I’m all for the magical and the divine, but I think we do a disservice to the goddesses—as well as the culture, the history, and the mortal human condition—when we force women out of this world and into the otherworld to serve our desire for life on the other side of the veil.

There’s a tremendous risk of romanticizing the old world, locking a beloved place in nostalgia and forgetting it is full of the bustle and bruises of real, contemporary life. Real folks living real lives that have just about nothing to do with your imagination and projection.

There’s a phrase in the Irish language that I have come to love. In fact, it’s a concept that I’ve always loved and lived, but couldn’t fully describe until recently: fite fuaite.

When you have a storytelling podcast about Celtic mythology and Irish folklore and March comes around, it’s inevitable: the Saint Patrick’s Day episode.

The conversation you hear in Episode 5 of KnotWork Storytelling is a conversation between two writers who love stories, the power of story in capital S sort of way, and tend to think deeply (overthink?) just about everything.

Do you know the story of the selkie, the seal who transforms into a woman and lives on shore for a time?

Oh, the irony of launching KnotWork Storytelling when the power is out due to a winter storm!

Plus, Episode 3 featuring Maura MacMahon telling the tale of the 17th century Irish noblewoman, Máire Rua O'Brien.

In Episode 1 of KnotWork Storytelling, Conspiring with Brigit, Kate tells two stories of Ireland’s matron goddess and saint.