Essence Podcast with Ben Stimpson

Devin Hunter, bestselling author and occult practitioner behind The Witch's Book series and founder of the Sacred Fires tradition. He talks about his path from podcasting to publishing, juggling nonfiction and fiction under the pen name Darren Sparks, and how ADHD and horticulture shaped his creative process. He also explores sci‑fi influences, collaborative podcasting dynamics, and maintaining standards in spiritual media.

My guest today is Troy Kokoszka, author of "Bogowie: Bogowie: A Study of Eastern Europe's Ancient Gods" from Moon Books. T.D. Kokoszka grew up in Texas with a Jewish mother and a Polish-American father. While he was aware of roots going back to Eastern Europe from both families, he found it hard to learn very much about them. He knew that Polish people would whack one another with palm leaves around Easter, and he knew that his great-grandmother purportedly believed in forest spirits known as borowy. However, it wasn't until he was in his teens that he became vaguely aware of an ancient people known as the Slavs who gave rise to the Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Slovakian, Slovene, and Czech languages. It quickly became clear to him that this was a family of cultures currently under-represented in popular culture, and even in western scholarship. Not simply a regurgitation of scholarship from the Soviet period - and presenting new analyses by using previously neglected resources - Bogowie: A Study of Eastern Europe's Ancient Gods offers one of the most painstaking scholarly reconstructions of Slavic paganism. These new resources include not only an overview of folklore from many different Slavic countries but also comparisons with 'ssetian culture and Mordvin culture, as well as a series of Slavic folktales that Kokoszka analyzes in depth, often making the case that the narratives involved are mythological and shockingly ancient. Readers will recognize many European folktale types and possibly learn to look at these folktales differently after reading this book.

Jhenah Telyndru holds an MA in Celtic Studies from the University of Wales, Trinity St. David, and has a bachelor's degree in archaeology. She is the founder of the Sisterhood of Avalon, an international Celtic women's mysteries organization. Jhenah teaches four-day residential training retreats around North America and the UK, and facilitates pilgrimages to sacred sites in the British Isles and Ireland through Mythic Seeker Tours. She is a frequent presenter and guest speaker at academic conferences, religious symposia, Women's Spirituality gatherings, and Pagan festivals. A priestess in the Avalonian Tradition for over 25 years, Jhenah has been following a Pagan path since 1986. Visit her at www.ynysafallon.com and www.sisterhoodofavalon.org.

Chris Allaun has been studying witchcraft, magick, and paganism since 1992. He is one of the founders and an ordained minister with The Fellowship of the Phoenix. He has been an initiate of Traditional Witchcraft since 2002. He is also a Native American Pipe Carrier and studies that path of the Red Road. He teaches classes and workshops on magick, healing, shamanism, and necromancy. He has been teaching and writing for many years. He is the author of Underworld: Shamanism, Myth, and Magick, Deeper Into The Underworld: Death, Ancestors, and Magical Rites, and Upperworld: Shamanism and Magick of the Celestial Realms. He continues to study and teach the magickal arts to those who seek to balance the three worlds in their own lives. find out more at www.chrisallaun.com

My guest this week is Dorian Manticore. He/they is a creative hailing from Narrm/Kulin Nation lands (Melbourne, Australia). They're an author, poet, LARP creator, artist, disability, and trans rights advocate, and crafter/maker. Dorian has been a practicing pagan and witch for roughly the past 23 years, firstly by solitary practice, then joining the Reclaiming community, becoming involved in numerous events such as the Australian Wiccan Conference, and serving as a committee member for the Pagan Collective of Victoria, a local community not-for-profit organization. They've hosted numerous workshops, talks, and public rituals. They are the founder of the Sovereigns of the Golden Path, affectionately known as the Sun Cult, a Queer-centering emerging magical tradition with roots in animism, ecstatic witchcraft, Reclaiming, chaos magic, and leftist politics. They’re a queer, trans, neurospicy nerd, disabled, elder-millennial tragic and cat dad. In his spare time he enjoys dressing like an extra from a post-apocalyptic film, playing video games, and bobbing around in the sea like a cork.

Led deep into the wilds of Wales by dreams and wandering words, Halo has been a practising witch since childhood, and a Dr. of Philosophy since 2022. Their magic has always focused on listening to the spirits of the land, an animistic path which introduced them to the Welsh deities, with an embodied, sensual approach to their craft. Trained in several traditions of Witchcraft, they have taught at many events over the years, developing their own magical path through observing the interconnection between Fae and Human enchantments. Halo has studied and worked with Welsh stories, gods and magic since moving there in 2005. Halo is a devotee of the Faery Queen, a storyteller, a philosopher, artist and the founder of the online school of magic and paganism; The Enchanted Academy (or TEA for short) and The Crimson Coven - a magical, creative collective exploring the divine erotic and sacred nature of pleasure and beauty. They also write on these topics as the kinky witch, Ms Quin. Halo lives in Aberystwyth, UK. find out more at www.haloquin.net

Lee Morgan is a duel British and Australian author, scholar and traditional witch residing on a communal homestead on kunanyi/Mt Wellington in nipaluna/Hobart, where he creates sanctuary for other weirdos, raises books, people, and ideas from the grave. He has had novels and non-fiction published by Moon Books, Three Hands Press, The Witches Almanac and Rebel Satori. Traditional witchcraft and the faerie faith have occupied Lee’s attention from an early age and he has held office in his magical community for two decades. Scholarship and creative fiction continue to allow him to speak, in some suggestive way, of things that cannot otherwise be spoken. Having survived an enormous tumour, Lee currently is busy filling the room in his skull with new brains, writing Folk Horror, and queering the world one step at a time. His latest book: “People of the Outside” is currently available from Moon Books. He is also the author of “A Deed Without a Name,” “Standing and Not Falling,” and “The Gusty Deep.” You can find him on social media and patreon at: https://www.leemorganbooks.com/

Bret Bernhoft is a Web Developer, who loves learning; especially when making applications for the global Web. He began his journey in technology with WordPress and Web Analytics. Eventually he'd like to work as an Artificial Intelligence Programmer. Bret has been a practicing pagan for about ten years, and his major interests are in technology and paganism, and their intersections into transhumanism. In this discussion, we discuss Bret's views on magic in the cyber realm, 'meme magic' and the parallels between magic in a cyberverse and other forms of reality. We discuss the ethics and experience of conducting ritual virtually, Bret's examination of early internet discussions, and the role Timothy Leary, Alan Watt and psychedelics have played in his approach.

My guest today is author, Pagan clergy member, former Marine, and an organizer of the annual Between the Worlds conference, the wonderful Irene Glasse! To find out more about Irene go and visit: https://glassewitchcottage.com/

Jake Richards (Dr. Buck) holds his Appalachian heritage close in his blood and bones. His family legacy in Appalachia goes back generations. Jake has practiced Appalachian folk magic for over a decade now, and serves his community as a conjure man, power doctor, and Yarb (herb) doctor. Jake has published three books on the subject (Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia, Doctoring the Devil: Notebooks of an Appalachian Conjure Man, and Ossman and Steel’s Classic Household Guide to Appalachian Folk Healing), a deck of divination cards (Conjure Cards) as well as contributions to Mat Auryn’s Mastering Magick and Llewellyn's Complete Book of North American Folk Magic: A Landscape of Magic, Mystery, and Tradition by Cory Hutcheson; and an article in Witchology Magazine, Samhain issue 2022.