Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "A Tale of The Ragged Mountains," we hear part I of Chris' interview on Poe's life, opening on the most poetic topic in the world, the death of a beautiful woman. From there, we get biographical with Poe's upbringing: The Great Dismal Swamp; boyhood on the James River; Charlottesville's Ragged Mountains; the museum's courtyard garden; his wealthy foster family in Richmond; and southern dueling culture. Chris describes Poe's aspirations as a poet & the tension this caused with his foster father, followed by his brief stints at university & West Point. We end this to-be-continued episode on Poe's idea of "The Imp of the Perverse!" Stayed tuned for Part II...

Check out The Poe Museum and Chris' books.

Reading from The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Music by:

"The Fall of the House of Usher"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio

"Regency Minuet"
Written & Performed by The Crawford Light Orchestra

"Annabel Lee"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio

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For this holiday special we begin with a traditional English Christmas feast as described by a family friend, highlighting a strange historical black dessert called a plum pudding or simply a Christmas pudding. Being topped with a holly sprig, we then learn the origins of some ancient plant-lore. But the meat of this sumptuous episode is a reading from a deeply mysterious and haunting, 14th-century Arthurian legend that takes place at a Christmas feast; one rudely interrupted by an axe-wielding Green Knight who demands a volunteer to join him in a deadly game. Merry Christmas!

Reading excerpts from Folklore of Kent by Fran & Geoff Doel;  English Botany Or, Coloured Figures of British Plants · Volume 2 by James Sowerby; and Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics; Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore of the Plant Kingdom by Richard Folkard.

Main reading from Sir Gawain and The Green Knight translated by Simon Armitage.

"Sweet was the Songe the Virgine Sung"
16th-century Christmas Carol
Performed by Ernst Stolz & Katrhine Brandt

"Dove's Figary or Chestnut"
English Country Dance
Performed by Ernst Stolz

"Be Merry, Be Merry I Pray You"
Medieval English Carol
Performed by Ernst Stolz

"What Child is This? (Greensleeves)"
English Folk Song
Performed by Ernst Stolz

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Rasmus Boström is a professional hunter & outdoor gear ambassador in Älvdalen, Sweden. After readings about Scandinavian bear hunting folklore & shape-shifting in the Old Norse sagas, we learn about a regional language & the area's hunting culture. From there it's hunting history with wolf-posse laws & bear spears. Rasmus then describes the Swedish brown bear & taking part in scat-gathering studies. After some background information about the modern bear hunt with hounds, he tells a harrowing story about tracking a wounded bear. For the last third we switch to a handful of other outdoorsman topics: bird hunting from skis; Ullr the Norse hunting god; marten trapping with deadfalls; a first time hunt custom, and invasive mink hunting on small islands in the name of sea bird conservation.

Outdoor gear & apparel: Astro Sweden & Bearskin on YouTube.

Reading excerpts from The Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture edited by Charlotte F. Otten and Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend edited Reimund Kvideland & Henning K. Sehmsdorf.

Art reference images:
"Return of the Bear Hunter" by Adolph Tidemand
"Wild Bird Hunters" by Knud Bergslien
Ullr [Norse hunting god] on the Böksta runestone

"Hårgalåten"
Swedish folk song
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes

"Vid Stormyren"
Written by Eric Sahlström
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes

"Säkkijärven polkka"
Finnish folk song
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes

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Philip Lufolk is a blacksmith in Storvik, Sweden inspired by the archeology & mythology of Scandinavia. We begin on the role of the Viking blacksmith & how bog iron was processed.  Philip describes objects & jewelry that he forges based on historical artifacts: the seeress' völva staff; a charm known as a Thor's hammer; a landowner's Viking key; and oath rings inscribed with law. We switch to mythology with the tale of Mjölnir [Thor's hammer] & the rest of the gods' treasures, fashioned by the industrious & highly-skilled dwarves. Then there's the vengeful blacksmith, Völund. We discuss burial mounds & rock art: picture stones, rune stones & a petroglyph just outside of Oslo's city center. Approaching the end Philip tells an archaic divination technique called Årsgång or "The Year Walk."

Follow Lufolk on Instagram and check out his wares at Lufolk.com.

