The story of how I began this podcast out of burnout and illness and began feeling into the path on a different level. Plus a dive into pagan conceptions of destiny and free will from Old Norse and Old English. (Take courage!)

Sign up for Well of Wyrd audio membership for £20/month starting April 20: https://www.danicaboyce.com/well-of-wyrd

Sign up for the Golden Thread coaching circle for folks with a spiritual calling starting April 20: https://www.danicaboyce.com/golden-thread

Learn more about Pagan Camp, July 27-30: https://www.danicaboyce.com/pagan-camp-2026

Visit my website: https://www.danicaboyce.com/

Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Find me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danica.boyce/

Old English poem the Wanderer: http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=wdr

Music in this episode:

Weja Ura by Olivia Fern - buy the album: https://oliviafern.bandcamp.com/album/red-thread

Seven Daughters of the Sea by Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin - buy the album: https://www.irishsong.com/shop/seven-daughters-of-the-sea/

Waltz for the Cosmos by Lassi Logrén - buy the album: https://lassilogren.bandcamp.com/album/jouhikko

Theme music is Forest March by Sylvia Woods. Buy Sylvia Woods' music: https://www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

In this episode, I speak with Veronica Rottman, a somatic practitioner specializing in the female nervous system, about holy well and spring folklore and the ways it resonates with trauma integration and healing. You can sign up for our upcoming collaborative workshop, Sacred Waters: Healing at the Well of Brigid here:

https://waking-womb.com/events/2026/1/24/sacred-waters-healing-at-the-well-of-brigid

Veronica Rottman's website: https://waking-womb.com/

Veronica Rottman's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wakingwomb

Mentioned in the episode:

Frau or Mother Holle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frau_Holle

Rosaleen Durkin’s Irish sacred wells walking tours: https://visitwicklow.ie/listing/irish-sacred-wells-walking-tours/

Brielle Elise: waking the well: https://www.instagram.com/wakingthewell

The well maidens account in the Elucidation: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/elucidation.html

(Lines 29-132)

A note: birds are associated with the fisher king’s court (and fish) more than other animals, somewhat counter to what I said in the episode.

A special thank you to Sylvia Woods, whose tune Forest March is the intro theme to Fair Folk!

Image: The goose maid at the well by Arthur Rackham

Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Find me on instagram: instagram.com/danica.boyce

In this episode I talk with Irish sean nós (old-style) singer Chan Reid about the experience of living as an immigrant far from one’s ancestors, and how experiences of migration and dislocation resonate in the heart of Irish traditional song and music. Chan sings some heart-cracking-open songs, and even obliges me by explaining how Irish traditional singers do the “diddly bits” that make sean nós songs sound so unbelievably cool.

Join my pagan ritual song course here: https://www.danicaboyce.com/pagan-ritual-song

Follow or contact Chan Reid here: https://www.instagram.com/seannossinger

Join my mailing list here: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

References:

Joe Heaney for sean nós songs

Irish Traditional Music Archive: https://www.itma.ie/

Scottish sound archive Tobar an Dualchais (Kist o' Riches): https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/

Songs in the episode:

Dooley Gate by John Shiel (sung by Chan Reid)

Here's a Health to the Company, traditional (sung by Chan Reid and Danica)

The Shores of Loch Bran (sung by Chan Reid)

Thank you to Sylvia Woods whose tune, Forest March, is the theme music to Fair Folk podcast

Join Abundance Paganism: https://www.danicaboyce.com/abundance-paganism

Join the Abundance Paganism mini-course: https://danicaboyce.myflodesk.com/q266txu4bb

Marika's summer course, Ancestral Embodiment: https://wildbody.ca/ancestral-body

Join my Substack mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Sign up for the free Abundance Paganism mini-course: https://danicaboyce.myflodesk.com/q266txu4bb

Sign up for Abundance Paganism course: https://www.danicaboyce.com/abundance-paganism

Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Find me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danica.boyce/

In this episode I talk with the incredible Lindsay Mack of Tarot for the Wild Soul Podcast and No Bad Cards on Substack!

