Dark northern forests of ambiguous shadow and sinister presence. Ancient churchyards with secrets beneath searching feet. Inhuman beings of terrifying power made even more powerful during the spiritually potent winter season….these are all elements of the Swedish tradition of Arsgang (Oshgong), or the Year Walk, in which an individual completes a kind of divination journey through night-shrouded woodland. Through forest, field and churchyard the year walker journeys, hoping to gain insight...

The term ‘shaman’ originates in the language of the Tungus-speaking peoples of Siberia, who are hunters and reindeer-herders. In cultures across the world, they often have a number of roles in their communities: medical practitioner, mystic, priest and spiritual adviser. Sometimes respected and other times persecuted, shamans are both strange fey figures and ordinary citizens. A shaman is one who has been chosen by beings and spirits of other, often precarious, realms. They are empowered or...

The term ‘shaman’ originates in the language of the Tungus-speaking peoples of Siberia, who are hunters and reindeer-herders. In cultures across the world, they often have a number of roles in their communities: medical practitioner, mystic, priest and spiritual adviser. Sometimes respected and other times persecuted, shamans are both strange fey figures and ordinary citizens. A shaman is one who has been chosen by beings and spirits of other, often precarious, realms. They are empowered or...

The hulder-folk, sometimes referred to as the hidden-folk or subterraneans, are preternatural beings that populate wild areas and are given to enticement and abduction. While thought to live beneath the ground, they are often sighted, heard and experienced in forests, mountains and moors. In this episode, we will catch glimpses of the huldra, a stunningly beautiful woman with long hair and an animal’s tail; we will encounter Danish elves, far from the sweet beings of Christmas tradition but...

The hulder-folk, sometimes referred to as the hidden-folk or subterraneans, are preternatural beings that populate wild areas and are given to enticement and abduction. While thought to live beneath the ground, they are often sighted, heard and experienced in forests, mountains and moors. In this episode, we will catch glimpses of the huldra, a stunningly beautiful woman with long hair and an animal’s tail; we will encounter Danish elves, far from the sweet beings of Christmas tradition but...

In this episode, you will hear London-based storyteller Sarah Liisa Wilkinson retell two stories from the the Kalevala,  a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. From frozen wilderness to the very land of the dead itself, these stories focus on a feisty girl named Aino and the loving and courageous mother of the feckless Lemminkäinen. If you're interested in learning more about Sarah and her work as a storyteller,...

In this episode, you will hear London-based storyteller Sarah Liisa Wilkinson retell two stories from the the Kalevala,  a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. From frozen wilderness to the very land of the dead itself, these stories focus on a feisty girl named Aino and the loving and courageous mother of the feckless Lemminkäinen. If you're interested in learning more about Sarah and her work as a storyteller,...

In folklore across the Nordic world, the human soul or ‘hug’ is a force to be reckoned with and is intimately connected with the body. Indeed, if a person were to be somehow separated from their hug, perhaps through magic, they were said to have been ‘hugstjalet’ or ‘hug-stolen - a folk explanation for people who showed abnormal behaviour and psychological disorders. The soul, or ‘hug’, is a source of power and manipulation of the hug is the source of all magic.  The hug could free itself of...

In folklore across the Nordic world, the human soul or ‘hug’ is a force to be reckoned with and is intimately connected with the body. Indeed, if a person were to be somehow separated from their hug, perhaps through magic, they were said to have been ‘hugstjalet’ or ‘hug-stolen - a folk explanation for people who showed abnormal behaviour and psychological disorders. The soul, or ‘hug’, is a source of power and manipulation of the hug is the source of all magic.  The hug could free itself of...

From the dread KGB to the Western consumerism that threatened communist values, this episode will look at urban legends told fairly widely in the Soviet Union from the 1960s to the 1990s. This is a taster episode of the Urban Legends series that will be available only to Patreon supporters. If you would like to support Mythos Podcast monthly please go to www.patreon.com/mythospodcast.

From the dread KGB to the Western consumerism that threatened communist values, this episode will look at urban legends told fairly widely in the Soviet Union from the 1960s to the 1990s. This is a taster episode of the Urban Legends series that will be available only to Patreon supporters. If you would like to support Mythos Podcast monthly please go to www.patreon.com/mythospodcast.

In this episode, hear stories about a particularly special manifestation of the unclean force: those water-bound spirits who are also said to be spirits of the unquiet dead; human spirits who perhaps committed suicide or died an untimely or tragic death. Perhaps because of the terrible nature of their deaths, they have been transformed, their spirits manifesting into sometimes terrifying, sometimes beautiful forms. Despite their appearances, the beings in this episode are nearly always...

In this episode, hear stories about a particularly special manifestation of the unclean force: those water-bound spirits who are also said to be spirits of the unquiet dead; human spirits who perhaps committed suicide or died an untimely or tragic death. Perhaps because of the terrible nature of their deaths, they have been transformed, their spirits manifesting into sometimes terrifying, sometimes beautiful forms. Despite their appearances, the beings in this episode are nearly always...

