Chthonia

This week we return to Greece and Rome to look at the queen of the gods, Hera, and her Roman counterpart Juno. This proper matron of respectable marriage has an incredibly dark reputation for deception, madness, and attempted murder.

This week we look at Tiamat, the primordial sea goddess of the Enuma Elish. She battles Marduk and is defeated, and the firmaments of the world are created through her body. She is generally considered to be a monster or sea dragon that embodies primordial chaos. We relate her story to the myths of the Hittite Illuyanka, the Greek Python, and the Biblical Leviathan.

This week's podcast talks about Cerridwen, the Welsh enchantress associated with a magical cauldron of knowledge. A series of mishaps with the exploding cauldron lead to the birth of the bard Taliesin, which has indirectly linked her to the Grail legend, and given her goddess status.

This week we look at the Norse goddess Hel, the daughter of the trickster god Loki, and ruler of the regions under the earth, where most humans went after death. As you might imagine, her name is the root of the modern word Hell, and the connection between the female goddess and the later-named place […]

This week we look at the Egyptian goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris who brings life to his dead body, and becomes pregnant with the god Horus. As a queen of magical power and a mother figure, she is associated with protection of the dead. Like many goddesses of her time, she also has a […]

Just in time for Easter, this second podcast on Dionysus looks at the Orphic concept of the god as successor to Zeus, and as the archetype for the divine savior, later embodied in the mythology of Jesus. Source used in video: The God Who Comes: Dionysian Mysteries Revealed by Rosemarie Taylor-Perry. Algora Publishing, 2003 Music: […]

Welcome to the 50th episode of Chthonia! This week we look at the mysterious figure of Dionysus, in the first of a two part podcast. Dionysus is the god of wine, an egalitarian deity who can be directly experienced through drinking wine. In this episode we look at the Homeric Dionysus, the one portrayed in the Homeric Hymns, and we will look at his connection to the Divine Feminine.

This week we talk about Hawaii's volatile volcano goddess and her role in shaping and protecting the islands, as well as her explosive relationship with her sister and her friends. She represents the dual nature of fire, in both its creative and destructive aspects. Music: Adpated from "Secret Door" by Anastasia Vronski, [CC 4.0] URL: […]

This week's podcast is about Erzulie, a family of Voodoo loas connected to water, and to the Feminine in its various forms. We look at two of the loas in particular; Erzulie Freda, associated with love and sex, and Erzulie Dantor, a fierce protector figure often associated with the Black Madonna. Music: Intro adapted from […]

Oya is the powerful Yorùbá Orisha of the winds and tempests. She is considered either the sister of the Orisha of storms Shango, or one of His three wives, with Oshun and Oba. She is a fierce protector of women who uses her machete to clear the dead wood path and make way for the new. We […]