Hello and welcome to the newly named Mythic Mind Legacy Podcast. We're making this change because we've just launched the Mythic Mind Humanity's Guild podcast, which is a platform for showcasing our many Guild members. I'm dropping the introductory episode here, but be sure to subscribe to the Mythic Mind Humanity's Guild podcast, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. And to help with visibility, please be sure to leave it a five star review on Apple Podcasts and whatever other
platforms. Let you do that. If you haven't already done that for the Legacy podcast, please do that as well. And if you'd like to join the Guild and get early access to add free episodes from both shows, head over to Patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind and now here is the first episode of the Mythic Mind Humanity's Guild podcast. Hello and welcome to the brand new
Mythic Mind Humanity's Guild podcast. I'm Andrew Snyder, the founder of the Guild and host of the Mythic Mind Legacy Podcast, and I am truly grateful for your company on this new venture. When I first launched the Mythic Mind podcast in twenty twenty one. I didn't have a clear vision of the path ahead. I knew that I wanted to discuss stories with an eye toward meaning,
and philosophy with an eye toward narratives. But beyond that, it was simply a way of helping me to articulate some ideas and share some thoughts that I believed might be of some benefit to others. With that mindset, I started with this series pulled from my doctoral dissertation on guards, the concept of anxiety and the Sickness onto Death, and that was then followed by Patreon series on Grimm's Fairy Tales, and now I'm on a Tolkien series. Now. I
wasn't really an active reader growing up. I mean, I would read an occasional theology book, but I rarely touched fiction voluntarily. And it shocks me to say this now, but I really just didn't see the point. I phone it a story. I'd watch a movie, but books, well, I figured that making that kind of investment should teach me something and not just tell me a story. Now, during grad school, my mindset started to
shift on this. Studying philosophy and theology and especially reading Augustine, I really started to better understand the importance of narratives for framing who we are, why we are, and just as importantly, where we are. That is, where we are in relation to where we came from and where we're going. And so with this new framework developing, I was starting to approach the mythic
way of seeing the world, and a helpful way of framing. That is to say that the scientific perspective focuses on the world of matter, but the mythic perspective focuses on what matters. Now, let's not to say that scientists matter, but rather that value itself is nested in narrative. And this is why the great identity shaping stories of the past, the great national epics,
weren't solely about gods and monsters and great heroes. No, they were about the conflict that each of us face each and every day on the path to either glory or destruction. And so as TALKI tells us, fairy contains many things besides elves and pays, besides dwarfs, which is trolls, giants or dragons. It holds the seas, the sun, that moon, the sky, and the earth and all things that are in it. Tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread and ourselves mortal men. When we
are enchanted. Is in this realm of faery Talkien tells us that we do not simply encounter supernatural creatures, but rather it's where we come to recognize that it is we who are supernatural. That is, we have a transcendent spirit that is responsible for making identity defining decisions. And this is a large part what it means to be human, and this is what the humanities seek to
recover. Now back to the story of Mythic Mind. In March of twenty twenty three, Mythic Mind entered a new chapter with the birth of the Mythic Mind Humanities Guild. And so now patronizing Mythic Mind does not only support my work, although it does do that, but it also enrolls you in a collaborative community of writers, scholars, including philosophers, theologians, political scientists, and more. We have active readers of various strifes. We have podcasters and
other content creators, and lay enthusiasts of the humanities. Because you don't need any credentials to enter, aside from a love of words and a general appreciation for the culture that we are cultivating members of the guild talk about all sorts of things through a private discord server, which is also where we share projects and collaborate on things such as our community substack, which is open to contributions
from all members. And this is really a great venue for working under the same banner as other members of this like minded yet diverse crowd of people, but also members who have personal platforms are encouraged to use ours as a means
of publicity and advertising. The Guild exists to serve its members. At the time of recording, we have about forty five members of this community, and I'm really excited that we are now rolling out our guild podcast, and so to get this going, we're going to start with guild members reading posts that they've written for our substack over at Mythicmind dot substack dot com and down the road. I intend for us to produce original content through this platform, both
through solo guild member contributions as well as through some collaborative guild conversations. But for now, let's go ahead and hear from just a few of our members. Hi. I'm Elizabeth Sausen, an award winning author of science fiction and fantasy. I was born and raised in the remote regions of New Guinea and have lived in California, Florida, Thomas, and Brazil, but I currently live in Idaho with my best friend. I have a bachelor's in Biblical studies
and in pursuing a master's of philosophy at Bola University. You can find me and my work at my website www dot eb Dawson dot com. Hi there, my name is Philip Bunn. I have a PhD and political theory from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I have a passion for politics and literature, so I've taught authors ranging from Vonnegut to Homer to Graham Green and beyond. I'm most interested in technology and politics. You can find my occasional writing
at Everything Was Beautiful dot substack dot com. Hi. I'm Thomas Salerno. I'm a children's author, a freelance writer and podcaster from Long Island, New York. My writing has been featured in two nonfiction anthologies, Tolkien in Faith and The Christ Bearer, which are both published by Voyage Comics. In my essays and podcasts, I review and analyze the sci fi and fantasy genres from a Catholic Christian perspective. I have an author newsletter that I call Page Turning,
which you can find at Thomas J. Salernot substack dot com. Greetings. I'm Jude Bruce, one of the members of the Mythic Mind Humanities Guild. I received a Bachelor of Arts and Humanities from John Witherspoon College in twenty twenty two, and I'm currently pursuing a Master of Arts and American Government from Regent University. For me, the humanities are both something to enjoy and a way to help understand the world on a deeper level of ideas, narratives,
beliefs, and philosophies. If I ever feel like writing things besides homework, you can find my work at the Mythic Mind substack. Hi. I'm Amy Matravati. I'm a graduate of Taylor University with a BA in political science and Biblical literature, and also a graduate of King's College, London with a master's degree in International security. I'm an author of historical fiction, novels and essays
focused on theological and cultural issues. My prime areas of historical interest are the medieval and early modern periods, and I'm particularly drawn to topics that combine elements of theology, history, and philosophical analysis. I run the substack page Subcreations. I contribute to the organization fifteen seventeen, and I have many of my
older articles available at www dot Amy Matravati dot com. I'm Caleb M. Powers, podcaster, writer, composer, and enthusiast of tabletop role playing games. I'm an avid fan of fantasy and science fiction literature and went to school for creative writing. If you want to check out my work, you can find me on social media at Caleb Empowers and on my website, Caleb empowers dot com. I also stream regularly on Twitch under the same name, usually
podcasting or running tabletop role playing games. And of course I am Andrew Snyder. I hold a PhD in Theology, Masters in Christian Thought, and a bachelor's in philosophy. I'm a contributing author to The Holy Spirit in the Reformation Legacy, which is published in twenty twenty, and I teach courses in philosophy and theology. I have many interests, including philosophy, theology, and their
relation to myths. The authors that I returned to the most are Tolkien, Lewis Augustine, and Kirkgard, although I try to read fairly broadly within the humanities and you can find my work through the Mythic Mind Legacy podcast, my personal subteck at andrew in Snyder dot dot substack, and of course the Mythic
Mind substack, and now this podcast. And we will hear from plenty more as we move on, But for now, I really appreciate you joining us today on this new venture, and if you would like to join the guild, you can head over to patreon dot com slash Mythic Mind, and for now as little as five dollars a month, we'll grant you full access to the guild, and if that ever changes in the future, you will be grandfathered in with that entry fee and additional perks are also available for those who
provide higher levels of support. Whether you join now or you just subscribe and share and continue on this journey with us, I welcome you to the Mythic Mind Humanities Guild.