Radical Elphame

A podcast about The Otherworld, and the people who engage it. A journey through conversations with a wide array of thinkers, practitioners and writers. Join us as we delve into folklore, consciousness, witchcraft, and all the perennial mysteries that haunt and inspire us.

Fröja's Apples with Sara Bonadea George 01/21/2026

Animistic Astrology with Teagan West 01/07/2026

Animistic Astrology with Teagan West There may be no clearer gateway drug to magic in 2026 than astrology. You don’t need psychic abilities, or a spirit court, or a wider mystical philosophy to dabble in astrology. Just a birthday. I’ve always been a proponent of practical magic – the kind that helps you get stuff – not as an end goal, but as a necessary step, for many, in re-enchanting their minds. Astrology can do something similar, though, with merely a natal chart reading. What do the planets have to do with who I am? It doesn’t really matter why astrology can tell you about yourself; the power is in simply acknowledging the mystery. And for many, this is what astrology is for. It’s a tool for self-reflection and self-care. It reinforces the ideas we have about ourselves and can help us better navigate the world around us. To many, it is more psychological than magical. More personal than universal. I’ve always found astrology interesting, but it wasn’t until I first encountered Hellenic and electional astrology that I really got hooked. Rather than consulting astrology to understand why I’m so stubborn, or why my partner and I have different tidying habits, Hellenic astrology revealed a vast, and hitherto invisible, procession of fate and fortune. A mirror of world events playing out in the heavens that could not only tell me when I might go through a career change or have children in the next decade, but also when a war might break out, or a political leader fall, or a revolution erupt in a given country. On a personal level, Hellenic and electional astrology has been a valuable tool to plan rituals, and reference for omens, but on a macro level I’ve engaged with it almost like prestige TV. The height of this macro engagement for me comes every January, when my favorite astrologers put out their forecasts for the year to come. Living now squarely in “interesting times,” in a world of ever increasing chaos and novelty, these forecasts have become something of a cathartic schadenfreude, if I’m being honest. With all the discord and despair and conflict playing out before us on the world stage, it can be mildly comforting to, if nothing else, feel like you have some idea what might be coming next, if for no other reason than to rubberneck from the comfort of a moment in time where it’s all still merely unfolding. I find astrology used to these ends to be fascinating, and useful, and important. If our engagement with astrology ends there, though, at the level of forecasting the inevitable, it can also be paralyzing and disempowering. If, at the most basic level, astrology is something about our personality, then at this elevated level, it can often feel like astrology is something that happens to us. Teagan West has a different approach. Not only drawing on the revival of ancient techniques, but also imbuing her practice with animism and alchemy. What happens to astrology when we view the planets as ancestors? What if astrology isn’t something that happens to us, and is instead a hermetic unfolding, an act of co-creative evolution coming just as much from us as from the stars? Teagan’s year-ahead forecasts are my personal favorite. Spirit-led, embodied, and in conversation with fate. In our chat, we explore Teagan’s background, and her unique philosophy and approach to magic, and ceremony, and the stars. Also, in our bonus conversation on Patreon, I present Teagan with a few key planetary movements in the coming year and get her take on how the magically inclined might engage with them. SHOW NOTES: Teagan's Substack: Teagan's Services: Teagan's Podcast: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/39649150

