Ben Haggarty is one of the world's leading contemporary storytellers, who creates and performs work inspired by international fairy tale, myth and epic. His deep research into ancient stories and cultures also led to the graphic novel series MeZolith with artist Adam Brockbank. Starting from this stone age horror project, we explore all sorts of questions surrounding research and telling (and re-telling) of traditional narrative. Since the age of stone and bone the storyteller has straddled the worlds seen and unseen, giving voice to tales hoary with age, tales that have been revived time and time again by countless mouths and minds before, remade, refound, rediscovered, remembered. Ben Haggarty's website www.benhaggarty.comMeZolith - Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares Book 1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8100001-mezolith?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ZXbd...MeZolith - Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares Book 2https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276075-mezolith-book-2MeZolith artist Adam Brockbank's website https://www.adambrockbank.com/Ben Haggarty’s training videoshttps://crickcrackclub.com/the-secret-art-of-the-storyteller/ REFERENCES Brothers Grimmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_GrimmMesolithic period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MesolithicAncient Technology Centre https://ancienttechnologycentre.comDoggerlandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoggerlandPyrite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyriteVedbek burial, Denmark https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=32656Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102324.Swamp_Thing_Vol_1Book: Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17669062-shamanBertolt Brecht https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_BrechtBook: Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_OvidQueen Eleanor of Aquitainehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_AquitaineThe Kalevalahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KalevalaLanguage of the birds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_the_birdsThe Nart Sagas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nart_sagaScythians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythians

Here begins a podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millennia.

We are happy to welcome back Jo Blake from episode #3 to talk about her upcoming project The Witness, based on the Gospel of Mary – a 5th century text that casts the teachings of Christ in a different light. Join us for this easter deep dive into gnostic gospels and buried knowledge. Jo Blake's websitehttps://www.jo-blake.co.uk Video trailer for The Witness https://vimeo.com/617003267 REFERENCESGospel of Mary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_MaryNew Testament Apocryphahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_apocryphaCarl Junghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_JungThe Red Bookhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Book_(Jung)Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe in Turkeyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göbekli_TepeTermahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terma_(religion)Hilma af Klinthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_KlintThe Sleeping Kinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_asleep_in_mountainKalevalahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KalevalaVäinämöinenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VäinämöinenQuetzalcoatlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuetzalcoatlSaint Sunnivahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunnivaGoddess Inannahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InannaMinoan Snake Goddesshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_snake_goddess_figurinesChakrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChakraNoushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NousGoddess Isishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsisAbraxashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbraxasGlastonburyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlastonburyBook: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves Lelouphttps://www.innertraditions.com/books/the-gospel-of-mary-magdaleneBook: The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity by Cynthia Bourgeaulthttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7986010-the-meaning-of-mary-magdalene

Does living psychedelically necessarily mean taking psychedelics? How does dream, poetry and art relate to psychedelic consciousness? How can you share psychedelic journeys and insights in a way that make them meaningful to others? Prepare to be advised by Amazonian shamans, visionary artist William Blake and the archetypal wise fool! REFERENCES The Unbearable Everything – Torgrim’s article about his ayahuasca experience https://www.mythopoesis.net/2020/04/12/the-unbearable-everything/ Eduardo Kohn interviewed at the World Science Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi66wFfOC-4 Book: How Forests Think https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17718835-how-forests-think The Eleusinian Mysteries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries Entheogens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen Devdutt Pattanaik https://devdutt.com/ Default mode network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network Shiva https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva Vishnu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu Theriomorph/Therianthropy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy Tryzub http://symboldictionary.net/?p=894 William Blake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake Book: William Blake vs. the World by John Higgs https://johnhiggs.com/books/william-blake-vs-the-world/ Hilma af Klint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilma_af_Klint Book: The Alphabet vs the Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image by Leonard Shlain https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/455992.The_Alphabet_Versus_the_Goddess Set and setting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_and_setting The Princess who always had to have the last word – folktale from this collection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Folktales

