Explore every episode of the podcast In the Borderlands
Dive into the complete episode list for In the Borderlands. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
Dodo Kitching: The Art of Health #50M
05 Jul 2024
01:23:14
For our fiftieth episode we are joined by homeopathic practitioner Dodo Kitching. Dodo specialises in the sensation method as taught by the Joshis of India, the essence of which she is happy to share with us
In addition, we explore different perspectives of health, the underappreciated art of dying well and learn to view the periodic table in a completely new and mythopoetic light.
Carl Gustav Jung, the mythopoetic mirror to Freud’s trauma-focused psychology, spoke of a concept he coined "Active Imagination“. An intuitive process of letting your own imagination unfold by drinking from the waters of the collective consciousness. In this conversation we juxtapose both this "AI“ and the more commonly known "AI“ aka Artificial Intelligence.
Joined by special guest Fredrik Høyer, a Norwegian slam poet, author and dramatist, we take a meandering and overflowing journey through these mythic borderlands pregnant with the unrealised potential of dreams.
Sound excerpts "Gi Slipp" with Fredfades and Kristoffer Eikrem
"T-banematrisen" with Sandra Kolstad/Grønlandsutraen RMX
"Regndanse i skinnjakke" with Ingeborg Marie Mohn and Emilie Christensen
"Øya" with Stockhaus/Grønlandsutraen RMX
We are back after a lengthy interim! And how better to kickstart our new bout of episodes than with a dose of divine power!
We interview Sally Pomme Clayton, British performance storyteller and author, about her latest book – The Mighty Goddess. We try to touch upon the immensity that is the Goddess, through a breadth of mythical lenses, attempting to describe archetypal energies that are impossible to pin down or reduce to human psychology. Indeed, how do you approach the Mighty Goddess, a borderless creative force that craves expression. Through the language of Love? Of Good and Evil? Or of Rage?
Dominic Kelly: Mara – Dream, Forest & Folklore #39
29 May 2023
01:18:34
In the middle of the night, you find yourself caught between dream and wakefulness, unable to move, unable to scream, with the feeling that someone's sitting on your chest. There are many names for this condition. Sleep paralysis. The Old Hag. The Nightmare. Mara. With returning guest, performance storyteller Dominic Kelly, we delve into this fascinating phenomenon that is deeply entrenched in the borderlands of folklore and belief.
This interview took us for a spin through a myriad of worlds - from the rambunctious and chaotic Commedia dell’Arte performances of Renaissance Italy through the clown-like persona of Donald Trump to UFO mythologies! All of it viewed through the lens of the carnivalesque. Our guest Petter Madegård is a visual artist, a director of film and theatre and an actor. He is the inventor of the Commedia dell’Arte-inspired live animation theatre Cinema dell’Arte. Enjoy this interview filled with the uncontained power of spring.
Do you know the origin of iron? When did you last fall and take fright? These questions are good to keep in mind as we delve into the world of Finnish magic, where sorcerers prepare themselves for healing by standing on rocks in freezing rapids and newborn children are protected from evil spirits in the sauna by being given misleading nicknames. With us we have performance storyteller Markus Luukkonen who has, together with Mikael, made one show based on the fragmented source material of the epic Kalevala, and is in the process of creating another.
Śivani Howe is a classically trained Sannyasi of the Saraswati lineage from India running an ashram with her husband in the veld of the Purcell Mountains in Canada. Her focus is on yoga ecology, on reconnecting and creating a life in reciprocity with Mama Earth, and on channelling the unseen. With us In the Borderlands she shares a few personal stories brimming with synchronicity and serendipity, among them an amazing tale of her special relationship with bees. According to Śivani, the core of the Saraswati lineage is to find the common thread of truth in all myths, legends, beliefs and religions. To put back together. To remember.
The twelfth and final (?) episode of our podcast within thepodcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
We have come to the end which is also a beginning. Spring is here, the birds are singing, celebrating the bursting forth of life. The cycle goes ever on and on, from flourishing to withering to flourishing once more. We have come to the beginning which is also an end.
