Our Numinous Nature

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

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

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

Oliver Lavery is an English mythologist, folklorist, traveling professional storyteller, and host of The Story Crow YouTube channel from Wiltshire County, England. For this Christmas special we focus in on one of the most mysterious Yuletide tales, the anonymous medieval poem of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight. After a reading about a royal deer hunt, Oliver opens on where he lives, amongst countryside & stone circles in south-western England. Giving us a summary of the The Green Knight legend, Oliver inspires conversations on the mythological & psychological: integrating the wild man within; hunting & ferreting; the Celtic roots behind the Arthurian legends; Cernunnos [the ancient European god of wild beasts]; Green Man; the headdress of a German shaman; and the overuse of the Jungian word "archetype." To wrap up this mythically merry chat, Oliver shares a haunting story about his own numinous experience at a burial cairn on the windy moors of Devon. Check out Oliver's The Story Crow YouTube Channel and follow his van-life Instagram @The_Folk_Bus Readings from Sir Gawain & The Green Knight translated by Simon ArmitageSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Mark Norman is an English folklore researcher, author, lecturer and host of The Folklore Podcast in Devon, England. We begin with comparative readings about spectral road dogs in Virginia and in England. Mark tells us a bit about his county, of ship scuttlers & Wistman's Wood. Looking for the oldest written account of ghostly black dogs in the United Kingdom, we hear of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and a wild hunt of demonic hunters. From there we focus in on the lore: the Black Shuck event at Bungay & Blythburgh churches in 1577; black dog sightings as omens of death; and protective spirit dogs. We end on how landscape features become part of folklore, the future of folklore, and the winter tradition of Wassailing around the apple orchard. Check out Mark's folkloric books and his popular podcast, The Folklore Podcast. Painting discussed on podcast: "The Wild Hunt of Odin"Readings from Virginia Folk Legends edited by Thomas Barden and Black Dog Folklore by Mark Norman.  Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Dr. Carla Ionescu, PhD is an ancient historian, author, traveling lecturer, Canadian university professor, founder of The Artemis Research Centre and host of The Goddess Project podcast. With hunting seasons upon us, we begin this odyssey into the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, with the famous myth of the forlorn houndsman, Actaeon. Carla officially introduces Artemis/Diana & explains how Grecian hunters gave her offerings before the hunt, including sweets, animal sacrifices and large communal festivities. We hear of the goddess' symbols in art history & mythology: deer, dogs, bows & arrows, bee eggs, leopard pelts, bears, etc. What was life like 3,000-years-ago at her temples for the priestesses, pilgrims, and worshippers? From there we turn to the personal, as Carla describes some of the mountain & cave temples she's visited in Greece and tells a haunting, mystical story about visionary experiences she's had alone in an ancient cave temple on the island of Crete. We end on vocation, reincarnation, and slave boys saved by honey cakes.  As discussed on the episode, taste some history with a recipe for Ancient Greek Honey Cookies.Follow Carla on Instagram at @ArtemisExpert. Order her book, She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess that Changed the World. And for everything else, visit her website, The Artemis Research Center.Reading of the Actaeon myth from Metamorphoses by Ovid [Penguin Classics translation] Music provided by SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Mother" Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Initiation to Dionysus Cult, or Pendulum" Written & Performed by Theodore Koumartzis & Evagoras BekiarisCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Upon the High Mountain"Written & Performed by Thanasis KleopasCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Little Sea"Written & Performed by Christiana PapakostaCourtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music"Odyssey" Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World MusicSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out 

