The Òrga Spiral Podcasts
Where do the rigid rules of science and the fluid beauty of language converge? Welcome to The Òrga Spiral Podcasts, a journey into the hidden patterns that connect our universe with radical history, poetry and geopolitics
We liken ourselves to the poetry in a double helix and the narrative arc of a scientific discovery. Each episode, we follow the graceful curve of the golden spiral—a shape found in galaxies, hurricanes, and sunflowers, collapsing empires—to uncover the profound links between seemingly distant worlds. How does the Fibonacci sequence structure a sonnet? What can the grammar of DNA teach us about the stories we tell? Such is the nature of our quest. Though much more expansive.
This is for the curious minds who find equal wonder in a physics equation and a perfectly crafted metaphor. For those who believe that to truly understand our world, you cannot separate the logic of science from the art of its expression.
Join us as we turn the fundamental questions of existence, from the quantum to the cultural, and discover the beautiful, intricate design that binds it all together. The Òrga Spiral Podcasts: Finding order in the chaos, and art in the equations Hidden feminist histories. Reviews of significant humanist writers. -The "hale clamjamfry"
The Òrga Spiral Podcasts
Unpacking Scotland. From Lord Byron's Peaks to Hidden Female Voices
"Unpacking Scotland" demands looking beyond the tartan-clad romance of lochs and castles to uncover its complex, often contradictory soul. This is a land of dualities: the Enlightenment reason of Edinburgh’s philosophers coexists with the enduring magic of Highland folklore.
One well-trod path follows the figure of the Romantic hero, epitomized by Lord Byron. His iconic, stormy persona was consciously sculpted amidst the dramatic peaks of the Cairngorms, a landscape that became synonymous with a certain brooding, masculine genius. This is the Scotland of grand narratives.
But to truly unpack the nation, we must listen for the hidden female voices echoing from the margins. These are the voices of poets like Violet Jacob and Marion Angus, who captured the gritty resilience of rural life, or the forgotten women of the Red Clydeside movement who fought for social justice. It is the enduring hum of the Gaelic caileag, the fishwife, and the tenement mother—voices often omitted from the national story.
The true journey lies in holding both Scotlands together: acknowledging the soaring, Byronian myth while actively tuning our ears to the powerful, often quieter, chorus of women that gives the land its true and profound depth.