Our Numinous Nature

Steve McCue is a trapper, naturalist, all-around outdoorsman & Vice President of the West Virginia Trappers Association from Nicholas County, West Virginia. On this in-the-field episode we visit his wall-tent camp and head out for a morning on the bobcat trapline. After a 1929 reading about handling & relocating backcountry bobcats, Steve opens on the significance of the bygone American chestnut. We hear of his deep Appalachian roots & how his outdoorsman lifestyle is a spiritual pursuit that reaches back into pre-history where trapping was the oldest way to procure food & clothing. After some archaeological examples of ancient trapping, Steve describes the 4-types of modern trappers: the hobbyist, the animal damage controller, the longliner, and the territorial/conservationist. From there we get into the natural history of Steve's favorite furbearers starting with the gray fox whose population is in decline. Leaving the tent behind, Steve walks & talks on the trapline about such things as: chaga foraging; uses of birch bark; the origin of "fairy-diddle;" making cat sets; skunk essence; lure-making as the witchy side of trapping; and what one might find in a bobcat's stomach. We wrap it up on what we've learned from reading historical accounts, how an inexperienced trapping family survived on plants alone in the north woods followed by Daniel Boone's bear bacon enterprise. Reading from West Virginia Wild Life Magazine Vol 7. Ep. 1 [1929]. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Nathan Griffin [like his younger brother] is a lifelong houndsman, bear hunter, and commercial turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. On this 2nd part of our in-the-field, ride along with Appalachian bear hunting brothers we open with a riveting reading from the memoir of an early-1800's backwoodsman about a bear skin umbrella & hunting with a knife. As we drive the snowy mountain roads in search of a fresh track, Nathan describes various aspects of being a modern houndsman: from dog-work to being a good example, selective harvest and seasons based around wildlife management. We hear about his hounds traveling long distances, finding den trees, and a wildcat encounter in a rock hole. Of course a major part of any hunt is the food it provides and thus we talk of bear roasts, pies, meat handling and uses for rendered bear fat. And that's just about when we find a track! The dog box is thrown open and the howling dogs are cut loose into the cold mountains. While they lose the track in melted snow, we end up bushwhacking a thousand feet down a ridge to a bear in a tree where Nathan's hounds have joined another hunting party and Jacob [from Part I] successfully tags out on a beautiful he-bear. From the mountains to the workshop, we come together around the Griffin family hearing from both brothers, a wife & their father about butchering, cooking and this truly American folkway. Reading from Fourty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter by Meshach Browning. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Jacob Griffin is a life-long houndsman, bear hunter and turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. This is the first of a two-part podcast series recorded in the field with the Griffin brothers as we drove up back mountain, forest roads covered in snow and ice in pursuit of bears. After a reading of Abraham Lincoln's 1846 poem, "The Bear Hunt," we jump right into it, hearing how the dogs work including his fearless mountain feist, Pete, who recently was nearly killed by a bear. Jacob summarizes an exciting lifetime of dog injuries, harrowing bear encounters, and a pile of destroyed trucks. We hear how meaningful this Appalachian folkway & tradition is to the Griffin family, including how the old timers did it before modern GPS technology. Moving on to felines, we discuss large cat tracks we've found and regional panther-lore. As we finally reach our remote starting point, Jacob tells a haunting story of a paranormal scream he heard in that exact location which opens up talk of finding abandoned graveyards as well as signs of people hiding out in this mountain fastness. Let the hunt begin! To be continued... Reading of The Bear Hunt by Abraham Lincoln Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Doug Wood is a West Virginia living historian portraying the life of the eastern woodland American Indians. After a reading about bear hunting & raccoon trapping with Mohawks in 1755, Doug describes how a historical trail project mixed with his own Cherokee ancestry got him interested in representing the lives of the various woodland Indians of the 18th-century. We begin on captive-taking practices and West Virginia being abandoned by the time of European arrival, yet remaining as a hunting ground for more northern tribes. Then we shoot right into the details of the hunting & trapping methods of these woodland Indians as described in historical first-hand accounts: excursions of 100s-of-miles for furs & skins; uses of bear grease; catching beavers before Europeans' metal traps; deer stalking in buck hides; fire rings; smoking bears out of