Our Numinous Nature artwork

Our Numinous Nature

91 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago -

Our Numinous Nature is a traveling podcast in search of profound stories focused on regional flora & fauna, folklore & history with a penchant for the mysterious. We’ll be hearing from folks with a deep connection to the land, from herbalists to hunters, folk artists, paranormal investigators, & living historians. The hope is to reach the soul of these people & places through tales of profundity & awe. Find a comfy log and join us at the sonic campfire. 

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Episodes

MUSIC OF THE SUMMER MOUNTAIN FARM: BUKKEHORNS, MILKMAIDS & HULDRE-FOLK | Musician | Sissel M. Gullord

March 21, 2024 09:00 - 1 hour - 67.7 MB

Sissel Morken Gullord is a Scandinavian musician and singer living on a farm in Biri, Norway. We begin this enchanting musical episode by heading up to the saeter - the summer mountain farm - to hear the instruments, songs, and herding calls of the bygone milkmaids and shepherds, starting with the bukkehorn [goat horn]. Sissel describes how they're made and how livestock reacts to both the horn and a whimsical style of calling called kulning [or hujing in Norwegian]. We hear the blasting of ...

DROOP MOUNTAIN ARTIFACTS, GHOSTS & FOSSILS + A TURTLE PARTY | Park Superintendent | Mike Smith

March 07, 2024 11:00 - 2 hours - 93.2 MB

Mike Smith is the former superintendent of Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, as well as an artifact & fossil enthusiast and traditional bow hunter, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. We begin with his time at Droop Mountain, metal detecting under old oak trees and recounting the regional Civil War history. He tells of park visitors' many ghost experiences and significant archeological finds, such as three boys stumbling upon a Confederate rifle in the steep woods. We turn the pages of...

OLD TIME BEE HUNTERS, COON HUNTERS & A WORK HEARSE | Beekeeper | Kevin Malcomb

February 19, 2024 10:00 - 1 hour - 79.9 MB

Kevin Malcomb is a beekeeper, former coon-hunter, welder, and mechanic in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. After a reading about the old frontier profession of the bee hunter, Kevin describes both his own & old time methods of Appalachian beekeeping: traditional "bee gum" hives; keeping ants out; catching feral swarms with a shotgun; how to hunt for wild bee trees from water sources; bee trapping; hive threats such as warm winters, mites, hornets, insecticides, & wax moths. We move on to hi...

POE PART II: THE BLACK CAT & OTHER TALES OF MYSTERY & THE MACABRE | Curator | Chris Semtner

February 01, 2024 11:00 - 1 hour - 69.3 MB

Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. In Part II of our Edgar Allan Poe podcast, we begin with an archival recording of "The Black Cat." Then we pick back up where we left off, with "the imp of the perverse” and exploring the psychology of the criminal mind through his villainous characters. After describing a prophetic scene about shipwreck & cannibalism from Poe's only novel, Chris explains the literary genres beyond horror that Poe...

POE PART I: VIRGINIA'S RAGGED MOUNTAINS & EDGAR ALLAN'S UPBRINGING | Curator | Chris Semtner

January 18, 2024 11:00 - 1 hour - 69 MB

Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "A Tale of The Ragged Mountains," we hear part I of Chris' interview on Poe's life, opening on the most poetic topic in the world, the death of a beautiful woman. From there, we get biographical with Poe's upbringing: The Great Dismal Swamp; boyhood on the James River; Charlottesville's Ragged Mountains; the museum's courtyard garden; his wealthy foster family ...

AN ENGLISH CHRISTMAS FEAST: PLUM PUDDING, HOLLY & THE GREEN KNIGHT

December 22, 2023 11:00 - 56 minutes - 38.5 MB

For this holiday special we begin with a traditional English Christmas feast as described by a family friend, highlighting a strange historical black dessert called a plum pudding or simply a Christmas pudding. Being topped with a holly sprig, we then learn the origins of some ancient plant-lore. But the meat of this sumptuous episode is a reading from a deeply mysterious and haunting, 14th-century Arthurian legend that takes place at a Christmas feast; one rudely interrupted by an axe-wield...

