Chthonia

Website: https://chthonia.net Buy Project Lethe and other books at https://chthonia.net/publications Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Social media: chthoniapodcast (IG, YouTube, X), Chthonia Podcast (FB) This week we look at the architectural grotesque figure known as the Sheela Na Gig. No one really knows why they were placed on churches, castles, and other secular buildings, but academics h...

In this week's episode we discuss the Harpies, creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a monstrous bird that represent storm winds. This episode was created in the wake of a huge storm that knocked my power out for 2 days, so there's discussion of the impact of storms, unpredictability, and sudden change. The name refers to "snatching", and in the myths this refers to the snatching of f...

This week we look at the Mexican folkloric figure of La Llorona, the wailing woman eternally searching for her dead children. She is generally seen as a dangerous figure who is alternately a child stealer, someone seducing men to their deaths, or an omen of death. While the image of La Llorona may have its roots in Aztec myth, her story is very much a variant of the European "White Lady" narrative...

This week's topic is a loaded one! Agdistis is a Phrygian hermaphroditic daimon that is so powerful the gods fear them, and Agdistis is castrated and becomes female only, with the discarded member becoming either an almond or pomegranate tree. This myth and it's related ones (Myrrha/Adonis/Aphrodite, Gaia/Ouranos/Kronos) give us a lot of insight into why the uniting of Masculine and Feminine is co...

In this week's episode we look at Queen Medb of Connacht in Ireland, who was legendary for her seductive power, her warlike nature, and her political power among the High Kings. Notorious for having several lovers in addition to whoever was her current husband, Medb was a kingmaker and a heromaker. Her desire to have wealth equal to her husband drove her to the destructive Cattle Raid of Cúailnge...

Check out the Divine Feminine App! Click at the link below to view and register for free, or download the app on your phone.  https://thedfapp.com/v2/dashboard#a_aid=Chthonia Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Social media: chthoniapodcast (IG, X, and YouTube), Chthonia Podcast (FB) As March closes out, we look at the idea of Fate. In mythology Fate is often repres...

Check out the Divine Feminine App! Click at the link below to view and register for free, or download the app on your phone.  https://thedfapp.com/v2/dashboard#a_aid=Chthonia Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Social media: chthoniapodcast (IG, X, and YouTube), Chthonia Podcast (FB) This week we look at the final entry for now in the Female Christian Mystics series...

Check out the Divine Feminine App! https://thedfapp.com/v2/dashboard#a_aid=Chthonia This week we continue the series on Female Christian Mystics with the polymath saint Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard began having spiritual visions at age 3, and was in a convent by age 8, where she was taught to read and write in Latin. She was an acclaimed mystic, philosopher, botanist, natural healer, and musicia...

In honor of Valentine's Day this past week, this podcast takes a look at 4 goddesses of love and desire: Aphrodite, Ishtar, Freya, and Rati. Love goddesses are often war goddesses as well, or at least have strong connections to war--why is that the case? We look at different ideas about love, marriage, and relationship, and examine how the rati-yuddha (love battle) is just as much a part of romant...

In this week's podcast we look at my namesake, the goddess Brigid, as we have just passed Imbolc (also known as Brigid's Day). This episode focuses on the goddess rather than the saint, though there are obvious crossovers between the two. Brigid is portrayed as a triple goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing,and is seen as a fire goddess. In the medieval Irish literature she is portrayed as the...

This week we continue our series on Christian female mystics with a look at St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine is an incredibly complex figure, who at once represents the Christian feminine ideal of the Virgin, while also defining her mystical "marriage" in rather shockingly embodied terms. We also look at the way in which she uses fasting as a way of maintaining her own personal sovereignty, a...

Happy 2024! We start off the new year with the first podcast in the Female Christian Mystics series by looking at St. Teresa of Jesus, better known as Teresa of Avila. Teresa died in 1582 and was canonized a saint in 1622; she was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970. Teresa was a celibate nun, but had a deep erotic current that ran through her external and internal life, making her...

We end 2023 with a look at Despoina, an obscure Arcadian goddess associated with this title which means "Mistress". Often connected to Kore/Persephone, Artemis and Hecate, this child of Demeter and Poseidon holds a powerful secret and a name that would only be revealed to initiates of her Mysteries. The only surviving image connected to Despoina is her veil, and the only account of her shrine in A...