Heresy. A word that usually evokes the image of a radical opposer of doctrine, of people burned at the stake, of violence and of religious conflict. But the Greek origin of the word is not so conflagrant. Etymologically, heresy means "choice". In this Easter Special, interdisciplinary performer Jo Blake returns to In the Borderlands to talk about her upcoming show "The Witness" about the relationship and balance between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and how his story became History and her story became Heresy.
Henrik Hallgren: Earth Rights – A Trickster in the System #33
20 Mar 2023
01:01:35
Can Nature have rights? We speak with ecopsychologist and Earth Rights activist Henrik Hallgren about the fascinating introduction of a trickster in the legal system, the concept that everything on Earth, from animals to rivers to entire ecosystems, have subjective rights. A new paradigm is emerging relating to the ideas of whether we can own the world or whether we are but one of many subjectivities in an interconnected whole, potentially changing our consciousness in the process.
Come and listen to the Law. The Law of the Land.
Episode eleven of our podcast within the podcast – a seriesof full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
We are at the crossroads of spring. Every path a new possibility. Every path a new opportunity. Every path a new perspective. The worms patiently forge pathways through the thawing earth beneath our feet. The waters melt and start their patient flow anew. Pick a choice and pick it well. Go forth on river feet.
Our guest Andreas Kornevall (storyteller, ecologist and writer) argues that contemporary logos work on our subconscious in a similar vein to medieval sigil magic, narrowing our perspective and molding us into consumers. In this episode he speaks about the creation of demblems, counter-sigils to deactivate and balance the negative aspects of our logo-inundated society.
We also touch upon a host of related and fascinating subjects, including the value of regenerative grief and how the mythic languages of the non-human world can be found in the areas we least expect.
In the US, there’s a prediction that if the current traditional farming practices continue, there’s 60 harvests remaining before the topsoil is completely eroded. Is there another way? Biodynamic farmer and dancer Johan Nilsson offers one alternative. What if we transform our entire mindset and instead of viewing the soil as dead matter we enter into a relationship with it?
Welcome into a sparkling and stirring conversation where the borders between agriculture and art are wiped away, where the intuitive development of the farmer and the soil are seen as one and the same, where the farm itself becomes an alchemical organism, where attentiveness, presence and the spirit of constant discovery and mutual enrichment is key. Welcome to a world where both carrot and human can reach their fullest potential.
The blindfold was removed. She did not know where she was. All she could see was the river.
What began as an artistic experiment regarding relationship to space, turned into a seven year long (and counting) ceremony of Dreamtime visions and giving voice to that which has been lost. Join us in this fascinating conversation with interdisciplinary artist Laura Burns where we speak about the importance of tending to invisible presences and entering into dialogue with the consciousness of the land, how edgeland practitioners often find refuge in the arts, and the way our culture has dammed up the flow of life.
Episode ten of our podcast within the podcast – a series offull moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
The northern hemisphere is in the hard grip of frosty February. The Hunger Moon beams with dispassionate clarity in the skies, while we start to awaken from our winter slumber. The cycle is about to start anew. But who are we now? What do we want? What are we hungry for?
In this episode we explore a different borderland altogether, the liminal spaces of the Metaverse. With VR artist and digital myth maker Lee Mason AKA Metageist as our guide we line dance on the edge between dream and reality, exploring themes as diverse as hypnagogic states, shadow people, digital life forms/ecosystems, cautionary sculptures and consensual realities.
Mythology keeps rearing its head, even in the virtual worlds.
Episode nine of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
We are still in the grip of winter, the sky is occluded by grey fur, and the tough love of the Wolf Moon grabs us by the scruff of our necks. Reminding us to wake up from our slumber, to contain our own power, and make our own luck.
Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen: Year of Aun – Story as Healing, Story as Curse #26
06 Jan 2023
01:06:00
Historian of religion and animist thinker Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is back on our podcast! This time to launch the Year of Aun, an invitation to celebrate 2023 as a year of healing and reconnection based on old Nordic spiritual practices.
We speak about the theoretical foundations behind the Year of Aun, our relationship with the forces of nature as reflected through both ancient and contemporary mythologies, and what it means to be the worst possible ancestor.