Reading excerpts from The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology & Religion by Daniel McCoy

Music provided by Lyre of the Crossroads

"Sigurd and Fafnir'"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads

"Bass Jouhikko / Basssharpa / Bass Tagelharpa"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads

"Helm of Awe"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads

"Talharpa/Tagelharpa/Stråkharpa"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads

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Anna Björg Þórarinsdóttir is the manager of The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in The Westfjords region of Iceland.  We begin on the country's origins as a Viking settlement, followed by life in the traditional turf houses. From there we learn that belief in elves is still relevant today and how spirits in the land have shaped not only Icelandic legends, but the ethos. We hear of a nearby farm built over a heathen temple where an ominous Viking-era stone was discovered. In story form, Anna tells the rich history of the island's 16th-to-17th-century sorcerers: the religious temperament of the time, their persecution, and her own ancestral involvement. This opens up further synchronicities around her position at the museum & growing up in a New Age household. For the remaining time, it's an all out deluge of folklore and magic: spirit guides called Fylgja, hunting & farming folk magic, The Helm of Awe, the Yule Lads, a pair of human skin pants, and finally, a grotesque milk-stealing wool-worm known as the Tilberi!

Learn more about The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft & follow Anna on Instagram.

Reading excerpt from Icelandic Folk Legends: Tales of Apparitions, Outlaws and Things Unseen by Alda Sigmundsdóttir
 
Music Credit:

"Ragnarok" [The End of the Gods]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢

"Á fellr austan um eitrdala" [The Prophecy of the Seeress]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢

"Leikr elds ok ísa" [The song of Fire and Ice]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢

Untitled Kravik Lyre
Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
Courtesy of Lyre of the Crossroads

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Kathryn Parker & Olivia Lloyd are owners of The Veiled Mirror, an online store of antique jewelry & curiosities with a penchant for the romantic, dark and macabre based out of Richmond, Virginia. To start this tour of Victorian culture [1837-1901], we begin with a crafting fad, ornate floral wreaths made of human hair. From there we touch on mourning etiquette; the comical paraphernalia of secret society initiations; The Aesthetic Movement; showing off with a pineapple; & the accessories of women's fashion as eccentric as live insects. Switching to the personal, the ladies share a handful of haunting anecdotes; one about researching a man's calling card found in a bin of 1920's clothing; another about unwittingly removing a "witch bottle" from an abandoned farm house. We end on further memories of urban exploration. 

Follow The Veiled Mirror on Instagram & check out their website's current collection at theveiledmirror.com.

Music Provided by The Library of Congress

"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done"
Performed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina & Trinity Quartet

"War Song of the Normans"
Crusades Hymn
Performed by Reinald Werrenrath & Victor Male Chorus

"Black-Eyed Blues"
Composed by Don Kendall
Performed by Roy Bargy & Benson Orchestra of Chicago

"The Green Fields of Virginia"
Ford, Ward H., performer
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995, collector.

"Nina Gitana"
Composed by Reginald De Koven
Performed by Reed Miller

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Elizabeth "Beth" Morrison is a specialist in secular manuscript illumination & a senior curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.  On this long distance episode we begin with how medieval people made & illuminated manuscripts from the animal hides to the bone black ink.  From there we focus in on a medieval genre of book called a Bestiary, an encyclopedia of animals real and fantastic. We discuss their strange, sometimes shocking, often moralistic Christian ideas about the likes of beavers & elephants, lions & crocodiles, unicorns & dragons, including tidbits on how to hunt a unicorn or the origin of the phrase, "having a monkey on one's back." From there, Beth describes the behind-the-scenes of museum art transportation as well as a past exhibition on the medieval life of women. We end on Beth's personal story about an extremely uncanny synchronicity. 

Check out the Getty Museum & Beth's book from the Getty's 2019 Bestiary exhibition.

Reading excerpt from The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts; Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century made and edited by T.H. White

Music provided by Sibil•la Ensemble

"Douce Dame Jolie"
Written by Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)
Performed by Sibil•la Ensemble

"Codex Rossi: Che ti çova nascondere il bel volto" (c.1300's)
Written by Anonymous
Performed by Tímea Daradics
Courtesy of Sibil•la Ensemble

"Tels rit au main qui au soir pleure"
Written by Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)
Performed by Kristia Michael
Courtesy of Sibil•la Ensemble

"O Rubor Sanguinis"
Written by Hildegard von Bingen (1098- 1179)
Performed by Sibil•la Ensemble

Reference Images:

