Radical Elphame

A truly turned-on spiritual or magical path should do more than get you stuff. It should do more than open up communication with spirits or the dead. If you inherited a "Western" cosmovision like me, a truly turned-on spiritual or magical path should make you rethink everything you thought you knew about reality.  Joshua Cutchin writes my favorite kind of books. They are deep and playful, philosop...

We are living in an era where the term "folk" has become the modifier of choice for many looking for a unique way to describe their own spirituality or magical practice. Folk Witchcraft, Folk Catholicism, Folk Magic. "Folk" seems to denote a certain level of idiosyncrasy, authenticity, or earthiness. It also eschews connotations with more popular or commercialized forms of these practices. Sometim...

Magic is weird. The more it becomes a part of your life, the constructs you once held dearly as fundamental pillars of reality begin to break down, and in their place, new constructs start to emerge. As someone with a practice founded in Witchcraft and Druidry, I've replaced many of my preconceived notions of reality with a somewhat animist, and ancestral, and even gnostic (at times) interface wit...

To celebrate Beltane we're welcoming back to the show Morgan Daimler, who just released a new book about l ove and sex in Fairy belief called Paid with a Kiss . We explore notions of gender expression and subversion in the fairy realm, and whether or not the 80's hair metal scene was secretly fairy-pilled. We also chat about the complicated nature of spirit marriage, and trends in popular witchcra...

Today on the show I'm thrilled to share a chat I recently had with Fio Gede Parma. Fio is a  writer, teacher, and witch whose voice and perspective I really vibe with. Fio has an exceptional knack for diving headfirst into the kind of dense and complicated philosophical territory we love on this show, and effortlessly encapsulating their ideas in an intuitive and accessible way. On the show we exp...

For those of us drawn to the mysterious realm of Faerie, we're often led to folklore to dive deeper into the subject. While you know how Emma Wilby-pilled I am, there's something novel and exciting about stumbling upon an unpresented series of channeled texts ostensibly written by a faery woman named Fiona Macleod, through the faculties of a middle aged man (William Sharp). Steve Blamires has writ...

I'm so excited to have Reverend Janglebones back on the show. He's one of the rare guests that makes me feel like hitting the record button without a list of questions or an outline for our conversation mapped out in advance. The result is a very fun and casual conversation about the Christ-like aspects of the Devil, and the Luciferian aspects of Jesus — amongst other things. We also talk about th...

Today on the one year anniversary of Radical Elphame, we invite back the guest who helped us kick off this peculiar experiment: the delightful Briar of The Greene Chapel. We explore a recent essay she published on her Greene Chapel site: "The Lady with a Mead Cup," which dives into the primordial image of a virginal Cup Bearer, and how this mythopoetics relates to divinely inspired poetic inspirat...

We welcome back to the show the seership super group that is Rose Auroras, B. Key and Sfinga for a scryers round table: Unsolved Mysteries edition. We chat about the philosophy behind the practice of scrying, and what it's like to teach the technique to others. We also go through a greatest hits of the weirdest shit they've ever scryed — from Unsolved Mysteries, to paranormal hotspots and infamous...

Today we welcome back my friend C.R. Sanders to the show for the first in person recording! We have a freewheelin' chat about CR's recent travels to Glastonbury, the mysterious nature of our human interactions with the numinous, and the magical sense of place we can uncover when we engage deeply with the land and culture of a given local. It was great getting to catch up and shoot the shit under t...

For the last show of the year, we're joined by the legendary Morgan Daimler. Morgan is a writer, a teacher of esoteric subjects, and a practitioner very well acquainted with the Othercrowd. We explore two of her most recent non-fiction books: Fairy: The Otherworld by Many Names , and Celtic Fairies in North America  — both fascinating reads that feel very much of a piece to me.  We dive into some...

Today on the show we chat with Chaise Levy of Northern Spirit House podcast. Chaise is a father, husband and storytelling sorcerer based in Northern California. We talk about the ideas and approaches behind his workshop with the School of Mythopoetics on Skaldskapr (Poetic Story Magic) — from historiola to engaging the mythic. We also explore the complex reality of engaging with a magical practice...

Today on the show we have the delightful Nay Noordmans of House of Gnomi to talk about the Saint beloved as much by Faeries and chthonic deities as by the good Catholics of Tours: Saint Martin. In honor of his feast day — and Old Halloween — Nay takes us on a deep dive of the life of Saint Martin, and we explore some of the more novel and whimsical moments in his hagiography. Nay also delves into...

