Welcome to the Blogcast for episode 02 of the Balance Garden podcast - Blue Moon. Here you can find the photos, links and sources of the people, ideas and inspirations involved in this month’s show, such as The Embers Collective and Cosmo Sheldrake.

Listen Now

October might be when you’d expect things to start slowing down. But humans somehow seem to manage to make even brighter displays as the days become darker, perhaps as a collective coping mechanism for surviving wintertime… by gathering together around the fire.

In this episode, I try to decipher some of the shape-shifting and many masks that mark this time of year, and the cycles of life and death through changing times. This Sunday 25th October, the clock ‘go back’, so in part 1, I take a little look into what that means for our body clocks, and what that the appearance of a ‘Blue Moon’ on October 31st tells us about the deceptions of time.

In part 2 I’m talking to a the talented musician, Cosmo Sheldrake, about one of his muses and the bird often associated with death and darkness: the owl. Cosmo’s new album, Wake Up Calls, is composed from recordings of endangered British birds that he collected over nine years, taking you from dusk through dawns and daytimes, and closing with the Owl’s Song.

The album is available on on streaming platforms and on limited edition vinyl from BandCamp or his website. The LP cover and photo of Cosmo below were created by the artist Flora Wallace.

Part 3 delves into the days of the dead celebrated around the world and what that reveals about our relationships with life as well as death. From Double Yang in China to Dashain and Sharada Navaratri in Nepal and India, Samhain and All Souls Day, to El Dia De Los Meurtos, festivals of the dead are found across the world on and around October 31st, reminding us that we’re all skeletons under the skin. The idea is brought to life by the incredible Embers Collective, who have contributed their rendition of the story of the Skeleton Woman, told by Lonan Jenkins to music performed by Tim Karpe and Jonne Benke.

Embers Collective opening Sankofa stage at Shambala Festival 2018 / Photo by Louise Roberts / Decor by Tiger Lily & Mahla Raphael

Following the story, I share some excerpts I extracted from Women Who Run With The Wolves, about some of the meanings behind this this archetypal tale as interpreted by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Bringing the messages and meanings of this time of year into the here and now, part 4 includes part of a quote from my blog, What Are You Scared Of?, and from Jamie Anderson, whose full quote reads:

“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all that love you want to give, but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers in the corners of your eyes, that lump in your throat, and in the hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”

Listen Now

Podcast soundtrack

‘Blue Moon’, by Al Bowlly & the Ray Noble New Mayfair Dance Orchestra

‘Yes Mic’ from the Manasseh Meets Praise LP, out on Roots Garden Records / video produced by Tiger Lily Productions and Badj Whipple

Credits

Producers: Tiger Lily Raphael & Jasmine Pradhan
Editor: Tiger Lily Raphael
Special guests: Embers Collective (Lonan Jenkins, Tim Karp & Jonne Benke), Cosmo Sheldrake