In the shadow of Puritan New England, where scripture, law, and community shaped every aspect of daily life, a different kind of visionary emerged. Drawing on European alchemical traditions, Hermetic philosophy, and Christian reformist ideals, he believed that nature itself was a sacred text, written by the Creator and waiting to be deciphered. This episode brings you a story of religion, medicine, politics, and alchemy in an age of upheaval and imagination: the story of John Winthrop, Jr.

Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.

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In 1764, Fray Juan José Toledo, the priest of the mission church in Abiquiú, New Mexico, wrote a striking letter to the local magistrate. In it, he described an extraordinary spiritual crisis: a surge of demonic possessions affecting the women in his congregation. Viewed through the lenses of gender, colonialism, and religious conflict, this event emerges as a powerful moment of Indigenous resistance, expressed through bodies and language. This episode tells a story of ritual and rebellion: the story of the witches of Abiquiú.

Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.

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In the summer of 1612, a woman named Alice Nutter walked to her death. She was not like the others who stood beside her on the gallows, gaunt women worn hollow by poverty. Alice Nutter was a woman of property in Lancashire, a woman of standing, and—most damningly—a woman who did not easily bow her head. This episode brings you a story of fear, injustice, and resistance in early modern England: the story of the Pendle witch trials.

Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.

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