The Poisoned Apple — A Metaphysical Thriller in Disguise

Season 4, Episode 2 — Death Talk Unscripted

In this solo episode, I take you deeper into the heart of a story we’ve all inherited: the myth of death as the “poisoned apple.” We’ve been taught to fear it, avoid it, sanitize it, and pretend it isn’t coming. But what if the poison was never real? What if the nightmare was something we created as a culture—collectively, unconsciously, and at great cost to our souls?

This episode expands on my recent Substack article and reframes death not as a curse, but as a cosmic rite of passage. A luminous shift in form. A return to origin. A moment of sovereignty rather than surrender.

We explore how society turned death into a gothic villain, how we lost the ceremony that once held it, and how the remembering is rising again—through ritual, through truth-telling, and through the growing conversation around MAID (Medical Aid in Dying).

If you’re ready to peel back the myth, reclaim the threshold, and see death through a metaphysical lens, this episode is your invitation.

The apple was never poison.

In this episode of Blood n Bone, host Paula A. sits down with Dr. David Casarett — palliative care physician, researcher, and author of Undiscovered Country: A Doctor’s Travel Guide to the End of Life. Together, they explore the biology of dying, the ways patients can design their end-of-life experience, and what medicine gets right (and wrong) about death.

Dr. Casarett reframes dying not as a single event, but as a profound journey — one that deserves empathy, curiosity, and conversation. With equal parts science and storytelling, this conversation invites listeners to see death as a vital part of medicine and life itself.

Key Topics:

• The biology of our final hours

• “Death by Design” and how patients can shape their end-of-life experience

• Why death deserves a seat at the healthcare table

• How science and compassion together can transform palliative care

Gaslighting at the Veil: When Medicine Denies the Dying Their Voices

What happens when the systems meant to heal become the ones that silence? This conversation pulls back the curtain on the subtle violences of medical authority—where dying people are dismissed, diminished, or denied their own truth. As a deathwalker, I name the gaslighting at the threshold: the way medicine can strip autonomy, mute grief, and erase the sacred wisdom of those preparing to cross.

This episode is not just about death—it’s about reclaiming voice, dignity, and the right to speak our own exits into being. Tune in for a reckoning at the veil, where silence is broken and sovereignty is restored.