Here is the Russian tale of Ivan Bears-Son. With origins in a cave and what seems to be a fated encounter with darkness and then an underworld teeming with light and life, this story has all the mythic elements that permeate the winter solstice and the journey to the vernal equinox.

Story Sources: Russian Wonder Tales by George Post Wheeler; A Branch from the Lightening Tree by Martin Shaw; The Book of Symbols edited by Ami Ronnberg and Kathleen Martin

As always, a huge thank you to Co-Ag Music, a constant source of quality copyright free music.

It is a strange thing to think of death as nutritious, that death can make living things into the elemental stuff of life. But as summer’s verdant life begins to succumb to an inevitable end, as death transforms the landscape, the strangeness of that thought recedes, becoming something full of sense and meaning.

This is especially true as I walk through a local woodland and beneath my feet are the remains of arboreal death - humus, that dark organic matter that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decays. When leaf litter and animals remains decompose, they break down into their most basic chemical elements…elements that are nutritious to life.

This breaking down of living things, particularly as autumn transitions into winter on my Northern island, inspired this episode of Mythos, which will focus on primordial giant stories - myths in which a giant is sacrificed in order to become the building blocks of creation.

The first is a Norse Myth, details of which can be found in the Prose and Poetic Eddas. The Prose Edda was written in 13th century Iceland and is considered the fullest and most detailed source of Norse Mythology. Drawing upon a variety of sources, the Prose Edda also references an older source - a collection of poems known as the Poetic Edda.

The second story is from the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit Hymns, one of the four sacred Hindu texts known as the vedas.

Music:

https://www.youtube.com/@ebanisteria.musicale

https://www.youtube.com/@GeethanjaliClassicalMusic

https://www.youtube.com/@Nordicvibrations7979

Eggs are an ancient symbol. The magical properties, burial rites and folk beliefs surrounding eggs are many.

In this first episode of Earth Lore, a Mythos series that retells ancient myth and traditional folklore surrounding the cosmos, earth, flora, fauna and natural phenomena, we will look at cosmic origin myths that feature magical primordial eggs.

With a brief introduction, there will then be two retellings of myths from Finland and China.

Music courtesy of Co-Ag music (copyright free music can be found on Youtube)



In Baltic folklore, birds are mediators of heaven and earth, between the living and the dead. Their music is heraldic and their song a prophetic chanting. Birds inhabit and embody the dynamic force of space, soaring through the invisible ether of the atmosphere.

In this story, we will journey to the thrice-three realm, to the garden of a Baltic King, where, amidst bone white birches and tall meadow grasses, there dwells a bird only accessible to the truly wise

Music (Youtube)

This Fascinating World, Co-Ag Music

Siidisulis linnukene' (Silken Feathered Bird), Maarja Nuut

Traditional kokle music variation 1, Laima Jansone

Abandoned 1, Co-Ag Music

Muutuja, Maarja Nuut & Ruum

Edge of Silence, Co-Ag Music

October, in much lore, is a spiritually potent time and the oft stated idea that the veil between worlds is thin at this time holds true in traditional Latvian practice. The living would prepare their homes for a visit from deceased ancestors, with the house cleaned and table laden with food for the occasion. To open this feast, an elder of the home would call the names of all the ancestral dead in living memory, inviting them to eat with the living.

In this story, we follow a young man into a Latvian forest, where he follows yet another tradition - retrieving the ancestors from the forest cemetery in a horse drawn cart.

Please head to www.mythospodcast.com and sign up for the email list for weekly stories and research content, for both creative inspiration and the solace of story.

Also consider becoming a Patron: a library of episode transcript e-books and some special patrons-only episodes for top two tiers. And I welcome support for upcoming series on Japanese and Korean Folklore - and the Earth Lore series exploring the folklore of the natural world around the globe.

Thank you to Co-Ag Music for the excellent soundscapes of this episode.

The mythic origin tales of Baltic amber are full of magic, and the pre-history of the golden-umber resin-stone is no less awe-inspiring. This pine-tree resin was fossilized 45 million years ago, during a period of intense warmth that caused the pines to exude huge amounts of sap. There is an inherent enchantment in handling something that warms to the touch and is the remnant of a prehistoric coniferous forest. Even more otherworldly are those pieces of amber that contain the tiny remains of this ancient - and almost mythical - past. Oak leaf bits, tiny twigs, pollen, and other plant detritus found itself preserved in the resin which hardened over millions of years. Even ancient insects have been encapsulated in the golden substance. No wonder then that the Baltics, where this fey stone can be found in particular abundance, was the site of trade for many many thousands of years. In this episode, we will dive into a Lithuanian origin myth for this precious stone.

