Our Numinous Nature

Alpheus Chewning is a Virginia Beach author, folklorist, ghost-walk guide, and living historian with a focus on Chesapeake Bay pirates, the Civil War, & regional hauntings. In this episode we get a taste of what it would have been like aboard a pirate ship during the Golden Age of Piracy [1680 - 1730]. We learn about their egalitarian ethics, ship contracts & recruitment; what they ate; how they slept; using the bathroom; their clothing; flag pictograms & symbolism; superstitions & common phrases; the dividing of treasure; and of course, their brutal yet creative guerrilla battle tactics. When it comes to story time, Al recounts the tale of Blackbeard's curse upon the legendary treasure buried at today's First Landing State Park. His second story, which also blends history & folklore & dates to the early 18th century, is a potent parable about a beautiful & eccentric animal-whisperer/plant healer who was accused of being a witch by her neighbors. The last third of the episode is dedicated to local hauntings: ghosts' participation in a Civil War reenactment; a profound theory about past lives, & more. From the first colonist ships, to Indian graves & pirate battles, we end back at the storied First Landing State Park as Al speaks of his paranormal investigation of a young woman's ghost. Pirates, witches, and ghosts, this episode is beach campfire gold!  Check out Al's Histories & Haunts Facebook, his books on Virginia Beach, and if you're in the area, join one of his guided ghost walks. To learn more, watch Al's cameo in The Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay documentary or read his recommendation of the best book on the topic.  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

Paul Murdoch is an amateur paleontologist, fossil hunting guide, ghost hunter, and certified Chesapeake Bay Storyteller operating out of Calvert County, Maryland on the bay's western shore. A highly engaging educator, Paul teaches us about the comet impact that formed the bay [35 million years ago] and why the Calvert Cliffs region is renowned for fossils of the Miocene epoch [8-22 million years ago] . We learn about long extinct, ancient whales, dolphins, sharks, and mollusks while getting some tips on how to read a fossil's story & fossil hunting etiquette. In the first of Paul's stories, he recounts his most significant find, the skull of an undiscovered species of squalodon [a shark toothed whale]. Then we switch gears from fossil hunting to ghost hunting!!! With a deep historical knowledge Paul talks about spending the night at haunted lighthouses and Civil War prisoner camps. For his second tale, he shares a riveting & chilling archeological ghost story about his involvement digging up the bones of Irish railroad workers, bringing to light a malevolent, historical coverup. Wrapping up this excellent episode we hear about: how the dead can speak, banding monarch butterflies, and what to expect on one of Paul's guided hunts.  If you're in the Chesapeake Bay area check out Paul's guided fossil hunting trips: Chesapeake Heritage And Paleontology Tours. Read about & see pictures of his significant finds: Squalodon [shark tooth whale] & Eurhinodelphis [long-snouted dolphin]. 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

