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© 2025 Catherine Svehla, PhD
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Welcome to Myth Matters, a thought-provoking exploration of myth in contemporary life and the intersection of myth, creativity, and consciousness. Host Catherine Svehla PhD. shares her knowledge of mythology and depth psychology to find insight and explore possibilities. Member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation MythMaker℠ Podcast Network.
Learn more at www.mythicmojo.com and keep the mystery in your life alive.
137 Episodes
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Send Catherine a text Message "We are all taking everything that we've learned from the past, and we're reformulating what we want to do with that and how we want to live. And so, one of the ideas that's embedded in that, for me, is that when you're in this period of history, like we are now, with AI and with the digitization of everything and with the resurgence of a fascist movement, everything is up for grabs. You know, anything can happen, and that's the whole point really, that we ...
Send Catherine a text Message "Leaving home" is an interesting metaphor for the call to significant change. This episode is a reflection on intention, uncertainty, and how myths can help us listen to the soul and find clarity around the risks and purpose of the journey. Thanks for listening and keep the mystery in your life alive... Support the show Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com Post a positive review on apple podcasts! Learn how you can work with Catherine at https://myt...
Send Catherine a text Message In this episode, we take a look at the fairy tale "The Valiant Tailor" or the "The Brave Tailor," collected by the Brothers Grimm. Honestly, I almost dismissed this story as a bit too silly and I didn't like the tailor much at the outset. But what you don't like about a story can be a good prod to look more closely... The tailor's adventures opened reflections on trickster strategies, courage, and the power of imagination. All useful bits to put in your poc...
Send Catherine a text Message “You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.”-- Joseph Campbell In this episode we explore the mythic theme of leaving home as a central part of answering the call to transformation. Drawing from myths such as Inanna’s Descent, Valemon the White Bear King, Psyche and Eros, and The Odyssey, we reflect on the symbolic and literal meanings of “home,” and how leaving it often initiates deep personal change. Support t...
Send Catherine a text Message She goes down As we go down We follow her underground Hail to Inanna Who died To become born. — Chant from the writer Starhawk and the Reclaiming Collective This is episode #3 in a four-part series on the Sumerian myth of the goddess Inanna and the part of the story that contains her descent to the underworld. It's a fascinating story and a very old one, which tells us something important about this journey and the surrounding mysteries, and how they live in our ...
Send Catherine a text Message “The Church says: the body is a sin. Science says: the body is a machine. Advertising says: The body is a business. The Body says: I am a fiesta.”― Eduardo Galeano, from Walking Words In this episode I tell the second part of Inanna's story, the courtship and marriage between Inanna and her honey man, the shepherd Dumuzi. Ripe in every sense, Inanna engages in a passionate and symbolic union that celebrates physical desire, renews the life c...
Send Catherine a text Message In the first days, in the very first days, everything needed was brought into being and the goddess Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, took her place in the center of the Sumerian pantheon. This myth was recorded at the beginning of history and describes a pivotal time in human civilization. We're reckoning with the developments of this time, today. Inanna's myth can help us find a place-- as individuals, communities, and countries-- in the transformation t...
Send Catherine a text Message "We need joy as we need air." Maya Angelou Joy. Joy is my motivation, my desire and object in sharing some poetry with you in this episode. Joy---gladness, pleasure, delight, and rejoicing. Joy, a very precious freedom. How can you, how can we, build our capacity for joy? The belief that suffering alone lends you depth and nobility seems pretty common, and I wonder about this. Is familiarity with hardship sufficient to grow in compassion and resilience? Or does j...
Send Catherine a text Message The final episode in a three-part exploration of the mysterious Baba Yaga, a scary crone in Russian and Slavic fairy tales. Who or what is she? The fairy tale "Finist the Bright Falcon" opens up some interesting possibilities. Support the show Email Catherine at drcsvehla@mythicmojo.com Post a positive review on apple podcasts! Learn how you can work with Catherine at https://mythicmojo.com Buy me a coffee. Thank you!
Send Catherine a text Message The Baba Yaga is a complex and scary crone in East Slavic and Russian fairy tales. She's a face of the earth goddesses and the fierce wildness of nature. Are some of us meeting the Baba Yaga right now? There's a lot of chaos right now as institutions, laws, and norms of behavior that order our societies are attacked. Chaos that has a parallel in escalating natural disasters and other earth events. Is this a collective initiation? What might we see if...