The Immense Hauntology of Things with Lee Morgan 12/24/2025

The Immense Hauntology of Things with Lee Morgan I sometimes wonder why, of all the occult and magical currents we have on offer, Witchcraft manages to still have such a powerful pull on our contemporary culture. We find ourselves on the other side of a century of occult revivals and magical trends, and yet Witchcraft somehow stil retains a timeless appeal. More recent spiritual trends, such as the “New Age” movement, which you would expect to be a better gateway for contemporary Western people to explore spirituality, have aesthetically aged far worse than Witchcraft generally, and what once appeared modern and enlightened would now be better described as cringe. Similarly, Chaos Magic – with its having its cake and eating it to, non-commital metaphysics and whiff of the science-y – would seem to be the heir apparent to the most accessible form of magical engagement for the Western mind, but looking at the numbers: the domination of “WitchTok” in magical social media landscape, and the non-existence of a “CaoteTok” paints a pretty clear picture of the respective crossover appeal. The assumption that Chaos Magic would grow in popularity to become the magic trend of the future is similar to the presumption that “prog rock” would go on to top the Billboard charts in perpetuity from its inception. If you take a look at the ideas disseminated on WitchTok you’ll run into plenty of New Age thought and Chaos Magic, but they have become subsumed under the cloak of Witchcraft. I think a key to understanding Witchcraft’s enduring popularity in the modern era lies in Jacques Derrida’s concept of “hauntology.” Hauntology describes the ways in which the past continues to haunt us in the present. It is somehow both a nostalgic and eerie feeling that Derrida said could be summed up most susinctly by Hamlet’s line, "the time is out of joint." As our relationships, and media landscape, and ways of interacting with the world become increasingly less tangible, it’s only natural that we would yearn for a more embodied way of engaging. In smaller ways we crave the experience of a time when our own lives were simpler, which is why music and fashion trends seem to be perpetually looking back twenty years. The writer Mark Fischer observed an effect that he called the “Slow Cancellation of the Future,” where this nostalgia for a generation before, this desire to relive a memory of a simpler time, has caught us in a perpetual cultural time warp where novelty and innovation in the realms of art and media are rapidly decreasing, all while technology advances exponentially around us. If my generation is so nostalgic for the 80’s of our youths that we largely consume media that calls back to it, will our children be nostalgic for the era we’re living through today or for the 1980s, and then what about their kids? When we look back, what are we looking for? I think we are seeking meaning in the tangibility of the past that we no longer experience in our daily lives today. In many ways, this “slow cancellation of the future” has left us in a vacant pastiche, and so we have to look back even further. We start to crave the kind of activities that make us feel more human – maybe you take up bread baking, or exercising with kettlebells, or making beef tallow lotion. This same impulse, I think, is just as present in our spiritual lives. And hence, the timeless appeal of Witchcraft. The expression of magic that, as far back as you go, in all of its iterations, has always felt even older. In Lee Morgan’s latest book, The Rag and Bone Man, they explore the enduring influence of the Victorian Age, and the ways its novel approaches to the spirit world are still haunting us in the present day. Lee describes our attraction to this time as being related in many ways to its very substance, where, as they describe it: “Our modern witchcraft ladders get started. Through stealing the Fat from the previous era (one that still exists inside us in the presence of our own great-grandparents), we can nourish ourselves here in this one.” In Lee’s new book, they weave together academic research, poetic fiction, and embodied practice to bring the Victorian era’s ecstatic hunger for a new kind of spiritual experience into tactile relief. Here we, just like the Rag and Bone Man of his time, can “steal the fat” from the discards of the past, and deepen our own practices. Also, a friendly reminder that you can tune in to our extended conversation on Patreon, where we talk about the nature of being in diaspora as a magical practitioner, the ways that Lee’s practice has evolved since they first started writing, and the “slow cancellation of the future.” SHOW NOTES: Order the Book: Lee's Website: Lee's Patreon: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/39528960

The Old Line with Aidan Wachter 12/10/2025

The Old Line with Aidan Wachter When you look at the oldest and most intact spiritualities around the world, you will find that, at the center of their practice, is ancestral veneration. For many of us who were raised in less intact spiritualities and in cultures with a tendency to mold prevailing religions to the will of Empire, venerating our ancestors can feel complicated, to say the least. The same cultures that tend to mold religions to the will of Empire, also have a habit of tainting our ancestral line. It doesn’t take long tracing back the family trees of many of us to run into the stains and wounds of colonialism, racism, and patriarchy. I think for many of us in this situation, not interested in inviting these influences into our spiritual lives, it’s easy to feel like ancestor veneration just “isn’t for us.” Aidan Wachter is one of my favorite thinkers on the subject of sitting with the trouble of working with ancestors, and the actionable techniques they’ve developed to productively navigate these practices are unrivaled, in my opinion. On top of offering unique methods to heal and remediate more negative aspects of our ancestral lines, Aidan also has another very interesting solution for those of us who might face this spiritual conundrum in our own practice. Aidan has a name for the ancestors that come to us from the deep and distant past, and whose insights and motivations seem to bypass much of the taint of Empire. Aidan calls them the “Old Lines,” and they are regularly explored on their invaluable Patreon platform as well as the focus of their upcoming book: Spirit & Stone: Animism and the Old Lines. In our chat today, Aidan and I go deep into the Old Lines, considering how this kind of ancestor work is unique from what we typically encounter when exploring the subject, and also how we might begin working with spirits from the Old Line that come to us with no ancestral ties. Speaking of “invaluable Patreon platforms,” I probably don’t plug mine enough, but to hear my extended conversation with Aidan, you can find it and many other additional bonus interviews on our Raidcal Elphame Patreon page. In my bonus chat with Aidan, we dive into a fascinating new area of focus for them that they're still exploring and unraveling. I can’t recommend it enough. SHOW NOTES: Aidan's Website: Aidan's Patreon: Aidan’s upcoming conference appearances: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/39359140

