#136 - Joanna Ebenstein, Founder of Morbid Anatomy and Author of "Memento Mori"
The Witch Wave
Pam Grossman
4.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2024
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joanna Ebenstein is the founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy, which is the world’s leading community that focuses on, among other things, the culture and contemplation of death. Morbid Anatomy has taken many forms since its founding in 2007. It’s been a wildly popular blog, a library, a museum, a project-in-residence at Green-Wood Cemetery, just to name a few, and it’s currently both an in-person gathering space in Brooklyn’s Industry City, as well as a thriving online community that features lectures, workshops, and merch, as well as in-person experiences including field trips, conferences, and other events.
An internationally recognized death expert, Joanna is the author of several books, including Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human Anatomy, Death: A Graveside Companion, and The Anatomical Venus. Her newest book is Momento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life. She is also an award-winning curator, photographer, and graphic designer, and the teacher of the many times sold-out class, Make Your Own Memento Mori: Befriending Death with Art, History and the Imagination.
On this episode, Joanna discusses the value of ancestor veneration, her research on varying cultural attitudes about grief and loss, and how befriending death can lead to a better life.
Pam also talks about Samhain as time to contemplate the divinity of death, and answers a listener question about activism and the Goddess.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of the Witch Wave is brought to you by Ritual and Shelter. |
| 0:05.0 | Looking for a magical place to shop and hold space, |
| 0:09.0 | check out Ritual and Shelter in Homewood, Alabama. |
| 0:13.8 | Brows through their bookshelves covering topics of magical history, theory, and practice, |
| 0:20.0 | as well as tarot cards and oracle decks from well- known artists and |
| 0:25.0 | even decks created by local witches in Alabama. |
| 0:28.5 | From teas, tonics, and tinctures |
| 0:31.2 | to toad skulls and termoline towers. You can find all of these and so much more on their |
| 0:37.7 | witchy website ritual shelter.com or in person. So lather up that shelter or |
| 0:45.0 | rather up that flying ointment and travel down to ritual and shelter in |
| 0:49.0 | homewood, Alabama or check them out online at ritual shelter.com. Did you run out a flying |
| 0:55.9 | weightment? Well they have that too. |
| 0:58.8 | Hello my friend I am often asked about how people can get even more witch wave and more |
| 1:05.5 | magic in their lives overall and I have the answer. You can join me over on the witch wave |
| 1:12.1 | Patreon. This is how you can hear from me and my other |
| 1:17.0 | magical guests on a weekly basis via my Witch Wave Plus, bi-weekly bonus episodes. |
| 1:24.7 | And you get the regular Witch Wave episodes, |
| 1:27.4 | add free, and you get detailed show notes for all of it. And all Patreon members also get access to my monthly |
| 1:37.6 | ritual workshops which you can attend live or watch the recording of at your leisure throughout the month. |
| 1:45.0 | Rewards for some tiers also include magical merch and contests where you can win |
| 1:50.6 | witchly prizes, as well as early heads up about my workshops before they sell out, |
| 1:57.1 | and opportunities to work with me one on one. |
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