Myth Matters
Welcome to Myth Matters, a thought-provoking exploration of myth in contemporary life and the intersection of myth, creativity, and consciousness. Host Catherine Svehla PhD. shares her knowledge of mythology and depth psychology to find insight and explore possibilities. Member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation MythMaker℠ Podcast Network.
Learn more at www.mythicmojo.com and keep the mystery in your life alive.
- Update frequency
- every 16 days
- Average duration
- 35 minutes
- Episodes
- 136
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Not Knowing the Way: Rich Peter the Peddler and leaving home
"Leaving home" is an interesting metaphor for the call to significant change. This episode is a reflection on intention, uncertainty, and how myths can help us listen to …
Leaving Home: Adventures of a trickster tailor
In this episode, we take a look at the fairy tale "The Valiant Tailor" or the "The Brave Tailor," collected by the Brothers Grimm. Honestly, I almost dismissed this story…
In the dark woods: what myths say about leaving home
“You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.”-- Joseph Campbell
In this episode we explore the mythic theme of leaving home as…
Transformation and awakening: Dumuzi's Dream
This is the last episode in a 4-part series on the Sumerian myth of Inanna: Dumuzi’s Dream and The Return. After Inanna ascends from the underworld, she chooses her lover…
Greater Mysteries: Transformation, music, and the myth of Inanna with singer-composer Kelli Scarr
Special episode with guest singer-composer Kelli Scarr!
Scarr released her new album Greater Mysteries, a musical journey through the spiraling cycle of transformation, la…
Inanna's descent to the Underworld, part 3 of 4
She goes down
As we go down
We follow her underground
Hail to Inanna
Who died
To become born.
— Chant from the writer Starhawk and the Reclaiming Collective
This is episode #3 i…
Inanna and Dumuzi: The eros of the cosmos (part 2 of 4)
“The Church says: the body is a sin.
Science says: the body is a machine.
Advertising says: The body is a business.
The Body says: I am a fiesta.”
The Sumerian myth of Inanna: In the first days 1 of 4
In the first days, in the very first days, everything needed was brought into being and the goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, took her place in the center of the…
Joy and Poetry for National Poetry month
"We need joy as we need air." Maya Angelou
Joy. Joy is my motivation, my desire and object in sharing some poetry with you in this episode. Joy---gladness, pleasure, delig…
Finist the Bright Falcon: Baba Yaga, soul quests, and shamanic journeys
The final episode in a three-part exploration of the mysterious Baba Yaga, a scary crone in Russian and Slavic fairy tales. Who or what is she?
The fairy tale "Finist the…
Initiation and Meeting the Baba Yaga
The Baba Yaga is a complex and scary crone in East Slavic and Russian fairy tales. She's a face of the earth goddesses and the fierce wildness of nature.
Are some of us me…
Fierce wildness and the Baba Yaga
Welcome to episode one of the new (7th) season of Myth Matters!
A new year and a time of change. Is this, as some say, the time of the wise, elder woman, the time of the …
Flying Together: The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud Din Attar
“These lofty words are an antidote for anyone sickened by extremism’s poison.” Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Sholeh Wolpé
The Conference of the Birds is an epic poem …
Catastrophe: What myths show us about the way of the world
Endings, loss, and uncertainty. Fears of a catastrophic future. Many of us are living with this right now or wondering how to. How to act. How to participate.
Perspective …
Effort, Uncertainty, and Cerridwen's potion
"It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope." –Ursula K. LeGuin
This episode revolves around the Welsh myth of Cerridwen and th…
Allegiance to the Inner Life: The. Nixie in the Millpond part 2 of 2
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”― Joseph Campbell
We began an exploration of some important questions i…
Allegiance to the Inner Life: The Nixie in the Mill Pond part 1 of 2
To what do we owe greater allegiance, our outer life in the material world of human conventions, or our inner life and the requirements of soul? I explore this question t…
The Bricoleur
How we imagine our lives is how we live our lives, and mythologies provide the images and ideas in this process. But images of the human in the dominant myths-- as sinner…
Shifting Images of Human Being with Dr. Craig Chalquist
How we imagine ourselves is how we'll be.
And where do we receive these images of the human? They're in our myths.
In this episode, I take a look at three images in the my…
Making creative choices in art and life: 3 fairy tale variations
Sifting through options to make a decision is something that each of us has to do at some point. When our choice is part of a creative process in work or life, in the art…