The Podcast With A Thousand Faces

What if the greatest adventure of your life began with someone else's unfinished dream?

Laura Carney is a writer, memoirist, and longtime copy editor whose work has appeared in publications including Good Housekeeping, People, Washington Post, Maria Shriver's The Sunday Paper and Runner's World. But it was a deeply personal story that would become her bestselling memoir, My Father's List: How Living My Dad's Dreams Set Me Free.

When Laura was twenty-five, her father was killed by a distracted driver, leaving behind more than memories. Hidden away was a handwritten list of sixty dreams he had written as a young man -dreams he would never have the chance to fulfill. Years later, Laura made the extraordinary decision to complete the list herself, transforming an unimaginable loss into a journey of courage, healing, and self-discovery.

In this heartfelt conversation, we explore Laura's remarkable journey, the enduring influence of Joseph Campbell, the Hero's Journey, synchronicity, forgiveness, and the surprising ways our relationships with those we've lost continue to evolve. Together, we reflect on what it truly means to embrace life fully, and how sometimes the path to becoming ourselves begins with answering a call we never expected.

Find out more about Laura and her book at https://www.bylauracarney.com/

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.
To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribe
The Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner.
All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this special bonus episode of The Podcast With A Thousand Faces, author, mythologist, and longtime friend of the Joseph Campbell Foundation Phil Cousineau returns to discuss his new book, The Wisdom of The Odyssey.

In conversation with JCF’s John Bucher, Phil explores why Homer’s ancient epic continues to speak so powerfully to the modern world, especially as Christopher Nolan’s new film adaptation brings The Odyssey back into popular culture. Together, they reflect on Odysseus’ long journey home not simply as an adventure story, but as a map of the soul - a timeless meditation on memory, exile, temptation, self-control, wisdom, and the deep human longing to return to what is most true.

This conversation invites us to ask what our own odysseys are teaching us, what we may have forgotten along the way, and what wisdom we are being called to bring home.

For more information on Phil Cousineau and his new book The Wisdom of The Odyssey visit: https://www.philcousineau.net/

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.
To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribe
The Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner.
All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this episode of The Podcast With a Thousand Faces, Joanna Gardner speaks with author, herbalist, naturalist, land steward, and boxing coach Vanessa Chakour.

Vanessa’s work invites us into a deeper relationship with our inner and outer wilds. Through her books Awakening Artemis and Earthly Bodies, she weaves memoir, myth, plant medicine, animal kinship, and ecological healing into a powerful call to remember ourselves as part of the living Earth.

In this conversation, Joanna and Vanessa explore rewilding as a return to our true nature, the healing power of boxing, the mythic force of Artemis and the fierce feminine, Joseph Campbell’s influence on Vanessa’s life and work, and the stories we must question, compost, and rewrite if we are to live in deeper kinship with the more-than-human world.

Together, they ask what it means to come home to the body, to the land, and to the wild intelligence that has been waiting beneath the surface all along.

For more information about Vanessa visit : https://www.vanessachakour.com/

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.
To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribe
The Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner.
All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

What happens when mythology meets astrophysics, and the stars become storytellers? In this episode of The Podcast With A Thousand Faces, JCF’s Joanna Gardner sits down with Dr. Moiya McTier - an astrophysicist, folklorist, author, and science communicator whose work bridges the worlds of science, story, mythology, and creativity. Since breaking barriers at both Harvard University and Columbia University, Dr. McTier has given hundreds of talks around the world, helped design museum exhibits, consulted on projects with Disney, and become a compelling voice helping people reconnect wonder, metaphor, and meaning with the cosmos. She is also the host of the astronomy podcast Pale Blue Pod and the author of the upcoming book Mothers of Invention.

Together they explore Joseph Campbell’s influence on her work, the mythic resonance of the Artemis II mission, the role of metaphor in both science and myth, and what creativity can teach us about being alive in an increasingly technological world. Thoughtful, expansive, and full of wonder, this conversation invites us to reconnect with curiosity, imagination, and the shared human experience beneath the stars.

For more on Dr. McTier visit https://www.moiyamctier.com/

Instagram: @goastromo

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.
To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribe
The Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner.
All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)

In this episode, Sean Brawley, performance coach, former top-ranked professional tennis player, and expert in accelerated learning, joins John Bucher for a wide-ranging conversation that begins in the world of elite sport and opens into something much deeper. Drawing on his experience competing at the highest levels and his work with Tim Gallwey and the Inner Game philosophy, Sean shares how his understanding of performance shifted from effort and control toward awareness, attention, and the way we learn.

From there, the conversation moves into language, etymology, and the hidden layers of meaning within the words we use every day. Along the way, the ideas of Joseph Campbell weave through the discussion, especially the notion of following your bliss and the unexpected turns that shape a life. What emerges is a thoughtful exploration of performance, identity, and how paying closer attention - to both our experience and our language - can open up new ways of seeing and engaging with the world.

To learn more about Sean vist: https://seanbrawley.com/

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.
To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribe
The Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner.
All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)