Eileen Budd is a professional Scottish storyteller, the host of the Scottish Folk podcast, and an artist & author in Angus, Scotland. After a Halloween reading about skull broth, Eileen describes where she lives in Scotland and the floods they experienced in last year's Storm Babet. Talk of weather and storms brings up the Gaelic mother goddess, the Cailleach.  From these ancestral stories comes a conversation about the diaspora of Scottish people to America aboard "coffin ships" and the suppression of their culture. Turning to the macabre mood of Halloween, we hear of folkloric and historic cannibals, Sawney Bean & the 15th-century butcher, Christie Cleek. Eileen describes what Samhain is - the time-of-the-year when traditional folk commune with the spirits of their ancestors. When it comes to personal stories from a professional storyteller, Eileen tells three haunting supernatural tales, in the best of which, a spirit saves the life of her grandmother. We wrap it up on rural poacher-lore from catching rabbits in nets to a story about a famous folk hunter who passed up a shot on a stag enchanted by fairies.  Follow Eileen on Instagram and check out her podcast Scottish FolkReading of "The Death Bree" from Scottish Fairy Tales, Folklore & Legends  For Hurricane Helene Flood Relief for Past Podcast Guests:Rebecca Beyers of Blood & Spicebush - GoFundMeLupo Passero of Twin Star Tribe - Twin Star South Fundraiser Music Credits:"Bonny at Morn"Performed by The Whistlebinkies "The Weary Farmer"Performed by Tinkler Madgie"The Sky Fishers Song"Performed by Jean Redpath"The Beggar Laddie"Performed by Jean RedpathSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Gerald Milnes is a folklorist, fiddler, author, documentary filmmaker, ethnomusicologist, amateur anthropologist and the former Folk Arts Coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.  He is the book author & documentary filmmaker of Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore. After an intro about milk witchery, Gerald talks about his passion-driven life as a self-taught folklorist. From there he lays out the history of the 18th-century migration of German settlers from the Old World to Pennsylvania and finally into the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Living in the region, Gerald befriended & interviewed many of the old timers who revealed to him a mysterious world of folk magic, superstition & occultism still alive on the mountain farmsteads. We hear of witch wars, witch doctoring, hunting magic, animal sacrifice, planting by the signs, selling one's soul to the devil, and the interplay between Christianity & the occult. For the last section, Gerald plays regional songs on his fiddle while telling a story about music's effect on the soul. In closing, he shares some music-lore about rattlesnake tails & a bewitched fiddle.  Readings from Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore by Gerald Milnes. Watch the Signs, Cures & Witchery documentary & purchase Gerald's books. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Brian Jeffrey is a paranormal investigator in Farragut, Tennessee, who's served in the US Army and as a former Park Ranger. After historical readings about wild men & feral children, we open on Knoxville's urban sprawl. From there we get to the topic at hand, feral people of Appalachia, more specifically, within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: from Brian's adventures searching them out & finding tracks; to rumors of cannibalism; strange tunnels; accounts from an attacked ginseng digger & a homesteader who claims she shot one. Interwoven is the mysterious local story of a boy named Dennis Martin who vanished in 1969 while on a family camping trip. Beyond the feral, Brian shares his own frightening  paranormal stories that took place on Black Mountain where we hear of portals; a witch's burned down cabin; and a nightmarish murderer. We close on Brian's ruminations on both the intoxicating & yet taxing effects of supernatural research with examples from a shocking photograph & dark memories from the US border.  Check out Brian's Black Mass Paranormal YouTube channel where I sampled clips from his Black Mountain portal experience, witch hauntings & a paranormal attack. Music provided by Navajo Witch "Black Curse"Written & Performed by Navajo Witch"Ghost Sickness"Written & Performed by Navajo WitchSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

Tyler Estep is a local historian, former tobacco farmer & Baptist pastor at the oldest church west of Appalachia, in Adams, Tennessee; home of the infamous Bell Witch! After a reading from a 1904 newspaper that summarizes the Bell Witch mystery, we open on the region's tobacco farming culture. Then we turn to the topic at hand, the Bell Witch. We explore various explanations for the 19th-century hauntings: John Bell & an eccentric neighbor, Kate Batts; The Great Awakening & the demonic; ventriloquism & murder; an Indian curse & land-based hauntings; and lastly, a slave overseer's ghost. Throughout, Tyler openly shares his own strange encounters and spiritual battles with both mental health & the supernatural. For the official story, we hear of town folks' mysterious black dog sightings that harken back to the original accounts by the Bell family slave, Dean. We end on the area's cave systems and a potent warning not to take anything from them!Check out the seasonal plays including Spirit in Adams, Tennessee: BellWitchFallFestival.comBlack dog story reading from An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch  by M. V. Ingrim Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com