Teresa Boardwine is a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild, as well as a teacher and the founder of Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine in Washington, Virginia. In this fluid & truly magical episode we take a metaphorical [& metaphysical] walk down to the river behind Teresa's home for a glimpse into wild medicinal plants, history, and spirit. We learn about wild yam & its connection to birth control; bloodroot's use in Listerine, marshmallow root for acid reflux; outdoor sacred spaces; Rudolf Steiner's childrearing philosophy; and much more. For story time, Teresa tells of crossing the witch-hazel threshold on the banks of the river where she's baptized her daughter. From there we're in the land of spirit hearing about plant journeys, a red clover fairy, and her circle of spirit guides. Coming to the end of this wild river ride, we do some folklore hunting for "murkles" [aka morels] & get a tasty stinging nettle pesto recipe. Do not miss this swift, joyous, ephemeral, and enchanting episode! Check out Teresa's Instagram and visit Green Comfort to learn more about her herbal school in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Ron Boehme is a sporting dog enthusiast, breeder, wingshooter, & host of the popular The Hunting Dog Podcast. While a resident of Michigan, Ron has a 2nd-home in the Shenandoah Valley where I was able to catch him passing through for a fascinating & passionate episode about the bond between hunter and dog. We begin with a rundown on hounds, pointers, and retrievers - the three categories of hunting canines - and hear how they're imbued with a rich history, culture, and most amazingly, a symbiotic bond with their human masters that dates back at least 10,000 years. If you have a pet lab or beagle or dachshund, then I hope you’ll enjoy learning about the wilder nature of your canine companions. When it comes to story time, Ron tells of his adventuresome boyhood in the only patch of wilderness a kid could find in Chicago: the graveyards… With the joyously mischievous qualities of Mark Twain, Ron's storytelling transports us into a 1960's world of building forts, evading cemetery security, mail-order home taxidermy, and pursuing game amongst the tombstones. To close this soulful episode, we end with a lot of heart as Ron speaks to the emotional burden of being a dog owner - the tragic knowledge that you’ll outlive your closest companions and how that connects us to our own mortality.  Check out Ron on Instagram to see his life with sporting dogs, listen to his podcast, and visit his website for further info, including his new online dog training workshop.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Caroline Seitz - aka Cobra Caroline - is a Northern Virginia wildlife educator specializing in reptiles & amphibians. While her vocation is to teach kids to love nature, this fun & educational & infectiously joyous episode is for all ages. We begin by covering the timely news on "herpetological spring": salamander migrations, spring peepers, vernal pools, gorging snakes, regional salamander biodiversity & population threats, gelatinous egg masses, and how-to locate some amphibian action near you in the remaining weeks.  Having owned & cared for dozens of rescue animals, Caroline shares her personal, ethical journey evolving beyond live shows to a more creative new venture. One of the most interesting parts of this episode is hearing how different ages respond to snakes, from kids, to teenagers, and finally adults. Then we get into her brief stint as a snake removal technician & joining her brother's conservation work with Hawaii's hawksbill sea turtles. In closing, Caroline shares a heart-warming story about her parents: how their nurturing of her childhood passion for reptiles & amphibians led to a lifetime of animal shows from age 9 to present day.Check out Caroline's Kid's Nature Shows to book an in-person or virtual event for your kiddos. And follow along via Instagram & Facebook for fun facts about reptiles & amphibians.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Greg McCoy is a Virginia caver specializing in vertical caving [similar to rock-climbing rappelling but into a black hole...]. In this educational episode we get an introduction to all things caving: the difference between a spelunker & a caver; horizontal & vertical caving; white nose syndrome  [a fungus devastating to bats]; pouring dye into cave streams to test ground water; what sorts of cave critters one might see; and the extreme nature of cave rescue. We hear exciting anecdotes about regional discoveries ranging from ancient bones to burial sites and artifacts. Greg describes two of his caving trips, one about descending a 586-ft pit in Ellison's Cave in Georgia  [click to see epic pictures!]. Nearing the end we hear a bit about cave diving and wrap it up with some McCoy family history. Having descended from coal miners, Greg went to college to escape a miner's life, and yet he's spent a lifetime underground for work & for recreation! Find your regional caving club [called a grotto] to reach out & join a caving excursion near you.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Frank Escalona is a Chilean-born avid outdoorsman - backpacker, fisherman, hunter, adventurer - whose outdoor life has stretched from Patagonia, to Washington's Cascade Range, and now Virginia's Blue Ridge. The themes of this episode are adventure, mentorship, and facing dangerous megafauna. Pre-interview I read a lesson from a 19th-century mentor to his mentee: a shikari's [an Indian hunter] story about ignoring bad omens that led to a violent run in with a tiger.  Our interview begins with Frank's "sumptuous" childhood in Valparaíso [a port city on Chile’s coast] and his emigration to Seattle [at the time a lumber town] where he met a woodsman mentor who took him on his first big game hunt, for black bear, at age 14 in the blueberry fields of the Cascade Range. While discussing human wildness & the motivation for pursuing potentially dangerous animals beyond the inherent value of their meat, Frank recounts a harrowing story about his Patagonian fisherman friends & their conflict with a man-eater. As hunter's mature, they often seek difficulty & depth, and for Frank that means learning the Zen of archery. We hear what he's learned from his recent traditional bow practice. Coming full circle, the episode ends with how working with master craftspeople from tailors to gunmakers adds to the aesthetic ritual of the hunt and connects back to Frank's childhood in the Valparaíso markets. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Susan Leopold, PhD of Linden, Virginia is an ethnobotanist, plant advocate, and the executive director of United Plant Savers [a non-profit focused on the conservation of medicinal plants]. The theme of this episode is history: a post-civil war connection to Susan's property, her Patawomeck ancestry [including the Pocahontas controversy], and the centuries-old ginseng trade which is currently linked to a shadowy herbal black market. She teaches us about plant conservation, the at-risk tool, sandalwood, osha, and related botanical issues. When it comes to story time, Susan shares her personal experience living in the Amazon jungle where she received a potent ayahuasca message and gathered folklore from the indigenous group she lived with during her ethnobotanical study. Upon returning home she was startled to find similar themes in the folktales of Virginia's Bull Run Mountains. In closing, Susan explains her specially crafted spagyric hemp products grown right here on her property and I recount our synchronistic trip to Carl Jung's lakeside castle, Bollingen Tower, in Switzerland. Check out United Plant Savers on Instagram and become a member to receive the annual Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation. For a behind-the-scenes look follow the United Plant Savers botanical sanctuary in Ohio. For Susan's CBD hemp products, visit her Paris Apothecary online store. And for more information regarding Virginia's Patawomeck tribe click the link. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Having no guest for this episode, we spend a rainy, snowy early winter morning reading stories by the fire. First we start locally, with two short folk tales from my mountains about spirit dogs and 'jack-ma-lanterns' read from  Virginia Folk Legends edited by Thomas E. Barden.  Next, I find the answer to my question about otter edibility in Norse mythology through a misadventure of Odin  & Loki who must fill a magician's otter pelt with gold, read from The Norse Myths retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland.  Then we visit the words of a great oracle, Clarissa Pinkola Estés to hear about the powerful feminine archetype of The Bone Collector read from Women Who Run with the Wolves. We wrap up this winter episode with a heartwarming bowl of turtle medicine soup from Wildwoods Wisdom: Encounters with the Natural World by the legendary Appalachian naturalist & folklorist Doug Elliott.  Check out these wonderful reads through the links above.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com 

Donna La Pré of Washington, Virginia is a Biodynamic gardener, artist, herbalist, small-batch skin care producer, natural dyer, and perfumer - all under the umbrella of her home business, Tender Flower. Seated outside the charming potting shed in her autumnal garden, we begin by hearing about Donna's ancestry followed by how the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner [anthroposophy] clicked on a deep level, inspiring her spiritual path & Biodynamic gardening in which she grows 85% of the herbs and flowers used in her products. Skimming over her many vocations, we settle into a thought-provoking discussion on aromatherapy, perfumery, and incense. As the interview deepens, Donna is gracious enough to let us peek into her world: one inhabited by nature spirits, elementals, gnomes, fays, and other beings unseen by most. This engrossing episode ends on a trilogy of synchronistic short stories about the loss of both her father & her cat named Sassafras, as well as the rescue of a bleating fawn on a stormy night. Check out Donna's Tender Flower store & classes as well as her Instagram. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com