In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is one of the oldest stories ever written, pressed into clay tablets over four thousand years ago, and it still carries medicine that feels just as relevant today.

Gilgamesh is the mightiest king in the world... and the most alone. When the gods send him an equal - the wild man Enkidu, made of earth and water - his life transforms. But the friendship that follows doesn't complete its work, and when Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh sets out on a desperate quest to conquer death itself. He travels to the ends of the earth. He fails. And in that grief and in that failure, the medicine he needed all along finally lands.

This story speaks to anyone who has ever pursued achievement, legacy or busyness to avoid sitting with grief. Anyone who has contacted a part of themselves that needed integrating, and found it took over rather than found its proper place. And to anyone waiting to be fully present until things are different than they are.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, an exploration of the medicine it may be offering, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody that medicine.

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Today's episode is released on Nowruz, the Persian New Year. This is an ancient celebration that has marked the arrival of spring across the Persian world for thousands of years. The Shahnameh, from which today's story is drawn, has been recited and celebrated at Nowruz for centuries. To anyone celebrating today: Nowruz Mubarak.

In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore Zal and Rudaba from the Shahnameh, the great national epic of Persia drawn from oral tradition and written more than a thousand years ago by the poet Ferdowsi. It took him 30 years to write. This is a love story set against forbidden bloodlines, a child raised by a mythical bird, and a birth that could only happen through ancient wisdom the court didn't possess.

A warrior's son is born with white hair and abandoned on a mountain, where he is raised by the Simurgh: a vast, ancient bird who holds the seeds of all possible futures. When he returns to the world and falls in love with a princess from an enemy lineage, two families, two kingdoms, and a king must be persuaded that what looks problematic is actually the origin of something the world desperately needs. And when ordinary knowledge runs out, it is the wisdom carried from the outside - in a single copper feather - that delivers what nothing else could.   

This story speaks to anyone who carries something that feels unwelcomed by the world or themselves, anyone who senses potential in what has been overlooked or dismissed, or anyone seeking to understand more about love and union. 

The episode includes the complete story told in full, a depth psychology exploration of the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration practices to help you embody the medicine.

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This is a short introduction to Season Two of Story Medicine: a moment to mark the beginning of a new season.

It includes reflections on the experience of launching Story Medicine and making Season One; as well as the sharing of exciting news about the show's growing international reach, and two new developments for Season Two: a move to fortnightly episodes, and the launch of the Story Medicine Circle - a small, regular Zoom group for listeners who want to work through the integration practices together, in community. 

The first full episode of Season Two follows at 7:30am on Friday 20th March 2026.

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In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore Mwindo from the oral tradition of the Nyanga people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a living epic about the son a father tried to destroy, and what that son became because of it.

Mwindo is born already singing, and already carrying the symbol of his purpose. His father seals him in a drum and throws him in the river. What follows is a journey through the underworld, a confrontation in the sky, and a homecoming that refuses revenge.

This story speaks to anyone still carrying a wound from those who should have welcomed them, anyone who has wondered whether an ordeal has made them or broken them, or anyone learning what it means to hold the difficult parts of their story without being defined by them.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.

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In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore the myth of Ra and Apep from ancient Egyptian mythology. This is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world, preserved in the Pyramid Texts, the Amduat, and the Book of Gates. It carries medicine for anyone who has ever wondered why the darkness keeps coming back.

Every night, the sun god Ra descends into the underworld aboard his night vessel, travelling through twelve caverns toward the eastern horizon. At the seventh hour, the chaos serpent Apep is waiting: ancient beyond counting and a force of nature capable of stopping the dawn entirely. Ra and his crew fight and make it through to dawn. And every night, Apep returns. 

This story speaks to anyone who has treated the return of darkness as evidence of failure, anyone navigating a struggle that keeps reasserting itself despite their best efforts, or anyone who needs permission to show up for the crossing rather than waiting to have resolved it.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.

