Elements Series | Gnomes, Elves, and the Spirits of Earth

Grand tidings! Join me in the North this week as we venture, with coats enwrapped, to the cold and icy winds of the domain of Earth. Here, we learn all about the Spirits of Nature and the Underground People. What correspondences do they hold, to aid us in our lives today? Tune in, with me, to find out.

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EMAIL ME: beyondtheseaspodcast@gmail.com
Tarot Collaboration: @thefeatherwitchnyc
Weekly Book: The Eagle and the Raven
Podcast Shoutout: Druidcast, @the_obod
Podcast website: https://beyondtheseas.buzzsprout.com/
More info: https://www.kierandanaan.com/beyond-the-seas

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Sources
-Admin. “Sami Folklore—’In the House of Ulda.’” Beneath Northern Lights, 16 July 2019.  www.beneathnorthernlights.com/sami-folklore-in-the-house-of-ulda. Accessed 26 February 2024.
-fairychamber [Niina Niskanen]. “Gnomes in Saami Myths & Legends.“ Medium, 27 November 2021. littlewomen.medium.com/gnomes-in-saami-myths-legends. Accessed 26 February 2024.
-Grimm, Wilhelm and Jakob. The Elves and the Shoemaker.
-Manea, Irina-Maria. “Elves & Dwarves in Norse Mythology.” World History Encyclopedia, 08 March 2021. www.worldhistory.org/article/1695/elves--dwarves-in-norse-mythology. Accessed 26 February 2024. 

 Music
"Don't Wake Me Up" by Josh Leake
"Intimacy" by Ben Winwood
"Walking in Forests" by Ben Winwood
"Irish Mountains" by Ben Winwood
"It'll Be Alright" by Ben Winwood
"Love2016" by Ben Winwood

Cheers,
Kieran

Transcript

Surrounded by pitch black darkness, we close our eyes and wait. 

Having turned our beatific gaze to the North—and inward.

To the land of Earth, Ice, and the forever Winter. 

Deep under the mountains of Ice and Rock, we fly,

Our inner sight flourishing along etheric highways now visible to our spirits. 

Here, we encounter the ancient keepers,

The Guides,

The Protectors of Nature and our World:

The Earth Elementals. 

They toil and rejoice, mine and make merry.

For they live within the hollow earth and sing the songs of the Ancients beneath its mounds and dolmens.

They uplift and raise the energy of our home, weaves of light and magick that flow around our planet. 

They guard and protect the changing of the seasons,

And the health of the Earth. 

As they grow minerals, elements, ores, and crystals,

They revel in the silence that is found deep beneath the soil,

Cradled in the bosom of the Great Mother. 

And as they continue their chthonic practices,

We fly ever onwards on Winter’s Wind,

And know them to be our Kin,

Our Brothers, Sisters, and Wise Ones of the Craft. 

For as their magick grows and matures,

Flowing around the planet, our home, our Earth,

We know, deep within our flying spirits, that our work…

Has only just begun.

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            Grand tidings and welcome to you on this, the nineteenth episode of Beyond the Seas. My name is Kieran and here we are again, back at it for another week. I am so excited to start the episode off with a HUGE shoutout to one of my professors from graduate school, Kelley: she was recently in the Manhattan and we only just missed each other. So I am dedicating this episode to her and all she helped me achieve in school, and how kind and amazing of a human being she is. Kelley Schoger is a Professor at the University of Alabama and a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She is absolutely incredible and I am so lucky to have her as a friend.

            And speaking of reminiscence: Claudia and I last weekend spent the entire day galivanting around Union Square and lower Manhattan, visiting local witchcraft shops and shopping and eating. AND: planning out the marketing and Instagram social media presence of the show. One of the goals we discussed was growing the following of the podcast’s Instagram account to 250 followers by Summer Solstice, June 21st. So help me out, witches and Druids and ye olde magick folk out there: head on over to Instagram, @beyondtheseaspodcast, and give the show a follow and a share. There are some giveawaysssssss coming up very, very soon that you and your covenmates and other magickal friends—and ASMR, sleepy time, story time, folklore loving friends—should all be a part of. And while you’re at it, head to Claudia’s account, @thefeatherwitchnyc, and give her a follow, as well. There are so, so, SO many magickal things we have brewing in the cauldron and we cannot wait to share them with you all. So thanks for being here with me and the show today. 

