This week's podcast looks at Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods, known as Mercury in Roman myth. We mainly focus on the story of Hermes' birth in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, in which he manages to astonish and anger the god Apollo. Hermes is a liminal figure often connected with the Puer (Boy) archetype, representing youthful energy and enthusiasm. We discuss this archetype in a bit of detail, and its contrast with the Senex (Wise Old Man) archetype, as well as a bit about the alchemical Me...
Jul 22, 2025•59 min
Join us at the Institute for the Study of Feminine Myth--$10 "Thinker's Tavern" sessions on Thursdays in July! https://instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern This week's podcast is about Libitina, Roman goddess of funerals, corpses, and burials. We discuss the debated etymology of her name--is she connected to Venus and to voluptuous pleasure, or is that an error? Varro connects Libitina to "libido", and we also need to consider the ancient Etruscan goddess Alpanu, who is said to be Libiti...
Jul 07, 2025•52 min
Join us for Thinker's Tavern on Thursdays 6:30 EST; details at https://instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern This week's episode looks at Semiramis, the legendary Queen of the Assyrian Empire who is said to have taken over as regent when her husband died, and until her son came of age. Semiramis is the Greek name of the queen Shammuramat, and her history is controversial. Roman historians and geographers credit her with many architectural achievements, conquest of the Armenians, and stabi...
Jun 23, 2025•56 min
This is a re-edit and re-upload of the Chthonia episode on Circe, or Kirke, from 2019. Circe is best known for her encounter with Odysseus and his men in the Odyssey, where she turns the men into pigs, and Odysseus defeats her magic with the moly plant. While Circe is a central Anima figure in this story, she also appears in others as Medea's aunt and the daughter of the sun god Helios.
Jun 19, 2025•44 min
Join us for the new Thinker's Tavern series at the ISFM: https://www.instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern This week's episode looks at La Loba, the Wolf Woman, sometimes also called the Bone Woman. She gathers the bones of animals, usually wolves, and when she has a complete skeleton she chooses the song to sing to bring the animal back to life. This story becomes a framework for discussing the psychological and mythological meaning of "bones", as well as the forces represented by the wo...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 1 min
* Check out the new Thinker's Tavern discussion series at https://www.instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern * This week's podcast looks at the figure of Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes (Mercury) and Aphrodite (Venus), and his encounter with the aggressive nymph Salmacis, her prayer turning them into a single being that is both male and female and neither at the same time. While Salmacis is often viewed as an aggressive woman attacking an innocent boy, an inscription at Salmacis' pool in Hal...
May 26, 2025•54 min
This week's episode looks at the legendary woman known as Helen of Troy, "the face that launched a thousand ships." The daughter of either Zeus and Leda or Zeus and Nemesis, the desire to possess Helen, dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world, launched the Trojan War. We discuss her abductions by Theseus and Paris, the oath of Tyndareus, and the question of whether or not Helen went with Paris willingly or against her will--and whether Paris seduced the "real" Helen at all.
May 14, 2025•47 min
This week we look at the Greek daimon Atë, the personification of deception and ruin. Atë is a prominent figure in Homer’s Iliad, and often appears in Greek tragedy as a figure associated with justice, along with Nemesis and the Erinyes. We look at Atë as an irrational force, and how the understanding of her as a daughter of Zeus in the Iliad tells us something about the pitfalls of the rational mind.
Apr 28, 2025•47 min
This week's podcast looks at Pandora, the first woman described by Hesiod, though her story likely predates his writings. Pandora is a gift to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, as an act of revenge after Prometheus steals fire from Heaven and gives it to mortals. She carries a pithos (jar) that she is told to never open, but when curiosity strikes, she releases all sorts of ills into the world of humans. We examine the different aspects of this story, including the idea that the coming of woman...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon/com/chthonia This week we look at Eris, goddess of strife and discord. Hesiod declares that there are 2 Erises, one that is beneficial to humans and one that isn't. There is also the 3rd Eris of the modern "religion" of Discordianism, which highlights to problem of excluding discord from our lives.
Apr 02, 2025•51 min
Here is the re-released Frau Perchta and Gryla episode from December 2019. Both figures are part of the folklore of winter hags or "Christmas witches", who often represent the dangers of being unprepared for the winter season.
Mar 20, 2025•38 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/c/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week's podcast looks at Enodia, a Thessalian goddess who has attributes of Hecate, Persephone, and Artemis, whose name means "of the street" or "in the road". Part of the dodekatheon (Cult of the 12 Olympians) local to Thessaly, she seems to clearly have a function related to protecting the household, and her own epithets sugge...
Mar 17, 2025•55 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/c/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week's podcast looks at Nemesis, a daimon goddess said to come from Nyx (Night) alone by Hesiod, and associated with the distribution of fairness as well as envy and revenge. We look at the origin stories of Nemesis, the story of her as the mother of Helen of Troy, and her connection via Helen to the Trojan War. We look at othe...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min
This remastered episode looks at the Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon, Artemis. In particular we examine the dangerous aspects of Artemis, including the threat she posed to young women about to enter adulthood, and as a plague bringer along with her brother Apollo.