Raising the Dead with Corinne Boyer 11/26/2025

Raising the Dead with Corinne Boyer Folk magic has a powerful pull. It can express complex metaphysical ideas that, for most of us practicing today, had once felt like the purview of the “New Age.” Magical ideas that once seemed fantastical, through the lens of folk magic, can suddenly feel earthy and vital. Techniques that once felt silly can begin to feel ancestral. The source texts go from channeled writings, to myths and folktales, and academic papers. There’s an artistry and intelligence grouped in with modern-day practitioners of folk magic that give the disenchanted “Western” mind permission to think differently. Coupled with the aesthetic power and the engrossing scholarship inherent in the modern-day study of folk magic, can sometimes be a cold distance and a whiff of a larp. Can the practices of people alive during the Witch Trials, people who might scry entrails, or bleed their cattle on fairy hills to propiciate the Good Neighbors, ever truly be unlocked for a person in a contemporary world so removed from this archaic way of life? Even as someone with a podcast that focuses on folk magic, I often feel like there can be something missing in translation when I encounter many of these antiquated and esoteric beliefs and practices, especially when sifted through and untangled from primary sources. I am extremely lucky to have just returned from an intensive workshop with Corinne Boyer in Washington State. There are many great things I can say about studying under Corinne, but paramount for me is how alive she can make the folkloric practices and beliefs, which in less capable hands might feel like mere relics or curios. Rooted in her deep study of the folk beliefs surrounding plants, trees, the dead, and wider metaphysics, Corinne has that rare ability to re-enchant and unlock a worldview and way of life that otherwise may have vanished completely. Corinne’s almost playful willingness to test drive and experiment with the folkways of our ancestors felt like it summoned them to the room and made them feel at home and welcomed in our world. SHOW NOTES: Sign up for Classes with Corinne: Corinne's Bibliography: IG: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/39185315

Hillbilly Woodwose with Nay Noordmans 11/14/2025

Hillbilly Woodwose with Nay Noordmans They’re on bumper stickers, they’re on bags of jerky, they’re on bars of soap, and if you're not seeing an ancient alien on the History Channel, you’re almost certainly seeing someone searching for them in the woods. Big Foot, Sasquatch, Oh Mah, Sunk Ape – they go by many names, and are spotted throughout North America, and beyond. For some, they are a myth; for some, a monster; and for the rest, a mascot. The loudest amongst their fans will tell you they are a flesh and blood relic hominid, and describe their migration patterns, their use of infrasound to evade capture, and, of course, their pendulous breasts. So what, then, does “Big Foot” have to do with the mythic Woodwose of European folklore? The sometimes therianthropic wild man you find in the art and literature of Medieval Europe, and sometimes even in the hagiographies of Saints. What could this mysterious European archetype have in common with America’s most popular cryptid? The real question may be, what don’t they have in common? Both Bigfoot and the Woodwose exist as symbols of the uncivilized natural world, its dangers, and the faint familiarity with a time in the distant past when this was also our home. Both display supernatural-seeming abilities. Both challenge us and inspire us. Both have no hard scientific evidence of existing. The callous skeptic would conclude that this comparison perfectly illustrates why belief in Bigfoot is absurd. To the Occultist, the Animist, the Magician, however, such clear deliniations between reality and fantasy are never to be trusted. What the skeptic forgets are the beliefs of the native inhabitants of Turtle Island, who all speak of these creatures in the same breath as bears, deer, and coyotes. To Indigenous People of this land, creatures that we now call Bigfoot are very real, and they also have more in common with nature spirits than gorillas. Nay Noodmans gave a fantastic presentation at this year's Salem Witchcraft and Folklore Festival, exploring all of these ideas and many more. I’m so excited to have her back on the show to chat about the history of the Woodwose, how the Magician should reconsider Bigfoot, and of course we make time to swap personal stories about life in Far Northern California’s Bigfoot Country. SHOW NOTES: House of Gnomi: Nay's Links: Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/39038170