            And now, updates with The Eagle and the Raven! So here’s the thing: I read about twelve pages on the plane ride back into the city and did not touch the book since. Hahahaha! Our main cast of characters are very much far, far away from home—and a tremendous meeting took place in front of thousands of people. Woof, what a ride. Ergo, it was enough to catapulte me into my own anxious meetings as I did about six auditions over the past week and loved…almost all of them. Way of the actor, right? So, I’m happy to be back into the swing of audition season and cannot wait to settle back into the book when acting and teaching are done for the day. 

            And now, the Card of the Week! So this week, super exciting, because Claudia pulled yet another court card for us to venture and journey with. It is the Page of Swords. So the Page of Swords is all about the beginnings of venturing forth into the unknown with the powers of the mind and heart perfectly in tune and balanced. And specifically, Claudia asked her deck for clarification, meaning to pull one more card as to help define why the Page popped out. And she pulled The Emperor himself! WOW! I mean, talk about synergy this week with Earth being our element and the Green Man himself popping out to play. Heavens! Now, that means that we are, as Claudia says, setting things up to knock them down: there is no room or need to be shy about what we want to achieve in life. Our goals, passions, and dreams may be as grounded as we want them to be. You want to publish a book? Publish a book! You want to open up a brand new popular restaurant and earn a Michelin star? Go do it! You want to break through the glass ceiling of the New York City acting market and be on Broadway? Hey, join me and let’s do it! There is so much that we hold ourselves back from, mentally, that the very Earth itself is prompting us to do. Listen to the Earth and your heart this week, people, not your intellect. Trust me. 

            And now, the Wine of the Week! I went out to dinner at Hudson Yards, at this wonderful Italian restaurant called Ci Siamo, and had a glass of one of my new favorite Sicilain reds! It was so damn delicious that I am still thinking about it. It is Gulfi’s 2021 Cerasuolo di Vittoria. WOW! I took my first sip and the lovely bartender saw my face and literally burst out laughing, because it was damn near a perfect first sip. I immediately tasted cranberries, cherries, milk chocolate, and a hint—a hint—of spice. It was not too much, but it was still spicy enough. It filled every element of my palette and stayed with me a long, long time after dinner. Clearly, because I am still thinking about it. It is paired best with tomatoe pastas, sour green salads, tart breads, and smart conversations at a New York City bar. 

            And finally, this week’s topic. Here we are kiddos, the Northern Edge of the Circle: staring into the midnight darkness of the winter lands beyond. The land wights and nature spirits standing right outside the boundaries of the circle, beckoning us to step over and travel beyond with them. So let’s barrel on into the magick of the Earth Element, right? What correspondences does it hold? What legends, myths, and stories populate the nature spirits and their realm? How might we work with them today?

            For now, grab your favorite bottle of red, find a comfy chair, and close your eyes as I tell you the tale of the Elements Series of Earth—and take you…

            Beyond the Seas.

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            Earth. Element of the North. Traditionally, the fourth element to invoke when casting the circle or treading the compass round. It is the element of the body, of the grounding of Self and Spirit, and the connection between the Upper World and the Underworld. Have you ever walked alone in the forest before? Or looked up at the stars at night, smelling the cool, damp, wet earth beneath you? Gazed upon the majesty of the mountains on this planet? Felt the soothing caress of willow branches brushing your skin as they dance in the wind? Or heard the knocking of deep drums beneath your body, as you lie down on the Earth and press your ear to its crust?

            Earth is the element of stability. It is most often associated with finances, money, income, wealth, jobs—everything capitalistic. However, when casting the circle, it is also the realm of the North, of Earth, of which you often invoke the Goddess and God—and the Ancestors, Them Who Have Gone Before. It is from the North that the Spirits of Nature float towards the Circle and into our lives. They bring good fortune, plenty, luck, and fateful prowess. 

            What I find personally so powerful about the Earth itself is the diversity of its different biomes, biospheres, and terrains. Vast, empty, wind-swept deserts. Mountains. Lush, green, damp, humid temperate forests. Mesas. Plains. Rocky outcrops. Swamps. Muggy, slimy, gangrenous places. The Amazon. Fertility. Life.

            It is the very element of Life itself, for it represents the fertility of not only our own species, but also of the planet itself. The changing of the seasons, scientifically caused by the tilting of the planet’s axis, but metaphysically as the Gods travel through the Wheel of the Year. Each season represents a different element—but the Wheel itself belongs to Earth. In my opinion. It is the Herald, the Leader, the most powerful of all Elements. Because it is the gift of Life itself. It is the regeneration of Spring after Winter’s long hold—the promise of life returning. Reincarnating. The hope of life, too. 

