Radical Elphame

Enjoy a Patreon preview of the second episode of The Imbas Transmissions. This time, we chat about the uncanny valley inherent to animistic encounter, the witch as an agent of right-relation, and working with dead writers and magicians à la the frameworks described in the works of Dr. Alexander Cummins and the book Learning from Legendary Practitioners by Kadmus. You can receive full episodes of The Imbas Transmissions by joining the Radical Elphame or Chaise Levy Storyteller on Patreon, or by subscribing to Chaise's Inspiration, Move Me Brightly Substack. Radical Elphame Patreon Chaise's Patreon Chaise's Substack: Inspiration, Move Me Brightly The Hagstone Podcast Theme Song: "Move it" by Dunham

We are living in weird times. We can see the weirdening all around us. In our politics, in our ethics, in our communities, in our personal lives. This observation could lead me down the path of lofty rhetoric about how we navigate some of the darker implications of this weirdening we find ourselves in. Right now, though, I just want to point out some of the positive–or at least amusing–effects of this shift weirdward. I find myself amazed on an almost weekly basis by how much easier it is to talk to almost anyone about the kind of weird shit that I used to have to preface with a litany of qualifiers. Not only is the UFO Disclosure crowd talking about faeries, and demonologists talking about tulpas, and witches talking about hyperstition, but the guy I met at a children's birthday party not only wants to talk about his UFO sighting, but also is curious if I think the phenomenon is related to consciousness. A sommelier I met on a work trip, after an evening of bar hopping, casually mentioned the spirit guide he believes he has regular communication with, and goes to for advice. My Mother-in-Law randomly mentions, for the first time, that her relative in the Navy told her when she was a kid that he saw ships flying out of the Ocean and disappearing into the sky. My normie friends are experimenting more with psychedelics, astrology and Human Design is now acceptable icebreaker material in certain circles, and the somatic therapy I keep hearing about from my friends sounds a lot like techniques I would have previously lumped in with the occult. If I look back just a few years, say to 2020, this wasn't my everyday reality. I know this was the case because that's when I first heard Mana Aelin's podcast, The Real Witches of the End Times. This was far from the first paranormal or occult podcast I had heard, but there was something incredibly unique about it. Mana didn't present herself as an expert, didn't lean into a spooky or empowering vibe template, and didn't consider these subjects from the armchair or at a remove. She put out a show where people who seemed down-to-earth could talk casually about their–for the time–very weird experiences and beliefs as though they were completely normal. As a practitioner with a lack of community, I quickly fell in love with her show, and it was definitely a big inspiration for Radical Elphame. Now, though, living through this weirdward shift, I can't help but wonder if this is all Mana's manifestation, and we're just living in it. SHOW NOTES Mana's Website: Mothmana.com Mana's IG: @mothmanatarot Mana's Podcast: Real Witches of the End Times

Folk magic has a powerful pull. It can express complex metaphysical ideas that, for most of us practicing today, had once felt like the purview of the "New Age." Magical ideas that once seemed fantastical, through the lens of folk magic, can suddenly feel earthy and vital. Techniques that once felt silly can begin to feel ancestral. The source texts go from channeled writings, to myths and folktales, and academic papers. There's an artistry and intelligence grouped in with modern-day practitioners of folk magic that give the disenchanted "Western" mind permission to think differently. Coupled with the aesthetic power and the engrossing scholarship inherent in the modern-day study of folk magic, can sometimes be a cold distance and a whiff of a larp. Can the practices of people alive during the Witch Trials, people who might scry entrails, or bleed their cattle on fairy hills to propiciate the Good Neighbors, ever truly be unlocked for a person in a contemporary world so removed from this archaic way of life? Even as someone with a podcast that focuses on folk magic, I often feel like there can be something missing in translation when I encounter many of these antiquated and esoteric beliefs and practices, especially when sifted through and untangled from primary sources. I am extremely lucky to have just returned from an intensive workshop with Corinne Boyer in Washington State. There are many great things I can say about studying under Corinne, but paramount for me is how alive she can make the folkloric practices and beliefs, which in less capable hands might feel like mere relics or curios. Rooted in her deep study of the folk beliefs surrounding plants, trees, the dead, and wider metaphysics, Corinne has that rare ability to re-enchant and unlock a worldview and way of life that otherwise may have vanished completely. Corinne's almost playful willingness to test drive and experiment with the folkways of our ancestors felt like it summoned them to the room and made them feel at home and welcomed in our world. SHOW NOTES: Sign up for Classes with Corinne: Maple Mist Wood Corinne's Bibliography: Books IG: @maplemistwood

What is it that draws occultists to horror films, when by in large, the history of horror cinema is essentially anti-occult propaganda? Despite what can seem like a counterintuitive interest on the part of practitioners, the fact remains that the horror genre is the last bastion of regular engagement with the spirit world left in contemporary media, and therefore a natural draw for people who see the spiritual as fundamental to everyday life. Another consideration is the cathartic embrace of the shadow on display in horror, and often staring death right in the face. Both things our culture in the West tries to aggressively sterilize out of how we do life, but that practitioners know we can't escape. In the spirit of the spooky season, I wanted to take a closer look at the horror film, and in particular, our relationship to it as people who make magic and dabble in the occult. And what is scarier than a horror film? A cursed horror film! To navigate the complex metaphysics that might be lurking behind the legends of these supposedly cursed films, and to try to understand what makes a curse in the first place, I knew I had to have on B. Key and Sfinga from the essential The Frightful Howls You May Hear podcast and With Cunning & Command blog. Sfinga and Key bring to the show a wide-ranging perspective on why horror films matter so much to the magical folks of the world, and how the nature of curses that can take hold in any part of life can easily find a home in the media we produce. Join the Patreon for an even deeper dive into the nature of cursed media, and some tips for how one might go about making a cursed film … if they so desired. SHOW NOTES: Sfinga and Key's website: With Cunning and Command Website Sfinga and Key's Podcast: The Frightful Howls You May Hear Sfinga's IG: Dragoncunning B. Key's IG: Barnowl.key