Welcome to Emergence Magazine's podcast.

I'm Emanuel Vaughn Lee, executive editor of Emergence Magazine,

located on the unseated ancestral lands of the Coast Meawak people of present-day Marin County.

Each week we feature a new interview, narrated essay, or story, exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality.

In the midst of the ecological crisis, a time in which our primordial dialogue with the Earth has been forgotten.

There are certain stories that can awaken us

to a deeper consciousness of connection.

For centuries now, we have placed a human

at the center of our dominant narratives

as a conqueror, a ruler, a hero,

and such hubris as silence the voices that surround us

that call to us, offering their wisdom.

What would happen if our stories were, like ancient myths, alive and in conversation with the world?

What journey lies ahead if we listen?

This week, step into an adaptation of our special multimedia experience, Valamon the Bear,

myth in the age of the Anthropocene, which takes us on a journey into the deepest part of ourselves.

Featuring acclaimed mythologist and writer Martin Shaw, Valem on the Bear calls on bone memory,

reminding us that we have always been wedded to the wild.

As Martin recounts this tale, we not only hear the story of a daughter falling in love with a bear,

but also encounter a living myth that gossips across species.

Myth is a wild way of telling the truth.

And this is a story about a girl that fell in love with a bear. A long time ago, there was a king and a queen and their three daughters.

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