            Now, if you have not yet already, go ahead and listen to one of my earliest episodes: The Spirits of Nature. Therein, I discuss the various spirits that populate the realms of forests and faunas—and how you might contact them today. For the purposes of this Elements Series, what interests me is the legends and myths surrounding some of the most mischevious, yet helpful spirits that populate the psyche and archetypal natures of many cultures. 

            To begin, we head Eastward, to Northern Europe. And it is to the land of Dwarves and Elves that we now turn our attention: the homeland of the Vikings. One of the strongest articles I have to use thus far on the podcast is what follows, and my little intellectual and academic heart is so, so happy to have found it—and for the abundance of research that it contains. It is titled “Elves & Dwarves in Norse Mythology,” as found on World History Encyclopedia’s website, and written by Irina-Maria Manea. 

            “Elves and dwarves represent minor divine figures in Norse mythology. Elves (álfar) and dwarves (dvergar) have in common their talent for creating precious objects, skill, agility, and moral ambiguity. Dwarves appear in several important stories, such as the one about the forging of Thor’s hammer, or dragon Fafnir’s treasure. Elves, on the other hand, accompany the gods in poetry but do not really have individual stories, except for Völund the smith.

            “Influenced by later folklore and popular culture, we tend to think about elves, dwarves, and many other supernatural beings as having certain characteristics which makes them very easily identifiable. However, for pagan Northmen, the lines drawn between these creatures must have been much blurrier than it is for us. We should remember as well that besides elves and dwarves, the imaginary space was also populated by landsvættir, spirits of the land who can both bless and curse travellers; valkyries, the helpers of Odin in picking warriors for his hall; disir, some kind of guardian spirits; trolls, a term used to describe evil spirits or magical mountain-dwellers; and even undead creatures called draugar.

            “In folklore, dwarves are generally associated with craftsmanship, mining, mountains, earth, and their appearance does not seem too enticing. It is implied that they are shorter by the use of the phrase "dvergr of voxt", "short like a dwarf". Dvergar can shapeshift and sometimes get quite vicious. There is little in Norse sources on other physical traits; their forging talents do seem to put them in the limelight. Details on their origin are found in the creation poem Völuspá, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, the 13th-century CE collection of Norse poems. In stanza 9, the gods gather and decide who should lead the dwarves ‘out of Brimir’s blood and the legs of Blain’ (Hildebrand, 16), two names possibly synonymous with Ymir or his flesh.

            “In stanza 10, we have the names of two apparently powerful dwarves, Motsognir and Durin, but little is known of them, as with the other dwarves listed in the following catalogue up to stanza 16, the Dvergatal in Old Norse. J.R.R. Tolkien used this catalogue as inspiration, particularly the names Gandalfr ("magic elf", not dwarf) and Eikinskjaldi. Moreover, he too describes the dwarves as Durin’s folk. Among the many names, we also find Norþri, Suþri, Austri, and Vestri – north, south, east, and west, the ones holding the sky up. The race of dwarves, down to a character named Lofar, leaves the mountains for a new home, but this story is unexplained. Another name in the list, Dvalin, is credited in another poem of the Poetic Edda, the Hávamál, with having given some magic runes to his kin, which perhaps explains their skills (stanza 144).

            “The medieval Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson, who wrote The Prose Edda, states that they came out of the primordial giant Ymir’s flesh like maggots, and then the gods endowed them with reason. They can live in soil or in rocks. The short narrative called Sörla þáttr, where the goddess Freyja sleeps with some dwarves in exchange for a magnificent collar, also states that they live in rocks or likely caves. To complicate things even more, Snorri makes a difference between light-elves who live in a splendid place called Alfheim and dark-elves (svartálfar) from the ground, who might be the same as or related to dwarves.

            “…Very little is known of the elves in Norse myth. Perhaps the god Freyr, connected to prosperity and good harvest, had something in common with them, as the poem Grímnismál suggests that the realm of the light-elves, Alfheim, has been given to him. In legendary sagas, kings of elven blood seem to be of higher importance. The elven sacrifice that the poet Sigvat briefly comments on in his poem Austrfararvísur might have been a feast related to good harvest and ancestor worship.

