A couple of weeks ago, I received an email out of the blue from James Aldred, a producer on BBC Radio’s The Late Show. He had come across my book, Chimera, and read my accounts of what happened during that incredibly intense time through my guest blog post for the charity Young Lives Vs Cancer. He asked if I would be up for recording an interview with the show’s host, Jim Davis, the very next day.

Of course, I said yes. As an independent artist, one of the most difficult issues to deal with is getting your work in front of people. So for the BBC to want to publicise my story and my book – well, you don’t say no. The Late Show, for those that don’t know, is a weekday evening show recorded in London but broadcast simultaneously across the UK’s network of 39 BBC local radio stations, a nightly audience of a few hundred thousand.The original link on the Sounds app is here. The Interview starts at 22mins, and continues at 30mins.I hope you enjoy this interview, it was great to talk with Jim about that crazy time and the raw and poignant book that emerged out of it. You can check the book out at any of the following locations, or ask your local bookshop to order it for you.Amazon Audible Bookshop.orgSpotifyIf you feel so moved it, please help me out by leaving a review if the book wherever you can. Good Reads is a great place to start.Thanks, as ever, for your support.

Sian is a vocalist, composer, musical director, and co-founder of NYX Electronic Drone Choir, based in London, UK.

NYX is an electronic drone choir and otherworldly electric chorus, re-embodying live electronics and extended vocal techniques. NYX are reshaping the role of the traditional female choir, testing the limits of organic and synthetic modulation to explore the full spectrum of collective female voice as an instrument.

Sian is a bubbling creative force, and I hope you enjoy this deep dive into her background, her process, and the formation of her primary artistic project. From singing opera as a teenager in New Zealand, to working at London Contemporary Voices, and now as an established artist in her own right. Much love and thanks to Sian for sharing her time and energy.

If you enjoy this podcast, please share it wherever feels appropriate. Subscribing to the feed allows you to hear the latest episodes first, as well as receive my latest writing – articles, essays, and book excerpts.

The track you hear in this episode can be purchased on their Bandcamp page. Do explore their other releases, there is so much magic to be heard.

For all things NYX, including live dates and their forthcoming album go and check out their website. You can also find them on Instagram @nyx.edc

Charlotte Pulver is a modern-day alchemist and ceremonial facilitator, born into the Pulver lineage of apothecarians.

She has a background in natural healthcare, studying and practising various systems of healing – including Tibetan Medicine – for more than twenty years. Her work is rooted in a love for making medicines, which she sells through ‘Pulver’s Apothecary’. She teaches intuitive herbalism and medicine-making and leads a variety of pilgrimages, ceremonies and workshops at auspicious times throughout the year.

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records

I first met Gwyn in his native Snowdonia when he was a guest teacher on the Dadeni course. We walked out into the mountains and Gwyn told us tales of the Welsh fairy folk, the Tylwyth Teg, echoes from the past alive but very much in the here and now, connected to the land and the people of the area where these stories are still told and continue to evolve today.

If you like stories, then you are in for a real treat, as Gwyn has one of the most comforting and grounding voices I know of. This episode was recorded as all these podcast episodes are, in person, in the room. I visited Gwyn at his house late last year, we caught up over tea, ate beans on toast and duly fed, settled in to record

Diolch Gwyn for making the time to speak with me and for carrying and spreading these stories.

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records

Along with his wife Christine, Dr. Stephen Hugh-Jones spent two years in the late 1960s living alongside a village of Yucuna Indians in the Colombian Amazon, learning about their language, their customs, cosmology and cultural traditions. They were even initiated into the tribe and given new names, forever connecting them to this community on the other side of the world.

Stephen shares his journey into anthropology and his life-long research and support of the Yucuna people he became so close to. He also recounts in vivid detail the Yurupari initiation rite he undertook back then, which involved a hefty dose of Ayahuasca in the darkness, amongst many other things.

This is an absolutely fascinating conversation for anyone interested in hearing first-hand how an indigenous culture with minimal western influence operates. You’ll even hear about the story of The Spirit Without An Anus!

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records

I first met Owen Shiers back in 2011 down in Devon where we were both on the same intake of The Journey, the flagship course run by Mac MacCartney and his team at Embercombe.

Since that time Owen has moved back to his native Wales and in 2019 he put out his first album, a musical project with a difference. ‘Dilyn Afon’ (or ‘Following A River’) is the result of three years research and work, collecting arranging and recording folk songs from Ceredigion. This a project which aims to put West Wales and its fragile traditions firmly back on the musical map.

It's an evocative, timeless work and I highly encourage everyone to seek it out.

The word ‘cynefin’ itself is swaddled in layers of meaning – a Welsh noun with no direct equivalent in English, its origins lie in a farming term used to describe the habitual tracks and trails worn by animals in hillsides. The word has since morphed and deepened to conjure a very personal sense of place, belonging and familiarity.

I spoke to Owen about his journey to making the record, what it means to be cultural conservationist, and how urgent it is that we stop standing by while our heritage slips slowly into extinction.

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records

If I said the word endometriosis to you, would you know what it meant? March is endometriosis awareness month, a debilitating and difficult-to-diagnoses disease that affects 1 in 10 women.

In this episode, my wonderful friend Justine squire, who is a amazing circus artist and performer, goes deep into her own lifelong journey to her diagnosis and unmasks many of the myths around what this disease actually is and how it can be more widely understood and therefore treated.

It takes courage to come on a podcast and speak about what is a very personal issue, and so I want to say a very special thank you to Justine for being up for this, and being such an exceedingly well-prepared, well-researched interviewee! She really drops the knowledge so be prepared to learn a lot - I know I did.

EPISODE RESOURCES

Pain and Prejudice: A call to arms for women and their bodies by Gabriella Jackson

https://nancysnookendo.com/ - for information and advice on Endometriosis.

https://insixteenyears.com/ - Endometriosis-focused podcast with a personal, humour-led touch.

https://thebotanicclinic.com/about - Betty specialises in treating the disease with herbal & alternative medicine.

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records

Eric Maddern is a storyteller, an author and the founder and steward of Cae Mabon, a magical eco-retreat and learning centre in Snowdonia, North Wales.

They host all sorts of courses, ranging from singing and voice work, to clowning, herbalism, mythology, yoga, and natural building. It’s a place that is very dear to me having spent quite a lot of time there over the past few years.

On this episode, I asked Eric to tell his own fascinating story, and weave it into the quite miraculous tale of how Cae Mabon came to be. He’s told it many times over the years, so I really appreciate him taking the time to revisit it for the podcast and for this audio time-capsule!

Big thanks go to Eric for making time to speak with me. I must say, I find his rich voice to be a very soothing listen and I do hope you enjoy this episode.

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Six Organs of Admittance

Drag City Records