Cursed Films with Sfinga & B. Key 10/31/2025

The Black Book of Norah Fornario - an Audio Essay 10/22/2025

28 Moons Later with J.M. Hamade 10/01/2025

28 Moons Later with J.M. Hamade When we think about the Otherworld, we tend to do so from the perspective of this world. What is this hidden world that seems to operate so differently from our own? Who are the beings who dwell there, and what do they want with us? In J. M. Hamade’s fascinating book, Procession of the Night Theater, they explore the “night side” of astrology, offering a poetic vision of the Lunar Stations, not to be defined or calculated so much as dreamed with. It’s this study of the nocturnal side of things, the hidden side of things, that not only eloquently elucidates the ancient art of working with the Lunar Mansions but also weaves expertly into the tapestry of J’s many other occult and appropriately “otherworldly” interests. The lunar stations – and working with them to divine or make talismans (or even just pair with horror movies) – opens the practitioner up to considering how understanding both “daytime” and “nighttime” approaches to magic and astrology can teach us about the visible and hidden (the exoteric and esoteric) aspects of ourselves, the world, and what is beyond. As J points out in our conversation, the Muslim name for those who dwell in the Otherworld is Jinn, which translates to being hidden, and also in something of a state of change or flux. Furthermore, J mentions a fascinating hot take from the 13th century Sufi Mystic Ibn Arabi, who interpreted humans and Djinn as exoteric and esoteric counterparts to one another. When we take a cross cultural view of being like the Jinn – the Aos-Sidhe of the Gaels, the Elves of the Norse, the Víla of the Balkans, the Lamiak of the Basque (just to name a few) – it’s fascinating to notice how as these cultures transition to more structured monotheistic cosmologies, their perspective on these “esoteric” beings becomes increasingly antagonistic. I would be remiss to try to whitewash or philosophically domesticate these beings of the Otherworld. I could hardly imagine a less morally delineated dimesion, similar to how nothing about ourselves is ever really “black or white.” But if doing this show has taught me anything, it’s that understanding this realm, if not working with it directly, is still a meaningful pursuit. When you examine groups on the fringes of these monotheistic religions and cultures, that exist within this larger cosmology but navigate it differently, you often encounter spiritual relics from the dinstant past. Sects and like the Zār of North East Africa, the Šojmanka of Eastern Serbia, and religions such as Quimbanda in Brazil, all incorporate trance possession by beings that would be considered Jinn in the wider Middle East. What are we to make of this vastly different view both of these beings, and why and how one might engage with them? J’s books and insights have had a deep impact on how I consider big questions like these, and helped to shape many of my own ideas about what we can really know about the Otherworld and its role in this world. SHOW NOTES: J's Patreon: J's Podcast: J's Book on the Lunar Stations: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/38425915