            “The most famous elf was Wayland the Smith (Völund in Old Norse, Wēland in Anglo-Saxon, Wieland in German) whose story must have circulated in various versions across the whole Germanic space. The figure is present in Old English as early as the 8th century CE, probably spreading in Scandinavia a century later. Völund is celebrated at length in the first heroic poem of the 13th-century CE Poetic Edda, namely Völundarkviða (Lay of Völund, Old Norse: Vǫlundarkviða), which tells of how the famous craftsman was lamed by king Nithuth and then enacted terrible revenge.

            “…Given their ability to produce exquisite objects and their knowledgeable, somewhat enchanted nature, we could suppose elves and dwarves occupied an intermediary place between gods and men. They have survived in modern folklore as part of the hludufólk, the hidden peoples…Elves and dwarves were probably seen as interchangeable, belonging to the large family of spirits populating a world seen as much richer than what the naked eye could grasp, as Northmen did not share our passion for clear categories. It is also worth bearing in mind that they might have had different ideas about these beings than the images presented in folk tales now.”

            Now, one quick story before the break and it is something I assume and hope all of us are familiar with: it is none other than The Elves and the Shoemaker. Hehehe. Okay, here goes.

            “A shoemaker, by no fault of his own, had become so poor that at last he had nothing left but leather for one pair of shoes. So in the evening, he cut out the shoes which he wished to begin to make the next morning, and as he had a good conscience, he lay down quietly in his bed, commended himself to God, and fell asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, and was just going to sit down to work, the two shoes stood quite finished on his table. He was astounded, and knew not what to say to it. He took the shoes in his hands to observe them closer, and they were so neatly made that there was not one bad stitch in them, just as if they were intended as a masterpiece. Soon after, a buyer came in, and as the shoes pleased him so well, he paid more for them than was customary, and, with the money, the shoemaker was able to purchase leather for two pairs of shoes. He cut them out at night, and next morning was about to set to work with fresh courage; but he had no need to do so, for, when he got up, they were already made, and buyers also were not wanting, who gave him money enough to buy leather for four pairs of shoes. The following morning, too, he found the four pairs made; and so it went on constantly, what he cut out in the evening was finished by the morning, so that he soon had his honest independence again, and at last became a wealthy man. Now it befell that one evening not long before Christmas, when the man had been cutting out, he said to his wife, before going to bed, "What think you if we were to stay up to-night to see who it is that lends us this helping hand?" The woman liked the idea, and lighted a candle, and then they hid themselves in a corner of the room, behind some clothes which were hanging up there, and watched. When it was midnight, two pretty little naked men came, sat down by the shoemaker's table, took all the work which was cut out before them and began to stitch, and sew, and hammer so skilfully and so quickly with their little fingers that the shoemaker could not turn away his eyes for astonishment. They did not stop until all was done, and stood finished on the table, and they ran quickly away.

            “Next morning the woman said, "The little men have made us rich, and we really must show that we are grateful for it. They run about so, and have nothing on, and must be cold. I'll tell thee what I'll do: I will make them little shirts, and coats, and vests, and trousers, and knit both of them a pair of stockings, and do thou, too, make them two little pairs of shoes." The man said, "I shall be very glad to do it;" and one night, when everything was ready, they laid their presents all together on the table instead of the cut-out work, and then concealed themselves to see how the little men would behave. At midnight they came bounding in, and wanted to get to work at once, but as they did not find any leather cut out, but only the pretty little articles of clothing, they were at first astonished, and then they showed intense delight. They dressed themselves with the greatest rapidity, putting the pretty clothes on, and singing,

            ‘Now we are boys so fine to see,

            Why should we longer cobblers be?"

            “Then they danced and skipped and leapt over chairs and benches. At last they danced out of doors. From that time forth they came no more, but as long as the shoemaker lived all went well with him, and all his undertakings prospered.”

            Refill your drinking horns, your goblets, your chalices, for the second half of The Elements Series of Earth after this brief fellow podcast shoutout. 

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            This week’s fellow witchy podcast shoutout goes to Druidcast, hosted by Damh the Bard. For years, I have been following the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids’s monthly show that highlights not only the power of the Order itself, but also of its members and affiliates: the music, academics, stories, songs, guests, and interviews are as timeless as they are special. You will learn, relish, relive, revive, and reconnect with those parts of yourself you thought long-forgotten—all by tuning in monthly to Druidcast. So, pause this show right now and search for Druidcast on your chosen app: give it a follow, and tell them Beyond the Seas sent you there. I cannot wait to hear what you think of it.

