Widdershins Stories

Tam Lin comes to us from Scotland and Childe’s ballads. Tam Lin is a human captured by the fairy queen who spends his free time tormenting fair maidens in the woods of Carterhaugh. After a tryst with fair Janet who becomes pregnant with his child, they devise a plan to free him from being the Halloween tithe. This version combines many of the story points from the earlier ballads with a bit easier listening and updated language from Jennifer Holm. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

It is Walpurgisnacht, and we find ourselves in Munich before leaving for Transylvania to be a guest of Count Dracula. Our titular Englishman, interested in taking some local sights, wanders into a desolate valley and finds himself at nightfall in a cemetery beset by a curious storm and strange forces. This story is thought to be a preliminary chapter of Dracula that was later removed, with our main character being Jonathan Harker. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

In this tale, sinful priest Dando lives a life as one who worships “the sensual gods” despite his godly attire. He hunts, drinks, and does what he wishes regardless of cost. While out hunting one sabbath morning with his dogs and other men, Dando finds a strange hunter in his company who offers a drink so good, Dando would go to hell for it. A fun aside, this Cornish tale ties into the lore of the Wild Hunt with Dando’s dogs who number among the pack. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com

Episode 36: Snow White & Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm Journey with us back to a classic: Snow White & Rose Red. A mother with two lovely daughters named after the roses growing in her yard one day are visited by a great black bear who spends many a snowy winter evening by their fire. When summer comes, the bear must leave to protect his home from a wicked dwarf. Will the sisters find the bear again? Will the dwarf ever be grateful for their aid? Is this a tale of uncomfortable bestiality? (spoiler alert: it’s not) Join us and find out. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

Celebrate love this Valentine’s Day with a retelling of Apuleius’ “Cupid & Psyche” by Josephine Preston Peabody. When a princess rivals the goddess of beauty, Venus sends her son Cupid to punish her for her charms. But when Cupid’s arrow strikes himself, he falls in love and protects her from the wrath of his mother in a royal home where she is treated like a goddess herself although never seeing this prophesied “creature” who is now her husband. When her sisters visit, in their jealousy they poison her mind against Cupid and she looks upon him while he sleeps, breaking the peace they had together and leaving her alone. Heartbroken, Psyche tries to find him and is set trials by Venus to gain the goddess’ favor and her lost husband back again. How will a mortal maid fare against the goddess of love and beauty? If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“A Christmas Ghost Story” by an unknown author is a tale much like the Dickens classic. A miserly old man heads to bed on Christmas Eve only to find himself face to face with a ghost who offers him all the gold he could wish for-which comes with a hard price to look back on his life’s mistakes. He cannot undo the past, but perhaps he can learn from the bitterness he sewed along the way. ***Content Warning*** While in the tradition of Victorian ghost stories for Christmastime, this tale does stray into some darker territory with suicide. This can be a hard time of year for all regardless of what you celebrate, so we wanted to share a friendly heartfelt reminder that if you or a loved one is struggling with suicidal ideations, help is available with someone you can talk to today at ​​800-273-8255. Be gentle with yourself, and remember to reach out if you need some support this dark winter season. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“October in the Chair” by Neil Gaiman is a dark and whimsical tale. What do the months of the year do to harken the change of their time? Why tell stories, of course! And with October in the chair, you know it’ll be something to give you a bit of a shiver. Special thanks to Neil Gaiman for his affirmative tweet giving our lowly little podcast permission to read one of his works. Neil Gaiman is the much beloved author of such great pieces as The Sandman, Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and frankly too many amazing works for us to even begin to list off. This particular tale is from his collection of Short Fiction, Fragile Things. You can find him readily enough on Twitter (as you may have guessed) or find out more at www.neilgaiman.com. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify or our various social accounts! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“Madam Lucifer” by Richard Garnett is a bit of a divergence in our tales of fairy and nature, offering a peek into the whimsical fantasy realm from his classic, The Twilight of the Gods, written in 1903. Lucifer sits with Man, playing chess for his soul when, hearing his lament for his beloved, decides to keep her company. Smitten upon sight with Adeliza, he gets it into his head to marry, but to do so would have to leave Madam Lucifer and lose his dominion over Pandemonium...what’s a devil to do? If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

