Fabulous Folklore with Icy22 Sep 2025

Monsters and Strange Creatures with Natalie Lawrence

Natalie Lawrence is an author and illustrator who explores our relationship with the natural world, looking through multiple lenses - from the biological to the mythic and psychoanalytic. She completed a MSc and Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, exploring the making and meanings of monstrous creatures in seventeenth century Europe.

She published her first book as a teenager, Feathers and Eggshells, inspired by Hampstead Heath and the birds she was entranced by as a child, and published Planta Sapiens with Paco Calvo in 2022. She has also given a TedX talk, appeared on BBC Radio, and worked with installation artists.

In this chat, we talk about humans' fascination for monsters, how the walrus was originally conceived of as being a monster, the Hydra of Hamburg, cryptids as contemporary monsters and the ways in which our understanding of what is real and what exists has changed over the centuries.

Buy Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781474619035

Find Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalie.j.lawrence/

And her website: https://nataliejlawrence.com/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

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Episoder(442)

Folklore and Cinema: The Trick Films of Georges Méliès

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The Folklore of Stringed Musical Instruments: The Viola, Irish Harp, Violin, and Guitar

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16 Mai 21min

Theatre Superstitions: Whistling, the Ghost Light, and Macbeth

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9 Mai 48min

Cursed Artworks: Three Haunted Paintings and their Superstitions

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2 Mai 20min

Divination Using Clouds, Flames, Ashes, and Dreams

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25 Apr 16min

Random Chance Divination: Casting Lots and Throwing Dice

Divination is a beautifully varied practice, with a plethora of tools and practices designed to give insight into situations. Practices like reading tea leaves or tarot cards already appear on this po...

18 Apr 17min

Pendulum Dowsing: From the Sieve and Shears to Looking for Love

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11 Apr 19min

The Scottish Fairy Courts with Morgan Daimler

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10 Apr 1h 26min