Episode 97: Animism, Heathenry and Witchcraft with Cat Heath
“They’re Coming Back” Watercolor on handmade cotton paper, Barbara Fisher, Oct. 2022
I didn’t really intend for October to be the month of magic and witchery here at 6 Degrees of John Keel, but it kind of just happened that way.
This week’s episode is the result of a listener emailing me and telling me to contact Cat Heath, because as she said, “The three of you sound like you get into the same kinds of shenanigans.”
I had already read her book, (Elves, Gods and Witches—it’s so full of information and it’s dense with history and magic but is so readable—that’s hard to do) though it took me a second to realize “Oh, hey, Catherine Heath and Cat Heath are the same person, duh!” And I loved the book, so of course, I contacted her and the time we could record together was October, so here we are. Morganna couldn’t record with us sadly, but she’ll be back around in some episodes soon. Between her next to the last semester of collage and her internship at the library, she’s a super busy scholar.
So, what can you expect from this episode? Cat is a great storyteller and she does get into some shenanigans. She has. a great sense of humor, and she has this instinct to chase down untrustworthy creatures when they come skulking about her family and friends. She’s fearless, and fun and she knows her stuff. We talk animism, spirits, fae, elves, Seidr, Spiritualism, Witchcraft and more.
And fear not, we’ll have her back, because Morganna is so sad she missed her, and because she’s just too awesome for anyone to miss.
She mentioned several books in the episode:
The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Heathen Soul Lore Foundations and Heathen Soul Lore A Personal Approach by Winifred Rose
You can find Cat Heath at her blog: and on her Facebook Page: Seo Helrune.
She’s teaching two interesting new classes for intermediate to advanced practitioners of magic.
October 30: Mound Magic: Elves, Necromancy and Adaptation, Part I and
November 13: Mound Magic: Elves, Necromancy and Adaptation, Part II
