The Witch Wave

By: Pam Grossman / Phantasmaphile LLC
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  • Summary

  • The Witch Wave is a podcast for bewitching conversation about magic, creativity, and culture. On each episode, host Pam Grossman speaks with a leading visionary about art and Craft.
    2017-2024
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Art Spirituality
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Episodes
  • #140 - Lykanthea A.K.A. Lakshmi Ramgopal

    #140 - Lykanthea A.K.A. Lakshmi Ramgopal
    Dec 18 2024
    Lakshmi Ramgopal is a musician and dancer who performs under the name Lykanthea. Her electro-mythic debut EP, Migration, received much-deserved praise from such outlets as The Chicago Tribune, Noisey, and Public Radio International’s The World (and listeners will recognize its track “Hand and Eye” as The Witch Wave theme song). She’s collaborated with Savage Sister on their sundrowned EP, and she’s been creating and performing music via sound installations and performances for spaces such as The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art and Chicago’s Lincoln Park Conservatory. Her new project, Some Viscera, marks a shift in instrumentation, drawing more heavily on her training in South Indian classical (or Carnatic) music, as well as organic sounds from analog instruments, bird song, and lullabies. It touches on atavistic questions of motherhood and personal legacy. When performed live it is an evening-length work of sound and movement that explores childhood, nostalgia, and kinship in the Indian-American diaspora in the wake of India’s independence, while questioning the boundaries of classical forms. Embracing the warmth of the sruti box, unprocessed vocals, and strings, Ramgopal’s ensemble draws on a wide range of influences to create a work that is as expansive as it is intimate. Some Viscera premiered at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on September 26-27, 2024, and the music of Some Viscera is now available in a standalone album.In addition to that, performing both solo and with her ensemble, Lakshmi has done site-specific, immersive shows in spaces like Chicago’s Edgar Miller’s Glasner Studio and Garfield Park Conservatory, and in the middle of a freshwater stream. In 2018 she showed A Half-Light Chorus, which a sound installation commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio, and In 2020 she and visual artist Nancy Davidson showed a site-specific sculpture and sound installation, at Krannert Art Museum. The museum acquired it in 2023. Lakshmi received her PhD in Classics from the University of Chicago, and she is currently Assistant Professor of History at Columbia University, with a focus on the Roman Empire. On this episode, Lakshmi discusses her sonic shift from electronic to analog, music as ancestral offering, and the reincarnating power of love.Pam also talks about the secret magic of lullabies, and responds to a listener’s comment about reconciling witchcraft with one’s religious upbringing.Songs featured in the episode are all from Lykanthea’s new album, Some Viscera:“Bird Song”“Garuda”“The Nightingale”“Cremation”Our sponsors for this episode are Ritual + Shelter, TU·ET·AL, UBU Skills, BetterHelp, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Grimsby Hollow Meadery, and Open Sea Design Co.We also have print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here, and all sorts of other bewitching goodies available in the Witch Wave shop.And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to detailed show notes, bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • #139 - Laura Tempest Zakroff, Sigil Witch

    #139 - Laura Tempest Zakroff, Sigil Witch
    Dec 4 2024

    Laura Tempest Zakroff (she/they) is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of several bestselling Llewellyn books including Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, Visual Alchemy, and Anatomy of a Witch, as well as the artist and author of the Sigil Witchery Oracle, Anatomy of a Witch Oracle, and The Liminal Spirits Oracle.

    She is also devoted to magical activism through her sigil offerings and other work. To that end, Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch’s Handbook to Magical Resistance, The Gorgon's Guide to Magical Resistance, and Serpents of Circe: A Manual to Magical Resilience from Revelore Press. Laura is the creative force behind several community events and teaches workshops online and worldwide. Her site WeAreAradia.org is a hub for magic and activism, and lauratempestzakroff.com is where you can learn more about all her other art witch offerings.

    On this episode, Laura discusses the importance of magical resistance in tumultuous times, the art of crafting sigils, and the power of embracing the embodied divine.

    Pam also talks about the centering magic of stars, and answers a listener question about what to do with a loved one’s old spell jars.

    Our sponsors for this episode are Woodland Magic, the Many Moons 2025 Lunar Planner, TU·ET·AL, BetterHelp, ZOUZ Incense, Grimsby Hollow Meadery, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and Snowy Owl Tea

    We also have print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here, and all sorts of other bewitching goodies available in the Witch Wave shop.

    And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to detailed show notes, bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave
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    1 hr and 30 mins
  • #138 - Damsel Elysium, Intuition Musician

    #138 - Damsel Elysium, Intuition Musician
    Nov 20 2024

    Damsel Elysium is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and experimental sound and visual artist who uses double bass, violin, and original recorded sounds to explore alternative communication and connections with space, nature, and the unseen world. Their performances combine improvisational music-making, ritual, costume, and fantastical worldbuilding, giving the audience a sensation of being transported to another realm while staying rooted wholly in their bodies. Damsel’s EPs include 2024’s Whispers from Ancient Vesselsand Whispers and Speakings, as well the score to the short horror film GLINT. Their LP softfalling will be out in 2025, and they are currently developing it in part via a multimedia exhibition at London’s Stage Gallery which is up now through November 27th.

    In addition to that, Damsel has collaborated with and performed for FKA twigs and V&A Museum, they’ve created work for Tate Collective, they’ve created glass instruments for IITTALA, they’ve been commissioned by fashion brands such as Gucci and Simone Rocha, and they’ve composed for films which have entered Sundance film festival.

    On this episode, Damsel discusses performance as ritual, the animism of instruments, and their intuitive approach to making music.

    Pam also talks about seeking the light in dark times, and answers a listener question about how to change one’s luck.

    Featured tracks in the episode:

    Damsel Elysium “Shoreline” from Whispers from Ancient Vessels

    Damsel Elysium “Whispers from Ancient Vessels – Nyokabi Kariuki Rework” from Whispers and Speakings

    Damsel Elysium “Wide Eyed Bird Sings” from the GLINT Soundtrack

    Our sponsors for this episode are Mithras Candle, BetterHelp, Rue and Vervain, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and Snowy Owl Tea

    We also have print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here, and all sorts of other bewitching goodies available in the Witch Wave shop.

    And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to detailed show notes, bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave
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    1 hr and 24 mins

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