dens; a Cherokee bear hunting song; dogs for the chase & for food; pet raccoons, parrots & a caged bear; eating box turtles & toads; bird snaring; and finally, Doug shares a childhood story about the Indian practice of fishing with black walnut hulls. Intermixed throughout are side tangents about: pictographs on trees as a way to relay information such as the outcome of a raid; buffalo in West Virginia; Doug's uncanny memories; and visiting significant historical places. Reading from An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Colonel James Smith; 1755-1759 by James Smith Check out Doug's schedule of living history events at appalachianlivinghistory.com Archival Native American [Seneca, Iroquois, & Chippewa] music thanks to Drumhop.com Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Harrison Idol is a sportsman, fly fisherman, Army officer and budding antiquarian currently building up his collection of antique sporting books, in Ellicott City, Maryland. After a reading from The Compleat Angler written in 1653 about fly tying & trout, Harrison opens on growing up on his family's generational tobacco farm in North Carolina. While inspired by vintage sporting aesthetics, Harrison boldly embarked on an impressive collection of antique fishing & hunting books dating back to the 15th-century. From Ancient Rome to the medieval, we hear of Dame Juliana Berner's 1420 treatise - the first English book on fishing - which introduces angling not solely as a means to acquire food, but as a contemplative art loaded with Christian symbolism. A prayer, a 350+-year-old trout recipe, an unlikely collaboration between men of vice & virtue; pike folklore; and historical rod & tackle materials; Harrison's collection culminates with a leather bound, time worn copy of the famous 17th-century instructional fishing narrative, The Compleat Angler. Bringing this episode into the spirit of the autumnal season, we end on a hunting ghost story from Harrison's old family farm. Reading from The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton. Follow Harrison on Instagram @idol.hour Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Simeon England is a blacksmith, traditional flintlock hunter, and living historian portraying the 18th-century frontiersmen, scouts and longhunters of Kentucky. We start this living history episode about the daily lives of the colonial longhunters [1760s-1770s] who set out from Virginia & North Carolina, with readings of first-hand accounts about beavers and salt licks. From their hunting methods to their frontier camps we discuss topics such as: tomahawks; boiling salt; hide work; backcountry blacksmithing; traps; horses; dogs; wolves; a slippery elm cure for peeling feet; deer & bear hunting; and buffalo traces. There's learning from books & then there's learning from doing, as Simeon shares some lessons learned from hunting with period gear & flintlock rifles. We hear of Simon Kenton's harrowing experiences running the gauntlet while captured by natives and conclude on a sort of reverence for the craftsman's raw, natural materials [that perhaps we have lost in our age of fast & cheap mass manufacturing]. Readings from The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina by William Byrd and by A Tour of the United States of America by JFD Smyth. Check out Simeon England's blacksmithing at SimeonEngland.com. Follow him on Instagram & watch his Townsends Longhunter living history features. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Fair Lawn Farm's 18th-Century Trades Fair is an annual living history trades encampment in bucolic Highland County, Virginia, featuring artisans affiliated with the likes of Colonial Williamsburg, The Frontier Culture Museum, The Smithsonian and Townsends. For this in-the-field episode, we will be touring the tents, hearing from a dozen craftsmen-&-women about their historical trades ranging from gunsmithing & engraving, to powder horn making & woodworking. Topics discussed: Indian trade silver; gorgets; tin as 18th-century plastic; how to be an American peddler; the itinerant green-woodworker; bread-baking with "baker's match;" natural dyes made from wood shavings; historical uses of animal fats such as bear grease, deer & cow tallow; powder horns and the origin of scrimshaw folk art; casting lead ammunition; Fort Seybert's annual fort burning festival; the surveyor's compass & the white man's flies; acanthus scrollwork & self-taught gunmaking mastery; and last and most importantly, the potential for a craft revival as the antidote to the AI Revolution. Till next year! Check out the Fair Lawn Farm events page at visitFairLawnFarm.com The Craftsmen-&-women in order: Tim Duff - Farm Owner/Event Organizer Mitch Yates - Gunsmith/Silversmith Stone House History - Bodger & WifeSimeon England - Engraver/BlacksmithMark Thomas - Engraver/GunsmithDavid Ray Pine - Woodworker/Furniture MakerSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Simon Whitehead is an English ferreter, professional rabbit manager, traveling game fair demonstrator and author, living & working out of his van in the United Kingdom. After readings about ferreting