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In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore The Monkey King's Journey from Wu Cheng'en's 16th-century novel Journey to the West, itself drawing on centuries of oral tradition. This is a story about what happens when extraordinary power and genuine learning are pointed in the wrong direction, and what it takes to turn them toward something that matters.

Born from stone at the intersection of Heaven and Earth, Sun Wukong is a being of pure potential. No lineage, no limits, no place in the existing order. Learning to become fully himself is his task. He seeks out a great teacher, trains with fierce discipline, and acquires extraordinary abilities. Yet he emerges from that training more dangerous than before, consuming everything he encounters: immortality, cosmic power, wisdom itself... without any of it changing who he is. It takes a humbling encounter with the Buddha, five hundred years under a mountain, and the long slow discipline of an impossible journey to complete what his training alone could not.

This story speaks to anyone who has worked hard on themselves but sensed that something fundamental hasn't shifted, anyone who has accumulated knowledge or insight without yet knowing how to embody it, anyone asking what their restless energy is actually in service of.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.

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In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore  Samudra Manthana, or "The Churning of the Ocean", from Hindu mythology... one of the great cosmological tales found in the ancient Puranas.

When the gods lose their power through carelessness, they must undertake a profound journey to recover it. But Vishnu tells them: you cannot do this alone. You must work alongside the very forces you've been in conflict with. Together, they churn the cosmic ocean for a thousand years. And it isn't only the treasure they sought that emerges.

This story reveals a perspective on what transformation actually requires: tension between opposing forces, the poison that surfaces before the treasures, the steady ground beneath the churning, and the discrimination about what deserves permanence in our lives.

This story speaks to anyone who's taken their power for granted, anyone caught between structure and possibility, or anyone facing the toxic material that surfaces when you do deep work.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.

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In this episode of Story Medicine we explore "Baba Yaga and the Kind-Hearted Girl," from Russian oral tradition. This is a story about a young girl sent by her stepmother to face certain death in the forest, where Baba Yaga, the wild crone who shows no mercy, sets impossible tasks. 

With only her aunt's wisdom and a selection of small gifts, the girl must survive through the web of relationships she weaves, choosing to walk the hero's path rather than succumb to victimhood.

This story speaks to anyone facing impossible circumstances with no good options, anyone stuck waiting for others to change before they can move forward, or anyone who needs to remember that kindness to small things is never wasted: that what we tend, tends us back.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three embodied integration practices to help you integrate the medicine.

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In this episode of Story Medicine we explore Sedna, from Inuit tradition. This is a story about a young woman whose comfortable aloofness blocks her own evolution, leading to a devastating descent that forces her to release everything she's been clinging to, transforming her into the goddess at the bottom of the sea.

This story speaks to anyone who keeps themselves from their own becoming, anyone holding onto comfort that blocks transformation, or anyone who needs to release their grip to find authentic power.

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three embodied integration practices to help you integrate the medicine.

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Learn more about Joe's therapeutic work: www.joesummerfield.co.uk 

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In this episode of Story Medicine, we explore "Prometheus" from Hesiod's ancient Greek texts: a tale nearly 3000 years old about a Titan who foresaw every consequence of his defiance of the Gods and chose to pay the price anyway.

Prometheus, whose name means "forethought" stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, knowing exactly what would follow: plagues released into the world, and for him, his liver eaten daily by an eagle. Why was it worth it? 

This story speaks to anyone facing the choice between active suffering (the cost of standing up) and passive suffering (the cost of watching whilst having the power to act). Anyone recognising that gifts and plagues often arrive together. Or anyone learning that what we call "hope" may torment us, but meaning — the kind that doesn't require outcomes — can sustain us through even the hardest adversities. 

The episode includes the complete story told in full, depth psychology analysis revealing the archetypal patterns and symbolic meaning, and three practical integration exercises to help you embody the medicine.

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Learn more about Joe's therapeutic work: www.joesummerfield.co.uk 

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