For this month's episode of Magus we're raising up the Divine Feminine and discussing the life and works of Dion Fortune!

Both Violet Mary Firth in Llandudno in Welsh Caernarfonshire, she claimed always to be from Yorkshire - just like the claimed she could astral project, psychically communicate with the living and the dead, and seek advice within the Otherworld from the Illuminati of 'Hidden Masters.'

After entering womanhood during the Great War, serving as a Land Girl, and training as a pioneering psychotherapist, Dion Fortune, as an alter-ego, emerged both in fiction and 'non-fiction' to explode patriarchal traditions within occult circles.

Her cult, which grew to tens of thousands in the 1930s, then claimed to have raised the soul of King Arthur who, working alongside Winston Churchill and the Virgin Mary, helped Dion to topple Fascism.

Did she believe some out-there stuff? Absolutely. Was she a fraud? Well, that's harder to say, but from psychic duels with hypnotist headmistresses to ropes of ectoplasm, battles with vampires to creative approaches to inter-personal relationships, this is her magical life, and we hope you find it inspiring!

Speak with you again on Thursday for a double-bill of fairy tales and chats about them with "The Wonderful Birch" and "Jack and the Bean Stalk."

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Maytide mischief continues with today's release - a live conversation with Dr Christina Oakley-Harrington, founder of Treadwell's Books.

Treadwell's is an esoteric bookshop in London specializing in occult and spiritual topics like magic, witchcraft, and world religions.

We were thrilled to return to one of our favourite places in London for a light-hearted discussion about May Day folklore, stories and traditions. 

We really hope you enjoy the conversation, which travels from rural Ireland to ancient Mesopotamia, and has the very best tips for getting (and keeping) all the butter in your village, along with a live audience Q & A.

We'll speak to you again on Monday, when we've got a new episode of Magus coming out, all about Dion Fortune! 

Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this month's update episode we're chatting all about Beltane - which is happening right now - as well as "Need Fires" and why they're so special.

After recapping the key traditions associated with Beltane, and discussing the wider traditions of using 'Virgin Flames' to purify livestock and people, we share a bunch of our news, two awesome pieces of music sent in by listeners, and we have also included the opening chunks of March's two Patreon Exclusive episodes.

First comes the opening 25 minutes of Nine Sacred Trees #1: Birch, which is followed by the first part of our Film Club episode all about Val Guest's 1955 British-American sci-fi movie The Quatermass Xperiment.

We really hope you enjoy the fun mix and blend, and will speak to you tomorrow on our Three Ravens Live Show all about Maytide Folklore recorded at Treadwells Books in London!

Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Lang Fairy Tale episode for today is a double bill, The Enchanted Pig and The Norka.

The Enchanted Pig is a very well known Romanian folk tale, which appears in many different forms, and it's a whole lot of fun! The story compares to East of the Sun and West of the Moon - and possibly wins out against it? Collected by the father of Romanian folklore Petre Ispirescu, we think it's one of the good ones.

We follow that on with The Norka, which the Langs took from one of Alexander Afanasyev's many collections of Ukrainian and Russian tales. 

If you're wondering what a 'norka' is, you might not leave the story any the wiser, though it's an excellent adventure with palaces hidden in eggs, helpful birds, and quite possibly a polyamorous wedding at the end.

As ever, we talk about the stories, their history and their tale types - and try out a few more silly voices for our collection!

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rise up comrade, and rage against the machine, as on this month's episode of Forgotten Melodies we're talking about Protest Songs!

With Eleanor still recovering from her operation, we brought back-up this time, in the shape of Katie Sommers, Eleanor's long-time partner in puppet theatre company Rust & Stardust. If you're a regular listener than you will hear Katie's singing voice regularly, but on this episode she speaks!

What about? Well, three different songs exploring three different historical causes of protests in England!

The first, Goose and the Common, is all about land rights and enclosure.

The second, Rigs of the Times, is about profiteering - originally following the French Revolution.

The third, The Blackleg Miner, is about strike breaking.

Along the way, we - Katie, Ben, Eleanor and Martin - all discuss various aspects of these protest songs, things we feel like protesting, and protest movements in general - and we very much hope you enjoy the episode!

Speak to you again on Thursday for our Lang Fairy Tale double-bill featuring The Enchanted Pig and Norka before Friday's May Update Episode and Saturday's Three Ravens Live recording from our appearance last month at Treadwells Books!

The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this week's very special, seasonally appropriate Local Legends episode we have something really special for you - a good long chat with Philip Carr-Gomm!

Philip lives locally to us here in Sussex in Southern England, and is a psychologist, psychotherapist, and author who served as the Chosen Chief of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) for 32 years. He is widely recognized for his work in blending modern psychology with Druidry and nature-based spirituality, and if only for The Book of English Magic he deserves everyone's thanks and praise.