BJÖRNJÄGARE; A SWEDISH BEAR HUNTER | Professional Hunter | Rasmus Boström

December 08, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 74 MB

Rasmus Boström is a professional hunter & outdoor gear ambassador in Älvdalen, Sweden. After readings about Scandinavian bear hunting folklore & shape-shifting in the Old Norse sagas, we learn about a regional language & the area's hunting culture. From there it's hunting history with wolf-posse laws & bear spears. Rasmus then describes the Swedish brown bear & taking part in scat-gathering studies. After some background information about the modern bear hunt with hounds, he tells a harrowin...

VIKING METALWORK: DWARVES, BOG IRON & THOR'S HAMMER | Blacksmith | Philip Lufolk

November 27, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MB

Philip Lufolk is a blacksmith in Storvik, Sweden inspired by the archeology & mythology of Scandinavia. We begin on the role of the Viking blacksmith & how bog iron was processed.  Philip describes objects & jewelry that he forges based on historical artifacts: the seeress' völva staff; a charm known as a Thor's hammer; a landowner's Viking key; and oath rings inscribed with law. We switch to mythology with the tale of Mjölnir [Thor's hammer] & the rest of the gods' treasures, fashioned by t...

ICELANDIC FOLKLORE, SORCERERS & A SACRIFICIAL STONE | Museum Manager | Anna Björg

November 09, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 72.3 MB

Anna Björg Þórarinsdóttir is the manager of The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in The Westfjords region of Iceland.  We begin on the country's origins as a Viking settlement, followed by life in the traditional turf houses. From there we learn that belief in elves is still relevant today and how spirits in the land have shaped not only Icelandic legends, but the ethos. We hear of a nearby farm built over a heathen temple where an ominous Viking-era stone was discovered. In story fo...

THE VEILED MIRROR: VICTORIAN MOURNING, SECRET SOCIETIES & ABANDONED BUILDINGS | Antiquarians | Kath & Olivia

August 31, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 81.5 MB

Kathryn Parker & Olivia Lloyd are owners of The Veiled Mirror, an online store of antique jewelry & curiosities with a penchant for the romantic, dark and macabre based out of Richmond, Virginia. To start this tour of Victorian culture [1837-1901], we begin with a crafting fad, ornate floral wreaths made of human hair. From there we touch on mourning etiquette; the comical paraphernalia of secret society initiations; The Aesthetic Movement; showing off with a pineapple; & the accessories of ...

THE BESTIARY: A MEDIEVAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANIMALS REAL & FANTASTIC | Curator of Manuscripts | Beth Morrison

August 17, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 71.8 MB

Elizabeth "Beth" Morrison is a specialist in secular manuscript illumination & a senior curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.  On this long distance episode we begin with how medieval people made & illuminated manuscripts from the animal hides to the bone black ink.  From there we focus in on a medieval genre of book called a Bestiary, an encyclopedia of animals real and fantastic. We discuss their strange, sometimes shocking, often moralistic Christian ideas...

THE LOST ART OF THE DOG COLLAR + THE ST. BERNARD BARREL | Museum Curator | Claudia Pfeiffer

August 03, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 69.5 MB

Claudia Pfeiffer is the Deputy Director & Head Curator of the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Virginia. We begin on their recent exhibition about the art of the dog collar: a haunting cast from the eruption of Vesuvius; an ancient "Beware of Dog" mosaic; spiked collars & regal collars. Claudia describes some of the most striking paintings from the exhibition: a theatrical Amsterdam dog market; a mastiff baying a poacher; a lion hunt; & an allegory about the father of cynici...

