Fair Folk Podcast

This episode surveys the folklore and pagan tradition of November with a focus on sacrifice, inviting the listener to pay heed to the gestures made by animals at this time of year toward otherworld thresholds.
Sign up for the pagan-prayer-a-day advent calendar: https://danicaboyce.myflodesk.com/shzimlsou9
Sign up for the Unfathomable Others workshop on November 11: https://www.danicaboyce.com/abundance-paganism-workshops-select-1
Listen to the Bear Culture episode of Fair Folk Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/fair-folk-podcast/id1177770160?i=1000608508358
Books in this episode:
Book of Beasts by Elizabeth Sulis Kim: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/464842/the-book-of-beasts-by-kim-elizabeth-sulis/9781784745868
Mill Dust and Dreaming Bread by Scott Richardson Read: https://www.waterstones.com/book/mill-dust-and-dreaming-bread/scott-richardson-read/9781068302534
Music in this episode:
Forest March by Sylvia Woods - buy it: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-harp-of-brandiswhiere/210485746
Wildegeeses by Michael Hurley - buy it: https://michaelhurley.bandcamp.com/album/wildegeeses
Tåreporten by Maria Kalaniemi and Pekko Käppi - buy it: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/t%C3%A5reportens-p%C3%A4rla/1864168321
Himinndotter by Wardruna - buy it: https://wardrunashop.co.uk/product/birna

The folklore of October offers us a threshold of tenderness, an opportunity to deepen into maturity and savour the golden sunset of the year.
Sign up for my Pagan Sacred Chant workshop series and Frost-Tide chant workshop October 11: https://www.danicaboyce.com/chant-workshops-2026
Sign up for my Abundance Paganism workshops and Scarcity to Abundance workshop October 20:
https://danicaboyce.com/abundance-paganism-2026
Join me in person in London for a chant workshop on October 23: https://www.danicaboyce.com/london-pagan-chant
Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/
Opening theme: Forest March by Sylvia Woods
Buy Sylvia Woods music: https://www.harpcenter.com/
Read the J.R.R. Tolkien poem I shared, Winter Comes to Nagothrond: https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/nargothrond.html
Pick up Eleanor Parker's excellent book on Anglo-Saxon seasons, Winters in the World: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/winters-in-the-world

This episode focuses on the last of the harvest in the month of September, asking what spirit of this summer’s harvest you intend to host over the colder months.

Sign up for my Abundance Paganism workshops:
https://danicaboyce.com/abundance-paganism-2026
Join the free Abundance Paganism mini-course: https://danicaboyce.myflodesk.com/q266txu4bb

Sign up for my Pagan Sacred Chant workshops:
https://www.danicaboyce.com/chant-workshops-2026
Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/

Music in this episode:
Opening theme: Forest March by Sylvia Woods
Buy Sylvia Woods music: https://www.harpcenter.com/
The Wild Wild Berry by (Stephanie) Hladowski and C(hris) Joynes
Buy their music: https://cjoynes.bandcamp.com/album/the-wild-wild-berry-2012
Lengsel by Sun and Moon Dance
Buy their music: https://sunandmoondance.bandcamp.com/album/mitt-hjerte

The story of how I began this podcast out of burnout and illness and began feeling into the path on a different level. Plus a dive into pagan conceptions of destiny and free will from Old Norse and Old English. (Take courage!)
Sign up for Well of Wyrd audio membership for £20/month starting April 20: https://www.danicaboyce.com/well-of-wyrd
Sign up for the Golden Thread coaching circle for folks with a spiritual calling starting April 20: https://www.danicaboyce.com/golden-thread
Learn more about Pagan Camp, July 27-30: https://www.danicaboyce.com/pagan-camp-2026
Visit my website: https://www.danicaboyce.com/
Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/
Find me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danica.boyce/
Old English poem the Wanderer: http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=wdr
Music in this episode:
Weja Ura by Olivia Fern - buy the album: https://oliviafern.bandcamp.com/album/red-thread
Seven Daughters of the Sea by Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin - buy the album: https://www.irishsong.com/shop/seven-daughters-of-the-sea/
Waltz for the Cosmos by Lassi Logrén - buy the album: https://lassilogren.bandcamp.com/album/jouhikko
Theme music is Forest March by Sylvia Woods. Buy Sylvia Woods' music: https://www.harpcenter.com/category/harp-cds

In this episode, I speak with Veronica Rottman, a somatic practitioner specializing in the female nervous system, about holy well and spring folklore and the ways it resonates with trauma integration and healing. You can sign up for our upcoming collaborative workshop, Sacred Waters: Healing at the Well of Brigid here:
https://waking-womb.com/events/2026/1/24/sacred-waters-healing-at-the-well-of-brigid
Veronica Rottman's website: https://waking-womb.com/
Veronica Rottman's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wakingwomb
Mentioned in the episode:
Frau or Mother Holle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frau_Holle
Rosaleen Durkin’s Irish sacred wells walking tours: https://visitwicklow.ie/listing/irish-sacred-wells-walking-tours/
Brielle Elise: waking the well: https://www.instagram.com/wakingthewell
The well maidens account in the Elucidation: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/elucidation.html
(Lines 29-132)
A note: birds are associated with the fisher king’s court (and fish) more than other animals, somewhat counter to what I said in the episode.
A special thank you to Sylvia Woods, whose tune Forest March is the intro theme to Fair Folk!
Image: The goose maid at the well by Arthur Rackham
Join my mailing list: https://enthusiastica.substack.com/
Find me on instagram: instagram.com/danica.boyce