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            Gnomes. The Earth Elementals. Our dear friend, Paracelsus, assigned them as the Guardians of Earth wayyyyyy back in the Renaissance. The following information comes from Niina Niskanen, whose blog, the fairychamber, is both powerful and relevant to today’s discussion.

            “Gnomes and different kinds of earth spirits are very common characters in Saami mythology. The spiritual world view of the Saami´s was foremost shamanistic and pantheistic. People had a strong belief in invisible powers in nature and magical creatures who ruled the elements. One always needed to have respect for these creatures for they were the protector spirits of the land and the northern nature of Lapland.

            “There are lots of myths about gnomes among different Saami tribes from different parts of Lapland. Finnish speaking Saami's called gnome maahinen. The word that is derived from the word maa meaning earth. After all, they were creatures that lived underground. Stories of gnomes are rather similar all over Scandinavian countries. In Norwegian gnome is Gufihtar which means a good spirit and in old Norse, the gnome was called ulda which meant an invisible spirit. This possibly had connections to the worship of the ancestors who were often believed to be invisible spirits that guarded the living and lived underground.

            “In Saami folklore gufihtar were believed to look like small humans. They were the same size as 3–4-year-old children. Everything in the land of the gufihtar was upside down. If it was midnight in the human world, it was a bright day in the land of the gufihtar. If it was summer in the human world, in the land of the gufihtar there was winter. The life of the gufihtar was very similar to humans. They were farmers, fishermen and reindeer herders. Like the Saami's they lived in very close relationship with nature and they even had their own seita´s, sacred altars where Saami's performed shamanic rituals to their gods, goddesses, spirits and ancestors.

            “Gufihtar were on friendly terms with humans as long as people respected them. If not they became their enemies. If a person suddenly became very rich soon there were rumours running around that they had met a very friendly gufihtar or they had stumbled across its treasure. Because gufihtar were elemental’s of the earth people believed that they had wonderful treasures, gold and diamonds hidden underneath the ground. According to some legends, gufihtar did not live underground but they lived inside a mountain and their caves were filled with silver and other valuable minerals. These myths are common in Norway and Sweden where Saami myths have gotten lots of elements from Scandinavian mythology and sometimes stories about the gufihtar are mixed with stories about dwarfs.

            “If a person built their house into a place where there was a gufihtar family living underneath it this would upset the gufihtar’s great deal. They would cast a spell that might set humans houses on fire. Sometimes gufihtar would pick and torment humans until they would eventually give up and would build their house elsewhere.”

            The following information both builds upon Niina’s post, as well as introduces a story revolving around the gnomes—or the underground people.

            “The underground people are richer than people living on the earth. They have nice houses, nice clothes and lots of other riches. All the gold and the silver that is under the earth, belongs to them. And in addition, all the treasures that people have hidden in the earth through the ages are also in their custody, the so-called árahávddit – tomb treasures. And they are put in the earth together with such words that no one else then the close family can take it back. If others take them, they become so frightened that they almost go mad.

            “And so when the son or daughter does not find the treasure of their father or grandmother, many treasures are left in the care of the people of the underground. And the underground people do not hand over the treasures to others then the right descendants.

            “They nurture nicely everything that is under the ground and they care nicely for the bear who sleeps in his winter den. The underground people gives it food, even though one cannot see that it has food in the stomach.

            “The following incident happened at the end of 1800. There was a young guy from Heahttá who had gone to pick cloudberries. It was autumn summer and it started to rain while he was there on the mountain. The boy headed towards home and crossed a marsh that had a little ridge of rocks on the edge. Then he saw smoke and fire on the hill. Since he was wet and cold he thought he was going to warm himself and at the same time see who was there and had a bonfire.

            “The boy went there and suddenly the earth opened and the boy noticed that he was now underground. There was a very big house and at the table there were unknown people, an old woman, two boys and a small child. They were all small and very pretty, and none of them seemed to be familiar to him. Then a door opened, and a pretty girl with very long hair came over to the boy, and she invited the boy for cloud berries to eat.

            “She showed him a white plate that had gold edges. The dish shone so clearly that the boy was almost blinded. The boy refused and said he had picked the bag full of cloud berries. That he would eat when returning home. He remembered what his mother and father used to say. That if you meet with the people of the underground you should not eat anything, not taste one bit. If you eat then you have to stay with them, you never get away from there. And finally, you yourself become an Ulda.

