OUR STORY

Nobody believes Phaeton's claim to divine heritage: Helios, the sun god, is his father. The boy sets out on a quest to find his dad, and when they're finally united, Helios promises to fulfill one wish. Phaeton asks to drive the chariot of the sun for a day. It all ends in fire, ruin, and a geomyth.

OUR CONVERSATION

• Matthew opens with Z.R. Ghani's poem "The Reddest Red." Full text of poem.
• Ovid's telling of Helios and Phaeton as a geomyth, a story that may preserve the memory of a real meteor that streaked over Greece centuries before it was ever written down
• How myth takes time: a "mythically literate" people needed centuries to turn a single terrifying event into a story that could be held and retold
• A detour into Manchán Magan's theory that Cú Chulainn's warp spasm may encode a meteor sighting, too
• Travel, the personal spiritual quest, and the "forward-leading wake" that changes a place as more people go there to experience it
• Matthew's course, Committed to Heart, Committed to Memory, and his "conviviums," communal practices of memorizing and reciting poetry together online

OUR GUEST

Matthew Stillman is a life-long New Yorker, a lover of language, culture, and a practitioner of bigger questions, wondering aloud, and sitting in mystery. He has spent a lifetime studying and practicing with aspects of Eastern and Western spiritual discipline, alongside years of deep engagement with long-form improvisational comedy.

He is the author of Genesis Deflowered, a book of biblical erotica written in Elizabethan English that looks at how we might heal the fracture between sex and spirit in our culture. Matthew is also the conceiver and producer of The End of Poverty?, a feature-length documentary about the origins of poverty and why it persists in a world with so much wealth. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Directors' Choice commendation, and Matthew has spoken at the UN four times about it.

He started a skin care company, Primal Derma, where he works to reclaim older, forgotten threads connecting the health of place, animals, and humans.

At the end of the episode, you'll hear about Matthew's current project, in which he teaches the dusty and deeply beautiful skill of poetry memorization and recitation through his online course, Committed to Heart, Committed to Memory. Classes are starting now.

Learn more at stillmansays.substack.com

Find Matthew at: @stillmansays (IG) / Committed To Heart, Committed To Memory (FB)

WORK WITH MARISA

1:1 Writing Coaching: If you are working on a novel, memoir, or visionary creative nonfiction, book a free consultation with Marisa. Learn more at www.marisagoudy.com

Learn about our global writing community, the Authors' Knot: www.marisagoudy.com/writing-groups

Follow the show on Substack, Instagram, and Facebook.

Music by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com

Love the show?

Subscribe to Myth Workers' Hearth on Substack to support KnotWork Myth & Storytelling and join our community of myth, land, and living wonder. www.mythworkers.com