My Favourite Mystic

Welcome back! Having finally completed her PhD, Dr (!) AJ Langley is back, joined by Alicia Spencer-Hall to talk about the living/zombie saint, Christina Mirabilis (c.1150-1224). We talk about neurodivergence, crip narratives, and having to die three times before you actually get to rest!

AJ Langley is joined by Lee Irwin to talk about the Lakota mystic and healer Heȟáka Sápa (Black Elk). We talk about the difference between Native and Christian conceptions of visionary experiences, embodied spiritual practices, and the importance of acting on visions for the benefit of community.

CW: non-consensual/coercive relationships

Rowan Wilson joins AJ Langley to celebrate the works of Walter Hilton (d. 1396). We talk about the moral stakes of a life in the world, the existence of devotional guides as proof that devotion wasn't always easy, and the importance of a good night's sleep.

Follow us on Twitter @myfavmystic and we will see you next month!

Genevieve Caufield joins the podcast to speak about the Prussian anchoress and visionary Dorothea of Montau (1347-1394). We talk about the joys of having two "lives" (neither of which say mush about her life), replacing her heart with a fiery lump of flesh, and declarations of orthodoxy.

And we are back! On this episode Maria Oen talks about her long-lasting interest in the mystic, saint, and founder of the Bridgettines, Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1373). We talk about her time in Italy, her high-status connections, her insistence that the Pope return to Rome, and her duties as the Virgin Mary's daughter-in-law.

Andrew Kraebel (@hermitofhampole) joins the podcast for our second episode on the fourteenth-century English mystic, hermit, and religious writer Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1349). We talk about translating Rolle's writing, his poetry, his writing for women, and the importance of the whole person to the mystical experience. 

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This month, artist and researcher Harri Hudspith (@harri_hudspith) joins host AJ Langley (@medievalmystics) to discuss the Carmelite nun, reformer, mystic, and saint Teresa of Ávila. We talk about playing hermits in the garden, learning how to cry over the Passion, and how to become so virile that you shock men. To see more of Harri's work, visit https://t.co/UUOktrp8hj

On this episode, AJ Langley (@medievalmystics) is joined by Delfi Nieto-Isabel (@delfinietois) speaks about the charismatic heretic, mystic, and incarnation of the Holy Spirit, Na Prous Boneta (c. 1296-1328). We talk about why she thought that Pope John XXII was the Anti-Christ, the age of the Holy Spirit, Peter John Olivi and apocalyptic theology, and the Holy Trinity as tiny men who jump on Na Prous!

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This month, Biörn Tjällén joins AJ Langley to speak about the Christian mystic Margareta, a woman of Sámi origin who travelled through Sweden in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century to gain support from Swedish religious authorities for the increase in pastoral care from those in the Northern regions of Sweden. We talk about the lack of information that we have, the letters of support, her connections with the Queen of Sweden (also Margareta), her life as a parallel to that of St Birgitta of Sweden. 

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