Episodes
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“…for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”, is what he said, he did not say he was the only god.
Let us travel back and re-examine Yahweh, let us look at his place amongst the pantheon of gods. Along the way we will meet his brothers and his wife! We’ll explore the myriad of heavenly host who were once deities in their own right but over time were relocated to subordinates.
We will ponder the implications of turning what was a monolatry faith into a monotheistic one and what that means for Christianity today.
God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar. In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah.
Asherah is identified as the consort of the Sumerian god Anu, and Ugaritic ʾEl, the oldest deities of their respective pantheons. This role gave her a similarly high rank in the Ugaritic pantheon. Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship. The name Dione, which like ʾElat means "goddess", is clearly associated with Asherah in the Phoenician History of Sanchuniathon, because the same common epithet (ʾElat) of "the Goddess par excellence" was used to describe her at Ugarit. The Book of Jeremiah, written circa 628 BC, possibly refers to Asherah when it uses the title "queen of heaven" in Jeremiah 7:16–18 and Jeremiah 44:17–19, 25.
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NB: I am not an expert and this is way way outside my wheelhouse, so there are probably lots of mistakes.
Join me as we explore the shady world of poisons and their cures through the centuries.Poisons have been a mainstay of humanity, from their use in outright murder to accidental death. We will look at ancient and medieval poisons, their successful and not so successful antidotes and how they have impacted society.
Not all poisons were used to harm, some were thought to be cures in their own right and some were used for their narcotic effects.
Let's explore these toxins that arguably gave rise to modern medicine.
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Missing episodes?
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Join me for an evening of Ghost Tales from the Island; ones that you may have never heard before.
We will take an aural trip around the most haunted place in the United Kingdom where it has been said "You cannot go around a corner without meeting a ghost"
The Spectre of St Mildred's
The Hangman's Tree at Shalfleet
The Gatten Horse
Bloodstone CopsesAnd maybe a few others.
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This month I talk about Ghost shops, smuggler and monsters of the seas.
We cover the following:
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark –Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady;
letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by! - A Smuggler’s Song, Rudyard KiplingThe Crows Curse: The old fishermen, sailors and smugglers of the Isle of Wight would never set sail if a crow had rested upon the bow of their boat. An ill wind is said to blow and those that venture forth ever return alive. Some say that when their bodies are recovered, their eyes are gone and their bodies are abound by scratches.
The Mermaid's Lament Tails of Mermaids have been around for centuries, sometimes seen as sirens and the harbingers of death to those that sail the seas. The cunning fold and storytellers of the Island talk of a group that once lived by the needles. Cold of skin, blood of ice and a heart that was just as frozen. This tale reminds us that just because your heart is cold, doesn’t mean it will always be that way.
Smuggler’s Betrayal They say there is honour amongst thieves, but that isn’t always the case. Just up from Freshwater Bay there is a place called Afton – spring-head of the Western Yarr. It is a strange place, close to holiday makers but far enough to hide ghosts of not only those who were betrayed but those who did the betraying.
The Saint Marie On the 20th April, 1313, the Saint Marie of Bayonne was wrecked off the cost of Chale. Lord Walter de Godeton sent his men down to collect all the goods and bring them back to his stores. He was later found guilt of plundering the wine (as it had not made it’s way onto the shore and past the tide line when taken). But this tale is not about the lord, but the story of the phantoms that the wreck left behind.
HMS Eurydice 24th March, 1878 the HMS Eurydice, a 26 gun, 921 ton frigate was on it’s way back to Portsmouth when it hit extreme weather as it passed Ventnor. The ship sank, claiming over 300 lives, with only 4 making it ashore to tell the story. That is not the end of the story…
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As we move into the Month of the Long Grass and the days grow shorter, it's time to tell the stories of the old gods, spirits and of times long past. These are the stories that celebrate the harvest and the deep magics that bring forth the bounty.
Let us all bring in the Hooam Haavest, we will sing the songs and spell bind with the ancient stories.
Celebrating Lammas and the stories that sit around that. A speculative discussion about the pre-christian roots of Lammas, Autumn, The first Harvest and August.
