Roots of Lore

As equinox tips us once more into the dark half of the year (here in the northern hemisphere), the season of story, we journey to the underworld with the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, and we finish our exploration of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. Featuring Dr. Helene Foley, professor of Classics at Columbia University and Barnard College.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

We've been exploring "The Snow Queen" all season, but in this episode of Roots of Lore, let's explore Hans Christian Andersen in a bit more depth. We're getting a sense of who he was and the context of his fairy tales, and then taking a look at a potential source of inspiration: East of the Sun and West of the Moon as collected by Norwegian folktale scholars, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

We are at a threshold time. Last week marked the midway point between Winter solstice and spring equinox. Now you might be feeling the stirrings of Spring. Depending on where you are, it might even already look like Spring. And it might be tempting to want to rush through this liminal tension and get Winter over with already, but here I’m inviting you to pause and be here at this threshold. There are stories to be found here. In this episode, we’re diving into some Irish Celtic folklore through two figures that represent both sides of this seasonal threshold: Brigid and the Cailleach.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

Happy New Year! We are standing at the portal between one year and the next, and you may be thinking of New Year's Resolutions or goals to hit the ground running here at the beginning of the year. In this episode of Roots of Lore, we're exploring some different ways of leaning into the excitement of the new year that allow us to be more in flow with this story time of year: The Omen Days and the Web of Wyrd.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

It's the season of celebration and in this episode of Roots of Lore, we explore The Saturnalia.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

The nights grow long and dark. And from them spring holidays, rituals, celebrations, and stories. Now perhaps more than any other time of year, we find ourselves craving a slow-down to wrap ourselves in tradition, in familiarity, in comfort, and in meaning. So let us begin with the Winter Solstice, a point in the cycle of the year around which so many cultures around the world held celebration, ritual, and wove their stories.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com PATREON: rootsoflore.com/support INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

It's the one year anniversary of the first episode of Roots of Lore. This one is just a mini episode to keep the podcast alive on this auspicious day, explore some birthday folklore, and hint at season two which is coming very, very soon!   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

Cinderella is the fairy tale that, perhaps more than any other, sets our standard for how we expect a fairy tale to behave. But this story tells us more than what happens if you have some fancy shoes and a fairy godmother on your side. In this episode, let's explore the Cinderella of Charles Perrault as well as the Cinderella version of the Grimms—how these stories might give us hints of ancestral practices, and then how we equate shoes and lust with Ye Xian from China.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

What would you choose if you had to pick one: beauty or intelligence? In this episode of Roots of Lore, we're exploring two stories that test what qualities are most important in love: Riquet with the Tuft (of Charles Perrault and Catherine Bernard) and Beauty and the Beast (of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont) plus taking it back to some lovers of mythology: Cupid and Psyche.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

Sometimes stories serve as lessons for children, but in Perrault's day, sometimes fairy tales were a manners guide for adults. This episode explores "The Fairies" (Les Fées)—sometimes known as "Diamonds and Toads"—by Charles Perrault, "The Enchantments of Eloquence" by Marie‐Jeanne Lhéritier, and the story of Frau Holle.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

Animals appear often in fairy tales and folklore, and the most famous Animal as Helper is perhaps none other than our favorite booted feline, Puss in Boots (or The Master Cat). In this episode, let's start with Charles Perrault's version of "The Master Cat" to examine what this story meant in 17th century France, then we'll hear the story that inspired it, "Costantino Fortunato," and finally, explore the animal-human connection with "The Prince Who Befriended the Beasts."   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore  

In this episode, we're exploring the class system of Louis XIV's France through the story of Charles Perrault's Le Petit Poucet, or Little Thumb. We'll explore how it ties to the Grimms' Hansel and Gretel and how the ogre creature evolved from the Arabic ghoul.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore  

Will you take the path of pins or the path of needles? This is the question that Little Red Riding Hood must answer not as a girl who should be wary of talking to strangers, but as a young woman entering into sexual maturity who might be the target of smooth-talking predatory men. In this episode of Roots of Lore, we're exploring the story of Little Red Riding Hood as she passed through the hands of werewolves and into the hands of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm, plus the story of Lon Po Po, the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore  

There are many ways to examine a story, and Charles Perrault's story of Bluebeard is a haunting one. So in this episode of Roots of Lore, we're going to look at the story from a psychological approach as well as a historical approach to see who Bluebeard could be in the time of Perrault, but also who Bluebeard might be in ourselves.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore  

What if Sleeping Beauty didn't wake up from her sleep because of a kiss? What if the story doesn't end with a marriage and happily ever after? In this episode of Roots of Lore, we're exploring Charles Perrault's Sleeping Beauty and how this story connects to the Grimms, to Italian fairy tales, and possible even Icelandic legend.   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore

In season one of the Roots of Lore podcast, we'll be diving into Charles Perrault's fairy tales: Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose. So in this first episode, let's set the scene of who was Perrault? What was the world like that birthed these stories? What influences do we see a play? And how do the Grimm brothers fit into these stories?   Find links + show notes at rootsoflore.com INSTAGRAM: @rootsoflore FACEBOOK: @rootsoflore TWITTER: @rootsoflore  

Welcome to Roots of Lore, a podcast from Caitlin Brehm, that explores the roots of fairy tales and folklore to ponder the messages and morals they offered in times past and dig into the medicine they survived to offer us today. Join me for Season One where we'll be digging into the fairy tales of Charles Perrault.