Magick & Alchemy

In episode 186 of the Magick & Alchemy podcast, hosts Kate Belew and Kristin Lisenby reflect on magickal representation in pop culture. Beginning with the mythical daemon, a spirit who serves as a messenger and muse, they consider 'demonic' displays of divine embodiment in the music of Lana Del Rey and Stevie Nicks. Next, they introduce listeners to the concept of the monstrous feminine and share depictions of the Witch from a feminist horror perspective. They also discuss patriarchal fears over the female reproductive system by highlighting the horror sub-genre, "Good For Her."

Sources & Shoutouts:
Episode 177: Women in Art & the Occult, Stevie Nicks
Episode 131: Lights, Camera, Witchcraft with Heather Green
Episode 166: Magic Maker with Pam Grossman
Episode 79: Protection Spells & Curses 
Episode 108: Harpies & Furies
Episode 48: Medusa & Athena
Episode 122: The Witch & the Bitch
Episode 104: The Mothers of Monsters & Magick

Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness
Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan
A Vision, W.B. & Georgie Yeats
The Soul’s Code, James Hillman
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Walkers Between Worlds, Caitlyn & John Matthews
The Crossroads: Sacred Stories & the Dark Moon
Who’s Who: Lana Del Rey, Bibby Sowray
Lana Del Rey, Get Free
Lana Del Rey, She Does it For the Girls, Hannah Ewens
Lana Del Rey Casually Confirms She Indeed Hexed Donald Trump, Kyle Munzenrieder
That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism and the American Witch Film, Emily Colucci
The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Barbara Creed
From Carries to the Lure: Monstrous Girls In Cinema, Karen Han
Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio

In episode 185, hosts Kate Belew and Kristin Lisenby gather oracular insight from the ancient world. Rooted in Latin’s orare, meaning “to speak,” an oracle in Greco-Roman mythology was a divine seer and sibyl with direct access to higher truths and prophecy. In this conversation, Kristin and Kate discuss the Delphic Oracle, a cave-dwelling prophetess whose sanctuary was considered the ‘navel’ of the earth. Also known as the Pythia, this woman was the prophetess at Apollo’s temple, a holy space rumored to have been designed and constructed by bees. They also consider Dodona, the oldest Hellenic oracle. In mythical tales, the prophetesses of Dodona were called pleiades (doves) and were the priestesses of Zeus. 
Sources & Shoutouts:
Current reads:
Sophie Strand, Make Me Good Soil
Acie Clark, Small Talk
Sylvia V. Linsteadt, Our Lady of the Dark Country 
Alyssandra Dutton, Stolen Women
James Hillman, Healing Fiction
James Hillman, Facing the Gods
James Hillman, The Dream and the Underworld
Nor Hall, The Moon & the Virgin
Allen Levi, Theo of Golden

Episode 90: An Interview with Sophie Strand
Episode 144: Wyrd Women, Part 2
Word Witch Correspondence: Acie Clark
The Greek Myths, Robert Graves
List of oracular statements from Delphi
Damien Echols, High Magick
William J. Broad, The Oracle
Vikki Bramshaw, Dionysos: Exciter to Frenzy
Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
The Scientific Detectives Probing the Secrets of Ancient Oracles
Dodona History
The Black Dove of Dodona
Seeking answers from the Gods
The Sacred Oak: Dodona and the Origins of the Oracular Tradition
Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio

In episode 184 of the Magick & Alchemy podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby and Kate Belew kick off season seven! Magic practitioners know that words are spells. That's why we set intentions and recite prayers, study old myths and fairy tales, and petition the spirit word for guidance. In this conversation, they begin with the origins of open sesame and hocus pocus, speaking about the sacredness of words. Next, they discuss invocations and the power of speaking aloud, and the mysterious origins of abracadabra. 
Sources & Shoutouts:
Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics by Starhawk
The Harvest Moments and History of Sesame Seeds Around the World
The Paris Review: Open Sesame
In Babylon They Believed in a Mixture of Honey and Sesame Seeds
The Pagan Origins of Three Catholic Practices
The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara Walker
A Candle in the Dark by Thomas Ady
Mithraism
The Witch’s Art of Incantation by Roger J. Horne
Magic Maker by Pam Grossman 
Say the Magic Word: The Origins of Abracadabra
The Ancient and Mysterious History of Abracadabra
Lady Gaga Tells Us Everything You Want to Know About Abracadabra After That Spectacular Grammys Reveal

Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio
Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio

In episode 183 of the Magick & Alchemy podcast, hosts Kristin Lisenby and Kate Belew head to the harvest time fields to summon the haunts and cryptids of our reaping season. They begin with the Headless Horseman, a fictional rider with possible ties to Crom Cruach, the Dullahan, and other ancient spirits from Irish folklore. Next they meet the Puca, a trickster, shapeshifter, and faerie spirit who watches over our crops in exchange for a “puca’s share” of the harvest. Lastly, they share some strange, seasonal superstitions related to Poludnica, the Polevik, and the Feldgeister.
Sources & Shoutouts:
Episode 114: Tales of the Corn
Episode 137: Autumn Magick
 “Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland” by Thomas Crofton Croker
“Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry” by W.B. Yeats
“Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving
"The Sagen Tale," Brothers Grimm
"The Wild Huntsman," Brothers Grimm
Crom Cruach – The Dark Irish Pagan God of Sacrifice and Stone, Paul Sheldon
The Puca - Wilderness Ireland
Monster of the Week: The Poludnica
Polevic - Book of Creatures
Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio

In episode 182 of Magick & Alchemy, hosts Kate Belew and Kristin Lisenby welcome back Perdita Finn to the podcast. Perdita is an author, educator, and co-founder of the feral fellowship, The Way of the Rose. In this conversation, Perdita talks about channeling the old ones and working with our beloved dead in the spirit world. She contemplates romantic animism and asks, if your mother was an animal, what animal would she be? Perdita also introduces us to her new book, Mothers of Magic: Summoning the Wisdom of Our Ancestors.
To connect with Perdita, visit her website, subscribe to her Substack, follow her on Instagram, and order her latest book, Mothers of Magic: Summoning the Wisdom of Our Ancestors. 
Sources & Shoutouts:
Episode 104: The Mothers of Monsters and Magic
Episode 136: Asteroid Astrology with Empress of Atlantis
Episode 128: Spring Magick
“The Dead Need to Speak,” Perdita Finn
Goliath’s Curse, Luke Kemp
Ancient Mirrors of Motherhood, Merlin Stone
The Salt King, Natasha Pulley
The Other Side, Jennifer Higgie 
Join Tenth House Rising!

Tenth House Rising offers seasonal learning for those who seek meaning through myth, magick, and memory. Rooted in the rhythm of the seasons and inspired by the Wheel of the Year, each month brings a new theme that echoes the energies of the natural world. Learn more at TenthHouseRising.com.
For those who desire magick in the mail, you can also subscribe to the Tamed Wild Box, a monthly delivery of magic & earth medicine. Each box is crafted around a season and includes items for the earth-spirited and the lovers of all things mystical and natural. Deliveries can include crystals, herbs & teas, ritual tools, altar items, jewelry, essential oils & other lifestyle pieces. 
The Tamed Wild Box is a monthly offering of 5-7 items, chosen for the month and season we are in. Each delivery includes a box card that explains your items and a little ritual you can do with your new tools. You will also receive access to a monthly moon gathering, exclusive to box subscribers! 
Created by Tamed Wild.
Production by Julio Montero.
Music by Follow the Wind,
Taizo Audio