In this special, first ever interview-episode, I'm sharing a recent conversation between myself and my beloved friend Nao Sims—teacher of women's sacred dance for over 25 years, beekeeper, gardener, homesteader, mother, and lover of poetry and

15. Tam Lin: A Traditional Scottish-English Ballad

Dec 24th, 2022 14m 3s

Practiced, sung and recorded through the winter solstice, new moon and now the edge of Christmas, as the Virgin Mary swells with child and comes to the eve of birth, I offer into this moment of celestial light and earthly dark a faithful rendit

14. Morning Star Woman & Ivan the Youngest Son

Oct 22nd, 2022 40m 1s

Morning Star Woman & Ivan the Youngest Son is, in its original bones, my own telling of the Russian fairytale "The Maiden Tsar," as explored by Robert Bly and Marion Woodman in their book The Maiden King. I will admit, however, that I've taken

13. The Dark Country - Part 4

Jun 11th, 2021 47m 16s

This is the fourth and final part of my novella The Dark Country, set on the imagined, Greek-inspired island of Kefthyra. In it, a maiden, mother and crone call forth the old language, and the snakes that live in the Earth, to try to overthrow

12. The Dark Country- Part 3

Jun 2nd, 2021 1h 4m

This is part three of my novella The Dark Country, set on the imagined, Greek-inspired island of Kefthyra. In it, a maiden, mother and crone call forth the old language, and the snakes that live in the Earth, to try to overthrow a colonial empi

11. The Dark Country - Part 2

Mar 18th, 2021 58m 30s

This is part two of my novella The Dark Country, set on the imagined, Greek-inspired island of Kefthyra. In it, a maiden, mother and crone call forth the old language, and the snakes that live in the Earth, to try to overthrow a colonial empire

10. The Dark Country - Part 1

Feb 17th, 2021 1h 8m

This is part one of my novella The Dark Country, set on the imagined, Greek-inspired island of Kefthyra. In it, a maiden, mother and crone call forth the old language, and the snakes that live in the Earth, to try to overthrow a colonial empire

9. Calypso

Aug 8th, 2020 30m 6s

In this episode I explore the story of Calypso, the nereid daughter of sea-Titans who is infamous for seducing Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Here, Calypso gives a different perspective. Here, we see Calypso as a keeper of her lineage's ancestral

8. The Pythia

May 5th, 2020 35m 26s

In this episode, I read the short story "The Pythia," from Our Lady of the Dark Country, my 2018 collection. This tale explores the underpinnings of the myth of Apollo and his takeover of the oracle at Delphi. In the oldest stories, Delphi belo

7. Ashes, and the King Who Came Home

Apr 16th, 2020 23m 50s

"Ashes, and the King Who Came Home," is a short prose-poem-tale, written last August 2019 (and first shared on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/sylvialinsteadt). It is a reflection and weaving of many threads, both personal and mythic, that w

6. The Garden

Mar 30th, 2020 27m 52s

This episode of Kalliope's Sanctum is a reading of my story The Garden, from my 2018 collection, Our Lady of the Dark Country. It was inspired partly by one of Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, which I read in the introduction, and partly by the trul

5. The Nunnery & the Queen

Mar 21st, 2020 21m 40s

This week, I wanted to offer a space of respite, of nourishment, and of comfort in these wildly unknowable, difficult, but profound times. So the Nunnery of Iona came to me, coupled with a sister poem, The Queen of Moss & Green, both of which

4. Rhea Silvia - Part 2

Mar 6th, 2020 45m 57s

This episode is Part 2 of a two part reading of my short story, "Rhea Silvia," from my January 2018 story & poem collection Our Lady of the Dark Country (https://www.ptreyesbooks.com/book/9780999696606).Please listen to Part 1, the previous e

3. Rhea Silvia- Part 1

Feb 14th, 2020 50m 26s

This episode is Part 1 of a two part reading of my short story, "Rhea Silvia," from my January 2018 collection Our Lady of the Dark Country. (https://www.ptreyesbooks.com/book/9780999696606)It is a retelling of the tale of Rhea Silvia, the so

2. Andromeda's Dragons

Jan 26th, 2020 49m 21s

In this episode, I explore the ancient Greek story of Cassiopeia and Andromeda (Queen & Princess of a mythic "Aethiopia"), with a brief opening musing about Our Lady (Divine Mother, Mary, etc), the constellation Cassiopeia (that great M in the

1. Kalliope, The Muse

Jan 8th, 2020 21m 35s

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Kalliope's Sanctum! In this episode, I begin with a poetic imagining of Kalliope's story, the one before she was ever Muse on Mount Olympus, and also after, now, as we liberate her back to her own ground of b

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