translation] Music provided by SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Mother" Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Initiation to Dionysus Cult, or Pendulum" Written & Performed by Theodore Koumartzis & Evagoras BekiarisCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Upon the High Mountain"Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Little Sea"Written & Performed by Christiana PapakostaCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Odyssey" Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World MusicSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out 

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• SCOTTISH FOLK: SAMHAIN & THE CAILLEACH, CANNIBALS & POACHERS | Storyteller | Eileen Budd

  Eileen Budd is a professional Scottish storyteller, the host of the Scottish Folk podcast, and an artist & author in Angus, Scotland. After a Halloween reading about skull broth, Eileen describes where she lives in Scotland and the floods they experienced in last year's Storm Babet. Talk of weather and storms brings up the Gaelic mother goddess, the Cailleach.  From these ancestral stories comes a conversation about the diaspora of Scottish people to America aboard "coffin ships" and the suppression of their culture. Turning to the macabre mood of Halloween, we hear of folkloric and historic cannibals, Sawney Bean & the 15th-century butcher, Christie Cleek. Eileen describes what Samhain is - the time-of-the-year when traditional folk commune with the spirits of their ancestors. When it comes to personal stories from a professional storyteller, Eileen tells three haunting supernatural tales, in the best of which, a spirit saves the life of her grandmother. We wrap it up on rural poacher-lore from catching rabbits in nets to a story about a famous folk hunter who passed up a shot on a stag enchanted by fairies.  Follow Eileen on Instagram and check out her podcast Scottish FolkReading of "The Death Bree" from Scottish Fairy Tales, Folklore & Legends  For Hurricane Helene Flood Relief for Past Podcast Guests:Rebecca Beyers of Blood & Spicebush - GoFundMeLupo Passero of Twin Star Tribe - Twin Star South Fundraiser Music Credits:"Bonny at Morn"Performed by The Whistlebinkies "The Weary Farmer"Performed by Tinkler Madgie"The Sky Fishers Song"Performed by Jean Redpath"The Beggar Laddie"Performed by Jean RedpathSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• SIGNS, CURES & WITCHERY; GERMAN FOLK MAGIC & MUSIC OF WEST VIRGINIA | Folklorist | Gerald Milnes

  Gerald Milnes is a folklorist, fiddler, author, documentary filmmaker, ethnomusicologist, amateur anthropologist and the former Folk Arts Coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.  He is the book author & documentary filmmaker of Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore. After an intro about milk witchery, Gerald talks about his passion-driven life as a self-taught folklorist. From there he lays out the history of the 18th-century migration of German settlers from the Old World to Pennsylvania and finally into the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Living in the region, Gerald befriended & interviewed many of the old timers who revealed to him a mysterious world of folk magic, superstition & occultism still alive on the mountain farmsteads. We hear of witch wars, witch doctoring, hunting magic, animal sacrifice, planting by the signs, selling one's soul to the devil, and the interplay between Christianity & the occult. For the last section, Gerald plays regional songs on his fiddle while telling a story about music's effect on the soul. In closing, he shares some music-lore about rattlesnake tails & a bewitched fiddle.  Readings from Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore by Gerald Milnes. Watch the Signs, Cures & Witchery documentary & purchase Gerald's books. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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