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This week we will be talking about the Magic and Symbols of the Island. We will delve into what magic is and how it relates to this place. We will look at how magic relates to belief and how it filtered through from pre-christian and right on to today.
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Belief in magic was, until relatively recent times, widespread in Britain; yet the impact of such belief on determinative political events has frequently been overlooked. In his wide-ranging new book, Francis Young explores the role of occult traditions in the history of the island of Great Britain: Merlin's realm. He argues that while the great magus and artificer invented by Geoffrey of Monmouth was a powerful model for a succession of actual royal magical advisers (including Roger Bacon and John Dee), monarchs nevertheless often lived in fear of hostile sorcery while at other times they even attempted magic themselves. Successive governments were simultaneously fascinated by astrology and alchemy, yet also deeply wary of the possibility of treasonous spellcraft. Whether deployed in warfare, rebellion or propaganda, occult traditions were of central importance to British history and, as the author reveals, these dark arts of magic and politics remain entangled to this day.
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Born of fire, these fatherless fraternal two of Niht
From the day they first breathed this darkened air
Conflict was their nature as it was built
betwixt their bones; siblings and rivals.Like whisps of smoke sailing into the night,
The brother of the sister floats forever on,
He brings that waking dream, Nobleman of the Wist,
And known to ethereal edgelands as Wūscfrēa.
Sister to her brother thy name is Nihtgena,
Silently stalking, slithering soundless,
Through the darkness in search of those who
In the midst of slumber accept her unwelcome touch.
O how their mother morns more sorrowfully,
That melancholic ache of watching such siblings
as these never reconciled because of the divine will of nature;
of this, the unbreakable bindings of the inclination of twins.
As light grew short and the shadows grew long,
Those days where the shining splendour of Sigel
Flickers and wains, for soon she will ride the edges of night.
The before winter had started and Nihtgena plotted.
This sorceress of putrid dreams, the things that leave us forlorn
And when we wake we tell ourselves they are nothing more
Than conjurings, but our souls know otherwise; though we try to ignore,
Within and without we wonder, is this an omen of dread?
“I tire of this chase that my brother gives to me,
Always over my shoulder does he watch, unpicking at my work.
Now is the time when those things of darkness wake..
And for the unwaking would to come. O the workings I will work!”
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A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens.
Stave Five, The End of ItA Christmas Carol, Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Delightful Boy: Freddie Holme
Driver: Paul A.T. Wilson
Fred: Philip Barker
Bob Cratchit: Richard Heaven
Tiny Tim: George WilsonMusic: David Pudney
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Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4 -
A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens.
Stave Four, The last of the Sprits, Part TwoA Christmas Carol, Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Caroline: Laura Holme
Caroline’s Husband: Jai Brewer
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Bob Cratchit: Richard Heaven
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: HimselfMusic: David Pudney
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Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4 -
A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens.
Stave Four, The last of the Sprits, Part OneA Christmas Carol, Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Himself
Man one: Simon Bucher-Jones
Man Two: Jai Brewer
Charwoman: Marilyn Bersey
Old Joe: Paul A.T. Wilson
Narrator: Paul A.T. WilsonMusic: David Pudney
Sound Design: Paul A.T. WilsonCopyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4
The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.
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A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens.
Stave Three, The Second of the Three Sprits, Part TwoA Christmas Carol, Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Fred: Philip Barker
Fred’s Wife: Laura Holme
Ghost of Christmas Present: Andrew Butcher
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Narrator: Paul A.T. WilsonMusic: David Pudney
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Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4 -
A Christmas Carol, Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Ghost of Christmas Present: Andrew Butcher
Mrs Cratchit: Emma Turner
Belinda Cratchit: Naeve Hunter
Martha Cratchit: Laura Holme
Bob Cratchit: Richard Heaven
Tiny Tim: George WilsonMusic: David Pudney
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Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4 -
A Christmas Carol, By Charles Dickens.
