The Numinous Podcast

Today we honour the children in our lives and the child within us. Plus, more winter witches! woop woop! Note: The final 4 minutes of this episode is a guided meditation during which you should not be driving, riding a bike, operating machinery or engaged in any activity that requires your full attention.   Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Ancestral veneration is a key function of winter rituals, a way to put our lineages in good order, encourage harmonious relations with the spirits of the ancient dead, and appease the restless dead who roam at night. On this night, we tell scary ghost stories that might include child-devouring crones, beer-stealing werewolves, dictator dogs and violent Santas. It's also a good day to honour the animal familiars who help convey gifts and goodness including flying goats, female deer, and horse skeletons. There are also lighter aspects to the day including the reverence of Freya, hanging wreaths, and sacred spinning, weaving and fibre work. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

This is one of my favourite episodes because cultivating intimacy with the land I live on and the Spirits of Place is one of my favourite things to do. It also addresses, briefly yet deeply, how we can attend to the impacts of imperialism, colonialism and patriarchy in our spiritual work, especially4 at wintertime. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

It all begins with the Mother. Tonight on the longest night of the year, we honour our matrilineages and the spiritual lineages of prophesy, blessing, abundance and nurturance passed down through the ages through myths concerning Crones. Source materials for this miniseries: A Brief History of Christmas Tradition Apple Tree Lore, druidry.org A Visit from La Befana, JSTOR Daily Bärbeletreiben Biedermeier period Berserks In History and Legend, M.Speidel Between the “Thracian Substratum” and “Oriental Accretions”: Bulgarian Mumming and the National Heritage Canon, Ivo Strahilov CHRISTMAS GIFTS AND THE GIFT-BRINGER, LESLIE D. JOHNSTON Demons and Spirits of the Land: Ancestral Lore and Practices, C.Lecouteux Deutsches Weinachsmuseum, All About Christmas Glass Doe A Deer A Female Deer, Danielle Prohom Olson Feasts and Feasting in the Fourteenth Century, Jon Mackley foodtimeline.org Frau Holle in Legend HiddenGlen.org, Michael Newton's courses are chock full of Gaelic lore and language. Highly recommended. How Guy Lombardo Became Mr.New Year's Eve, Canadian Encyclopedia Industrial Revolution, Chocolate Revolution Lucy of Syracuse. Patron saint of eye disorders, Carlos Ortiz-Hidalgo Marzipan Pigs Christmas Tradition Notes on Italian Folk Customs, Stanley Gee Otto Hofler, Wikipedia Perchten and Krampusse: Living Mask Traditions in Austria and Bavaria, Molly Carter Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead, Claude Lecouteux Roast Beef, The New Poor Law, and the British Nation, 1834-63, N.Durbach St. Lucia's Day: An Italian saint, a German child and a female demon all play a role in the story of 13 December, ScienceNorway.no St.Lucy, Brittanica.com Shedding Light on Saint Lucy, Aubrey Minshew Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unknown author Some Ancient and Modern Yuletide Customs (Dec.1939), L.Johnston Sugar Past and Present The Kissing Bough The Ancient Jus Gentium of the Aryans (1899) The Feast of Saint Barbara with Pagan Traditions The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics, Gertraud Seiser and Matthäus Rest The Lussekatter The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year, L.Raedisch The Pomander: A Brief History The Problem of Mysteriousness of Baba Yaga Character in Religious Mythology, Evgenia V. Ivanova The Rowan Tree and a Rowan Cross The Scots Kitchen (1929), F.McNeill The Silver Bough, Volume 3: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals - Hallowe’en to Yule (1961), F.McNeill The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices, C.Lecouteux The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, B.Walker Unwrapping Yuletide: A Century of Icelandic Traditions, Gudrun Jonina Gunnlaugsdottir We Don't Know The Origin Of The Candy Cane But They Almost Certainly Were Not Christian, Smithsonian Magazine Witches, Werewolves and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages, Claude Lecouteux Yule: The Pagan Holiday of Light, The TROTH | Education and Service for Inclusive Heathenry Yuletide Monsters: Christmas Hauntings in Medieval Literature and Modern Popular Culture, Medieval Studies Blog Hosted by the University of Notre Dame's Medieval Institute ✨ ✨ ✨ Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Antifascism for the holidays! Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics by Gertraud Seiser and Matthäus Rest ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Inspiration for your holiday kitchen witchery! Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

What's the deal with dead bird on Victorian holiday greeting cards? Plus, a rundown of some of the Yuletide bestiary. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

Learn about Fumbulvinter, the 12 Days of Yuletide and their themes, and the stories of European Yuletide folklore in my annual program, now available for free!  Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~  

A look at Victorian holiday postcards and the botanicals of winter. Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~

NOTE: This episode contains a 7 minute guided meditation – do not listen while driving or operating machinery! We begin the Yuletide season by grounding into our values and prioritizing just a few rituals, crafts or special foodstuffs. Then we can relax and release pressure to have or provide perfect holiday moments; instead we can deepen into rhythm of winter's work of ritual, ceremony, reflection and restorative pause.   Himmeli straw can be found at The Straw Shop Buy The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes & Rituals for the Wheel of the Year Pre-order Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times (publication date: Jan.14, 2025) ~ Join us in The Numinous Network ~