REST IN PIECES; MACABRE ADVENTURES OF A CURIOSITIES COLLECTOR | Oddity Shopkeeper | Justin Torone

July 20, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 76.3 MB

Justin Torone is a curiosities collector & the co-owner of Rest In Pieces oddity shop in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading about the historical significance of cabinets of curiosity, Justin begins with lore from the cemetery across the street for his shop.  Then we get deep into methods for preserving animal bones: dermestid beetles; articulation; degreasing, maceration, boiling, & later, wet specimens. We find out who the shop's audience is and how they acquire their vintage taxidermy & s...

PAST LIFE REGRESSION & CONVERSATIONS WITH A HUNGRY GHOST | Medium | Carole Louie

July 06, 2023 10:00 - 2 hours - 98 MB

Carole Louie is a medium, past life regressionist, hypnotist, author, & director of THE CENTER-RVA in Richmond, Virginia. To ground this nearly psychedelic, often dark, most definitely mystical episode, we begin with the past-life research undertaken at the University of Virginia. From there Carole describes her own disturbing past-life memories which surfaced organically as flashbacks and became more fully realized through regression therapy. We muse on themes like earth school; inter-life ...

SHARP'S COUNTRY STORE: PIONEERS, BEE GUMS, & THE ORPHAN AT CLOVER LICK | Antique Dealer | Tom Shipley

June 16, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 66.2 MB

Tom Shipley is an antique dealer operating out of his family's 19th-century Sharp's Country Store in Slatyfork, West Virginia. Descending from one of the county's earliest pioneer families, we hear of the lives of Tom's ancestors & their many rich folkways: a Presbyterian boy orphaned by an Indian raid; beekeeping in "bee gums;" a bear trap; furs & ginseng; maple syrup camp; and making apple butter. Then Tom gets into the origin of the 1884 store, describing the wares of its day. A plethora ...

COLONIAL-ERA WOOL PRODUCTION + BUCKSKINS & HOG SLAUGHTERS | Museum Educator | Mary Kate Claytor

June 01, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 65.2 MB

Mary Kate Claytor is the Associate Director of Interpretation at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. After a bit of background about this unique living history museum, Mary Kate describes in detail wool production for a yeoman farmer in the 1600-1800's: starting with sheep shearing, wool washing, stale urine and lanolin, through to carding & combing, drop spindles & spinning wheels, historical & natural dyes, and finally ending on a fabric called linsey-woolsey. From there we ...

WEST VIRGINIA MINE WARS: COAL CAMPS, BLOODSHED & THE REDNECK ARMY | Museum Director | Mackenzie New-Walker

May 18, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 72.8 MB

Mackenzie New-Walker is the Executive Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, West Virginia. Having descended from a long line of miners, Mackenzie describes what life was like for the men, women & children in the oppressive coal company towns of the early 1900's: from how they recruiting their immigrant labor force to paying miners in substitute money called scrip; the private company guards aka "gun thugs" known as the Baldwin-Felts agents; to child labor and laundry day...

LIFE OF AN APPALACHIAN COAL MINER + SANG, MOONSHINE & THE BIBLE | Miner | Matt Frame

April 27, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 72.9 MB

Matt Frame is a coal miner, avid outdoorsman, & son of a Baptist preacher in Nicholas County, West Virginia. After a folkloric intro about mine-rats, we get into what life is like for both miners today & in Matt's grandfather's time: the machines; depression from the darkness; dogs hauling coal; the quiet killers "black damp" & "black lung;" losing three fingers & narrowly missing a ceiling collapse; the job-site latrine; finding fossils as large as trees; & a miner's soul. For the last thir...

UNDER THE WITCHING TREE + SPIRITS OF PLACE + ILL-OMNED LIGHTNING | Folk Herbalist | Corinne Boyer

April 13, 2023 11:00 - 1 hour - 77.8 MB

Corinne Boyer of Washington is a folk herbalist, teacher, and author of five books on traditional plant-lore & folk magic. While modern herbalism focuses on the healing & benevolent properties of plants, in this episode we explore the darker, more mysterious aspects that Corinne has found through tales of old. We begin on feeling & discerning spirits of place: in the woods, water, & rock quarries; their potentially malevolent nature; offerings to appease them; and trusting intuition & an enc...