Stave Two, The First of the Sprits, Part TwoAdapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. Wilson
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Ghost of Christmas Past: Jack Brading
Belle: Emma Turner
Belle’s Husband: Paul A.T. WilsonMusic: David Pudney
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Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4 -
A Christmas Carol, Stave Two: The First of the Spirits, Part One
Adapted, Directed and Produced by Paul A.T. WilsonNarrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Ghost of Christmas Past: Jake Brading
Fan: Naeve Hunter
Fezziwig: Paul A.T. WilsonMusic: David Pudney
Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Copyright 2021, This production is published under the International Creative Commons Attribution Licence version 4
The curtains of the bed were drawn aside; starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, Scrooge found himself face to face with the unearthly visitor who drew them.It was a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin. It held a branch of fresh green holly in its hand; and, in singular contradiction of that wintry emblem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. But the strangest thing about it was, that from the crown of its head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible; and which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, which it now held under its arm.
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Full cast audio drama of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Adapted for audio by Paul A.T. Wilson
CAST:
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Jacob Marley: Simon Butcher-JonesPRODUCTION:
Music David Pudney
Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Director/Producer: Paul A.T. Wilson
Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and locked himself in; double locked himself in, which was not his custom. Thus secured against surprise, he took off his cravat; put on his dressing-gown and slippers, and his nightcap; and sat down before the fire to take his gruel.It was a very low fire indeed; nothing on such a bitter night. He was obliged to sit close to it, and brood over it, before he could extract the least sensation of warmth from such a handful of fuel. The fireplace was an old one, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the Scriptures. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh's daughters, Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole. If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marley's head on every one.
'Humbug!' said Scrooge; and walked across the room.
After several turns he sat down again. As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated, for some purpose now forgotten, with a chamber in the highest storey of the building. It was with great astonishment, and with a strange, inexplicable dread, that, as he looked, he saw this bell begin to swing. It swung so softly in the outset that it scarcely made a sound; but soon it rang out loudly, and so did every bell in the house.
This might have lasted half a minute, or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The bells ceased, as they had begun, together. They were succeeded by a clanking noise deep down below as if some person were dragging a heavy chain over the casks in the wine-merchant's cellar. Scrooge then remembered to have heard that ghosts in haunted houses were described as dragging chains.
The cellar door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards his door.
'It's humbug still!' said Scrooge. 'I won't believe it.'
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Full cast audio drama of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Adapted for audio by Paul A.T. Wilson
CAST:
Narrator: Paul A.T. Wilson
Fred: Philip Barker
Scrooge: Oliver Fry
Gentleman One: Jai Brewer
Gentleman Two: Paul A.T. Wilson
Bob Cratchit: Richard Heaven
PRODUCTION:
Music David Pudney
Sound Design: Paul A.T. Wilson
Director/Producer: Paul A.T. Wilson
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon anything.Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.
Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.Of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve -- old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms.
The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. The clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
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A Yuletide story for all, but not one that you maybe expecting. This is the story of the Sin Eater and the Soul Stealer and a chance encounter with these strange creatures in Newport on the Isle of Wight.
Written, Directed, Produced and Performed by Paul A.T. WilsonMusic by David Pudney
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hrough the mists of time the old Gods still call to us and although their voices may sometimes be quiet we can hear them if with listen carefully enough.
Join me as I tell the stories of the Gods and Goddess of the Jutes; these are the stories that are told through the wind as it whispers to us.
Let's all walk to crooked path together and meet the Gods and Goddesses of the Jutes; the well known and the lesser. The lesser trodden roads of the wyrd will take us to the ancient lands of the Ése and the Ylfe.
Around every corner,
And behind every door,
We hear the songs of magic,
As we walk the Wihtlore.
o Ése – Woden, Thunar, Frige, Tiw, Helan, Lok
Wen – Ingui Frey, Freo (Freya), Neorth (Frey and Freo father—seas and fisherman), Eostre, Gethar, Eorthe, Niht (Mother of Eorthe, Goddess of Night), Sigel, Mone, Undirgoð (The God Beneath)o Ylfe – Modræ, Wūscfrēa, Wælcyrge (Chooses who lives and dies), Cuma, Hjúki and Bil
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