• Narnia's The Silver Chair: Father Time and the Eye of the Needle
    Sep 16 2025

    What was the Eye of the Needle and why did Jill pass through it? What made Puddleglum's foot so strong in stomping out the green fire? How did we get stuck with a comfort-breaking challenge again? (How did three sisters get through recording this?)

    I hope you enjoy this episode, and in these dangerously contentious times, I hope we can all take with us what the Underlanders of Bism learned: "Why, then, your majesty is a friend!"

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Narnia's The Silver Chair: Remember the Signs
    Jul 4 2025
    Four signs, two children and a marshwiggle walk into a castle...

    Colleen Mueller joins us on the journey from British boarding school to a Parlaiment of Owls, through the icy moors and to Harfang Castle. Grab some berries-and-cream tea and enjoy the nostalgia and the challenge. (Are we really going to talk about comfort again? I'll give you one guess!)

    For more of Colleen, you'll find her blog at colleenmuellerwrit.wix.com/mysite. She shares musings on both popular books and writing itself.

    As always, you'll find more on Substack, Instagram and Etsy under Mystic Tea and Stories.

    Thank you for listening!

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Narnia's Dawn Treader: The Albatross is Here
    May 22 2025

    JC Alexandre is back for another adventure to the Utter East of Narnia (and into the things of God).

    The tea: Wait, we might actually mean punch?

    The narrative: More like a story than a spell, and He'll tell it to us for years and years.

    The PARDES: We're invited into a personal confidence, and reassured.

    The Challenge: Five minutes to transform your day.

    As always, you'll find more on Substack, Instagram and Etsy under Mystic Tea and Stories.

    Thank you for listening!

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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Narnia's Dawn Treader: Renew Your Mind
    Feb 25 2025

    JC Alexandre, fantasy author, and I explore The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from The Chronicles of Narnia.

    JC brings us droll humor, sailors' tea punch (you must try it) and new recs (a Narnia cartoon by the director of Peanuts? Who knew?)

    Content warning: Things get a little dragonish, by which we mean, disgusting. Watch your tummy.

    You can find JC at jcalexandrewrites.com and on social as @jcalexandrewrites. His book, The Light Prince Grail, is available in paperback and e-book.

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    46 mins
  • Narnia's Prince Caspian: The Ecstatic Dance
    Jan 28 2025

    Old Narnians on the Dancing Lawn, David and Goliath & doubting Thomas, (what's with the DLF acronym?) and Biblical astrology (as opposed to today's trends). Join Cathy Scoon and I for some realizations and musings from the Chronicles of Narnia's Prince Caspian.

    You'll find Cathy on Instagram as @cathanascoon, and you can follow her podcast, Eruditely Ersatz, on Spotify. As always, you can reach me (Amanda) at mysticteaandstories@gmail.com.

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    51 mins
  • 3 Spiritual Challenges to Try (Narnia Edit)
    Jan 20 2025

    Inspired by The Magician's Nephew, Shinto Misogi, Sahlil Bloom and...grubby bathrooms? But really, though. Check out the results of three spiritual challenges inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia. They're quick (though maybe not easy), and impactful, so I say you try them!

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    13 mins
  • Narnia's The Horse and His Boy: The Huge, Clear North
    Dec 5 2024

    It's possible you've never wondered why you might want to drink Lion's Mane tea (by the lion's mane, ahem), or whether the Christian poem, Footprints in the Sand, is actually the Horse's Boy, Shasta's, story.

    It's likely you've never thought about why the Hermit of the Southern March only had one window that faced North - or how North figures prominently in Narnia AND other mythologies.

    But now that I've posed the questions, you can't very well just go away without finding out the answers, can you? Give us a listen - it's myself and Sarah Coogan this episode - and let us know what you think!

    As always, you can reach me (Amanda) at mysticteaandstories.com, and you'll find Sarah at sarahcoogan.net. Happy listening (further up and further in)!

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    50 mins
  • Narnia's 'The Horse & His Boy:' Better is One Day
    Nov 15 2024

    Excited this week to have Sarah Coogan, scholar of Irish & British literature, join us to explore the mystic depths of the Chronicles of Narnia's The Horse and His Boy!

    Join us as we ask:

    - Did Shasta & Corin have a bit of twin telepathy?

    - What message are the settings (city, desert, hermitage) trying to convey?

    - How judgy is Lewis really trying to be? (We actually hit on some realizations in the next episode, coming soon!)

    As always, you can reach me (Amanda) at mysticteaandstories.com, and you'll find Sarah at sarahcoogan.net. Happy listening (further up and further in)!

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    1 hr and 7 mins