Mythos Podcast

From southern England’s chalk ridges to boggy Scottish headlands overlooking deep and mysterious lochs, there are barrows, megaliths and standing stones of great antiquity. Before the Romans, before the Anglo-Saxons, before the Scandinavian or Norman invasions, there were these weird structures: temple like megalithic standing stones, like the well-known Stonehenge, and large grass covered earthen mounds, man-made earthworks with seemingly subterranean magical intent.

All music courtesy of Co-Ag Music (available on Youtube and HIGHLY recommended)

Goddaughter of the Rock Maidens. The name of the story lit up my imagination, as did the brief outline of a plot in W.F Kirby’s 1895 English translation of famous Estonian tales. In just a few sentences, I sensed a powerful narrative: nature spirits and underworlds; a young girl tutored by powerful female fey-folk and enchantments and serpent kings.

For all my listeners, consider joining my upcoming Story Heritage Webinar on Power & Powerlessness. The aim is to explore the wisdom and insights of world folklore surrounding this fundamental human experience. If you want to explore our world storytelling heritage, get inspiration for your own creative life and experience the therapeutic powers of story, go to https://www.mythosstorytelling.com/storyheritage-webinars

Please do consider helping with research costs so I can bring the stories of the folk into our cultural consciousness: https://www.patreon.com/mythospodcast

A huge thank you to Maarja Nuut and Co-Ag Music for allowing me to use their music!

Donate to Maarja here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rQSHGbaVqFhj4gcXDAjKy?si=5YLWNMrOSaORlMXbkEfMyA

Maarja Nuut songs: 'Veere, Veere päevakene,'

'Handi pandimehe lugu' - Estonian Folk Song

Co-Ag Music: 'Beautiful Days' and 'A Dark Myth'

This short episode is a part of the Lockdown Lore series - a short story published bi-weekly for a bit of escape and respite.

In this Polish folktale, a dragon is outwitted when a soldier decides to heed the wisdom of Mother Forest.

A quick introduction to the Baltic States and why a journey into the folkloric realms of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is well worth your time.

October, in much lore, is a spiritually potent time and the oft stated idea that the veil between worlds is thin at this time holds true in traditional Latvian practice. The living would prepare their homes for a visit from deceased ancestors, with the house cleaned and table laden with food for the occasion. To open this feast, an elder of the home would call the names of all the ancestral dead in living memory, inviting them to eat with the living.

In this story, we follow a young man into a Latvian forest, where he follows yet another tradition - retrieving the ancestors from the forest cemetery in a horse drawn cart.

Please head to www.mythospodcast.com and sign up for the email list for weekly stories and research content, for both creative inspiration and the solace of story. Also consider becoming a Patron: a library of episode transcript e-books and some special patrons-only episodes for top two tiers. And I welcome support for upcoming series on Japanese and Korean Folklore - and the Earth Lore series exploring the folklore of the natural world around the globe.

Thank you to Co-Ag Music for the excellent soundscapes of this episode.