Dominic Kelly is a performance storyteller who has ventured deep into the vast landscape of stories that surround the Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn – so much so that he cycled around Ireland to see all the mythical places found in the Táin, sometimes called Ireland’s National Epic or the Irish Iliad.We speak about engaging with myth, how stories like the Táin have the potential to ground us in reality, and if there’s a value to violence told well. Tickets for The Hero Light at Ulverston's Coronation Hall on 17th march 2022https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-hero-light-furness-tradition-tickets-245923242037 Dominc Kelly’s blog about cycling the Táinhttps://dominickelly.wordpress.com/2015/06/16/cycling-the-tain-the-ulster-cycle-on-wheels-part-1/ Dominic Kelly’s websitehttp://dominickelly.eu Folklore of Birds Twitter feed by Dominic Kellyhttps://twitter.com/birdsfolklore REFERENCES The Táin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Táin_Bó_CúailngeUlster cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_CycleFenian cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_CycleMythological cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythological_CycleCú Chulainn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cú_ChulainnFionn mac Cumhaill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_CumhaillSaint Patrick’s Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_DayThe Morrígan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Morr%C3%ADganAsterixhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AsterixThe sacred bull https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_bullMinoan religion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_religionCeltic otherworld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_OtherworldAos Sí https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%ADLugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LughTuatha Dé Danann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_Dé_DanannPeter Brook’s Mahabharata https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mahabharata_(play)Jiddu Krishnamurti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti

"All of the drama of divination serves to move the participants out of their normal modes of thinking, shaking them up in order to change their minds because their current understanding of the situation is inadequate."February 25th 2022 sees the premiere of a brand new collaboration between performance storyteller Mikael Öberg and butoh artist KAI-EN: HRIST – an act of divination. We investigate the ingredients and inspirations for this performance and learn about butoh, Norse Mythology, divination practices and the search for the alive-space in between.(Divination quote from Philip M. Peek, African Divination Systems) HRIST event https://www.facebook.com/events/350993973186278?active_tab=aboutKAI-EN Butoh Company website www.kai-enbutoh.seKAI-EN Butoh Company FB-page https://www.facebook.com/KAIENBUTOHCOMPANY REFERENCES Tatsumi Hijikatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatsumi_HijikataYoko Ashikawa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb7nSr8BnGs&t=71sSU-EN Butoh Company https://www.suenbutohcompany.netBook: Divination – Perspectives for a New Millennium, edited by Patrick Curry https://www.routledge.com/Divination-Perspectives-for-a-New-Millennium/Curry/p/book/9781138268210#Book: African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing, edited by Philip M. Peek https://iupress.org/9780253206534/african-divination-systems/Book: The Visible and the Invisible by Maurice Merleau-Ponty https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203348.The_Visible_and_the_Invisible

Our guest Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is a historian of religion and founder of the project Nordic Animism. His PhD "The Stick and the Calabash“ is a result of extensive anthropological research of the Brazilian Candomblé tradition and of how the archetypal energies of gods are manifested there. We talk about trance and possession, conspiracy theories, and modern society’s loss of a subjective relationship with the forces of the world. And underneath it all we ask the question - what exactly is a god and how do you build it? Nordic Animism https://nordicanimism.com Nordic Animism Patreon https://www.patreon.com/nordicanimism Nordic Animism Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/Runehr Nordic Animism Youtube: The Phallus and the Wild Goddess-video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVNKvwobHDI&t=1106s REFERENCES THE QUOTE READ IN THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODERune Hjarnø Rasmussen: ”Defining mythology as symbolism is reductionist in two senses:1) it shortcuts that slightly too long discussion about how mythology relates to reality in order to uphold and perpetuate a distinctly modern epistemology that interiorizes religious meaning.2) it is therefore wildly Eurocentric and sees any religious reality from the symbolic perspective because of the compatibility with modern perception and therefore occludes that in most animist, or even religious, perceptions symbolism is only one out of a whole range of devices used to relate to non-human subjects and produce reality.”John Dominic Crossan: ”My point is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.”Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen: ”My point would be that those ancient peoples did not tell symbolic stories that people are now unfortunately so dumb that they take literally. But rather that they told them literally and that we are now dumb enough to need symbolicism to understand them rather than try to grasp the infinitely complex and exquisitely attuned realities that they express." Candombléhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candomblé Orisha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orisha Mana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana Megin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megin Fetishism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetishism The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_of_Reality

