beneath the stream

We humans have long made sense of the non-human world around, and beyond us, through storytelling and myth. Folklore has much to say about hairy wild men, and women, and their relationship to us, past and present. Exploring these motifs, stories and the creative process, we focus on these ‘woodwose’, their presence on church fonts, and their probable origins as creatures and symbols.  We speak wit...

In this podcast we explore the proscribed routes, the safe paths, the trackways; and how they affect our perception of the land and our experience of the non-human world. What lives beyond the path? Are we an animal making paths of convenience or is there a human need for paths, boundaries and way markers - is it that our species deliberately wants to make marks on the land? On a windswept autumn...

Night makes us focus on our human experience of the darkness. Night is a place where the non-human world thrives: both in reality through wild predators whose senses exceed ours, and also in imagination as, for humans, the darkness often harbours our fears and is home to the unknown, the half-seen, and the mis-heard. We explore what is special about night, In what ways does night reveal itself tha...

In a windswept locale we explore how both we, and the inhabitants the non-human world, respond to the wind. Wind spirits, the voice of the wind, hurricanes, and the sense of ‘aliveness’ that it has all affect us. Why does it makes us feel a certain way? How is it perceived by many indigenous human cultures? For birds, insects, trees, seeds, oceans and more, the way the wind moves across The Earth...

We explore some of the most evocative sounds in the natural world and examine the power that the acoustics of the non-human world have over us. As we listen in Part 1 to Ian’s choice of sounds, we discuss how we navigate the natural world with sound and how it gives us a sense of place. Are we acoustic creatures? What is the ‘voice’ of the non-human world? How does it speak? How does sound link to...

The non-human world, in it’s many guises, can often be a place where we face our fears. Recorded in Cambridge at Mill Road Cemetery and the 12th century Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene, this episode features an interview with Robert Lloyd Parry, an outstanding performance storyteller, who specialises in classic literary ghost fiction, in particular the work of Montague Rhodes James. We explore F...

The qualities of light, and how the natural, human and non-human world can be viewed and impacted by light is under discussion in this episode of the podcast. References you might wish to follow up include:   Watership Down, Hampshire, UK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down,_Hampshire John Aitchison, cameramen and broadcaster http://johnaitchison.net The Native American medicine wheel htt...

What is it about fire that draws us to its side? It brings warmth and safety, yet it carries a destructive threat. Recorded on location by the fireside in Suffolk, this episode explores our long relationship with fire and how it links us to our landscapes. We talk about how it has bound us in belief, and its role at the centre of communities and belief systems.  THEME MUSIC BY DAVID ROTHENBERG. AL...

Recorded on location in Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y Leon in northern Spain: join us, Colin Williams and Ian Rowlands, as we look at how our ancestors approached death, life and spirit, through our exploration of ancient sites and the manner in which they are located in the landscape. These sites provoked some lasting emotions and questions in us: our place in time and bones of the land; wha...

The power and diversity of ritual and ceremony: join us, Colin Williams and Ian Rowlands, as we look at how the cycles of the natural, human and non-human world can be viewed and recognised through ritual. Why do humans create rituals? How do they relate to our experience of a world of ‘other’?   THEME MUSIC BY DAVID ROTHENBERG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST http://www...