Fabulous Folklore with Icy
Icy Sedgwick
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Fabulous Folklore will give you your weekly fix of fabulous folklore in fifteen minutes (or less)!
Hosted by fantasy and Gothic horror writer, Icy Sedgwick, the podcast explores folklore, legends, superstitions, mythology, and all things weird, occult and unusual.
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Recent Episodes
Elizabeth Blackwell: Pioneering Herbalist and Botanical Illustrator
If you’re interested in herbalism or plant lore, chances are that you’ve perused a herbal or two in your time. Culpeper's Complete Herbal: A Compendium of Herbs and Their Uses, Annotated for Modern…
Folklore and Storytelling: A Narrative Match Made in Heaven
Storytelling is something we all do on a daily basis, whether we’re aware of it or not. Maybe we’re telling a funny anecdote about something that happened on the way to work. Perhaps we’re recounting…
Revenants on the Redway with Dr Steph Lay
Dr Steph Lay is a folk horror writer, psychologist and researcher, gathering and sharing local stories of the unexplained for a project investigating whether the new city of Milton Keynes might be…
Folklore and Cinema: The Trick Films of Georges Méliès
Visionary film director and stage magician Georges Méliès is perhaps the earliest filmmaker who saw the visual potential of folklore. Among others, mermaids, sirens, ghosts, devils, and sorcerers are…
The Folklore of Stringed Musical Instruments: The Viola, Irish Harp, Violin, and Guitar
Musical instruments appear scattered throughout various folktales. A drum lies at the centre of the Tedworth Drummer story. Pipers and drummers try to follow underground tunnels, only to mysteriously…
Theatre Superstitions: Whistling, the Ghost Light, and Macbeth
Going to the theatre can often feel like a magical experience. You sit in the dark, watching a story unfold in front of you, with your imagination filling in the gaps between the sets. It’s…
Cursed Artworks: Three Haunted Paintings and their Superstitions
Folklore and the arts are almost natural bedfellows. As we saw with the work of Newcastle-based painter Ralph Hedley, artists can capture local traditions for posterity. The Pre-Raphaelites created…
Divination Using Clouds, Flames, Ashes, and Dreams
Studying the shapes of things is a popular means of divination, relying on human pattern recognition abilities. Look at reading tea leaves and coffee grounds, or tasseography, which rely on spotting…
Random Chance Divination: Casting Lots and Throwing Dice
Divination is a beautifully varied practice, with a plethora of tools and practices designed to give insight into situations. Practices like reading tea leaves or tarot cards already appear on this…
Pendulum Dowsing: From the Sieve and Shears to Looking for Love
Last week, we looked at the use of dowsing to find treasure or criminals. Like water dowsing, this method requires the use of a rod that twitches in the hands when the target is close. But the other…
The Scottish Fairy Courts with Morgan Daimler
Morgan Daimler is a witch who has been a polytheist since the early 1990s. Following a path inspired by the Irish Fairy Faith blended with neopagan witchcraft. Morgan teaches classes on Irish myth…
Dowsing for Treasure and Criminals: Extra Uses for Divining Rods
Dowsing is often used to find water, minerals, or even lost items. Where divination usually seeks to provide information, here the information is of a directly practical or tangible sort. Rather than…
Walnut Trees in Folklore: Evil Shade and Helpful Remedies
When it comes to the walnut tree, we're probably more familiar with their produce than the actual tree. Walnuts are easily recognisable, and present in everything from nut selections to coffee…
Poplar Trees: Folk Belief, Remedies, and the Arbor Tree
Poplar trees are perhaps one of the lesser-known trees that I've featured on this blog. Many people can recognise an oak tree on sight, but how many could recognise the poplar? Indeed, how many…
Polish Folk Magic with Joanna Tarnawska
Joanna Tarnawska is an animist, folkloric witch, and psychologist residing in the mountains of Lower Silesia, Poland. Her practice intertwines animism, bioregional traditions, and lore, drawing…
Yew Trees: Death, Churchyards, and Helpful Tools
Back in November 2020, I explored the folklore of the yew tree; specifically, the common yew, or English yew (Taxus baccata). Yes, it's a poisonous tree. Yes, it's linked with death. And yes, people…
The London Plane: A Tree Suited to City Life
Periodically, I choose a plant, tree or fungus to explore, only to find there is very little folklore about them. Invariably, there are two reasons for this. First, the plant, tree or fungus has…
Childhood Games: Classics, Crazes and the Occult in the Playground
In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by…
Dolls and Doll Magick with Najah Lightfoot
Najah Lightfoot is the multi award-winning author and regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. Najah’s magickal staff is on display and part of the permanent collection of the Buckland Museum of…
Children's Beliefs: Superstitions, Luck, and the Brenin Lwyd
In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by…
Frequently Asked Questions
Fabulous Folklore with Icy has published 445 episodes since January 2019, covering topics in Arts, History.
Fabulous Folklore with Icy is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 19m.
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