TRAPPING TODAY: MAINE MUSTELIDS & ALASKAN SILENCE | Trapper | Jeremiah Wood

March 30, 2023 11:00 - 2 hours - 91.6 MB

Jeremiah Wood of Northern Maine is a state fisheries biologist, cattle farmer, trapper, author, & host of the Trapping Today podcast. We open on Jeremiah describing where he lives: the North Maine Woods; his desire to work the land & raise cattle; changes in the region's economy; and thoughts on growing up in such a rural area. From there we begin a focused conversation on the often vilified topic of trapping where we explore what it's all about & why to some, it's their lifestyle; from ethi...

THE CELTS: TALES OF GODS, DRUIDS & THE OTHERWORLD | Author of Ancient Studies | Philip Freeman

March 09, 2023 12:00 - 1 hour - 67.6 MB

Philip Freeman is a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. With a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Classical Philology and Celtic Languages & Literatures, he has authored over a dozen New York Times reviewed books on ancient & medieval studies. For this episode we stick to the Celtic world, starting at ancient Gaul [Celtic western Europe 2,000+ years-ago]: farming, warriors, head trophies, druids, sacred oak groves, human sacrifice, belief in reincarnation & ...

NORSE WOLF & VIKING PITS + MAINE MUSHING & ICE TALES | Musher | Bear Siragusa

February 23, 2023 12:00 - 2 hours - 102 MB

Barry "Bear" Siragusa is a former musher, a vet-tech & the host of The Hunting Hound podcast residing with his Norwegian wife, kids, & dogs in the snowy mountains of eastern Norway. On this long-distance correspondence we hear descriptions of the land, archeology & mythology of Norway: the Sámi people; moose, bears & wolves; Fenrir & the berserkers; a troll-like feeling in the woods; stave churches; & hunting over ancient Viking moose pits. Then we switch topics & head back to Bear's childho...

THE ILLEGAL TURTLE TRADE + HELLBENDERS & SALAMANDER LORE | Herpetologist | JD Kleopfer

February 09, 2023 12:00 - 1 hour - 74.7 MB

JD Kleopfer is the state herpetologist at Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources. We begin this herpetological extravaganza on the illegal turtle trade between the US & China, then move on to reptile & amphibian natural history: turtle eggs & their predators, hibernation [properly called brumation], Appalachia's legendary hellbenders, salamander folklore, poisonous newts, vernal pools, & how-to make good herp habitat in your yard. For his stories, JD tells of finding a state-endangered ...

RUSSIAN WOODS: WWII, THE MANSI, TIGERS & ABORIGINAL DOGS | Biologist | Vladimir Beregovoy

January 26, 2023 12:00 - 1 hour - 80.6 MB

Vladimir Beregovoy is a retired wildlife biologist, author, & breeder of aboriginal Laika hunting dogs, currently living in Buchanan, Virginia. We begin at the beginning, his childhood memories of WWII in the Russian countryside & his early love of the natural world which destined his career as a biologist, both in communist Russia & eventually, after emigrating, here in the United States. From there Vladimir gives an in-depth description about the time he spent with a family of native Mansi...

MY HEART'S IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS: STAGS, BOGS, & CROFTING | Deer Stalker | Megan Rowland

January 12, 2023 12:00 - 1 hour - 74.8 MB

Megan Rowland of Wayfaring Hind is a deer stalker, land manager, & crofter in the legendary Scottish Highlands. On this long-distance correspondence, we get a taste of Highland tradition, history, flora & fauna, such as: crofting, salt panning, the Picts, black pudding & haggis, peat bogs, working for an estate, red & roe deer, the last wolves & foraging. For her story, Megan describes how a Highland hunt would play out, a first-timer blood ritual, & her own experience from life-long vegetar...