Just in time for Santa Lucia's Day (13 December) we look at Lussi, the sorceress who rides with her ghoulish brood at the Solstice, bringing destruction to homes unprepared for the coming winter, carrying off naughty children, and those who mistreated their animals during the year. Lussi leads a version of the brood known as the Wild Hunt, and bears a lot of similarity to other European winter hag...

As we head into the winter season, we round out the last few podcasts of the year with a discussion of the Japanese "snow woman" Yuki-onna. Like many of our Dark Feminine figures, she has both gentle and terrifying aspects; she can fall in love and marry, she can bring treasure, but she also freezes people to death and in some instances cannibalizes them. As a snow woman she is a deep embodiment o...

Jinn are spirits created from fire that are part of Arabic and Islamic folklore. A full discussion of the Jinn would take many episodes, so in this podcast I discuss what Jinn are and what is known about their origins, their place in Islamic cosmogony, and the different types of Jinn, particularly the Ghula and Si'lat, who often appear in feminine form to seduce men. Jinn have free will and be con...

This week we are talking about Eisheth Zenunim, "queen of harlots" who is considered the personification of sin in the Zohar, and one of the 4 wives of Samael. We discuss Eisheth's relationship to the serpent in the Garden of Eden as well as to Babalon, and her Kabbalistic association with the Qlippoth, the flip side of the Tree of Life consisting of the "husks" of the dead and considered the embo...

This week we look at Echidna, the mother of monsters in Greek mythology. Echnidna is said to be the mother of the Sphinx, the Chimera, the Lernean Hydra, and Cerberus among others. She is identified with Python, the dragon slain by Apollo at what would later be his oracle site at Delphi. As a monster associated with rot and decay, she represents terrors of physical death and depression, but is als...

This episode looks at the third goddess in our Canaanite trilogy, the warrior goddess Anath, the sister or helpmate of the Canaanite deity Ba'al Hadad. Anath's attributes and role with respect to the Israelites is contested, as is her role as a fertility and hunting goddess. The scholarship has a hard time reconciling this bloodthirsty goddess with a connection to fertility, but the connection is...

This week I examine the Canaanite mother goddess represented by a sacred tree, and according to some archaeological evidence and speculation, may have been the wife of the Biblical god Yahweh. The episode looks at this theory as well as the origins of Asherah, her role in ancient Judaic society and her presence in the Bible, and how this is a prime example of valuing logos ("rational philosophy")...

This week we look at Astarte, wife of Baal, goddess of love, hunting and war. We take a dive into Canaanite religion and its relationship to early Judaic religion, including her mentions in the Baal Cycle and the Bible, as well as her later role in Egypt as a war goddess and wife of Set. We also explore the seeming paradox of love goddesses also acting as goddesses of war.

This week we look at the Ancient Egyptian chimeric demoness called Ammit. Having the head of a crocodile, the hindquarters of a hippopotamus, and the forequarters of a lion, Ammit stands beside Anubis waiting to devour the hearts and souls of the unjust dead. In this episode we look at the background of afterlife beliefs in ancient Egypt and some of their near neighbors, and Ammit as a representat...

This week we look at the "Dancing Demon" of Talmudic and Kabbalistic literature, one of the 4 wives of archangel Samael, and an "angel of sacred prostitution". Lilith is viewed as her competitor, and sometimes as her mother and grandmother, though her name means "Agrat daughter of Mahlat," herself a daughter of Ishmael and a wife of Esau. We look at the Biblical and angelic backdrop for this Queen...

Poludnica, also known as Lady Midday and the Noonwraith, is a demon of the harvest who punishes those who do not rest at noontime. She has various names throughout Eastern Europe, and is represented as a woman in a white dress, sometimes with a skeletal face, who carries a scythe, shears, or a whip. In this podcast we take a deep dive into the "dark" side of the peak hour of the day, what it means...

This week's podcast talks about the succubus, a female demon that is said to have sex with men while they sleep, and her male counterpart, the incubus. There is some version of the succubus in almost every culture; we will look at the medieval view of these creatures, its likely origins in ancient beliefs about immortality, and how these narratives affect things like the reproductive rights of wom...