Episode eight of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
Winter is upon us, and further introspection is needed. The Winter Moon calls us to the mountaintop, to stillness, to reflection. Mikael and Torgrim's journeys mirror each other perfectly and synchronistically in this episode where we look for guidance removed from the noise of the world.
We have an anniversary!
Podcast hosts Mikael Öberg and Torgrim Mellum Stene are in a festive mood and look back at 1 year of "In the Borderlands". We speak about the podcast's humble origins, how we met and what it means to be a performance storyteller.
We are also launching our webpage AND our Instagram AND AND our Facebook page AND AND AND our e-mail address contact@intheborderlands.comwhere you can send questions, feedback and requests!
Episode seven of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
The Frost Moon shines bright in November skies, and it invites us to look within. We spiral back towards our selves, our bellies, our navels, searching for the center of things.
Kersti Ståbi: Vǫluspá – Performing Poems from the Poetic Edda #22
31 Oct 2022
00:52:02
Vǫluspá - The Prophecy of the Seeress from the Poetic Edda is one of the most well known texts from Norse mythology. But how could this oral poem have been performed?
Kersti Ståbi, Swedish folk singer and oral storyteller explored this question in her master's degree. Searching for a way to be a tale-singer in her own mythological tradition, she looked to living practices in Korea, India and Kyrgyzstan. In this episode she discusses this process with us, the interplay between copying and creating, and the paradox of trying to recreate something that's not possible to recreate.
Kersti Ståbihttp://kerstistabi.com/The Vǫluspá projecthttp://kerstistabi.com/voluspa
Vǫluspá Pansori first listener: Göran HembergVǫluspá Pandvani first listener: Mikael ÖbergVǫluspá Pandvani freebass accordionist: Leif Ottosson
Episode six of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
Dark October is upon us, and the ominous Slaughter Moon takes us for a spin through tales of dismemberment, inklings of werewolves and musings about the nature of light.
Lunisolar Mind returns with a thirteenth episode, shedding some light (or darkness) on the new moon, the light absent in the skies of this episode’s release.
In this moment of pregnant stillness, in the space between inhale and exhale, we wonder.
Maria Kvilhaug: In the Bay of Magic and the Wilderness of Cave Land – Initiation Narratives in the Sagas #20
12 Sep 2022
01:23:10
We are happy to welcome our friend Maria Kvilhaug back «In the Borderlands»! This time, the author and historian gives us a fascinating look into her upcoming work – a book presenting a comprehensive list of instances of seidr in Norse sources.Seidr can be seen as a Norse form of shamanism and the stories Maria shine a light upon in her research paint a far more diverse, gender fluid and colourful picture of old Norse society and religious practices than what we are used to.Come join us on a journey through spell songs, fate swapping, transgressive trials of initiation and divine intercourse.
Episode five of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
It is September, and the Singing Moon invites us to listen. What songs will burst like bubbles from below?
Intuitive Storytelling: Celebrating Brittle one Book Two #18
19 Aug 2022
00:52:08
Brittle one is Torgrim Mellum Stene’s online intuitive genre-bending fantasy novel that he started in 2021. Following the initiatory journey of Brittle, Torgrim writes without planning ahead, instead allowing the story to unfold chapter by chapter in an ever expanding exploration of the world that he first set in motion.This episode marks the start of book two – its first chapter now available online – and we celebrate this with a conversation about Torgrim’s experiences with intuitive storytelling and writing myth, interspersing it with Mikael’s audiobook interpretation of the chapter. Enjoy!
The fourth episode of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
This time we focus some lunar light on the goddesses Venus and Freyja.
Part three of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
Paul Maslov Karlsson: Fact and Fiction – Truth and Meaning in the Arts #15
27 Jun 2022
02:01:33
Paul Maslov Karlsson is a philosopher, currently writing his doctoral thesis at Uppsala University, Sweden. We talk deeply with him about the concepts of fact and fiction, what their characteristics are, and whether there can be said to exist a meaningful distinction between them.Myth, scientism, art and conspiracy theory are all given their due in this fascinating conversation. We hope you enjoy the journey as much as we did.
Part two of our podcast within the podcast – a series of full moon specials, released on every full moon – where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millenia.