Descriptions of rituals in the Poetic Edda meet mediterranean mystery religions and Carlos Castañeda! We are joined by Norwegian author Maria Kvilhaug for a fascinating talk about her discovery of The Maiden With the Mead - a goddess of initiation in Old Norse mythology. Starting out as a master dissertation in history of religions, The Maiden With the Mead will be published in an updated and expanded book version in 2022.  Maria Kvilhaug’s Patreon https://www.patreon.com/MariaKvilhaug  Website/blog https://bladehoner.wordpress.com  Publishing company: The Three Little Sisters https://the3littlesisters.com/shop/?swoof=1&post_type=product&authorname=maria-kvilhaug  REFERENCES Hyndluljod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyndluljóð Poetic Eddahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda Krishnahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna Helgi Hjervardssonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helgakviða_Hjörvarðssonar Rigvedahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda Somahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(drink) Disirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%ADs Garudahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda Mead of Poetry storyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead_of_poetry Sigrdrífumálhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigrdr%C3%ADfumál Heimdallhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimdall Hypnagogiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia Eleusishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries Herodotushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus Hyperboreahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperborea Deloshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos Temple of Artemishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis Goddess Isishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis Vanirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir Seidrhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiðr Metamorphosis (Story of Lucius)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass Mithraismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism Kykeonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kykeon King Amangong and the Maidens of the Wellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elucidation Toltechttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toltec Carlos Castanedahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda Quetzalcoatlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl Ránhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rán Helhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel_(location) Haustlönghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haustlöng

At this time of year, when pork will be served on many a holiday plate, we turn our attention to the pig - an animal both loved and loathed since ancient times. What are its mythological connections?Join us in the divine muck, where we encounter kings and goddesses from Greek and Norse Mythology, as well as Celtic Druids and a fearsome ghost pig from the Swedish midwinter forests. REFERENCESGlosonhttps://burialsandbeyond.com/2020/01/02/the-gloson-demon-ghost-pig-of-sweden/ Year WalkArticle by Tommy Kuusela: ”He met his own funeral procession: the Year Walk ritual in Swedish folk tradition” https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:944806/FULLTEXT01.pdf Carnivalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival Baba Yagahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga Frau Holle (also ’the two sisters’-type of story)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frau_Holle The World (Tarot card)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_(Tarot_card) Hyndluljod (The Lay of Hyndla from the Poetic Edda)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyndluljóð The river Lethehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethe Odysseushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus Circehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe

”Flowers become flesh becomes bird…” The first guest on our show is Jo Blake, a performer working across the disciplines of storytelling, theatre and dance. She has written a PhD about her project of unearthing the mythological character Blodeuwedd (flower-face/owl) from the depths of the Mabinogion - a medieval Welsh text regarded as one of the oldest and most complete repositories of British Celtic Myth. We talk about mythic ambiguity, female trickster figures and the importance of making the wrong choice...among many other  things! Jo Blake’s website https://www.jo-blake.co.uk Video trailer for Jo's performance Blodeuwedd Untoldhttps://vimeo.com/303024064 Pdf about Jo’s storytelling course Body, Breath & Storyhttps://ce0d3962-23fd-4385-84a5-f1c07de41738.filesusr.com/ugd/271cc3_bb1025dfbe46464c80210844a66a569... REFERENCESFour Branches of the Mabinogi (Blodeuwedd is in the Fourth Branch)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Branches_of_the_Mabinogi Robert Blyhttps://robertbly.com Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum LWA (Vodou)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lwa The sword from the lakehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake Snorri’s Eddahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda Voluspahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Völuspá In the Beginning was the Scream by Henning Kurehttps://www.academia.edu/8766740/In_the_beginning_was_the_Scream_Conceptual_thought_in_the_Old_Norse... Ben Haggarty on commentary - Extract 3: The Storyteller’s Grammarhttps://crickcrackclub.com/the-secret-art-of-the-storyteller/ Book: Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaportahttps://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/sand-talk Odin on the world treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil Book: Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hydehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56450.Trickster_Makes_This_World Carl Junghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung Numinoushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numinous Book: The Soul’s Code by James Hillman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/970831.The_Soul_s_Code Torgrim Mellum Stene's poem The Fallhttp://www.mythopoesis.net/2021/02/14/the-fall/?fbclid=IwAR2WQav06n8Zqy5GlVdWKf5tZo2gqhvwVg_sxeVLJBd... Marie-Louise von Franzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Louise_von_Franz