through the ages from Ancient Rome to Victorian England, we open with Simon painting a picture of a traditional British ferreting rabbit hunt with nets, spades, lurchers [rabbit coursing dogs] and a box of ferrets. We hear of the UK's highly invasive, non-native common rabbit; the modern culture's feelings on hunting & eating wild game; and the need to control the damage of farmers' fields and urban infrastructure. Turning to history we discuss the medieval ferreting of the peasants opening conversations about poaching and class. Getting back to this charming domesticated mustelid, we touch on: working ferrets vs pets, handling, and what happens when one gets stuck down in a warren. We end on stories of digging out ferrets with historical newspaper clippings about hunters found dead in rabbit holes... Check out Simon's book, Pugs & Drummers: A Ferreter's Fable and follow him on Instagram and YouTube. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Terri Conroy is an Irish herbalist, homesteader, and YouTuber under the name Danu's Irish Herb Garden in Connemara, Ireland. After a reading from Irish mythology about reincarnation during the founding invasions of Ireland, we begin with Terri describing the dramatic landscape & how the likes of her family, subsistence farmed along the windy coastline, cutting turf in the bogs for their winter's heating. For her first numinous story, she tells of a mysterious night in her youth, when without the cottage window she heard enchanting fairy music. Of course fairies open up folk-mythic conversations about the Tuatha dé Danann, the gods and goddesses of Irish mythology: the salmon of knowledge, fairy trees, Dian Cécht the healing god, and family anecdotes about the fairies in the fields and the ragged ghosts along the roads, ghosts who hearken back to the devastating mid-19th-century potato famine. From there, we hear about the Celtic holidays of the year, highlighting the upcoming summer festival of harvest, sports and crafts, Lughnasadh. We end by ruminating on connecting to one's roots, plant journeys, and the Irish mother goddess, Danu. Check out Terri's YouTube channel, Danu's Irish Herb Garden and find out more at her website, Danusirishhergarden.com. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Russ Williams is a Welsh blogger & the author of Where the Folk; A Welsh Folklore Roadtrip from Caernarfon, Wales. After readings about the Cŵn Annwn [a mythological pack of otherworldly hunting hounds], we open our conversation on Welsh identity with the preservation of their Celtic language along with tidbits of history and local foods such as the lunch meal of the miners, the Welsh oggie. Jumping into Russ' book on the folkways and lore of Wales we hear about: the macabre horse skull costume known as the Mari Lwyd; a mermaid sex-slave; a tourist town banking on the legend of Gelert the Dog killed by his own master; and finally the epic Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh mythology. For his own uncanny story, Russ takes us out of his homeland to the streets of Bangkok where he was outwitted by a fortuneteller. We bring it back around on more canine folklore and a travel tip for Eryri National Park, formerly known as Snowdonia. Reading from the Mabinogion translated by Lady Charlotte Guest. Check out Russ' book Where the Folk; A Welsh Folklore Roadtrip. And learn more about him at RussWilliams.org Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Oliver Lavery is an English mythologist, folklorist, traveling professional storyteller, and host of The Story Crow YouTube channel from Wiltshire County, England, the home of Stonehenge. For this summer solstice special, our return guest describes our recent trip to Avebury, Britain's largest Neolithic complex with its stone circles, village-sized henge [ditch], passage graves and giant manmade mound. First we've got to know, who built these mysterious megaliths & ancient earthworks; and for what purpose? Oliver shares a psychedelic vision he had during the annual solstice festivities that correlates with recent metaphysical theories that the stone circles assist the spirits of the dead. With the many burial mounds scattered across the landscape, we hear of uncanny sights & senses while camping amongst them along the ancient Ridgeway Trail. We conclude the highlights of mysterious Avebury with the largest prehistoric artificial mound in Europe, Silbury Hill. From there we muse on crop circles; hallucinogenic goblins; the similarity between bards & shamans; and finally, a little local lore from Wiltshire. Check out Oliver's Story Crow YouTube Channel and follow his van-life Instagram @The_Folk_Bus Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Dom Flemons, aka The American Songster, is a Grammy-award winning, founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, as well as a solo Piedmont blues, folk, and old-time musician and historian/scholar of American music residing in Chicago, Illinois. After a reading from the memoir of a 19th-century black cowboy, we begin by hearing how folk music, with a focus on the African American contribution, transformed as it migrated with