Our Numinous Nature

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 a deer-deity & the regional man in black. For the final segment we tour the shelves of the metaphysical country store, learning about bone dyeing, mugwort, ethics around the crystal trade, and smudging.  Follow Anh's PYRAMID on Instagram & Facebook. And check out PYRAMID's online store!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

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 about refurbishing their 1887 farm house followed by his reflections on being the sheriff of a very rural & very traditional community. In closing, we hear about historical craftsmanship from 18th-century gunsmithing to the fascinating, long forgotten occupation of the horner.Visit Tim's Fair Lawn Farms and follow along on Facebook. And mark your calendar for next year's Highland County Maple Festival.  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

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 leaving no trace in the Allagash wilderness; the second about inebriated critters around the farm. We culminate in reflections about life, death, humanity, optimism, & listening to the stories of our elders. To purchase one of Alex's book, visit alexanderterweele.com.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

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 "gondolas," through to the devastating industrial pollution of the mid-1900's. We then hear entertaining examples of things found today in its waters, some you'd never imagine... In the last third of the episode, John shares lessons learned while globetrotting, including one about honesty from a packed & smoky train-car in Pakistan.Next time you're in the Shenandoah Valley, visit John's river outfitter, Down River Canoes for a day of canoeing, kayaking or lazy river tubing. 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

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 cases with ghost communication, activity around mirrors, & most unnerving of all when the haunting is no traditional ghost, but a malevolent entity that wreaks havoc on people & their homes.  For story time, Linda shares a terrifying personal account of just such one investigation around a grisly crime & the parasitic nature of these demonic forces. On a lighter note, she tells her Halloweeny love story about how she got into the calling through a series of events that led straight to her partner & his mutual passion for the paranormal.  We end hearing about local hot spots & accounts of some disturbing, yet comical run-ins with people in deranged states.Check out Virginia Paranormal Investigators and Linda or the VAPI team on Instagram.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

Les O'Dell is a West Virginia paranormal investigator & curator of all things strange with a focus on Mountain State cryptids: an animal or creature that is claimed to exist, but never proven. We get right into hearing both popular legends & locals' accounts from Les' interviews about the likes of: The Wampus Cat; Snarly Yow the devil dog; Mothman; Ogua the giant-snapping turtle; The Grafton Monster; a truck driver's experience with a pre-historic hyena; Not Deer; & a bloody dog-man. Of course, one can't talk cryptids without talking bigfoot, or as the ol' mountain folks call it, The Old Man in the Woods. We hear multiple reports from West Virginians including an anthropologist's beyond-belief encounter in the Dolly Sods Wilderness. The second half of the episode takes a truly nightmarish turn into what is the podcast's most haunting tale to date: Les’ story of what his father claims is a family curse. Prepare yourself for horripilation!Get a copy of Les' booklet West Virginia Cryptids: A Visual Field Guide for Traversing the Mountain State & reach out on his Facebook group, West Virginia Cryptids & Strange Encounters.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

Jonathan Kruk is a Hudson River Valley author, folklorist & master storyteller best known for his solo performances of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the historic, 17th-century church that inspired Washington Irving's Halloween classic.  In his whimsical & hypnotic style, our guest bard recounts a slew of history & regional lore: a Native American Hudson River creation myth; a waterfall's tragic love story between a native maiden & her captive; a paranormal parable to prideful sailors as they pass Thunder Mountain; the Revolutionary War history behind Mother Hulda the witch & the mythic Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Jonathan then shares an uncanny personal experience tracking down the grave of The Wandering Leatherman, a mysterious cave-dwelling vagabond from the 1800's.  Towards the end I tell my own story about going into a broken open tomb in an abandoned cemetery, adding to the overall haunted mood of the valley & this exceptional episode.Get tickets to Jonathan's annual "Irving's Legend" solo performance in Tarrytown NY and/or check out his books: Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley, and Legends and Lore of the Hudson Highlands. 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

Vin Tabone is the New York film producer of a PBS-aired, two-part documentary on The Hudson River School: a genre of dramatic, mid-19th century landscape paintings depicting the grandeur & the divine in America's wildernesses. We learn about: the main artists in the movement starting with founder Thomas Cole; the reception from New York City critics; their adventuresome travels to jungles, icebergs, Europe & the Wild West; their use of reoccurring symbols such as storm clouds & tree stumps; and the moral & religious messages they strived to convey. Vin shares fond memories of his childhood on the Hudson, seeing the paintings for the first time, & trips to the unspoiled locations. For story time, he reads "The Bewilderment" from Thomas Cole's journal: a blind & dizzying account of being lost in a stormy, black forest. The last section takes a mystery-provoking sharp turn into a handful of Vin's uncanny & paranormal experiences, adding ever more wonderment to the Our Numinous Nature canon.  Aired on PBS & ALL ARTS channel, watch Vin's documentaries The Hudson River School: Part 1: Artistic Pioneers & Part 2: Cultivating a Tradition via Amazon Prime Video. Reference Images:*Thomas Cole, Lake with Dead Trees [1825]*Thomas Cole, Home in the Woods [1847] *Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire  series [1833-1836]*Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life series [1842] *Frederic Church, Heart of the Andes [1859]*Frederic Church, Niagara [1857] *Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak [1863]*Albert Bierstadt, The Last of the Buffalo [1888]*Albert Bierstadt, Mount Corcoran [1876-1887] *Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits [1849]*Jasper Cropsey, Autumn - On the Hudson River [1860]*Martin Johnson Heade, Hummingbird & Passionflowers [1875-1885] *Sanford Gifford, The Mouth of the Shrewsbury River, [1867] 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

Daniel "Firehawk" Abbott of the Eastern Shore's Nanticoke tribe is a prehistoric technologist & the Native American interpreter for Historic Jamestowne. In this extensive & endlessly engaging episode, Daniel paints a picture of what Chesapeake Bay life would have been like, pre-&-early European contact . We hear of: virgin forests; Nanticoke merchants & trade items; agriculture & the migration of crops;  building a traditional longhouse; a muskrat origin story; & the inner workings of the Powhatan chiefdom from taxes to raiding. When story time rolls around, Daniel recounts an incredibly mysterious duck hunt in which his father, uncle & grandfather interacted with sentient marsh lights. Now in the realm of the numinous, Daniel shares his personal experiences including a waking vision & how he got the name, Firehawk. To end this epic episode we learn a few words in Algonquin; how to say: "Welcome," "Outsiders," & "May you farewell."  Visit Historic Jamestowne to participate in one of Daniel's interpretive presentations on Saturdays and Sundays and to learn more about the Nanticoke, check out the tribe's website. 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

Jay Meredith of Maryland's Eastern shore is the owner & tour guide of the historic Bucktown general store, as well as the founder of Blackwater Adventures kayak & bicycle rentals. Living within the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, and with his own American roots dating back to 1668, Jay has become something of an unofficial local historian & folklorist. First we hear about the significance of the general store - bought & restored by Jay - where Harriet Tubman was hit in the head by an irate slave overseer, a fateful injury that opened Tubman to divine guidance. We learn about her early life & her tremendous courage, her husband [a free man] & her possible escape routes through the foreboding swamps. Still feared by the locals today, the Greenbriar Swamp bubbles with legends of treasure & the ghost tale of an enslaved woman, Big Liz. We wrap up this riveting episode on lighter topics: mysterious jewelry found in the fireplace, the critters in the Blackwater Refuge, tasty invasive fish & deer, old guns, the local tribes, & eel pots. Visit the Bucktown General Store & kayak with Jay's Blackwater Adventures in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. 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