19TH-CENTURY MEDICAL ODDITIES, GRAVE ROBBERS & A CHARRED VENUS | Curator | Dr. Jamie Day

December 30, 2022 12:00 - 2 hours - 85 MB

Dr. Jamie Day is a physics professor & the curator of the Monroe Moosnick Medical & Science Museum [a collection of 19th-century medical oddities & science equipment] at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. This morbid tour through the old cabinets leads us into trepanning, electrified corpses, syphilis, phrenology, grave robbing students, a mummified child, country doctors, folk medicine hairballs & much, much more. For his personal story, Jamie describes an unnerving find in the...

FROM THE DEEP DARK HILLS: MURDER BALLADS, WITCHES, HAINTS & DEVIL DOGS | Folk Artist | Mike Ousley

December 15, 2022 12:00 - 2 hours - 86.4 MB

Mike Ousley is an Appalachian folk artist & a natural storyteller from the deep, dark hills of Eastern Kentucky. We begin on country music, murder ballads, southern gothic literature & folk art. From there Ousley rattles off wild local lore: an exorcism, a resurrected witch, sitting up with the dead, the haint under Ol' Man Chester's house, "Burn 'em out" [a neighborly-feud phrase], coal towns, & black walnut necromancy. For story time Ousley recounts his own experiences with devil dogs & a ...

CAVE RESCUE & JOURNEYS INTO THE UNDERWORLD | Caver | Earl Suitor

December 01, 2022 12:00 - 2 hours - 92.4 MB

Earl Suitor, formerly a firefighter & EMT, is an avid caver & the current Eastern Region National Cave Rescue Commission Deputy Resource Section Chief in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We begin with why Appalachia's geology makes for good caving, then ruminate on the inherent mystery of caves, hear about the historical mining of bat guano, learn about fossils & ancient cat scratches, & the reasons behind secrecy in the caving community. In story form, Earl describes how a cave rescue plays ou...

CAVE RESCUE & JOURNEYS INTO THE UNDERWORLD | Caver | Earl Suitor

December 01, 2022 12:00 - 2 hours - 92.4 MB

Earl Suitor, formerly a firefighter & EMT, is an avid caver & the current Eastern Region National Cave Rescue Commission Deputy Resource Section Chief in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We begin with why Appalachia's geology makes for good caving, then ruminate on the inherent mystery of caves, hear about the historical mining of bat guano, learn about fossils & ancient cat scratches, & the reasons behind secrecy in the caving community. In story form, Earl describes how a cave rescue plays ou...

HORSES & HOUNDS + ST.HUBERT & ROYAL HUNTS | Master of Foxhounds | Dr. Rita Mae Brown

November 03, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 83.1 MB

Rita Mae Brown is a prolific New York Times bestselling author, and a master of foxhounds & huntsman with the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club in Afton, Virginia. We open on St. Hubert [patron saint of hunters & hounds], the old world occupation of royal huntsman, & get into modern - no kill - equestrian fox hunting. We hear examples of the fox's witty participation, learn some hound history, get insight into the formal wardrobe etiquette, and paint a picture of a day in the field. In the last sectio...

YOUR LORE: SPOOKED HUNTERS & HAUNTED HOUSES | Tales From The Listeners

October 30, 2022 11:00 - 59 minutes - 40.7 MB

On this Halloween bonus episode, we are trying something new! Instead of a guest, I read eerie stories submitted by podcast listeners. Your all's folklore! We've got a dozen tales from the likes of outdoorsmen, hunters, herbalists, and homesteaders on three dark & mysterious themes: supernatural events, ghosts & spirits, and haunted houses. You'll hear about unexplainable roars in the George Washington National Forest, whispers in Hell's Hollow, & an accidental suicide that not only haunts a...