Send Catherine a text Message Welcome to episode one of the new (7th) season of Myth Matters! A new year and a time of change. Is this, as some say, the time of the wise, elder woman, the time of the crone? The Baba Yaga is one face of this archetypal energy. This episode is the first of two about the Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga is a complex and multifaceted figure in Russian and East Slavic fairy tales. She's a scary crone with roots in the pre-Christian pagan goddesses that we now call "moth...
Send Catherine a text Message “These lofty words are an antidote for anyone sickened by extremism’s poison.” Farid ud Din Attar, translation by Sholeh Wolpé The Conference of the Birds is an epic poem from the 12th century written by Sufi poet Farid ud Din Attar. The poem tells the story of a group of birds and an arduous journey to find a mysterious king. Renowned for its depth and beauty, the Conference of the Birds is an allegorical teaching about the spiritual path to self-realization tha...
Send Catherine a text Message Endings, loss, and uncertainty. Fears of a catastrophic future. Many of us are living with this right now or wondering how to. How to act. How to participate. Perspective and guidance can be gleaned from myths and old stories. They are a poetic record of life in a world where catastrophe happens. A world in which people have at various times, felt that everything was falling apart or that the world might even end. Support the show Email Catherine at drcsvehla@myt...
1Send Catherine a text Message "It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope." –Ursula K. LeGuin This episode revolves around the Welsh myth of Cerridwen and the Birth of Taliesin. I've worked with this story a number of times. It comes to mind this time of year because Cerridwen is both a goddess and a witch, and this story includes potions, cauldrons, shapeshifting, and poetry. A different theme emerged for me this time in response to our...
Send Catherine a text Message To what do we owe greater allegiance, our outer life in the material world of human conventions, or our inner life and the requirements of soul? I explore this question through the lens of a fairy tale called "The Nixie in the Mill Pond," collected by the Brothers Grimm. This is a big topic and a fascinating story with many twists and turns so I'm devoting to episodes to it. This is part 1. " Sometimes a man stands up during supper and walks outdoors,...
Send Catherine a text Message How we imagine our lives is how we live our lives, and mythologies provide the images and ideas in this process. But images of the human in the dominant myths-- as sinner, dominator, or world destroyer-- aren't guiding us toward a bright future. What are the alternatives? How about an ingenious, improvising jack-of-all-trades, the "bricoleur"? There is no "Myth of the Bricoleur" as far as I know and yet, the bricoleur and the act of bricolage can be found in myth...
Send Catherine a text Message How we imagine ourselves is how we'll be. And where do we receive these images of the human? They're in our myths. In this episode, I take a look at three images in the myths of the dominant culture that determine how many of us see ourselves and how we live: the sinner, the king of the animal kingdom, and the world destroyer/ parasite. Are these images useful today? How do we find and live into alternatives? I'm joined by the insightful Dr. Craig Cha...
Send Catherine a text Message Sifting through options to make a decision is something that each of us has to do at some point. When our choice is part of a creative process in work or life, in the arts or our psychic terrain, it can be very difficult. Something new will come into the world. Some type of transformation will take place. We're deeply invested in the outcome and there may be consequences. The dilemma posed by the need to make a choice is a common feature in the tests and tasks fa...
Send Catherine a text Message “We would do well… to think of the creative process as a living thing implanted in the human psyche.” --- C.G. Jung (1922) Collected Works 15 We often say that every person is inherently creative and yet doubts and fears of inadequacy are common. Many of us hesitate to make any claims to creativity and feel it is lacking in our lives, or question the value of our creative processes and the outcomes. In this episode I offer a perspective on this dilemma with...
Send Catherine a text Message Apple's ad for the new iPad has evoked some very strong reactions, reactions that illuminate old links between image, metaphor, myth, and our collective notions about creativity and the creative process. The current cultural conversation is a good starting point for reflection on some commonly held images of creativity and the way these images shape our creative process and the value we place upon it. This is the first in a series of episodes that will expl...
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It was my first time with this podcast and I can't say how excited I am. Btw, there are numerous similarities between this story and a folktale we have in Persian called "band anghoshti" meaning someone as big as a knuckle bone. And it's a about a little boy as well who brings justice for his old parents. But your analysis was so stirring that I must listen to this episode multiple times.😍