Magical Community IRL with Austin Fuller + Chaise Levy 09/09/2025

Magical Community IRL with Austin Fuller + Chaise Levy After years of thinking that the only path for building a community around the fringe pursuits of witchcraft, folk magic, or the occult were relegated to the grace of internet, two friends in vastly different parts of the country have boldly presented a proof of concept for big tent approaches to “in real life” magical communities that are fostering a inspirational alternative to more dogmatic and mainstream spiritual destinations. Austin Fuller started Occulture Tampa as a home for Witches, Occultists, and Seekers, hosted at a beloved taxidermy and oddities shop in the vibrant Ybor District in Tampa, Florida. Chaise Levy is a founding member of Animist West County, seeking to build a community around the multifaceted concept of animism in the North Bay Area of California. I wanted to bring Austin and Chaise together for a conversation about the importance of building “in real life” magical communities during these interesting times we’re living through. They share their inspirations, describe the challenges of starting and maintaining these groups, and talk about the biggest surprises and rewards along the way. On a similar note, in the spirit of hoping to foster more magical community, after a year and a half of producing Radical Elphame, I’m starting a Patreon. Follow the link in the episode description bio for an extra hour of conversation with Austin and Chaise, and join The Coven of Wider Inclusion: my own "big tent" approach to a magical community, ripe for exploration, experimentation, and co-creation. If you appreciate the work we're doing on Radical Elphame and want to see it not only continue, but grow and develop, we would deeply appreciate your patronage. Along the way, we hope to not only foster a deeper connection with our audience, but rather to thin the veil between the project's creation and consumption. Come for the show you love, and stay for the bonus episodes, audio essays, experimental group rituals, horror movie nights, and more. SHOW NOTES: Join the Patreon! Chaise's Website: Northern Spirit House Podcast: Northern Spirit House Substack: Chaise's Instagram: Southern Bramble Podcast: Austin's Site: Austin's Links: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/38145660

Alpine Witchery with Christian Brunner 08/29/2025

Alpine Witchery with Christian Brunner When it comes to exploring animism and the magic of and with place, I like to borrow a term from the world of wine: terroir. Terroir is generally understood in the wine world as the sense of place – soil, geography, seasonality, and even culture – that can be expressed in a glass of wine. When it comes to “magical terroir,” we are referring to how all of those same factors develop into unique and co-creative spiritual practices. There are many unique features to the land I’m living on that converge to form a magical sense of place. A crow’s fly away from Mount Shasta, I live in the middle of a rain shadow that divides the region into dense mountainous forests and desolate prairielands. Although abused and unforgivably wounded, the native tribes of the region are deeply present with strength and resilience. The Shasta, Karuk, Wintu, and Modoc are very much alive, telling stories and carrying traditions that were co-created with this place over millennia. Although Mount Shasta is more often thought of as a UFO hotspot, it was also arguably the birthplace of Neo-Paganism in the United States on May Day in 1915, when the self-proclaimed Druid, Ella Young, brought the notion of the “wheel of the year” along with other Celtic Revival reconstructions with her from her native Ireland to her newly founded Fellowship of Shasta. An hour to the North and fifteen years later, in Ashland, OR, Victor Anderson (who co-founded the uniquely American Traditional Witchcraft Tradition called Feri) was initiated into a secretive group called the Harpy Coven, which would profoundly influence the foundation of his own order. Zooming in on my personal home, backyard, and the bioregion it is situated in, reveals the distinct influence of an alpine terroir. We live in a valley on the edge of a forest of cedar, fir, pine, and maple. Jutting 5,000 feet above us are the Marble Mountains, which are some of the last to give off snowmelt each year that flow into – sometimes rugged and sometimes bucolic – creeks and streams that eventually feed the Klammath River Basin. In the darkest months of winter, the snow lingers in our valley sometimes weeks longer than in the neighboring valley just twenty minutes away. The summer begins with morels and wild dogwoods in bloom, and gives way to a foraging season of Elder flowers and Elder berries, feverfew, mugwort, blackberries, and rum cherries. All this is to say that my magic is deeply influenced by this alpine land and the spirits that inhabit it. One of my favorite magical rabbit holes is looking into the folk magic practices of other Alpine cultures to find ideas and inspiration that I can fold into the mystical soup of these California Alps. Christian Brunner has made it a personal project to translate and collate the magical terroir of the European Alps and share it with the rest of the world. In his new book, Alpine Witchery, Christian dives deep into the witch trial records of the Alps – which he translated himself – to mine for the lore, ritual, and spirituality that paints a fascinating picture of the folk magic of its day, and possibly exposes elements of the survival of an even older and deeper Alpine magical terroir to explore. SHOW NOTES: Get the book: Christian's Website: Christian's IG: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/38022505