ABANDONED LUNATIC ASYLUMS + A MIDWIFE'S APPARITION | Paranormal Investigator | Marty Seibel

October 20, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 86.6 MB

Mike Seibel is a Shenandoah Valley ghost-tour guide, history buff & founder of Black Raven Paranormal in Staunton, Virginia. This Halloween special begins on abandoned lunatic asylums from the 1800-1900's: what they were like in their time,  dark ideas of American eugenics, the local DeJarnette Sanitarium, and a story about Marty's paranormal investigation of the notoriously haunted Pennhurst Asylum. Then we get into more of his traveling investigations: a grisly axe-murder house, the appari...

STRANGE ENCOUNTERS IN THE MOUNTAIN STATE + THE WITCH'S GRAVE | Cryptid Correspondent | Les O'Dell

October 06, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 99.4 MB

Les O'Dell of Marion County, West Virginia is a paranormal investigator, cryptid enthusiast, & collector of strange stories from across his home state. For his second appearance on the podcast, we start lightheartedly on the the annual Mothman Festival then get into the famous regional cryptids & mysterious happenings we missed last time: The Flatwoods Monster, the awful Vegetable Man, Missing 411, calling to Big Foot in Pocahontas County, Dolly Sods UFO sightings, & even feral people.  For ...

GINSENG SEASON + HARD DRUGS IN SMALL TOWNS | Forest Farmer | Ed Daniels

September 22, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 86.1 MB

Ed Daniels of Shady Grove Botanicals is a ginseng forest farmer, root buyer, and herbal medicine maker in Randolph County, West Virginia. Ed gives us a glimpse into the intriguing international ginseng industry: the WV digging license, old timer ethics, meth-addict poachers, what the Asian market is looking for, farmed ginseng vs wild simulated. We hear of its cultural & medicinal value through anecdotes about a Korean preacher & locals who struggle with pharmaceutical opioid addiction, foll...

GINSENG SEASON + HARD DRUGS IN SMALL TOWNS | Forest Farmer | Ed Daniels

September 22, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 86.1 MB

Ed Daniels of Shady Grove Botanicals is a ginseng forest farmer, root buyer, herbal medicine maker in Randolph County, West Virginia. Ed gives us a glimpse into the intriguing international ginseng industry: the WV digging license, old timer ethics, meth-addict poachers, what the Asian market is looking for, farmed ginseng vs wild simulated. We hear of its cultural & medicinal value through anecdotes about a Korean preacher & locals who struggle with pharmaceutical opioid addiction, followed...

RURAL MAN-TRACKING + THE 45 & THE HOLY GHOST | Tactical Tracking Instructor | Mike Hull

September 08, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 81.2 MB

Mike Hull is a retired game warden, outdoorsman, special deputy, & the founder of Hull's Tracking School where he teaches man-tracking to law enforcement, search & rescue, & military organizations from his home in Nelson County, Virginia. Mike illustrates how to man-track by describing a handful of cases: the armed robbery of a rural post office; a questionable camper in The Shenandoah National Park; a serial burglar; followed by an encounter from his game warden days with backwoods moonshin...

FULL OF THE DEVIL: HATFIELDS & MCCOYS + A PENTECOSTAL EXORCISM | Museum Director | Jack Hatfield

August 25, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 78.9 MB

Jack Hatfield is the great-great-great-grandson of "Devil Anse" of the legendary Hatfield & McCoy feud, as well as the president & director of the Hatfield McCoy Foundation & Museum in Sarah Ann, West Virginia. We start in old Europe then hear of the feud's Civil War origins, The Logan Wildcats, the Hatfield timber company & mansion, an Appalachian Romeo & Juliette story, & of course, the notable murders through to the final slaughter. Then Jack talks about his calling to start the family mu...

HELL OR HIGH WATER IN EASTERN KENTUCKY: FLOOD, FOLKLORE & GOD | Outdoorsman | Stevie Holbrook

August 11, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 89.7 MB

Stevie Holbrook is an outdoorsman, backyard homesteader, painter, & deep-rooted Appalachian living amongst the aftermath of recent devastating floods in Letcher County, Kentucky. We begin with Stevie describing what the flood has been like for him & around his community, then expand into the plight of Appalachia as a whole. From there we transition into God, folkways, & folklore: superstitions around the dog days of summer & faith healing; haints & boogers; turtle buggin' & frog giggin'. Ste...

