
119 episodes

The Witch Wave Pam Grossman / Phantasmaphile LLC
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- Religion & Spirituality
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4.9 • 1.4K Ratings
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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.
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#114 - Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13
Sadie Dupuis is the guitarist, songwriter, and singer of rock band Speedy Ortiz, whose albums include Major Arcana, Foil Deer, Twerp Verse, and their forthcoming album, Rabbit Rabbit which is about to be released on Sept 1 of this year. She is also the producer and multi-instrumentalist behind the pop project Sad13, through which she’s released the albums Slugger and Haunted Painting. She’s also collaborated with artists such as Lizzo, Ben Lee, and the New Pornographers.
In addition to all that Sadie heads the record label Wax Nine, edits its poetry journal, and is a regular contributor to Spin, Tape Op, Talkhouse, and more. She holds an MFA in poetry from UMass Amherst, where she also taught writing. Mouthguard, her first poetry book, was published in 2018 by Gramma, and Cry Perfume, her second poetry collection, was released in 2022 from Black Ocean. She is also an organizer with the Union of Musicians & Allied Workers and its local UMAW Philly.
On this season finale episode, Sadie discusses the magic of music-making, the powerful pull of poetry, and why she embraces glitch witchery in her work.
Pam also talks about upcoming summer sorcery, and answers a listener comment about the Witch Wave community.
(Songs featured in the episode:
“Plough” from Major Arcana by Speedy Ortiz
“Ruby Wand” from Haunted Painting by Sad13
“Puffer (Lazerbeak Remix)” by Speedy Ortiz, Lizzo, and Lazerbeak
“Scabs” from Rabbit Rabbit by Speedy Ortiz
“Ghost (of a Good Time)” from Haunted Painting by Sad13
“Coming Into Powers” from Slugger by Sad13)
Our sponsors for this episode are VVITCH Digital, The Spacious Tarot, Hallowed Haircraft, BetterHelp, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and Ritual+Shelter
We also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.
And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave -
#113 - Priestess Stephanie Rose Bird, Author of African American Magick
Priestess Stephanie Rose Bird is the author of numerous books of magic including the COVR award-winning Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones, as well as The Healing Power of African American Spirituality, A Healing Grove, Four Seasons of Mojo, 365 Days of Hoodoo, and her most recent book, African American Magick: A Modern Grimoire for the Natural Home. She also illustrated two of her published books and is illustrator for the upcoming book, Motherland Herbal.
Priestess Stephanie is a Black magick maker and healer, and her writing brings to the fore her eclectic practices, combined with her passion for mythology, folklore, and fairytales from around the world, but especially of her ancestry - the African diaspora. She is an accomplished fine artist with works in major collections. Bird has exhibited in numerous galleries, universities, libraries, institutions, and programs such as the Arts-in-the-Embassies program where she is being exhibited at the US Malaysian Embassy, Kuala Lumpur. A Fulbright Senior Scholar, Bird did her fieldwork in anthropology and art in Australia, studying in various Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the Outback.
She holds a BFA cum laude from Temple University, Tyler School of Art, and a MFA from University of California at San Diego, where she was a San Diego Opportunity Fellow. A former Professor of Fine Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has been interviewed on PBS Madison WI, ABC-7 news, BBC London, Urban Gardener, WNPR, WBEZ, in the Smithsonian, and many other venues.
On this episode, Priestess Stephanie discusses the magic of the African diaspora, the gifts of intuitive gardening, and why seasonal living can make spiritual practice more potent.
Pam also talks about getting to know her new garden, and answers a listener question about a feline altar-cation.
Our sponsors for this episode are Feline, VVITCH Digital, On Venus Botanica, Ritual+Shelter, BetterHelp, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
We also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.
And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave -
#112 - Brian Cotnoir, Artful Alchemist
Brian Cotnoir is an alchemist, artist and award-winning filmmaker. He is the author of many books including Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter. Practical Alchemy: Guide to the Great Work, The Emerald Tablet, Alchemical Meditations. and a series of Alchemical ‘Zines. His newest book, On Alchemy: Essential Practices and Making Art as Alchemy will be out on June 13th, and is available for pre-order now.
Brian has also presented seminars and workshops around the world on various aspects of alchemy including at the Occult Humanities Conference. He is also the founder of Khepri Press which was started in 2014 through which he organizes and distribute his alchemical work of all sorts, including books, zines, and prints.
On this episode, Brian discusses the origins of alchemy, the relationship between transmutation and magic, and why the creative process is an alchemical one.
Pam also talks about the union of opposites, and answers a listener question about an otherworldly cat.
Our sponsors for this episode are BoneArrow, Lunar Leos, Hallowed Haircraft, BetterHelp, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
We also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.
