The Family Tree

Season 3 is on its way, and Dave has an announcement. In this special mini episode, he gives an update and shares some clips showing the developments since Nathan's disappearance.  The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

New information about changelings has surfaced. Dave speaks to previous Cuttings guest, Jackie Hagan and her partner, Klara, and learns information that will have a huge impact on the Sullivan family and other changelings he’s met while documenting The Family Tree. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dave catches up with Melanie and Kora, and with Melissa and Ben after their journey to the rainforest. In a controlled experiment at Goldsmith’s, University of London, and with the help of Shajahan, they attempt to bring Nathan back. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Leaving the others to process what just happened, Dave accompanies Nathan back to visit Jane and sets up his recording equipment. Jane and Nathan catch up and discuss their feelings about Nathan’s circumstances. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

In the aftermath of Nathan’s return, Dave catches up with Kora, Melissa, Nathan, Ben and Melanie as they all process their feelings about the change, and reflect on Ben and Nathan sharing a body. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

In the first Cutting of Season 3, Dave talks to Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad and Philosophy Tube’s Oliver Thorn, discussing philosophical questions around transition, change and belief. The Family Tree’s Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts. Find our Guests! Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad – publications - https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Chakravarthi+Ram-Prasad Papers - http://lancaster.academia.edu/ChakravarthiRamPrasad Lancaster University - http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/people/chakravarthi-ramprasad(02068fdc-a65d-4a1f-982f-659e6620190f).html BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time - Hindu Ideas of Creation -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k289f Oliver Thorn: Twitter - @OllyThorn, @Philosophy Tube  Philosophy Tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/thephilosophytube

Dear Listeners, I hope this finds you well. It truly is a pleasure to be writing to you again, and I’m delighted to be able to connect with you through The Family Tree. It perhaps won’t surprise you to learn that I have faced many challenges since David and I had our little excursion to St James’s Park to visit the oak tree. I find I am quite changed, and I don’t mind telling you, I’ve found it rather difficult to process some of the thoughts and feelings I’ve had since I became a changeling, or a liminal person, as David likes to call us now. David very kindly put me in touch with his friend Azariah, a fellow man of the cloth, and with him I talked through some of the difficulties I’m having. I found his counsel to be very valuable, and I want to share our conversation with you, with the hope that it may serve to help others as much as it helped me. Yours Faithfully, Philip P.S. My parishioners have often preferred to address me as ‘Reverend Beech’, or simply ‘Beech’. I think it has allowed them a separation from me that they’ve found useful, and over time, I’ve found myself thinking of myself that way too. But I think I would like to try being a little less separate, and from here on will sign my letters to you with my Christian name, if that’s alright with you. I find it extremely poignant to see how I titled this episode; Azariah’s comfortableness with his first name while I shelter behind my surname. --------------------------- The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Following a message from Skarbek, Dave meets up with her on Gallions Hill. What she has to tell him is the information that encouraged the Sullivan family to continue recording The Family Tree. In this conversation, Dave learns both encouraging developments and some tragic news. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dear Listeners, I hope my last recording was of some help to some of you. I find myself frequently revisiting Azariah’s thoughtful advice. Every good answer leads to a new question in my experience, but I trust in God to guide us towards a path that is right. I may have believed that They had only one path for us at one time, but I feel that things may be very much more complicated than that. Melanie and I have taken the decision to begin recording our conversations again, and this is what I have to share with you this week. I hope that you may find it interesting, and that it may help those in need. Best wishes, Phillip -------------------------------------- The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Following an enigmatic voice message, Dave facilitates a meeting between Nathan and Nigel. It’s the first time they’ve seen each other since Nathan’s change, and they have a lot of catching up to do. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

In the second Cutting of Season 3, Dave talks to Dr. Alexander Cummins and Dr. Alice Tarbuck about magic and its role in society from the past to the present. And the creators of The Boy Who Hasn’t Lived, CJ Bruce and Arlie Adlington, discuss their families’ perceptions of magic as they were growing up, as Arlie prepares to introduce CJ to the Harry Potter series. The Family Tree’s Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts. Find our Guests! Dr. Alexander Cummins - http://www.alexandercummins.com/ Dr. Alice Tarbuck - https://alicetarbuck.net/ CJ & Arlie on The Boy Who Hasn’t Lived - http://www.theboywhohasntlived.com/

