Animal Magic

In this Special Summer Episode...  What else?  The Mystery of Stonehenge.  Shocking New Truths, which have lain Dormant for Decades in Dull, Dusty Archaeology Textbooks...Revealed!  

Was it a plant, animal, mineral?  Maybe a coven or a nunnery?  In this special episode, we explore the Greek Myth of Heracles and the Hydra, and some fascinating theories on how this story came about.  But first, a few thoughts on how mythical creatures develop through storytelling.

To celebrate Shakespeare's Birthday, I'm joined by Mason Winfield, Western New York's Premier Paranormalist, to discuss Shakespearean faerie-lore, Falstaff's downfall in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and how it relates to the Classical Myth of Actaeon and Diana, and Sir James Frazer's book The Golden Bough. 

How might the ancient myth of Persephone's abduction have originated?  And what lessons could we learn from it today?  (Note: This episode didn't turn out to be very funny, so if you're unfamiliar with "Animal Magic" I recommend starting with something else.  But for regular listeners I hope this will be an interesting addition to the series.)  

Are Elephants made of Milk?  Or Eggs?  Or both?  And why don't they have wings anymore?  How did Ganesha get his Distinctive Look?  In this Episode, we'll search the Scriptures of India for Answers you can't find in a Biology Textbook.  

Even after centuries of zoology, the Elephant remains defiantly mythical.  In this episode, we'll explore some Classical Roman and Christian beliefs about this gentle giant.  

My car and my phone get along so well that I feel like a third wheel, and I often feel like they'd be happier without me.  Am I an obstacle that the tools have to work around?  I recently found this live recording of "Hardware" from 2021.  Some things I said about hardware and software in 2021 now sound outdated, but the main message still comes through, and this is one of my favorites of all of t...

In this Very Special Holiday Episode, we'll Share Something Happily Forgotten, a Christmas Mystery long buried in the snow of the past.  We'll also wonder why Pigs are the baddest animals in the Bible.  

On December 3rd, 1976, a 30-foot pig flew over England, disrupting air traffic and scaring the manure out of a rancher's cattle.  In this special anniversary episode, we'll share the timeless tale of the photo-shoot for the Pink Floyd Animals album cover.  And we'll consider what it may have to do with Orwell's novel Animal Farm, and whether that book still has anything to teach us in America toda...

The absolutely true story of a journey to witness Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in concert, with some silly and supernatural surprises.  This doesn't contain any music samples, but refers to "Jubilee Street" (I recommend the Copenhagen live version), "Tupelo," "Wild God," "Conversion" and "Into My Arms."

In this "Season of the Witch" we'll be looking at the ancient myth of Circe, the Sorceress in The Odyssey.  This Enchantress is dangerous (especially to chauvinist pigs) but also a savior who instructs Odysseus and his men about how to face the perils ahead.  Times of terror can be times of transformation, sometimes for the better.

A Heart concert got me thinking about Odysseus and the Sirens.  And I wondered - what might the Sirens be saying if they were singing today?  

In this Controversial Episode, we'll explore Biblical Bugs, and Creepy-Crawlies of Egyptian, Chinese and Greek Mythology.  Plus some personal recollections of that time I got stranded in the middle of the great Cincinnati Cicada Awakening of 1987.

How is a Raven like a Role-Model?  In stories Jesus told, rich men come to bad ends, and apparently the fox and the raven know something we don't know about the divine plan.  Regardless of heaven and hell, what might these parables tell us about life on earth?

All life on Earth is linked by water – every human, plant, and animal in the past, present, and future. That's a lot to think about when someone pees in the pool.  Water is life, water can be death, and it shows up in the strangest places...

Bacteria, billionaires and blockbuster action stars of the 80s – all are forms of power. In this episode, we await the most powerful being of all, the electrician, whose 5-minute appointment can eat an entire day from 8 to 4. But it gives plenty of time to wonder: what is "power?"  

I wrote a little book, Welcome to Tragedy: A Beginner's Guide to Greek Drama, with brief introductions to all of the surviving scripts by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides (plus three comedies by Aristophanes).  I was fascinated by the variety of Greek drama, ranging beyond familiar definitions of "Tragedy."  One script that really sticks out is Euripides' Helen, a wacky swashbuckling adventure s...

Fire is like this pet we've been trying to adopt and domesticate for half a million years.  But at heart, all fire is wildfire.  In this episode, we'll be looking at some classic fire stories from Indigenous Americans, Ancient Greeks, and the Lethal Weapon film series.

One of the great mysteries of all Biblical Scripture is God's great battle with a sea-monster called Leviathan.  Why did God have to mud-wrestle this beast?  Was it killed and left out for the ravens, or is it still at large?  And how might the grudge-match live on in modern courtrooms and classrooms?  

Was Robin Hood really a Medieval Knight, or was he some kind of Goat-legged trickster?  And what did he have to do with Pagan Pole-dancing?  [Note: This live recording has some microphone buzz, but it basically came out alright]

In a candid moment, the Easter Bunny shares some personal recollections and ponders the...  Well, you'll see.  Or, in this case, hear.

For some, the word "Labyrinth" conjures ancient visions of David Bowie with tight pants and puppets.  The ancient Labyrinth was the lair of the man-eating Minotaur.  We'll explore the myth of this monster, and the princess who masterminded its demise.

Adopting a new dog (a dingo-corgi) raises fascinating questions about the long history of human-canine cooperation.  And there's this Gospel story where Jesus calls someone's daughter a dog - what's up with that?

Abraham is remembered as a "good shepherd" - but did his sheep feel this way?  In this episode, we'll explore how livestock herding has helped to shape human history.  Alert: this episode does contain references to Biblical animal cruelty.

Piling chili and coleslaw onto a hotdog sure is food for thought, inspiring questions like "what is 'food'?"  And "if you are what you eat - what am I?"  This is a sample chapter of the book "Chaos Chaos," a collection of comical personal recollections, silly bits of history, and some idiotic ponderings about what it means to be human.