Our Numinous Nature
Our Numinous Nature is a traveling podcast in search of profound stories focused on regional flora & fauna, folklore & history with a penchant for the mysterious. We’ll be hearing from folks with a deep connection to the land, from herbalists to hunters, folk artists, paranormal investigators, & living historians. The hope is to reach the soul of these people & places through tales of profundity & awe. Find a comfy log and join us at the sonic campfire.
Our Numinous Nature
THE ANTIQUARIAN ANGLER; FLY FISHING FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO EARLY MODERN | Sportsman | Harrison Idol
Harrison Idol is a sportsman, fly fisherman, Army Officer and budding antiquarian currently building up his collection of antique sporting books in Maryland. After a reading from The Compleat Angler written in 1653 about fly tying & trout, Harrison opens on growing up on his family's generational tobacco farm in North Carolina. While inspired by vintage sporting aesthetics, Harrison boldly embarked on a collector's shopping spree of antique fishing & hunting books dating back to the 15th-century. From Ancient Greece & Rome to the medieval, we hear of Dame Juliana Berners' 1420 treatise [the first English book on fishing] which introduces angling not solely as a means to acquire food, but as a contemplative art loaded with Christian symbolism. A prayer, a review of a 350-year-old trout recipe, an unlikely collaboration between men of vice & virtue; pike folklore; and historical rod & tackle materials; Harrison's collection culminates with a leather bound, time worn copy of the famous 17th-century instructional fishing narrative, The Compleat Angler by Englishman, Izaak Walton. Bringing this episode into the spirit of the autumnal season, we end on a hunting ghost story from Harrison's old family farm.
Reading from The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com