In the Borderlands

We are back after a lengthy interim! And how better to kickstart our new bout of episodes than with a dose of divine power! We interview Sally Pomme Clayton, British performance storyteller and author, about her latest book – The Mighty Goddess. We try to touch upon the immensity that is the Goddess, through a breadth of mythical lenses, attempting to describe archetypal energies that are impossib...

In the middle of the night, you find yourself caught between dream and wakefulness, unable to move, unable to scream, with the feeling that someone's sitting on your chest. There are many names for this condition. Sleep paralysis. The Old Hag. The Nightmare. Mara. With returning guest, performance storyteller Dominic Kelly, we delve into this fascinating phenomenon that is deeply entrenched in the...

This interview took us for a spin through a myriad of worlds - from the rambunctious and chaotic Commedia dell’Arte performances of Renaissance Italy through the clown-like persona of Donald Trump to UFO mythologies! All of it viewed through the lens of the carnivalesque.     Our guest Petter Madegård is a visual artist, a director of film and theatre and an actor. He is the inventor of...

Do you know the origin of iron? When did you last fall and take fright? These questions are good to keep in mind as we delve into the world of Finnish magic, where sorcerers prepare themselves for healing by standing on rocks in freezing rapids and newborn children are protected from evil spirits in the sauna by being given misleading nicknames.     With us we have performance storytelle...

Śivani Howe is a classically trained Sannyasi of the Saraswati lineage from India running an ashram with her husband in the veld of the Purcell Mountains in Canada. Her focus is on yoga ecology, on reconnecting and creating a life in reciprocity with Mama Earth, and on channelling the unseen.   With us In the Borderlands she shares a few personal stories brimming with synchronicity and serend...

The twelfth and final (?) episode of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. We have come to the end which is also a beginning. Spring is here, the birds are singing, celebrating the bursting forth of life. The cycle goes ever on and o...

Heresy. A word that usually evokes the image of a radical opposer of doctrine, of people burned at the stake, of violence and of religious conflict. But the Greek origin of the word is not so conflagrant. Etymologically, heresy means "choice". In this Easter Special, interdisciplinary performer Jo Blake returns to In the Borderlands to talk about her upcoming show "The Witness" about the relations...

Can Nature have rights? We speak with ecopsychologist and Earth Rights activist Henrik Hallgren about the fascinating introduction of a trickster in the legal system, the concept that everything on Earth, from animals to rivers to entire ecosystems, have subjective rights. A new paradigm is emerging relating to the ideas of whether we can own the world or whether we are but one of many subjectivit...

Episode eleven of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. We are at the crossroads of spring. Every path a new possibility. Every path a new opportunity. Every path a new perspective. The worms patiently forge pathways through the thaw...

Our guest Andreas Kornevall (storyteller, ecologist and writer) argues that contemporary logos work on our subconscious in a similar vein to medieval sigil magic, narrowing our perspective and molding us into consumers. In this episode he speaks about the creation of demblems, counter-sigils to deactivate and balance the negative aspects of our logo-inundated society. We also touch upon a host of...

The blindfold was removed. She did not know where she was. All she could see was the river. What began as an artistic experiment regarding relationship to space, turned into a seven year long (and counting) ceremony of Dreamtime visions and giving voice to that which has been lost. Join us in this fascinating conversation with interdisciplinary artist Laura Burns where we speak about the importanc...

Episode ten of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. The northern hemisphere is in the hard grip of frosty February. The Hunger Moon beams with dispassionate clarity in the skies, while we start to awaken from our winter slumber. The...

In this episode we explore a different borderland altogether, the liminal spaces of the Metaverse. With VR artist and digital myth maker Lee Mason AKA Metageist as our guide we line dance on the edge between dream and reality, exploring themes as diverse as hypnagogic states, shadow people, digital life forms/ecosystems, cautionary sculptures and consensual realities.   Mythology keeps rearin...

Episode nine of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. We are still in the grip of winter, the sky is occluded by grey fur, and the tough love of the Wolf Moon grabs us by the scruff of our necks. Reminding us to wake up from our slum...

Historian of religion and animist thinker Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is back on our podcast! This time to launch the Year of Aun, an invitation to celebrate 2023 as a year of healing and reconnection based on old Nordic spiritual practices. We speak about the theoretical foundations behind the Year of Aun, our relationship with the forces of nature as reflected through both ancient and contemporary myt...

Episode eight of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. Winter is upon us, and further introspection is needed. The Winter Moon calls us to the mountaintop, to stillness, to reflection. Mikael and Torgrim's journeys mirror each other...

We have an anniversary! Podcast hosts Mikael Öberg and Torgrim Mellum Stene are in a festive mood and look back at 1 year of "In the Borderlands". We speak about the podcast's humble origins, how we met and what it means to be a performance storyteller. We are also launching our webpage AND our Instagram AND AND our Facebook page AND AND AND our e-mail address contact@intheborderlands.com where yo...

Episode seven of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. The Frost Moon shines bright in November skies, and it invites us to look within. We spiral back towards our selves, our bellies, our navels, searching for the center of things....

Vǫluspá - The Prophecy of the Seeress from the Poetic Edda is one of the most well known texts from Norse mythology. But how could this oral poem have been performed? Kersti Ståbi, Swedish folk singer and oral storyteller explored this question in her master's degree. Searching for a way to be a tale-singer in her own mythological tradition, she looked to living practices in Korea, India and Kyrgy...

Episode six of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. Dark October is upon us, and the ominous Slaughter Moon takes us for a spin through tales of dismemberment, inklings of werewolves and musings about the nature of light. PODCAST LI...

We are happy to welcome our friend Maria Kvilhaug back «In the Borderlands»! This time, the author and historian gives us a fascinating look into her upcoming work – a book presenting a comprehensive list of instances of seidr in Norse sources. Seidr can be seen as a Norse form of shamanism and the stories Maria shine a light upon in her research paint a far more diverse, gender fluid and colourfu...

Episode five of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. It is September, and the Singing Moon invites us to listen. What songs will burst like bubbles from below? PODCAST LINKS https://www.intheborderlands.com/ https://www.patreon.com/...

Brittle one is Torgrim Mellum Stene’s online intuitive genre-bending fantasy novel that he started in 2021. Following the initiatory journey of Brittle, Torgrim writes without planning ahead, instead allowing the story to unfold chapter by chapter in an ever expanding exploration of the world that he first set in motion. This episode marks the start of book two – its first chapter now available on...

The fourth episode of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. This time we focus some lunar light on the goddesses Venus and Freyja. PODCAST LINKS https://www.intheborderlands.com/ https://www.patreon.com/IntheBorderlands https://www.f...

Part three of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia. PODCAST LINKS https://www.intheborderlands.com/ https://www.patreon.com/IntheBorderlands https://www.facebook.com/intheborderlands https://www.instagram.com/intheborderlands_podcast...