Sign up for our collaborative workshop Holy Homecoming: Reclaiming Magic in an Age of Illusion on May 25th at 10 am PT, 1 pm ET, 6 pm UK: https://www.tarotforthewildsoul.com/holy-homecoming

Lindsay's podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6AXz5dXTFFceckBMve9vNT?si=48c0a83ff9044a52

Lindsay's Substack, No Bad Cards: https://lindsaymack.substack.com/

Danica's Substack: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Intro theme to Fair Folk: "Forest March" by Sylvia Woods

In this episode, I welcome Joanna Tarnawska aka Polish Folk Witch to the podcast, who teaches online about Polish folk magic with a syncretic perspective. In this episode she speaks generously with me about her understanding of and experience with saints within the Polish folk tradition, and I respond with my own reflections on engaging with saints with a pagan and animistic lens.

Sign up for Wonder Club, my course on saints for the Christian-ambivalent: danicaboyce.com/wonder-club

Join Joanna’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/polishfolkwitch

Pre-order Joanna’s book, Polish Folk Magic: https://www.crossedcrowbooks.com/shop-crossed-crow-books/p/polishfolkmagic

Joanna’s website: https://polishfolkwitch.pl/

Find her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polish.folk.witch/

Image: A wayside shrine

In this episode I speak with Scottish storyteller Dougie Mackay about the troubled relationship between humankind and wolves in the British isles, and how we might revive the days when culture was shared with entertainment and joy at the centre. He shares a moving story from Ireland about a peculiar family a man meets while searching for lost cows, and offers a blessing for the revival of the wolf's vital place in our world.

Learn more about the upcoming Wonder Club saints course, starting March 5th: https://www.danicaboyce.com/wonder-club

Sign up for Cave of Dreams - Feast and Fast workshop, February 23: https://www.houseoflegends.me/cave-of-dreams

Learn more about A Song of Oak and Ash retreat, Sept 11-14: https://www.houseoflegends.me/2025-retreat

Dougie’s Mailing list: sendfox.com/dougiemackaystory

Dougie’s website: storyconnection.org

Dougie’s Podcast: Tales for our Times: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tales-for-our-times/id1691719370

The Hearthfire sessions: https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:5916/913:25451/

The Edinburgh Fringe: https://www.edfringe.com/

Dougie’s book, Scottish Tales for Telling: https://dougiemackaystory.bandcamp.com/album/scottish-tales-for-telling

In this episode I share my most popular Substack mailing list post from 2024, as well as some ways you can work with me this January.

Sign up for my mailing list on Substack: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Sign up for Entheos workshop: Danicaboyce.com/entheos

Sign up for Wolf Milk or the Cave of Dreams series: https://www.houseoflegends.me/cave-of-dreams

Make a coaching appointment with me: https://www.danicaboyce.com/shop/p/walk-talk-coaching-session

Listen to the Wolf Milk almanac episode from 2023: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5itug3FltIUkTwY29YzP4j?si=c2883a9841cb4a6d

Listen to Craft as pagan devotion with Daniel Allison: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2VT0N5gjTNDOR5Gpifd2pN?si=d86300a4b3754085

Sign up for October's Cave of Dreams workshop: www.houseoflegends.me/cave-of-dreams

Find me on Substack: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

In this almanac episode, I survey some themes of the folklore of October, from fire rituals to guising, and invite listeners to dream into the relationship they would like to cultivate with the unseen in the winter months of the year. The full moon of October this year is October 17th, from which this episode took its Anglo-Saxon name, Winterfylleþ, winter-full, the full moon marking the start of the winter half of the year.

Music in this episode:

Opening theme: "Forest March" by Sylvia Woods

Buy Sylvia Woods’ music:

www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

"Tam Lin" by Moira Craig

Buy this track: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/tam-lin/1617427959?i=1617427977

"The Foggy Dew" by Ye Vagabonds

Buy it: https://yevagabonds.bandcamp.com/track/the-foggy-dew

"Dromte Mig En Drom I Nat" by Musica Ficta & Bo Holten

Buy this track: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/dromte-mig-en-drom-i-nat/474624260?i=474624262

Corrections:

The whales I saw were in fact porpoises, and I was recording near Dunstanburgh Castle, rather than Dunstan Castle