With May Day/Beltane coming up fast, this chat sees Martin and Philip reflecting on some big topics, including how Philip's childhood and teenage training in Druidry opened his eyes up to wider spiritual worlds, the legacy of Iolo Morganwg, the Push-Pull nature of Gurus and Ashrams, the afterlife of Philip's mentor Ross Nichols, UFOs, astral projection, and much more besides.

We truly hope that you enjoy it, and will speak to you again on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this coming week - it's gonna be a big one!

Visit Philip's website: https://philipcarr-gomm.com

The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Lang Fairy Tale for today is another Madame d'Aulnoy story, Princess Rosette.

Also known in some places as The King of the Peacocks or The Black and the White Bride, it's packed full of whimsy, but what is it actually about?

We get lists of fun foods and wonderful creatures, sojourn with side characters with nothing to do, and end up with a kind of take on The Goose Girl.

Considering d'Aulnoy is most known for writing fairy tales for adults, and coined the term 'Fairy Tale' in the first place, perhaps she knew better what ought to go into one.

Then again, should you lock your children up in towers for all their lives? Or impulsively decide to marry a ruler of birds?

Also, what the heck is a cockchafer?!

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's that coming over the hill with fists full of sheep and improbably large trousers on? It's a new episode of Three Ravens Bestiary of course, all about the mythology and folklore of Giants!

We begin with a brief chat about Gigantism, the rare medical condition which makes people grow larger than normal - and other examples of very large human ancestors, from extremely tall Egyptian pharaohs and Roman Centurions to the Gravettian Hunters - the 'Giants of the Ice Age.'

Soon though we're digging into appropriately enormous questions, such as, how tall are Giants actually meant to be? What do we know about the first Giant mentioned in writing, and how did we get from concepts of the snake-tailed Ancient Greek 'Gigantes' of classical mythology to the 19th century concept of Giants as blundering nitwits easily bested by things as simple as holes in the ground?

Surprise surprise, there's something about the whole idea related to how 'modern people' view the past, and the foreign, whether that be in the case of David slaying Goliath, Heracles helping Zeus and his siblings to quell rebellions, or Norse deities using the corpse of a giant to build the world around us...

Featuring one or two puns, and a whole host of other stuff - such as apotropaic giant magic, a gender-swapping relationship counsellor, and plenty of linguistic nerdery from all over the world, it's a big topic, but like many warriors before us we've brought it down to our level!

We also hope you are thoroughly pleased by our new episode art, as drawn by our good friend Tom Peteuil of Creature Castle - check out brand new 'G is for Giants' merch from us here and visit the Creature Castle shop for prints and other wonderful things here.

Speak to you again on Thursday for this week's Lang Fairy Tale, Princess Rosette, before Saturday's Local Legends interview with the man who was head of the largest Druid order in the world for 35 years, Philip Carr-Gomm!

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, we take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our first Three Ravens Live Show release of 2026 we have a recording from Farnham Literary Festival in March, all about the history and folklore of Surrey!

Recorded at Farnham Town Hall, a stone's throw from the town's Norman castle, we begin by offering a whistle-stop tour of the ways in which the historic county of Surrey has been shaped by conflicts, including Bronze Age tribal clashes, Viking invasions, and the seemingly unstoppable growth of neighbouring Greater London.

Despite the county having traditionally been overlooked in terms of its folklore and folktales, this episode is packed to the gunnels, from the legacy of local witch Mother Ludlam to the dragon converted to Christianity by St Martha, the eerily haunted natural spring known as 'The Silent Hill' to persistent horse demons, eccentrics buried upside-down, the Devil's various doings in the county, and much more besides!

For our story, Eleanor transports us to Chertsey during the Wars of the Roses for a romance that stopped time - The Legend of Blanche Heriot - underscored by Martin doing his best with bells, cymbals and coconuts, after which we discuss the story's provenance and open the floor for a Q&A pleasingly enlivened by contributions from The Farnham Folklore Society.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along, Farnham Town Council for hosting the event, and if you would like to come and see us recording Three Ravens Live at one of our upcoming events then do please take a look at our Events Calendar and book yourself some tickets!

We really hope you enjoy the episode, and will speak to you again on Monday for a new episode of the Three Ravens Bestiary all about the history and mythology of Giants!

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For today's Lang Fairy Tales episode we have a tale with its very own ATU number - The Master Thief!

First recorded, to our knowledge, by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. the story became popular in Europe due to a single writer in the Italian Renaissance who popularised the "Rise Tale" - the story of someone from a more modest background outwitting the rich to become rich themselves.

In this case, with the Langs taking their version from Asbjørnsen and Moe, we have a youngest son who is a trickster, cross-dresser, huntsman, passable fake corpse, and torturer of priests.

Is he a hero? Perhaps not - but is that perhaps the point, with European society being so unfairly organised that only the deceitful can succeed within it?

Naturally we have a chat about all that, and about the story's clear roots in commedia dell'arte, at the end.

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.

Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.

With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.