            “And, the mother used to say, the Ulda´s like young Sami boys and girls very much that can stay with them and give them Ulda children. As he sat there, the boy remembered how the elderly used to scare with stories about the Ulda people. He thought about how to get away from them.

            “He looked around to see what was in the room. And he saw quite strange things. The house had a flat floor and the walls had holes, where one could see and hear the sea just outside the wall. The boy thought it was very strange. He knew that here in Heahttá, where he lived, they were very far to the sea.

            “On the table he saw a round case, like a big bowl, emitting quite clear sounds. As if someone was inside talking. The boy thought that there must be a very small person who can fit in there. He started to get scared and thought that the Ulda´s might put him inside.

            “He noticed that they behave the same way as his own people there at home. Some eat while others lie to rest. Then the Ulda girl offers him bread. The boy doesn’t accept that either. Then the Ulda boy comes to him. He grabs his shoulder and guides him towards the door.

            “The boy did not understand what happened then, but suddenly he was out again, in the marsh. In a hurry, he got away from there and went home, without turning around to look at the hill. When he got home, he carefully told what he had seen and experienced, but he noticed that there were parts of the incident that he could not remember.

            “It was like empty parts in his strange journey.

            “The years passed and the boy grew up and lived for quite a long time. As an elder, when people began to think he was old and forgetful, he began to remember the old event. So suddenly one day he came to it. All the strange things he had seen in the land of the Ulda´s 60 years ago were such things that today’s people used. In the Ulda´s houses there had been machines and inventions of todays society. Radios, TVs, cell phones, baking machines, photo equipment and other things that people in the old days did not have any idea about.”

            And now, the correspondences! The direction of Earth in the Sacred Circle is North, the Ancestral Lands. It is associated with the deepest part of night, Midnight, of the day and Winter in the wheel of the year. Its suit in the Tarot is Pentacles and its colors are Green, Emerald, Brown, and Copper. Magickal tools used in the Craft are the Pentacle and Crystals. Use herbs like oak, cedar, pine, vetivert, moss, sage, and ivy, and crystals like emerald, tourmaline, quartz of all kinds, amethyst, tiger’s eye, fluorite, and moss agate in all acts of Earth magick. Clear Quartz is my favorite crystal of them all and, as it is a Master Stone, it may replace any other crystal on the planet, magickally speaking. Earth rules Virgo, Taurus, and—just like me--Capricorn in the Zodiac and is ruled itself by Saturn and Venus. Finally, its energy is a Receptive one, a gentle and calming energy. 

            And now, back to the Page of Swords, and the Emperor clarification card. I pulled these two cards twice, one from the Ghosts and Spirits deck and then from the Wildwood Tarot. Wow, I am shocked by the similarities between the two. Much like dwarves, elves, and gnomes are only just out of sight, but guardians of Nature and the underground kingdoms: well, so too are the Green Man and the Dragon Emperor. They remind us of our connection to the land, to the environment, and our inherent responsibility to protect it—and all life found within. Is that a perfectly achievable task? No, of course not: we have to kill plants and other food in order to survive…but the reminder is to become aware of our place within the great web of life. Our place within Nature. Not to dominate it, but to flow with it. To become one again with the energies of Nature and of Earth so as to grow and mature as a species once more.

            To reclaim our birthright as magickal beings. 

            Our place within the cosmic web of life.

            To communicate openly and freely once more with the Spirits of Nature,

            As we understand them to be our kin and brethren. 

            For when we hear the songs made by Dwarves and Gnomes, and Elves in the woods,

            We hear those melodies resonant deep within our spirits,

            In that place that is our heart of hearts, our home of homes. 

            So hail and welcome Watchtowers of the North, Powers of Mother, Father, and of Earth,

            Be welcome to our sacred circle this day,

            As we travel betwixt, between, and beyond. 

            For as you join our magickal journey,

            And lead us into the beyond and ever onwards,

            We know that our magick will always be stronger…

            Because of it.

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            The stories, research, and production elements were done and edited, respectively, by me, Kieran, with sources attached in the description. If you want to be a guest on the show, or have a topic you wish me to explore and discuss, send me an email at beyondtheseaspodcast@gmail.com. And be sure to hit the follow button, on whichever platform you enjoy the podcast, and look forward to more content next week. Until then, seek the veil between the worlds, and allow yourself to travel…Beyond the Seas.