Today on the show we have a special Halloween hangover episode, with the hosts of the Southern Bramble podcast: Austin Fuller and Marshall the Witch of Southern Light. I've been a big fan of their show for a while now, and really appreciate the ideas and perspectives they've been promoting in the wider witchcraft community. We talk about Traditional Witchcraft — where it's going, how it got here —...

Today on the show we have the wonderful Jo Hickey-Hall of The Modern Fairy Sightings podcast. Jo is a Folklorist, Researcher, Social Historian, and an engaged practitioner. We talk about the novel age we're living in, where Fairy sightings appear to be the rise, and what might be behind that trajectory. Jo describes exploring the phenomenon through both academic and folkloric studies, as well as v...

Today on the show we have the delightful Rose Auroras and B. Key. Both are accomplished seers and scryers with a strong foundation in folkloric and spirit-led techniques, but also a fascination with the modern incarnation of some of these skills — most often under the umbrella term "psi." We dive into the groovy world of the US Government's Psychic Spy Programs in the 70's and 80's, Remote Viewing...

Sfinga joins us from The Frightful Howls You May Hear podcast, and With Cunning and Command. Sfinga is a traditional witch and diviner from the Balkans, as well as an initiate of Brazilian Quimbanda. We talk about Sfinga's incredible podcast, and the unique philosophies that inform its expert approach to a diverse array of spiritual and occult topics, all while maintaining a disarming, casual ,and...

Today I have the true honor of welcoming to the show: Lee Morgan. Lee is a writer, teacher, traditional witch, and a story sorcerer. Lee has written what to my estimation are some of the essential texts on Traditional Witchcraft and the Faery Faith, and his newest book is a fascinating addition to that bibliography. People of the Outside is a fearless examination of all the cultural taboos that ha...

Today on the show we're joined by witch, writer, teacher: Aidan Wachter. Aidan is an excellent communicator on the subject of magic, and has the rare ability not to get bogged down with dogma while exploring what can often be incredibly complex topics with thoughtful and simple clarity. Today we discuss the fundamental and inherent nature of magic, its role in our lives, and how it interacts with...

C.R. Sanders joins us to talk about his new Discovery Channel series — hosted by the legendary Mitch Horowitz — Alien Encounters: Fact or Fiction . When I heard that the newest Discovery channel UFO show was being produced by someone with such an accomplished occult background, I knew it was going to be something unique, and it does not disappoint. We explore the complex nature of the wider UFO /...

Today on the show we have a really free flowing conversation with Reverend Janglebones of the Soap Box podcast. The Reverend is an animistic practitioner working within an eclectic range of  currents including the Thai Occult as well as Saint an Angel magic. We talk about his recent brush with The Good Neighbors, and the effect that it's had on his practice. We also talk about the double edged swo...

Today on the show I'm so excited to bring you my conversation with Amaya Rourke. Amaya is a practicing Animist and Folk Witch offering consultations around coming into relation with the fixed stars, as well as shepherding magical folks down the crooked path of cultivating their own personal practices. In the show we explore Amaya's own crooked journey to her primary Spirit Patron: the Irish God an...

On today's show we have Robert Peter of Sacred Heart Occult. Robert is a practitioner with a foundation in Chaos Magic, that has evolved into an eclectic and animistic adoption of deity work and Saint magic. In the show, we explore how different magical currents can exist side-by-side and be engaged in all at once, the nature of diety and the role sychretization might play in their evolution, and...

Today we welcome on the show writer, astrologer, and herbalist Maeg Keane of Third Sister. Maeg has a really beautiful and almost alchemical perspective on the role that plants and the stars play in our lives, and how we can engage them for personal growth, exploration, and evolution. Maeg originally caught my attention through her writing and astrological services around Dionysus and the 5th hous...

Daniel Yates is a theologian, artist, and folklorist with an uncanny eye behind the camera. Today we pull no punches focusing on the stated goal of this show and explore Daniel's radical ideas about "Elphame." We talk about Daniel's upcoming book, Mysteria , which is a grimoiric treatise on what he calls "Elphamic Witchcraft," and as he says: "a work that will challenge many people's assumptions r...