On this special episode for Salem Daughters of Darkness Festival, we have created a virtual wander through the woods to go along with our tale. To celebrate the dark and strange, we chose “She” by Allison Carr Waechter for our tale. Listen on to this queer and dark tale of a curious entity taking over the body of another. A tale that brings us the fey strangeness of changeling tales and the wild feral nature of Other. Join us on YouTube to enjoy the visualizer that accompanies this episode or stick around here for the audio. Allison Carr Waechter, is the author of Vessel of Starfire, the debut novel in the Outlaws of Interra trilogy. Follow her work and sign up for her newsletter at www.allisoncarrwaechter.com for news of upcoming tales. And for more information on The Way of Thorn & Key, please visit their Patreon: www.patreon.com/thewayofthornandkey We hope you take some time to check out Salem Daughters of Darkness’ virtual festival this weekend! Please visit www.salemdaughtersofdarkness.com to visit the vendor’s websites and the other great virtual programming! If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

A special diversion from the normal stories this week, we have a journey into the woods for you to read two brilliant poems by Tom Hirons. “Sometimes a Wild God” and “The Worship of Place” both speak to our relationship with nature both in a feral and wild sense as we have, many of us, become domesticated things and also to the awe of the sacred beauty of the world around us. It was an absolute delight to read and perform these poems, and a special thanks again to Tom for giving us permission to read his works! Tom Hirons was born and raised on the Suffolk-Norfolk border in East Anglia, but lived in Scotland for almost twenty years before gravitating to Dartmoor in the Southwest of England. Tom has been storytelling publicly for over 15 years and writing for much longer. He now teaches storytelling for Hedgespoken and has been known to mentor a writer or two. Tom hopes his work provokes you into a deeper relationship with this marvellous world, or sings a remembering song to you, or inspires some kind of cathartic fit that takes you home via the stars… There's much to lament and grieve, and much to be angry about and take action against, but to be alive is an incredible thing. We do not know when death or disaster will take us, so let us live fully while we may and nourish the web of life around us as much as we possibly can. To learn more about Tom you can visit his website at www.tomhirons.com or Hedgespoken Press to pick up some of his works at www.hedgespokenpress.com If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“Ecdysis” is retelling of Rapunzel from Christina Rosso’s She is a Beast. What if the damsels in distress you read of in fairy tales, those ladies in waiting of a prince to come, were a bit more beastly and self-reliant than you thought? After being locked in a tower and sold out to lusty suitors, Rapunzel decides to take matters into her own hands through blade and escape from the Enchantress that has locked her away for so many years. Content Warning: This episode mentions rape and sexual brutality. Christina Rosso-Schneider lives and writes in South Philadelphia with her rescue pup, Atticus Finch, and bearded husband, Alex. Together they run an independent bookstore and event space called A Novel Idea on Passyunk. She is a Beast is her first book and you can order your own copy from their website www.anovelideaphilly.com and visit Christina’s website for more information about her and her works at www.christina-rosso.com If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“Little Wildrose” is a Romanian folktale that was collected by Andrew Lang in his Crimson Fairy Book but otherwise given no authorial identification. We love this tale for its little bits of absurdism that you find weaving their way in and out of folk stories, especially where the narrator has a little bit of cheek. Wildrose is a girl “born” of longing and a bitten apple who grows up in an eagle’s nest only to be spotted by a prince and longed for so badly, the emperor calls for a place at court for anyone who can bring her to him. An old woman through feigning ignorance of physics tricks her from the nest, showing us that if you want a perfect beautiful woman, just look to the tops of trees. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

You have returned home after a long day and take off your rain sodden boots, for now it's time to wind down in the study. Settle in with some books from your personal library stacks and while away the evening as the rain pours down over roof and windowpane. In the other room, you overhear the hushed sounds of your reclusive neighbor gently playing their guitar like a personal concert just for you. Brew a cup of tea, light your candles, and let the cloak of night richly settle upon your shoulders. This is the first in a series of Aural Narratives by Widdershins Stories. With audio performances by Ashley Nunez on quill, parchment, and books and Joe Sabourin on guitar and sound engineering. To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: https://www.widdershinsstories.com To help us keep the podcast running and to craft more aural narratives, support us on Ko-Fi: https://www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: https://www.oldgrowthalchemy.com https://www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: https://www.joesabourin.com