REINCARNATION: A PAST LIFE WITCH BURNING + A COMA LIFE REVIEW | Nature Whisperer | Lorri Bura

August 01, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 75.7 MB

Lorri Bura of Herb Mamma is an herbalist, organic medicinal herb farmer, nature whisperer & dare I say, something of a mystic tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We begin with how to raise one's vibrations, homeopathy, usnea, USDA organic poison ivy & St.John's wort in a sock. Then things starkly turn to the numinous with Lorri detailing her harrowing meditations on past-lives from an owl incarnation to a witch burning to WWII Poland. We then hear about her mystic i...

REINCARNATION: A PAST LIFE WITCH BURNING + A COMA LIFE REVIEW | Mystic | Lorri Bura

August 01, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 75.7 MB

Lorri Bura of Herb Mamma is an herbalist, organic medicinal herb farmer, nature whisperer & dare I say, something of a mystic tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We begin with how to raise one's vibrations, homeopathy, usnea, USDA organic poison ivy & St.John's wort in a sock. Then things starkly turn to the numinous with Lorri detailing her harrowing meditations on past-lives from an owl incarnation to a witch burning to WWII Poland. We then hear about her mystic i...

REINCARNATION: A PAST LIFE WITCH BURNING + A COMA LIFE REVIEW | Herbalist | Lorri Bura

August 01, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 75.7 MB

Lorri Bura of Herb Mamma is an herbalist, organic medicinal herb farmer, nature whisperer & dare I say, something of a mystic tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We begin with how to raise one's vibrations, homeopathy, usnea, USDA organic poison ivy & St.John's wort in a sock. Then things starkly turn to the numinous with Lorri detailing her harrowing meditations on past-lives from an owl incarnation to a witch burning to WWII Poland. We then hear about her mystic i...

OLD MAGIC + A MYSTICAL ABBESS + INTERDIMENSIONAL TRAVELERS | Occult Author | Rebecca Beyer

July 14, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 70.6 MB

Rebecca Beyer, aka "Blood & Spicebush," is a tattoo artist, hedgecraft practitioner, & occult author on witchcraft & folk magic, currently wild tending in the southern Appalachians of North Carolina. In this fun, sample platter episode we hear about broadleaf plantain folkways; ancestral roots; the ancient Gauls & the Celtic cult of the head; long hair; water witching; John Dee; witchcraft's beginnings; sympathy for the devil; and the life of a 12th-century German mystic & abbess named St. H...

IN THE LAND OF THE CHEROKEE + THE WARRIOR DANCE | Cultural Ambassador | Sonny Ledford

June 30, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 99.5 MB

Sonny Ledford is a bird-clan Cherokee, cultural ambassador, artisan, & Warrior of AniKituhwah hailing from the Qualla Boundary surrounding Cherokee, North Carolina. Instantly engrossing, Sonny describes his ancestral land, The Trail of Tears, guerrilla warfare & war paint. For his first story, we hear of a numinous performance of The Warrior Dance at Colonial Williamsburg. From there it's an immersion into the old ways: Sequoyah [inventor of the Cherokee syllabary]; fish & bear traps; blowgu...

THE BLACK POTTER + AN UGLY JUG NAMED SLAVE | Outsider Artist | Jim McDowell

June 16, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 79.1 MB

Jim McDowell, aka "The Black Potter," is a gallery-level, outsider artist in Weaverville, North Carolina working in the ceramic tradition of face jugs inspired by his enslaved African ancestors. In this passionate & electric episode we learn about what pottery was like in colonial & slave times: the spiritual side of African & voodoo pottery; utilitarian vessels on the plantation; digging clay & building kilns; face jugs [aka ugly jugs]; & a renowned, literate slave potter named David Drake....