the people from the rural south to the northern cities. From there we dissect three folk instruments: the rhythm bones, stone mason jugs, and washboards with musical examples of each. Dom's early interest in history and literature led the way to his pioneering Black Cowboys Smithsonian Folkways album. He describes his research into this forgotten chapter of American history and his collecting of folk stories & cowboy poems. We come to an end on this musical episode with a haunting story about playing a song at the graves of an influential African American family band. Reading from The Life and Adventures of Nat Love by Nat Love. Check out Dom Flemon's website, follow him on Instagram @domflemons and check his upcoming tour dates. Music by Dom Flemons "Old Chisholm Trail" Written & Performed by Dom Flemons "Rabbit Foot Rag" Written & Performed by Dom Flemons "John Henry y los vaqueros" Written & Performed by Dom Flemons "Ol' Proc" Performed by Dom Flemons "Snowden's Jig (Genuine Negro Jig)" Written & Performed by Carolina Chocolate Drops "It's Cold Inside" Written & Performed by Dom Flemons Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Laura Stotts is a North Carolina photographer, genealogist, and writer known as Diary of Abandonment, dedicated to the lost histories of abandoned houses. We begin with her recent preservation work, a field day chinking a cabin at the world's largest collection of log structures. Then we're in the deep end as Laura shares her moving life story, from her trials of addiction & hopelessness to finding a divine calling & a meaningful connection to God, a journey of healing paved with synchronicities that involved abandoned places, saving the life of an elderly veteran and the funeral of a Tuskegee Airman lost since WWII. From there we get into the rubble and hear about her adventures exploring abandoned houses: from booby-traps; to an unhinged & armed landowner; to an ominous basement; and a haunting story about finding a stack of WWII letters between sons at war and their mother & wives at home. We come to an end of this subtly gothic episode, hearing of numinous dreams in which Laura's grandparents delivered important encouragement about her role as the family historian, furthering her appreciation for the difficult lives of her ancestors. Check out Laura's website Diary of Abandonment and follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Donna La Pré is an esotericist and biodynamic farmer who under the name Tender Flower creates potent perfumes and natural skincare products in her home workshop in Rappahannock County, Virginia. On this highly esoteric exploration of unseen worlds through an Anthroposophic lens, Donna begins by introducing the 19th-century Austrian clairvoyant, Rudolf Steiner & his wisdom path known as Anthroposophy. We deep dive into topics such as: primitive clairvoyance; Christ as the living power of love; the physical, astral, and etheric bodies; reincarnation; and natural rhythms as the antidote to the negative effects of our hyper-technological world. Artificial Intelligence and the creepiness of transhumanism shifts the conversation to the deceptive, materialistic, coldly intellectualistic entity Steiner called Ahriman whose aim is to harden our souls and halt human evolution. For the last third we get into the elementals, the entities of the natural world known in world folklore as fairies, dwarves, elves, undines, and the likes. Donna ends with three enchanting tales of how she has tangibly experienced the elementals, from building a community-healing urban garden to the etheric medicine emanating from a holly tree. Check out Tender Flower and follow Donna on Instagram. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Phoenix Aurelius is a modern day alchemist & founder of the Phoenix Aurelius Research Center [specializing in spagyric medicine] tucked away in the mountains of Webster County, West Virginia. On this esoteric excursion into the mind of an alchemist, we open on the four dimensions of our multi-dimensional reality: the physical, the astral, the causal, and the spiritual. From there we delve into the history and teachings of Paracelsus, the 16th-century alchemist & physician, exploring topics such as: fire-water-air-earth; sulfur-mercury-salt as the soul-spirit-body of any material; life-death-rebirth and reaching immortality in the laboratory; the difference between herbalism & spagyria; and the historical alchemists' fixation on generating gold. Phoenix then describes in vivid detail the recipe for creating the legendary Philosopher's Stone, that if ingested, according to lore, brings everlasting life! Following is a wild story about a FBI phone call & the death of a fellow alchemist. After thoughts & impressions on past-lives, dwarves, and Carl Jung's alchemical psychology, Phoenix shares a potent story about his near-death experiences as a kid with lucid visions of ancestors & the lobby of heaven. Pop open your bubbling lab flask & take a huge swig of this mind-bending sonic elixir! Learn more about Phoenix, his spagyric products & research at PhoenixAurelius.org Music by BAILE "Follow" Written & Performed