In this special guest episode, professional storyteller Vanessa Woolf tells a fascinating tale involving a mysterious tomb in Brompton Cemetery, London. Unfasten your doors of perception with an extraordinary tale of occult, magic and a secret time machine in Victorian London. Music by Co-Ag Music (available on Youtube) London Dreamtime storynights are secret storytelling adventures in hidden corners of London. Vanessa tells eerie, exciting, scary and fantastical stories for adults in...

In this special guest episode, professional storyteller Vanessa Woolf tells a fascinating tale involving a mysterious tomb in Brompton Cemetery, London. Unfasten your doors of perception with an extraordinary tale of occult, magic and a secret time machine in Victorian London. Music by Co-Ag Music (available on Youtube) London Dreamtime storynights are secret storytelling adventures in hidden corners of London. Vanessa tells eerie, exciting, scary and fantastical stories for adults in...

In lore across the Slavic world, from the northern Slavs of Poland and Russia to their southern kin in Croatia and Slovenia, there are the so-called ‘unclean’ spirits of forest and field, home and bathhouse. And the more domestic of these unclean spirits - those of the home and bathhouse - is our focus in this episode. Now, we will meet these mysterious beings, in whom mingles the earthly and angelic, in whom dwell the deep powers of ancestral longing, order and homeliness. For a little boy...

In lore across the Slavic world, from the northern Slavs of Poland and Russia to their southern kin in Croatia and Slovenia, there are the so-called ‘unclean’ spirits of forest and field, home and bathhouse. And the more domestic of these unclean spirits - those of the home and bathhouse - is our focus in this episode. Now, we will meet these mysterious beings, in whom mingles the earthly and angelic, in whom dwell the deep powers of ancestral longing, order and homeliness. For a little boy...

Lady death mowing down a victim with her scythe. A demon of the harvest fields in the shape of a mourning widow. Is it any wonder that folklore symbolically conflates death and the harvest in such potent images when the harvest was the very heart and pulse of the agricultural communities of the ‘folk’? We will encounter these beings whose very nature combines life-giving harvest and death-giving exhaustion from labour - we will encounter harvest demons in the golden wheat fields and the...

Lady death mowing down a victim with her scythe. A demon of the harvest fields in the shape of a mourning widow. Is it any wonder that folklore symbolically conflates death and the harvest in such potent images when the harvest was the very heart and pulse of the agricultural communities of the ‘folk’? We will encounter these beings whose very nature combines life-giving harvest and death-giving exhaustion from labour - we will encounter harvest demons in the golden wheat fields and the...

From the last bastion of primeval woodland straddling Poland and Belarus to mountain-top pine forests in the Czech Republic, from swampish realms in aforementioned Polska to Serbian forests ringing with shrill hunting cries, meet the female huntresses, child-snatchers and protective spirits of Slavic lore. The vision of Mythos Podcast is to retell stories with a sense of magic, as if they were entirely real. With a brief introduction and analysis, the emphasis is on the stories themselves,...

From the last bastion of primeval woodland straddling Poland and Belarus to mountain-top pine forests in the Czech Republic, from swampish realms in aforementioned Polska to Serbian forests ringing with shrill hunting cries, meet the female huntresses, child-snatchers and protective spirits of Slavic lore. The vision of Mythos Podcast is to retell stories with a sense of magic, as if they were entirely real. With a brief introduction and analysis, the emphasis is on the stories themselves,...

Variously a mythical wise woman, a witch, a forest spirit or a leader of others in the spirit realm, Baba Yaga’s legacy of lore comes from mixed cultural groups within Eastern Europe and as such a fantastic and horrifying collection of motifs have assembled around the character. Flying through the air in a magical mortar and pestle, she leaves her forest hut which sits astride chicken legs, its keyhole filled with sharp teeth and its land surrounded by a fence of human bones topped with...

Variously a mythical wise woman, a witch, a forest spirit or a leader of others in the spirit realm, Baba Yaga’s legacy of lore comes from mixed cultural groups within Eastern Europe and as such a fantastic and horrifying collection of motifs have assembled around the character. Flying through the air in a magical mortar and pestle, she leaves her forest hut which sits astride chicken legs, its keyhole filled with sharp teeth and its land surrounded by a fence of human bones topped with...

From the castle haunts of witch hares and rabbit haunted groves in England to fey goat maidens in Scotland and horse-mounted portents of death in Ireland, we will explore stories from that parallel dimension, the land of dead. Music by Co-Ag music (available on Youtube) Subscribe to newsletter on www.mythospodcast.com

From the castle haunts of witch hares and rabbit haunted groves in England to fey goat maidens in Scotland and horse-mounted portents of death in Ireland, we will explore stories from that parallel dimension, the land of dead. Music by Co-Ag music (available on Youtube) Subscribe to newsletter on www.mythospodcast.com