One man stands perfectly still upon the stage, filling the theatre with a sense of the profound, the past, the deeply sacred. There is no banter, no breaking the ambiance of ceremonial space alongside brother and sisters band members, all still and sombre as ancient stones. From them, something pure - the songs of the world - pours out. He creates music with the atmosphere, bones and birch groves and rivers. He plays traditional instruments that are the same our ancestors called up the Gods with. He sings of a deeper, wilder, truer part of ourselves, of runes and sacred places, of forests and resting places and the older Gods. His music made the TV show Vikings come to authentic life and his cameo in that show is iconic. After twenty years of playing, Einar Selvik's compositions, along with his band, Wardruna, have finally and justly found world-wide acclaim, which he seems not terribly interested in, because his purpose is creating something raw, old and true, so we can remember who we are. Yes, (a very nervous!) Lucy and Einar Selvik talk of animism, the ritual aspect of a live Wardruna performances, the beauty of longing, black metal, white ravens, white stags and the honesty of presence. Featuring three tracks from First Flight of the White Raven, this is a beautiful, wise, honest sharing from an amazing composer about our humanity, memory, our connection to Nature, creating what is needed, and being true as a performer. Wardruna have just released a new album that was all recorded live, and are touring Europe and The United States. Do everything you can to experience them, starting with this conversation, beautiful Witches.

Thankyou so much to Shayne Brian and Chris Maric for working so hard to set up this interview over and again - we did it!

Thanks to Shayne as always for his beautiful production work, to Georgia for the lovely imagery, to the incredible Patreon community who keep the Witchcast flying on her broomstick! So much love to you all!My love and gratitude always to Blue Angel Publishing, Primal Healing and Kohli Tea for their sponsorship of the Witchcast. Love and honour to all of you.

Songs are:

Kvitravn (White Raven)

Kvit Hjort (White Stag)

Andevarljod

Helvegen

The intro music is "We Are One" by the band Nordic Daughter. Find the band on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nordicdaughter/

Or visit their website - http://nordicdaughter.com

Music throughout the show includes tracks from Darksphere EmpireDownload the Darksphere Empire album here - https://darksphere-empire.bandcamp.com/album/after-the-rain

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.