by BAILE & Ellyn Woods "Intro" Written & Performed by BAILE "Diner" Written & Performed by BAILE "Dent" Written & Performed by BAILE Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Dan Wells Ph.D. is a scholar of American religious history, consulting faculty at Duke Divinity School, Methodist pastor, and hunter outdoorsman in Muskingum County, Ohio. On this episode focused on the Christian God & wild snake handling churches of Appalachia, we begin with a haunting story about Dan's ancestors' old home-place. Back-&-forth, we share experiences about our Christian upbringings, early skepticisms on the likes of hypocrisy and the problem of evil, followed by Dan's religious calling as an intellectual pursuit. From there we're into the serpents, as Dan describes his first-hand experiences at a Kentucky snake church, diving into the history, beliefs, deaths and legal restrictions of these Appalachian serpent handling practitioners opening conversations about martyrdom & sainthood, the Hopi snake dance, Biblical snake symbolism, and rattlesnake catch-&-release hunting. For there we bring together Christianity and reverence for nature through the teachings of the early desert fathers and mystics. We end on dreams and a hunting story as an allegory for God's fatherly protection over his spiritual children. Reading from Foxfire 7: "The People Who Take Up Serpents" by Elliot Wigginton Learn more about Dan at DrDanWells.com Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

William Hess-Martin of Venatic Opus is a writer, hunter, artist and Jungian in Southern Quebec, Canada. On this Jungian walkabout, we explore a handful of the ideas of Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, as they relate to hunting. After Jungian readings about hunting taboos & ritual in native cultures, we begin with musings on Canada, America, Europe, Catholicism and Protestantism all leading to St. Hubert [the patron saint of hunters] for a discussion about the symbology, history and legend of the saint's conversion before the divine stag. From Hubert's stag to William's buck, we hear the story of William's first whitetail hunt and what that meant for him opening conversations on instincts, the search, and the numinous. Through the symbol of the white deer, William dives into Carl Jung's study of alchemy as a metaphor for personal transformation, a combining of the material with the spiritual; including the Greek myth of the huntress Atalanta appearing in an alchemical text from the 1600's. Then we're on to the fantastical unicorn of medieval legend & lore with William beautifully describing the famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries with their Edenic forests, hounds, huntsmen, and the pure-hearted virgin. We end this Jungian trek on the most Jungian topic possible...the interpretation of dreams, and hunting dreams no less! Reading from Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales and Interpretation of Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz. Check out William's Instagram and Venatic Opus blog. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Dr. Scott Yarbrough, PhD is a professor of English at Charleston Southern University, as well as the host of two literary podcasts, Reading McCarthy & Great American Novel out of Charleston, South Carolina. This episode is dedicated to the hunting novella, The Bear by America's 20th-century literary master, William Faulkner. After a reading, we begin with Faulkner's biography as Scott describes the major themes within his writing: the southern gothic push back to the over-romanticization of the old south; race & the aftermath of slavery; time & history; and the tension between loving & hating where one comes from. Then we turn to a discussion, synopsis & analysis of The Bear, Faulkner's coming-of-age novella about a boy's hunting camp as they search for a dog powerful enough to bay the mythic bear, Old Ben, that haunts a 100-square miles of Mississippi wilderness that soon will vanish under the logger's ax. Woven throughout are conversations about: the evolution of language; writers that hunt; "toxic masculinity;" bear symbolism; the wildness within; Scott's rural upbringing; city-dwellers appreciating southern literature; and last but not least, William Faulkner's feist dogs! Reading from Big Woods: The Hunting Stories by William Faulkner. Check out Scott's podcasts, Reading McCarthy and Great American Novel Podcast. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

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 Armitage Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

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 Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music "Initiation to Dionysus Cult, or Pendulum" Written & Performed by Theodore Koumartzis & Evagoras Bekiaris Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music "Upon the High Mountain" Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music "Little Sea" Written & Performed by Christiana Papakosta Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music "Odyssey" Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out