A big thank you to Co-Ag Music and Spanxti for the stunning music in this episode!

You can find Co-Ag here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA

You can find Spanxti here on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk1_IxRDcik

If you’re wanting a bit more than monthly episodes - and like the sound of engaging with the stories of the folk more deeply and creatively - of restoring the ancient practice of listening to and responding to traditional tales, then the upcoming  'Your Story Heritage' course might be for you - if that’s the case, right now, before you forget, CLICK HERE and then click on the orange ‘register your interest’ button.

Consider becoming a Patron

You can also make a one-time donation here: https://www.mythospodcast.com/

In this episode, we journey again to Lithuania: we will go to the noble hall of an ignoble count and to a sylvan lake, to meet a washerwoman of great spirit, whose patrons are full of earth and water magic.

A massive thank you to Co-Ag Music and Jēkabs Zariņš for their permission to use their music.

'Meža diesma,' 'tehniskas variācijas,' and 'Grandparent's Blessing' by Jēkabs Zariņš

'Taste the Fear,' and 'Who will save my soul,' by Co-Ag Music.

Jēkabs Zariņš: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9izFNeuvBR3qt5vfgfBkOw

Co-Ag Music: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA

In this episode’s panorama of ancient woodland, northern seas and shamanic underworlds, the world-traversing magic of the grass snake clashes with the bone-deep force of ancestral longing and family drama. From forest pools to pearl-white sands, from black-deep ocean caverns to a verdant underworld, we will explore the magic landscapes of Lithuania, in one of her most famous pieces of folklore.

This story was brought to life by the music of these talented musicians!

- Co-Ag Music on Youtube

- "Turėja Liepa" by Simona Smirnova: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIqzz8UZeOE - Also, visit her website at: https://www.simonasmirnova.nyc/

- "Lakštingalėle" by Kumaniusilelis https://www.youtube.com/user/kamaniusilelis/featured - Also, visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kamaniusilelis

- Agota Ago https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaRsJDijtkZ5zVXV_Z9ZHTw

- Performance of a Lithuanian Midsummer Folksong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeEnhlRteiA&list=PLfjWyCNZi947Y4DDyk_VnqpRA_aZDaqQg&index=2

Goddaughter of the Rock Maidens. The name of the story lit up my imagination, as did the brief outline of a plot in W.F Kirby’s 1895 English translation of famous Estonian tales. In just a few sentences, I sensed a powerful narrative: nature spirits and underworlds; a young girl tutored by powerful female fey-folk and enchantments and serpent kings.

For all my listeners, consider joining my upcoming Story Heritage Webinar on Power & Powerlessness. The aim is to explore the wisdom and insights of world folklore surrounding this fundamental human experience. If you want to explore our world storytelling heritage, get inspiration for your own creative life and experience the therapeutic powers of story, go to https://www.mythosstorytelling.com/storyheritage-webinars

Please do consider helping with research costs so I can bring the stories of the folk into our cultural consciousness: https://www.patreon.com/mythospodcast

A huge thank you to Maarja Nuut and Co-Ag Music for allowing me to use their music!

Donate to Maarja here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rQSHGbaVqFhj4gcXDAjKy?si=5YLWNMrOSaORlMXbkEfMyA

Maarja Nuut songs: 'Veere, Veere päevakene,'

'Handi pandimehe lugu' - Estonian Folk Song

Co-Ag Music: 'Beautiful Days' and 'A Dark Myth'

It is November in an Estonian village and it is the Time of Souls, when dead ancestors return and roam, visiting homes and enjoying the pleasures of life in the sauna

In this time of extended night, there are forces afoot, and not just those of deceased ancestors. There might be Nututaja: the evil eye, whose envy distresses and disturbs the new-born, and is one amongst a number of supernatural threats around the globe that threaten the infant. Perhaps a symbol of the immense world - with all of its dangers - surrounding the vulnerable little one, the Nututaja’s influence unsettles the baby, who becomes colicky and unable to sleep. In fact, Nututaja’s envy, the evil eye, is so powerful that it creates what seems to be an entity in its own right: Ööitketaja, the Night Wail.

A huge thank you to Maarja Nuut, a stunningly talented Estonian musician whose music seems made for these stories.

Songs: 'Siidisulis linnukene,' 'Veere, Veere, paevakene,' and 'Odangule.'

For more from Maarja, see her website: https://maarjanuut.com/

Introduction Music: Estonian Cradle Song

A quick introduction to the Baltic States and why a journey into the folkloric realms of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is well worth your time.