Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast

In the heart of winter, when storms rage and resources grow thin, generosity has never been easy, or even optional.

In this episode of Wild Kin, we step into the deep history of midwinter to explore why hospitality, gift-giving, and communal care have carried such moral weight across time.

From Neolithic stone monuments aligned to the returning sun, to Celtic laws that mandated hosting as a sacred duty, to Christian stories that reframed generosity as divine obligation, we trace how winter has always demanded answers.

Resources

Winter Solstice at Newgrange — World Heritage Ireland

Hospitality and the Law in Early Medieval Ireland — RTÉ Brainstorm

Togail Bruidne Dá Derga (The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel) — CELT, University College Cork

For more Celtic stories and traditions, check out Wild Kin Studio on Substack.

Holly is more than a Christmas decoration — it’s one of winter’s oldest guardians. In this episode of Wild Kin, we trace holly’s path from pagan threshold magic and medieval law to ogham lore, wandering spirits, and the evergreen symbol we still hang above our doors today.

Resources & Further Reading

Ilex aquifolium (Holly) — University College Cork

Auraicept na n-Éces — CELT Edition

Bríatharogam (Ogham Kennings) — Wikipedia

Celtic Tree Alphabets — Nigel Pennick

Trees in Early Ireland — Fergus Kelly (PDF)

To hear more, check out The Artio Journal on Substack

The first frost isn’t just a shift in weather — it’s the moment the Cailleach rises. Mountain-shaper. Storm-bringer. Guardian of the wild herds. This week on Wild Kin, we travel into the heart of her mythology:how the winter crone shaped the landscape, why she appears at the turning of the season, and what her ancient stories reveal about aging, power, and the wisdom found in darkness.

Resources and References

Blackie, Sharon: If Women Rose Rooted. September Publishing, 2016.

Jones, Mary: Cailleach Bérri: The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare. (Primary text translation.)

Martin, B. K.: Lament of the Old Woman of Beare: A Critical Evaluation. Medium Ævum, 38(3), 1969.

PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Post-reproductive Lifespan in Humans and Whales. 2019 (Grandmother Hypothesis reference)

Ritari, Kati. Images of Ageing in the Early Irish Poem Caillech Bérri.Studia Celtica Fennica, 19, 2022.

Whyte, A. C. The Cailleach in Scottish Place-Lore and Place-Names. Journal of Scottish Name Studies, 14, 2020.

Check out Wild Kin Studio on Substack for more Celtic-inspired stories.

Long before Halloween, the ancient Celts gathered under darkening skies to mark Samhain, the festival that ended the harvest season and began the dark half of the year. From pumpkins, to costumes, and leaving a light in the window, many of these traditions trace back to ancient pagan customs.

From Neolithic monuments aligned to the autumn sun, to Iron Age bonfires, Stingy Jack, and trick-or-treating, this episode follows how Samhain evolved through the centuries into the Halloween we know today.

Resources & References

National Museum of Ireland – Rites of Passage at Tara

Mound of the Hostages, Hill of Tara

Excavations at Tlachtga, Hill of Ward, Co. Meath – The Past Magazine Review

Daniel Kirkpatrick – Etymology of Irish Festivals

The Secret History of Bonfire – Merriam-Webster

CNN Feature: All Saints’ Day Explained

The Stingy Jack Story: The Jack-o’-Lantern Origin in Irish Folklore

Soul Cake (Wikipedia)

The History of Trick-or-Treating – Smithsonian Magazine

How the Irish Famine Brought Halloween to America – The Irish Post

Halloween Spending Reaches Record $13.1 Billion – National Retail Federation

For more Celtic-inspired stories, check out Wild Kin Studio on Substack

From feasts for the dead and sacred burial mounds to the shimmering Otherworld of Irish mythology, this story explores how Celtic spirituality saw death not as a departure, but a transformation- a continuation of relationship.

We follow how this worldview evolved through Christianization, the Victorian spiritualist revival, and into the modern fascination with ghosts and consciousness studies, showing how our oldest beliefs in the unseen still echo today.

Resources & References

Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico: Perseus Digital Library

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book 5: University of Chicago Penelope Project

“Feasts for the Dead in Iron Age Europe:” Folklore Studies Journal Archive

Pew Research Center: “Spirituality Among Americans” (2023)

Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia: “Mediumship Under Controlled Conditions” (2011)

PubMed: “Anomalous Information Reception by Mediums” (2021)

The Society for Psychical Research: spr.ac.uk

Check out Wild Kin Studio on Substack for more Celtic-inspired stories, rituals, and seasonal reflections.

This episode explores the origins of Ireland’s werewolf legends — from Celtic wolf-warrior rituals and shapeshifting myths to the medieval Werewolves of Ossory and the extinction of real wolves in Irish history. Blending Celtic mythology, folklore, and history, it traces how these sacred symbols became stories of fear and fascination from ancient Ireland to the modern world.

Resources & References

Topographia Hibernica — Gerald of Wales (analysis via Praxis of Social Imaginaries)

The Werewolves of Ossory — Kilkenny Castle Archives

St Patrick and the Werewolves of Ossory — Medievalists.net

“The Wonders of Ireland” — Maynooth University Research Archive

The Curse of Cromwell and Ireland’s Wolves — Irish Times

The Kóryos: Indo-European Wolf-Bands — Historic Mysteries

The Curious History of the Irish Wolfhound — Irish Post

Check out Wild Kin Studio for more Celtic-inspired stories.

Before she became a ghostly omen in folklore, the banshee began as a woman whose voice bridged the living and the dead. Her cries were not curses, but calls of love and remembrance, echoing the ancient Celtic tradition of keening: ritual laments that helped souls cross to the Otherworld.

In this episode of Wild Kin, we trace the origins of the banshee from these ancient traditions of early Ireland and how this ancient act of mourning is being revived today as a powerful expression of grief and connection.

Resources & References:

BBC: The Women Reviving Ireland’s Ancient Keening Tradition (2023)

Six authentic recordings from Ireland and Scotland (1955-1965)

Ulster University 2023 Study on Mourning Practices — exploring how traditional Irish rituals help process grief.

For more Celtic inspired stories and resources, check out Wild Kin Studio on Substack.

Thousands of years ago, Artio was revered as a goddess of wilderness, transformation, and abundance. Worshipped by the Helvetii tribe of Switzerland and later remembered in Roman-era inscriptions and statues, she embodies the wild strength of the European brown bear and the cycles of the natural world.

Resources & References:

The bronze statue of Artio from Bern, Switzerland

UNESCO: Białowieża Forest

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis)

🌲 If you’d like to support bear conservation, consider looking into:

Yellowstone Forever

Vital Ground Foundation

Want more Celtic-inspired stories and seasonal resources?Subscribe to Wild Kin Studio on Substack.

Your first sneak peek at Wild Kin, a seasonal podcast that reconnects us with Celtic myths and traditions. Join your host, Jess Neary, as she brings ancient legends to life and explores how these pagan stories still shape our modern world.

Each season, Wild Kin follows the Celtic calendar, with episodes dropping around Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Every week during these festivals, you’ll hear an original immersive story followed by the history and modern meaning of the goddesses, gods, and traditions they honor.

Subscribe now so you don’t miss the first episode on October 1. And if you’d like to dive deeper, check out The Artio Journal on Substack.