Here for Heresy with Joanna Tarnawska 08/08/2025

Here for Heresy with Joanna Tarnawska One of my key takeaways from the conversation I had with Joanna Tarnawska, was the way she articulated her own definition of what makes a practice fundamentally “witchcraft” as opposed to other strains of magic, mysticism, and pagan spirituality. The key to witchcraft, she suggests, is heresy. I’ve heard similar distinctions elsewhere regarding witchcraft, but Joanna’s definition of heresy went further than I’ve encountered before, and articulated something for me that I think is essential. As Joanna describes it, the core heresy of witchcraft is not solely in relation to a specific form of religion, but rather an ideological and magical subversion of the taboos, doctrines, and preconceived ideas of any given society the witch finds herself in…or maybe just outside of. As a person living in the US in 2025, myself, the most potent taboos I sense are less about religious affiliation and more often tied to questioning capitalism. As the late Mark Fisher summarized eloquently, crystallizing the bizarre malaise of our hopeless compliance to the capitalism hoisted upon us, “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” Opposing Capitalism is not heretical in and of itself. However, believing that the myth of Capitalism’s moral mandate as “the worst economic system, except for all the others” is fundamentally a propaganda tool used to exploit the working class is a heretical stance. This idea is heretical where I live, because it subverts the current widely agreed-upon economic system and its moral justifications, suggesting that, on an ethical level, what we think is right, may actually be wrong. Another taboo I sense far less in the magical community, but I do feel in my personal and professional life, is speaking out about the genocide happening right now in Gaza. For many who even feel strongly about the plight of Gaza internally, to do so openly, publicly, loudly can seem like a modern-day heresy. To support the innocent Palestinians being killed in Gaza is to support Hamas, so says the ideological opposition. To challenge the Zionist order that the Israeli military has assured us “the ends justify the means” in defending, is apparently to be outing yourself as an anti-semite – they would say. Interestingly, the term anti-semite has come to mean anti-Jewish, and there’s no word for being anti-Palestinian, even though they are also a Semitic people. To challenge the political movement of Zionism, which seeks to empower an oppressed people, by pointing out that it is, in turn, oppressing another people, is heretical to the widely held political beliefs of the US today. When I asked Joanna Tarnawska at the end of this episode if there was anything she would like to plug, she said that in this moment, she only wants to say “Free Palestine.” To honor that sentiment, which is as vital right now as ever, I thought I would dedicate this intro to speaking up about the genocide taking place in Gaza at the hands of Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF, who are committing war crimes and unthinkable atrocities, and brazenly broadcasting them for all to see. The ideology behind Zionism seeks to right very real wrongs inflicted on Jewish people in the past. Still, the senseless murders of tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children have completely eroded any noble causes that Zionism may have once stood for. To say this is not to diminish the rights or safety of Jewish people, or to downplay the horrifying events of October 7th 2023, carried out by Hamas. To quote Ezra Klein on the deep political rut this genocide is driving between Jewish people of the diaspora here in the US, where I live, “For decades, American Judaism, built on the liberalism of the diaspora, has been interwoven with Zionism. What happens when the ideals of the one become incompatible with the reality of the other?” The death and destruction Palestinian’s are experiencing in Gaza is unimaginable for me. It can feel insignificant, but I sincerely think speaking out is essential right now. Merely acknowledging that there is a genocide taking place before our eyes should not be controversial at this point, but it still is for many. If you are in the US, your tax dollars are funding war crimes. Please contact your member of Congress and call for an arms embargo on Israel and humanitarian access for Gaza. No matter where you are, speak out. Hold corporations accountable for their role in violating the rights of Palestinians in Gaza. In the show notes, I’ve also included links to do so, as well as to donate and send aid to Palestinians who are literally being starved in Gaza right now. Included in the show notes is a link to the Palestine World Food Program seeking donations, as well as more information on how to divest from corporations that are complicit in facilitating this genocide. Free Palestine. SHOW NOTES: Send Aid to Gaza: Hold Corporations Accountable for IDF support: Joanna's Youtube Channel: Joanna's IG: Pre-Order Joanna's Book: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/37738145