• Unicorn illumination from bestiary 
• Beaver illumination from bestiary 
• Bonacon illumination from bestiary
• Dragon illumination from bestiary
• Jeanne Montbaston's tree of penises 
• Example of Maria Sybilla Merian's insect paintings

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Claudia Pfeiffer is the Deputy Director & Head Curator of the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Virginia. We begin on their recent exhibition about the art of the dog collar: a haunting cast from the eruption of Vesuvius; an ancient "Beware of Dog" mosaic; spiked collars & regal collars. Claudia describes some of the most striking paintings from the exhibition: a theatrical Amsterdam dog market; a mastiff baying a poacher; a lion hunt; & an allegory about the father of cynicism.  From there we switch from dogs to horses and hear about their anatomy & movement as captured by art, including Muybridge's famous horse photographs. To wrap up this dog-lover & art history-lover episode, Claudia tells the lore of Barry the St. Bernard and his iconic barrel flask. 

Plan a visit to The National Sporting Library & Museum

Music provided by Ars Lyrica Houston

"Les Indes Galantes - Entrée les Sauvages"
Written by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Performed by Ars Lyrica Houston

"Fandango from Quintet No. 4, G 448"
Written by Luigi Boccherini
Performed by Ars Lyrica Houston

"Propiñán de Melyor and Si habrá en este Baldrés"
Written by anonymous
Performed by The Crumhorn Collective
Courtesy of Ars Lyrica Houston

Reference Images:

• Cast of Pompeii watch dog
• "Beware the Dog" Pompeii mosaic 
• The Amsterdam Dog Market  by Abraham Hondius [c. 1671-1672]
• Steer & Mastiff Pulling a Cart by Sid Franckett [1910]
• The Poacher at Bay by Richard Ansdell [1865]
• The Lion Hunt attributed to Paul de Vos [1590-1678]
• Alexander and Diogenes by Sir Edwin Landseer [1860's]
• The Anatomy of the Horse by George Stubbs [1766]
• The Horse in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge [1878]
• Example of improper horse gallop by George Stubbs
• Salmon and Trout on a Riverbank by John Bucknell Russell [1874]
•  Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler by Sir Edwin Landseer [1820]

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Justin Torone is a curiosities collector & the co-owner of Rest In Pieces oddity shop in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading about the historical significance of cabinets of curiosity, Justin begins with lore from the cemetery across the street for his shop.  Then we get deep into methods for preserving animal bones: dermestid beetles; articulation; degreasing, maceration, boiling, & later, wet specimens. We find out who the shop's audience is and how they acquire their vintage taxidermy & specimens. From there we leave the animal kingdom & turn to the human as Justin describes the most audacious highlights from his collection: folk art mourning mummies; an "overmodelled" skull; & a medically bisected fetus. All of which begs the question of legality, further illustrated by a university's illegal skeleton auction & a much more nefarious oddities black market. To bring this macabre feast to an end, Justin tells the story of how be become acquainted with a paranormal con-woman who asked him to jeopardize his morals. 

Check out Rest in Pieces oddity shop and their great Instagram account.

Reading excerpt from Cabinet of Curiosities: Collecting and Understanding the Wonders of the Natural World by Gordon Grice.

Music provided by Windhand

"Three Sisters"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand

"Boleskin"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand

"Aition"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand


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Carole Louie is a medium, past life regressionist, hypnotist, author, & director of THE CENTER-RVA in Richmond, Virginia. To ground this nearly psychedelic, often dark, most definitely mystical episode, we begin with the past-life research undertaken at the University of Virginia. From there Carole describes her own disturbing past-life memories which surfaced organically as flashbacks and became more fully realized through regression therapy. We muse on themes like earth school; inter-life visions; how we choose our life; soul groups; movies as past-life triggers; and even...incarnation as off-world entities. For her story Carole tells of her profound initiation into mediumship, starting with her granny collecting sassafras & culminating in the healing of her Buddhist father's ghost. We come to an end on a few last examples of how spirits appear to a medium & the messages they want to deliver.

Check out Carole's THE CENTER-RVA & the 2023 Reincarnation Symposium.

Reading excerpt from  Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child by Carol Bowman

Music by BAILE

"Walls"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE & John Lamonica

"Grieve Faster, Heal Faster"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE

"Birdwings"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE

"Love" [BAILE Remix]
Written by Daughter
Performed & Remixed by BAILE


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Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram

Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art

Contact: [email protected]