METAPHYSICAL COUNTRY STORE + THE HORNED GOD, PAN | Folk Herbalist | Anh Stanley

June 02, 2022 11:00 - 2 hours - 101 MB

Anh Stanley is a folk herbalist, magick practitioner, & owner of PYRAMID: Appalachian Magick + Remedies in Waynesboro, Virginia. This spiritual smorgasbord of an episode begins with an exploration of the Greek god, Pan. Then it's off to the occult races as Anh speaks about the simplicity of rural folk magic, a brush with suicide, Buddhist wisdom, Jungian psychology, the tarot, the fae, prophetic dreams, & the horned god, Pan. Story time goes paranormal, as Anh shares strange encounters with ...

OLD TIME SUGAR HOUSE & THE SHERIFF OF HIGHLAND COUNTY | Maple Syrup Producer | Tim Duff

May 19, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 79.6 MB

Tim Duff is a maple syrup producer, farmer, flintlock gunsmith, powder horn-maker, & former sheriff in Highland County, Virginia [the southernmost commercial syrup producing region in America]. At his charming Fair Lawn Farms, Tim does everything the old way! In this episode he describes tapping trees & boiling syrup like it's the mid-1800's: wooden spiles, fire, cast iron kettles; a highlight being how the Native Americans produced their maple sugar. For story time, Tim tells a ghost story ...

ONE PATH THROUGH TIME: WW2, ETHIOPIAN SNIPE & A DRUNKEN WOODPECKER | Outdoorsman | Alex ter Weele

May 05, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MB

Alexander ter Weele is a Dutch-American outdoorsman, author, poet, & uncle to me, your podcast host. Born in Holland & having traveled to over 100 countries, the theme of this episode seems to be communication between vastly differing cultures: from hunting snipe with an Ethiopian village to sharing a meal with a Greek shepherd, all culminating in a harrowing childhood encounter at a Nazi checkpoint. In the second half of the podcast Alex shares two stories about the natural world, one about...

ONE PATH THROUGH TIME: WW2, ETHIOPIAN SNIPE & A DRUNKEN WOODPECKER | Outdoorsman | Alex ter Weele

May 05, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MB

Alexander ter Weele is a Dutch-American outdoorsman, author, poet, & uncle to me, your podcast host. Born in Holland & having traveled to over 100 countries, the theme of this episode seems to be communication between vastly differing cultures: from hunting snipe with an Ethiopian village to sharing a meal with a Greek shepherd, all culminating in a harrowing childhood encounter at a Nazi checkpoint. In the second half of the podcast Alex shares two stories about the natural world, one about...

SHENANDOAH: AN ANCIENT EFFIGY, ROWDY BOATMEN & THE FLOOD OF 1870 | River Outfitter | John Gibson

April 21, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MB

John Gibson is a world-traveled river outfitter on Virginia's bucolic Shenandoah River where thousands come to tube each summer. While her waters are shallow, her history runs deep. Between readings of the valley as a frontier, the great flood of 1870, & a legend of the river’s origin, John tells the Shenandoah’s journey through human habitation. He begins chronologically with a 10,000-year-old Paleo-indian site, followed by the commerce of rowdy 18th-century boatmen on unique flat bottomed ...

THE INVESTIGATION OF GHOSTS & THE ROUTING OF DEMONS | Paranormal Investigator | Linda Cassada

October 20, 2021 11:00 - 2 hours - 93 MB

Linda Cassada is a paranormal investigator with VAPI: Virginia Paranormal Investigations out of Hampton, VA on the Chesapeake Bay. With her grounded & unique Christian approach, we get straight to the brass tacks of residential paranormal investigation: fake ghost reality-TV; the equipment; folks reaching out for help; theories for what ghosts are; & how 90% of cases have natural & mundane explanations. It's the remaining 10% that enters the dark waters of infinite mystery, Linda describes c...