Rabbit Hole Pot Luck with Darragh Mason & C.R. Sanders 07/18/2025

Rabbit Hole Pot Luck with Darragh Mason & C.R. Sanders Why start a podcast about magic? Prior to the internet, in real life, these topics were typically at best niche and eccentric, and at worst, dangerous. As a millennial, for most of my adult life, magic was the subject of fiction, and anyone who couldn’t understand that seemed mostly harmless, but not exactly the company you keep. When the imaginary boundaries between philosophy, spirituality, and magic were finally revealed to me for what they really were – imaginary – my compulsion to explore magic became insatiable. What, then, is one to do when the topic of real magic is verboten in the “enlightened” polite society of their day? Where to congregate? Where to converse? How to find others who share this passion, who don’t need a conceptual disclaimer recitation at the top of any conversation? If there is one good thing I can say about the internet, it’s that it has become this place. A shortcut to magical community in the modern era. I started a podcast about magic to have the kind of conversations that I can’t, for the most part, in my normal life. And to meet people who wanted to join in, inform, and stress-test my own ideas. Today, I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation with two friends I’ve made along the way. Darragh Mason is the writer of the excellent book Song of the Dark Man, and the host of the Spirit Box Podcast, whose influence and approach to exploring and normalizing a wide breadth of magical and mystical topics was fundamental to the creation of this show. C.R. Sanders is the producer of the Discovery show Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction, and a passionate traveler and magical seeker. He was also one of the first online magical connections that I had the opportunity to hang out with in real life. I love that this show can serve as a platform for me to interview writers and practitioners about their work and practices. I think that way we can all learn more together, and deepen the web of communication in the way we hunger to. I also love that I get to have the opportunity to have folks on to catch up with, shoot the shit, and share the rabbit holes we might otherwise be going down alone. SHOW NOTES: Darragh's Website: The Song of the Dark Man: Spirit Box Podcast: The Sigil Engine: C.R.'s Website: Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/37461275

Breaking the Fourth Wall with Joshua Cutchin 06/27/2025

We're All Nature Spirits with Scott Richardson-Read 06/11/2025

We're All Nature Spirits with Scott Richardson-Read We are living in an era where the term “folk” has become the modifier of choice for many looking for a unique way to describe their own spirituality or magical practice. Folk Witchcraft, Folk Catholicism, Folk Magic. “Folk” seems to denote a certain level of idiosyncrasy, authenticity, or earthiness. It also eschews connotations with more popular or commercialized forms of these practices. Sometimes this use of the word “folk” can feel like the way we used “alternative” in the nineties, particularly to describe genres of music. By the mid-nineties “alternative” rock was far and away the most popular music genre, leading one to ask: what exactly was it an alternative to? Similarly in the world of spirituality, sometimes the modifier “folk” can seem vague. I believe it was Jesse Hathaway Diaz who I first heard pose the question in regards to folk spirituality: “Who are the folk?” In Scott Richardson-Read’s new book Milldust and Dreaming Bread – Exploring Scottish Folk Belief and Folk Magic, the “folk” in question are vivid and unmistakable. While the pastoral stories and customs of the past weave throughout the book, Scott also taps into the deep impressions a land and a people have made upon each other, setting the stage for the folk of today. The impression one gets reading Milldust and Dreaming Bread, is that the “folk” Scott is referring to has less to do with homespun or antiquated practices, and more to do with the Scottish culture’s deep and living sense of reciprocity and right relation in the face of the oppressive influence of Empire. This Scottish folkway imbues the myths of the Country, and is at the root of its magical expression. As someone first lit up magically by a form of Witchcraft often called folkloric, a large part of my practice has been forged by pulling on the threads of what can sometimes seem like a vague cosmology, back to where I can find its sense of place, rooted in a culture and landscape. Scott’s work throughout the years on his blog the Cailleachs Herbarium (and now in this book) has been my own personal roadmap to find out for myself who the “folk” in question are. SHOW NOTES: Buy Scott's Book: Scott's Blog: IG: Scottish Histories of Resistance: /episode/index/show/e52baf38-6d17-4bdd-aaab-503125b8c703/id/36959110