- Many thanks for this grand episode! I had been rummaging--as a researcher of Vardøger-Etiäinen-Fylgja phenomena due to family experiences with this back-water type of paranormal event-through further "lore" materials, in view of the rather rich tales I've already read of Scottish "phantasms of the living" and centuries-old Manx tales so closely resembling those Scandinavian accounts. That episode of course led me to your review of "Folklore of Wales: Ghosts." - This in turn reminded me of my walking tour (about 40 years ago by now) inside of the Nidaros Dom (Nidaros Cathedral) in Trondheim, a structure that has been built and rebuilt repeatedly for centuries, occasionally with different floor plans and even different compass/axis orientations of the edifice, yet all of them without exception pivoting around a SACRED WELL from pre-Christian days, which was far behind the main altar (and far from the madding crowd) when I was there. A very quiet spot, a small sacred space in its own right. The ancient Greeks (my own academic history) had many non-building temples to divine spirits, unwalled "temenoi" - sacred precincts in the open air. Later many were in fact built up into shrines, temples, etc. So keep up the good work of reminding us all of these nearly permanent monuments to ancient divine powers and how they somehow capture our interest, our very hearts, even so many millennia afterward.
- BTW, having a longterm interest in shamanic practice, I have read of many societies in which the shaman is the singer of songs learned from the spirits themselves so as to draw in the Power, and/or where that very shaman was forced to live on the edge of town or even isolated in the forest because his people feared that same access to power. (I still think about the poet/musician Prince who lived in a purple mansion somewhere in Minneapolis -- the city where I had attended graduate school -- well-guarded against his own townsfolk.) - Music/meter/poetry originated in Greece from Apollo or elsewhere from similar divine entities. People had good reason to fear the poetry. There are several anecdotes (especially among the Saami) about a person being "called" or "designated" by the spirits to become a shaman, yet the designee tries to avoid the call/curse to be a poet/shaman, until the spirits finally resort to threats and violence to enforce their choice. - They also had good reason to dread their own fellow human beings. The Hebrew Bible shows Elijah, the powerful navi' (better translated as SHAMAN than as "prophet"), winning the contest against the Baal officiants--but still fleeing in terror from Queen Jezebel's threats against his life. Josef Stalin had his men round up countless shamans and then throw them to their death out of airborne helicopters mocking them with shouts of "Fly shaman, fly!" The curse of poetry across history is real and mostly terrible.
I absolutely think you can see them in all sorts of places! You might like The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast, Jo covers all sorts of places people have seen them!
- Many thanks for this grand episode! I had been rummaging--as a researcher of Vardøger-Etiäinen-Fylgja phenomena due to family experiences with this back-water type of paranormal event-through further "lore" materials, in view of the rather rich tales I've already read of Scottish "phantasms of the living" and centuries-old Manx tales so closely resembling those Scandinavian accounts. That episode of course led me to your review of "Folklore of Wales: Ghosts."
- This in turn reminded me of my walking tour (about 40 years ago by now) inside of the Nidaros Dom (Nidaros Cathedral) in Trondheim, a structure that has been built and rebuilt repeatedly for centuries, occasionally with different floor plans and even different compass/axis orientations of the edifice, yet all of them without exception pivoting around a SACRED WELL from pre-Christian days, which was far behind the main altar (and far from the madding crowd) when I was there. A very quiet spot, a small sacred space in its own right. The ancient Greeks (my own academic history) had many non-building temples to divine spirits, unwalled "temenoi" - sacred precincts in the open air. Later many were in fact built up into shrines, temples, etc.
So keep up the good work of reminding us all of these nearly permanent monuments to ancient divine powers and how they somehow capture our interest, our very hearts, even so many millennia afterward.
- BTW, having a longterm interest in shamanic practice, I have read of many societies in which the shaman is the singer of songs learned from the spirits themselves so as to draw in the Power, and/or where that very shaman was forced to live on the edge of town or even isolated in the forest because his people feared that same access to power. (I still think about the poet/musician Prince who lived in a purple mansion somewhere in Minneapolis -- the city where I had attended graduate school -- well-guarded against his own townsfolk.)
- Music/meter/poetry originated in Greece from Apollo or elsewhere from similar divine entities. People had good reason to fear the poetry. There are several anecdotes (especially among the Saami) about a person being "called" or "designated" by the spirits to become a shaman, yet the designee tries to avoid the call/curse to be a poet/shaman, until the spirits finally resort to threats and violence to enforce their choice.
- They also had good reason to dread their own fellow human beings. The Hebrew Bible shows Elijah, the powerful navi' (better translated as SHAMAN than as "prophet"), winning the contest against the Baal officiants--but still fleeing in terror from Queen Jezebel's threats against his life. Josef Stalin had his men round up countless shamans and then throw them to their death out of airborne helicopters mocking them with shouts of "Fly shaman, fly!" The curse of poetry across history is real and mostly terrible.
I wish you a great week
Icy, thanks for your videos 🧙♀🧙♂🌲🌳🐗🦌🐿 can we see fairies in gardens in small towns or are they only in rural nature ?
I absolutely think you can see them in all sorts of places! You might like The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast, Jo covers all sorts of places people have seen them!
Cursed to become a poet? lol. Priceless! Thank you from the US.
Yeah, it's like, "Oh no! I am doomed to be a poet!"