In the first part of a very personal part of the story for Dave, he talks to his dad, who plans to become a changeling. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

In the second part of a very personal part of the story for Dave, he visits his dad for the first time since he began his changing journey. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dear Listeners, I hardly know how to present this episode to you. I thought about telling you all about it, but I think you may find some value in experiencing the surprise the way that Melanie and I did in this conversation. I would like to reassure you all, though, that I am very much alive and well, so please don’t be concerned about anything like that. Goodness me, what a strange world we find ourselves in. Best wishes, Phillip -------------------------------------- The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

In the third Cutting of Season 3, Dave talks to Philosophy Tube’s Oliver Thorn, witchcraft scholar Dr. Alice Tarbuck, and historian Dr Robert Poole about the history, philosophy and ideology of persecution. Dave also considers how the legacy of Lancaster Castle, his own family tree, and an excellent twitter thread by Dr Clare Askew fit within idea that ‘we are the heirs of the witch hunters.’ This episode follows on from the last Cutting, which looked at Magic –  http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/the-family-tree-season-3-cuttings-2-magic/ – and is a companion piece to this Cuttings episode from Season 2: http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/the-family-tree-season-2-cuttings-2-systems-and-structures/ Zoe Prosser, who gives a reading in this episode, was a guest in this Cuttings episode from Season 1: http://thefamilytreepodcast.co.uk/cuttings/cutting-5-fantasies-and-conspiracies/ The Family Tree’s Cuttings discuss the real issues raised in the show with special guests from podcasting, journalism, religion and the arts. Find our Guests! Oliver Thorn: Twitter - @OllyThorn, @Philosophy Tube  Philosophy Tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/thephilosophytube The video featured in this episode is Witchcraft, Gender & Marxism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmk47kh7fiE Dr. Alice Tarbuck - https://alicetarbuck.net/ https://twitter.com/atarbuck Dr Clare Askew: https://twitter.com/OneNightStanzas The twitter thread featured in the episode is this one: https://twitter.com/onenightstanzas/status/1049601689089728512 Dr Robert Poole: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/staff_profiles/dr_robert_poole.php The book focused on in this episode is The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thomas-Wonderful-Discovery-Witches-Lancaster/dp/1874181780

After meeting Ellie, Melanie is open to the idea of allowing Mark to the surface. Along with Ben, Kora, Melissa and Shajahan, she and Dave return to Goldsmith’s to attempt to bring Mark back. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Mark visits Jane, who finally gets to confront him about the effect his decision has had on their family. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

After Jane’s conversation with Mark, the recorder is left on, and accidentally captures Nathan meeting his father for the first time since his return. The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.

Dear Listeners, Mark was a very dear friend of mine a long time ago, and his friendship with the tree is also rooted deep in my consciousness. I do find it very difficult to reconcile this with my feelings about his actions, particularly now I have come to get to know Melanie better. In the conversation I’m sharing with you today, I had the opportunity to talk to him about his decision to change into her, and about his feelings about having multiple conciousnesses within him. I found the conversation quite difficult at times, but ultimately, I think it was valuable, and I hope you will find it of use if you too are struggling with a changeling experience. Best wishes, Phillip -------------------------------------- The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patr

Dear Listeners, The conversation I’m sharing with you today is the first conversation I recorded with Melanie after her escapades with Ellie. I don’t mind telling you that I found the whole experience extremely distressing, and it was important to me that I communicated this to her. I was a little more confrontational than I generally like to be, but I think Melanie and I both feel that our friendship has benefitted from frank and open discussion. Please don’t judge her too harshly. We are all navigating this situation the best we can, and while, in many ways Melanie and I are something more than human, we are also only human. Best wishes, Phillip -------------------------------------- The Family Tree is a magical realist dramatic fiction about family, belonging, change and identity. iTunes RSS Spotify Help The Family Tree to grow by becoming a Patron.