“The Maiden-Tree” by Catherynne M. Valente is a dark look at the classic Sleeping Beauty. What attraction does a spinning wheel have to a sixteen year old girl? What comes from a hundred years kept preserved after the first blood soaked stab of the needle? The prince is not really coming, at least not for what you think he wants. And really, who is to say what happens when the briars take over the castle and are hungry for more? Take care that the roses don’t take you too. CW: this episode contains descriptions of body horror Catherynne M. Valente is the New York Times bestselling author of forty works of speculative fiction and poetry, including Space Opera, The Refrigerator Monologues, Palimpsest, the Orphan’s Tales series, Deathless, Radiance, and the crowdfunded phenomenon The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Own Making (and the four books that followed it). She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with a small but growing menagerie of beasts, some of which are human. To learn more about Catherynne and her work, please visit www.catherynnemvalente.com If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“Midnight Wren” is the second story from the Tales of Wolf Hollow by Allison Carr Waechter. A young girl abandoned at a second-rate boarding school wonders about her empty future when she stumbles one day upon a glossy raven black feather. As more appear, she collects them up in woven baskets only to find when the moon shines upon them, they feel alive and she begins to hear a strange song upon waking up to talon claw in sleep. Where is the song coming from, and why does it sound so familiar and uncloud nightmarish memories? Allison Carr Waechter, is the author of Vessel of Starfire, the debut novel in the Outlaws of Interra trilogy. Follow her work and sign up for her newsletter at www.allisoncarrwaechter.com for news of upcoming tales. And for more information on The Way of Thorn & Key, please visit their Patreon: www.patreon.com/thewayofthornandkey If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi to help us keep the podcast running! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

A surprise bonus episode for you all for Valentine’s Day! “The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde is a bit of an anti-Valentine’s Day tale but we couldn’t resist sharing. A student bemoaning his lack of a red rose to give his love is overheard by a nightingale who believes she has finally found purity of love. Attempting to help the lovestruck student, she makes the ultimate sacrifice to bring the most perfect red rose into existence. Alas for her, our student’s heart is not quite as pure as she thought…. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com Support us on Ko-Fi! www.ko-fi.com/widdershinsstories For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

“Come out of the dark night and sit by my fire.” This week, we have the dark and enchanting tale, “The Truths of Wolf Hollow” by Allison Carr Waechter. A retelling of the familiar story of Little Red Riding Hood with a twist that the Grimm’s never would have dared to discuss. What happens when a village is divided by an ever growing wood and the wolves aren’t the only things to be frightened of in the dark night full of whispering winds? You’ve come this far, why not stay for the whole telling? Allison Carr Waechter, is the author of Vessel of Starfire, the debut novel in the Outlaws of Interra trilogy. Follow her work and sign up for her newsletter at www.allisoncarrwaechter.com for news of upcoming tales. And visit her website for more information on The Way of Thorn & Key, the story of two witches brought together by a magical book. If you’ve been enjoying our tales, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

Two tales of treacherous maids of the water, this week we have “The Siren” by F. Antsey and “Russalka” by Maurice Baring. “The Siren” tells of a siren upon an island who uses her power upon men without heed, when one day a stranger comes unbidden to her shores and makes her question her ways and learn the meaning of love. In “Russalka” a young couple in love run afoul of the powers of the rusalka when on a whim, young Petrushka leaves his work on the river’s edge and finds himself in the thrall of the woman of the water to his untimely fate. If you’ve been enjoying these, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

A curious tale by an unknown author, “The Weird Violin” was written in a monthly magazine in 1893 in the tradition of Victorian Christmas ghost stories. A virtuoso musician, right before a major performance stumbles into a music warehouse when he encounters a strange and somewhat menacing violin. Upon his horror when he plays it, he is greeted with visions of the past sending him into a stupor mid performance. If you’ve been enjoying these, we’d love if you’d give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com

This week we are bringing some classic Dickensian cheer with “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton.” With a similar arc to “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens tells us the story of a glum and grim sexton who delights in suffering, who through a long night with a band of goblins learns of the delights of nature in the world. And just in time too, as we’ll be doing a live streamed reading of “A Christmas Carol” on Christmas Eve at 8pm EST. You can join us over at www.instagram.com/oldgrowthalchemy, www.facebook.com/oldgrowthalchemy, or www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvE-OrS0BZ9qj-Lr1t1Kng that evening for the live story by candlelight or pop back over for the recording later. If you’ve been enjoying these, we’d love if you’d give us a review on Apple Podcasts and follow along on Spotify! To learn more about Widdershins, please visit: www.widdershinsstories.com For more information on Ashley, please visit: www.oldgrowthalchemy.com www.patreon.com/oldgrowthalchemy For more information on Joe, please visit: www.joesabourin.com