And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave -
#111 - Untitled Queen, Shapeshifting Storyteller
Untitled Queen is a queer Filipinx / Boricua artist based on the stolen land of LenapeHoking otherwise known as Brooklyn. She is a storyteller creating deeply emotional and visceral performances while exploring what it means to be a queer millennial working artist in New York. Through an interplay of drag, installation, and drawing her work explores the growing pains and joys of queer adolescence into adulthood, while challenging and dissolving colonial notions of culture and belonging.
Untitled Queen is the recipient of the Brooklyn Nightlife Award for Drag Queen of the Year 2015. She is a resident performer for RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 Winner Sasha Velour’s NightGowns show. She has exhibited her artwork at such spaces as Kishka Gallery, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, The University of Connecticut, The Kitchen, Boston Center for the Arts, and the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division.
She is also the creator and editor of the Queer Creatives Community Directory: a free, open resource google sheet that features over 1400 Queer artists and freelancers from across the world. In 2020, she created and produced Untitled (America), the first digital drag show to feature 51 drag artists of color, each representing one state in the United States, as well as Untitled (World), the first global digital drag show featuring 47 drag artists each representing one country. Her monthly Untitled (Show) drag series can be seen at Brooklyn’s queer bar and venue C’Mon Everybody, and her recently announced drag competition called Untitled (Art Star) will be happening there from June through October.
On this episode, Untitled Queen discusses the power of embodying witch and shaman archetypes through her drag, art as a practice of decolonization, and the liberating magic of queer spaces.
Pam also talks about magical beings with Asian roots, and answers a listener question about shifting into a new physical realm.
Our sponsors for this episode are The Spacious Tarot, Midge Blitz, Earth Spirit, Theyfriend Candles, BetterHelp, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab
We also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.
And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave -
#110 - Katherine May, Author of "Enchantment" and "Wintering"
Katherine May is an internationally bestselling author and podcaster based in Whitstable, UK. Her most recent book, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age became an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. Her internationally bestselling hybrid memoir Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times was adapted as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week, and was shortlisted for the Porchlight and Barnes and Noble Book of the Year. The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of a midlife autism diagnosis, was adapted as an audio drama by Audible. Other titles include novels such as The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club, and The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood which she edited. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Observer and Aeon.
Katherine’s podcast, How We Live Now, ranks in the top 1% worldwide, and she has been a guest presenter for On Being’s The Future of Hope series.
On this episode, Katherine discusses why enchantment matters, the differences between British and American attitudes toward spirituality, and the magic of connecting to the natural world.
Pam also talks about her own enchanted exploration, and answers a listener question about learning the beginning elements of witchcraft.
Our sponsors for this episode are Snowy Owl Tea, Bonearrow, The Moon Studio, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, BetterHelp, and Mithras Candle.
We also have brand new print-on-demand merch like Witch Wave shirts, sweatshirts, totes, stickers, and mugs available now here.
And if you want more Witch Wave, please consider supporting us on Patreon to get access to bonus Witch Wave Plus episodes, Pam’s monthly online rituals, and more! That’s patreon.com/witchwave -
BONUS EP: CC Paschal, Future Ancestor (and Fairy Podmother)
The Witch Wave fairy podmother and sonic sensei, CC Paschal, has been on a spiritual - and material - journey to save their family's ancestral home *by the end of this month!* Please share CC's GoFundMe widely and do contribute if you are able to!
CC Paschal (she/they) currently heads editorial content and development at the audio production house, Molten Heart. She also teaches audio documentary art, most recently at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at Maine College of Art & Design. Their book, "Audiocraft, The Art and Business of Making Podcasts that Mean Something" is out later this year from Routledge.
Previously, CC was the series editor of NPR’s critically acclaimed narrative series Louder Than a Riot, about the interconnected rise of mass incarceration and hip-hop culture; as well as Malcolm Gladwell’s Broken Record, and the award-winning independent show about intimacy and power, The Heart. In 2017, CC was a lead producer on Gimlet Media's Peabody award-winning production Uncivil where she honed her genealogical research skills and first discovered her Melungeon / Free People of Color ancestry.
On this bonus episode of The Witch Wave, CC discusses their magical mission to save their family's home, the importance of Black land stewardship in America, and the spiritual synchronicities that helped them heed this ancestral call.
(Here’s CC’s GoFundMe page once again!)
Customer Reviews
An absolute must!
My life has been forever changed. Thank you, Pam, for introducing so much into my life. I am forever grateful.
Love this pod!
I have learned so much from Pam and the guests she has on her show. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom here, it’s truly a delight.
One of the best witchy podcasts out there!
I look forward to this podcast. Pam is a fantastic interviewer.