EP 43: Leigh Melander & Brad Olson
From The Podcast With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Foundation
January 13, 2026 · 1h 19m · Episode 43
About this episode
Leigh Melander and Brad Olson discuss the dynamic nature of myth and its impact on culture and personal meaning.
In this episode of The Podcast With A Thousand Faces, mythologist Leigh Melander joins longtime friend and fellow Campbell scholar Brad Olson for a wide-ranging, playful, and deeply human conversation about myth, imagination, and meaning. Drawing from their shared history at Pacifica Graduate Institute and their long involvement with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, Leigh and Brad explore myth not as a static archive of ancient stories, but as a living, breathing way of seeing — one that quietly shapes how we understand ourselves, our culture, and the world we’re making together. Along the way, Leigh brings her full mythic lineage into the room: her background in cultural mythology and psychology, her longtime leadership with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, and her work as co-founder of Spillian, a regenerative center for imagination and creativity in the Catskills. She shares how her scholarship and creative practice converge around play, frivolity, and the imaginal as serious forces for transformation — whether through ritual, community, writing, or her evolving SpillianQuest project, a mycelial web of tools and adventures designed to help people create meaning in times of…
People in this episode
Guests: Leigh Melander, Brad Olson
Topics covered
- myth
- imagination
- meaning
- cultural mythology
- psychology
- transformation
Keywords
- myth
- imagination
- meaning
- cultural mythology
- psychology
- transformation
- Joseph Campbell
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Joseph Campbell Foundation, Pacifica Graduate Institute
Books & works: SpillianQuest
Places: Catskills
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