Our thirteenth episode gives some well-deserved mythological attention to the number 13. Torgrim sets off on a 13-minute long quest in search for a more creative perspective on what is often considered to be nothing but a bringer of bad luck.
Ben Haggarty: MeZolith – Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares #12
30 May 2022
01:12:23
Ben Haggarty is one of the world's leading contemporary storytellers, who creates and performs work inspired by international fairy tale, myth and epic. His deep research into ancient stories and cultures also led to the graphic novel series MeZolith with artist Adam Brockbank. Starting from this stone age horror project, we explore all sorts of questions surrounding research and telling (and re-telling) of traditional narrative. Since the age of stone and bone the storyteller has straddled the worlds seen and unseen, giving voice to tales hoary with age, tales that have been revived time and time again by countless mouths and minds before, remade, refound, rediscovered, remembered.
Full Moon Special: Lunisolar Mind I – Flower Moon #11
16 May 2022
00:18:58
Here begins a podcast within the podcast – a series of fullmoon specials where we turn our attention to the glowing celestial body that has inspired artists and mystics for millennia.
We kick off 2024 with a timely musing on the nature of Good and Evil. Does absolute Good and absolute Evil exist? Is the binary idea of Good and Evil useful or does it disconnect us from the actual reality of things?
Your hosts Mikael Öberg and Torgrim Mellum Stene explore this landscape through the medium of a spread of Hollywood blockbuster movies.
Easter Special: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene with Jo Blake #10
11 Apr 2022
01:20:12
We are happy to welcome back Jo Blake from episode #3 to talk about her upcoming project The Witness, based on the Gospel of Mary – a 5th century text that casts the teachings of Christ in a different light. Join us for this easter deep dive into gnostic gospels and buried knowledge.
Does living psychedelically necessarily mean taking psychedelics? How does dream, poetry and art relate to psychedelic consciousness? How can you share psychedelic journeys and insights in a way that make them meaningful to others? Prepare to be advised by Amazonian shamans, visionary artist William Blake and the archetypal wise fool!
Performance premiere special: HRIST – an act of divination with KAI-EN and Mikael Öberg #7
21 Feb 2022
01:01:56
"All of the drama of divination serves to move the participants out of their normal modes of thinking, shaking them up in order to change their minds because their current understanding of the situation is inadequate."February 25th 2022 sees the premiere of a brand new collaboration between performance storyteller Mikael Öberg and butoh artist KAI-EN: HRIST – an act of divination. We investigate the ingredients and inspirations for this performance and learn about butoh, Norse Mythology, divination practices and the search for the alive-space in between.(Divination quote from Philip M. Peek, African Divination Systems)
Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen: How to build a god - Immanence and Symbolism #6
06 Feb 2022
01:14:46
Our guest Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is a historian of religion and founder of the project Nordic Animism. His PhD "The Stick and the Calabash“ is a result of extensive anthropological research of the Brazilian Candomblé tradition and of how the archetypal energies of gods are manifested there. We talk about trance and possession, conspiracy theories, and modern society’s loss of a subjective relationship with the forces of the world. And underneath it all we ask the question - what exactly is a god and how do you build it?
REFERENCESTHE QUOTE READ IN THE BEGINNING OF THE EPISODERune Hjarnø Rasmussen:”Defining mythology as symbolism is reductionist in two senses:1) it shortcuts that slightly too long discussion about how mythology relates to reality in order to uphold and perpetuate a distinctly modern epistemology that interiorizes religious meaning.2) it is therefore wildly Eurocentric and sees any religious reality from the symbolic perspective because of the compatibility with modern perception and therefore occludes that in most animist, or even religious, perceptions symbolism is only one out of a whole range of devices used to relate to non-human subjects and produce reality.”John Dominic Crossan:”My point is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.”Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen:”My point would be that those ancient peoples did not tell symbolic stories that people are now unfortunately so dumb that they take literally. But rather that they told them literally and that we are now dumb enough to need symbolicism to understand them rather than try to grasp the infinitely complex and exquisitely attuned realities that they express."
Candombléhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candomblé
Orisha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orisha
Mana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana
Megin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megin
Fetishism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetishism
The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_of_Reality
Maria Kvilhaug: The Maiden with the Mead #5
24 Jan 2022
01:28:27
Descriptions of rituals in the Poetic Edda meet mediterranean mystery religions and Carlos Castañeda! We are joined by Norwegian author Maria Kvilhaug for a fascinating talk about her discovery of The Maiden With the Mead - a goddess of initiation in Old Norse mythology. Starting out as a master dissertation in history of religions, The Maiden With the Mead will be published in an updated and expanded book version in 2022.
At this time of year, when pork will be served on many a holiday plate, we turn our attention to the pig - an animal both loved and loathed since ancient times. What are its mythological connections?Join us in the divine muck, where we encounter kings and goddesses from Greek and Norse Mythology, as well as Celtic Druids and a fearsome ghost pig from the Swedish midwinter forests.
The first guest on our show is Jo Blake, a performer working across the disciplines of storytelling, theatre and dance. She has written a PhD about her project of unearthing the mythological character Blodeuwedd (flower-face/owl) from the depths of the Mabinogion - a medieval Welsh text regarded as one of the oldest and most complete repositories of British Celtic Myth. We talk about mythic ambiguity, female trickster figures and the importance of making the wrong choice...among many other things!
A deep dive into the story of the extraordinarily powerful and multifaceted Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, prompted by the recent online release of Mikael Öberg's experimental collaboration with soundmaker Lee Berwick. Prepare for the underworld!
Listen to Inanna by Mikael Öberg and Lee Berwick here smarturl.it/inanna Lee Berwick http://www.leeberwick.com/ Video trailer for the performance version with Daniel Rudholm vimeo.com/82444595
A conversation around Torgrim Mellum Stene’s online intuitive fantasy novel Brittle one, that leads to a sprawling exploration of mythic imagery through dreams, psychedelics and the Norse creation story.
It is that time of the year. We sit on the treshold. Between what we know and what we don’t know.
We look at what has happened In the Borderlands in 2023 and we look ahead at what we would like to discover and experiment with in the year to come.
And as an offering to you, dear listener, we end with a midwinter meditation, dreamt up for this moment in time.
Susanna Salo was looking for a deck of Tarot cards inspired by Finnish mythology, but could not find one. So she decided to make one herself.
More than a decade later, close to the global relaunch of the English version of her mesmerizing and dreamlike deck, we were lucky enough to get to speak to her In the Borderlands. About the creative process, being inspired by dreams, following the inner voice, how the mythology of Kalevala blended with the Tarot system to create something entirely new, and of deep listening.
We even get to draw a few cards!
Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen & Petter Madegård: The Return of the Yule Goat #43
20 Nov 2023
00:53:06
The Yule Goat is an ancient Northern European symbol of the midwinter solstice, a time when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. The practice of dressing up like a horned goat for Christmas has many examples in Scandinavian history, though only echoes remain.
Friend of the show and historian of religion Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen has for the past few years aimed to remake a new tradition. Inspired by animism, carneval, Krampus processions in the Alps and samba he has started a Yule Goat Parade in the center of Copenhagen which this year will take place on the 16th of December.
We talk to him and mask actor Petter Madegård about the thoughts behind the parade, the old concept of beings of darkness bringing the light at the turning point of the year, and the importance of renegotiating your relationship with the absolute Other.
From the busyness of UK screen writer’s rooms to the stillness of the Swedish forests. From mastering the story to serving the story. From performance to ceremony. From ego-centred to eco-centred.
Zara Waldebäck’s life, wisdom and thoughts on storytelling, resonance, relationship and attention are some of the many wonderful ingredients of this conversation. It developed and grew like a mycelial network of association and wonder, sprouting fascinating mushrooms to ponder, while pairing and playfully opposing the invisible and visible worlds in a dance of words.
Logo image: Hand drawn sketch of a maturing fungal colony from one volume of A.H.R. Buller’s epic series Researches on Fungi (Buller, 1909-1934).
Soundscapes: Kalimba Atmosphere from Pixabay and Frosty Wind – Nature Sounds by JuliusH from Pixabay.