Mar 02, 2025•49 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week's podcast takes a deep dive into the figure of Lua, sometimes called Lua Mater, other times called Lua Saturni. Victorious Roman soldiers sacrificed the weapons of their conquered enemies to Lua, which is the only thing known about her as a cult figure. However she has many connections--to both Saturn and Mars, to the goddes...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org Here is the re-edited Medusa episode; the original episode was very quiet, so hopefully the amplifications do not end up being too loud! This episode looks at the stories of the Gorgon, with some discussion of her sisters, and the various tales of her relationship with Poseidon, her falling out with Athena, and her beheading by Perseu...
Feb 09, 2025•54 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org Books: https://chthonia.net/publications This week's episode is on Serapis, a Graeco-Egyptian deity promoted by Ptolemy I Soter (Macedonian general who became ruler of Egypt) around the 200s BCE. Serapis is a male deity that combines elements of Hades/Pluto, Dionysus, Osiris, Apis, and Helios--and may have some connections to the Jesu...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 4 min
*Look for current podcast information at https://chthonia.net This is the re-edit of the 2019 podcast episode on the mythological stories of the Hanging Virgins. This centers around the myths of Erigone, Carya, and other girls who die by their own hand in the manner implied by the title, either because their father passes away and no one can arrange their marriage, or their parents do not approve of their marriage choice, among other reasons. There are some curious rites and songs around this da...
Jan 31, 2025•42 min
Here is Part 2 of the podcast I did on Hecate in 2019. This episode focused more on Hekate Soteria, the Middle Platonic Hekate that was connected to the Moon and considered an intermediary for souls. It was also this version of Hekate that was "separated" from the Queen of Ghosts and Witches, who was called Physis by the philosophers, and associated with the world under the Earth. This was an audio cleanup and still has the original theme music and ending. For current information on Chthonia, vi...
Jan 22, 2025•47 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/chthonia--4909143 Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week we look at Pope Joan, who is alleged to have served as the only female Pope either in the 9th century or the 11th century. We look at the facts, how scholars think her legend started, inconsistencies in the legend, and the Church's reaction to the idea of a Papess. ...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr
Here is the original 2019 episode on Persephone, Queen of the Underworld with cleaned up sound editing. The original theme music and original infomation from 2019 still remain in this episode; current information about the podcast and Chthonia in general is at https://chthonia.net
Jan 16, 2025•43 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org Happy new year! Our first podcast of 2025 looks at Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne D'Arc, and La Pucelle (the Maid). We discuss Joan's short life, having been burned at the stake at the age of 19 after being victorious in pushing the English out of France in the Hundred Years' War, and installing Charles VII on the throne. We focus ...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org The last podcast of 2024 focuses on the grandmotherly figure of La Befana, a witch who appears on Epiphany Eve to bring gifts (or coal) and to sweep the house. Children may not look at her without suffering consequences. The origins of La Befana may lie in an Etruscan/Sabine goddess, and the paradoxical nature and perception of this w...
Dec 23, 2024•56 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week we look at the Loireag, a "plaintative" tiny fairy associated with the traditional process of spinning and weaving cloth. The Loireag is considered to be a water spirit in the folklore of the Hebrides, as well as a spinster, making her full of apparent paradoxes when it comes to her associations as a feminine force. We look ...
Dec 09, 2024•51 min
This week’s subject is Tlazolteotl, the Aztec goddess of filth, lust, and patroness of adulterers. Tlazolteotl is both the disease and the cure, being a goddess of debauchery, but also the one who can purify you from debauchery. We look at the idea of “Holy S**t”, how excrement was viewed as a divine and healing substance, and how this idea compares in other cultures. We also discuss how “filth” ends up being connected with the Feminine, and how this can affect our ideas abuot sex and sensual pl...
Nov 25, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org In this week's episode we look at the seal women of fairy lore, the Selkies. Selkies are beautiful fairies who take off their sealskin to dance by the water. In the stories, a fisherman will see them and steal their sealskin so that they cannot return home. The Selkie is then compelled to be the wife of the fisherman, until she is abl...
Nov 11, 2024•52 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org Fans of the 2019 episodes--I am slowly, slowly working my way through re-editing these episodes. In this episode we look at the origins of Hecate from an academic standpoint, including Hesiod's lavish praise of her in the Theogony, and her role as keeper of the keys and a protective gatekeeper.
Nov 04, 2024•54 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ ISFM: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week's episode looks at the folkloric storm hags of Ireland, Scotland, and Lake Erie in the United States. While hag and witch figures often represent forces of nature, the Storm Hag represents a unique danger that comes at the end of winter--the fragile state of birth and rebirth.
Oct 28, 2024•56 min
This week we look at Nure-onna, a Yokai who preys on men who try to help or rescue an apparent woman and child in need. We look beyond any social explanations of the story, to explore the realities of nature and natural forces.
Oct 14, 2024•54 min
Website: https://chthonia.net Patreon: https://patreon.com/chthonia Merch: https://chthoniapodcast.creator-spring.com/ School: https://instituteforfemininemyth.org This week we look at the "Quene of Elfame", the later popular spelling being "Queen of Elphame," or the queen of the land of fairies. But what is "Elphame"--is it a kind of pagan paradise between Heaven and Hell, an interdimensional space under the sidhe (mounds) of Ireland, or a beautiful illusion created by fairy beings--or somethin...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 10 min
