Ep. 169: Growing Up Antonia Owens | Exclusive Interview with Alexandra “Lexi” Artrip

DISCLAIMER: Today's episode contains discussions of real-life murder cases, domestic violence, and graphic descriptions of injuries and death, including blunt-force trauma. While we'll be having a little fun with our Practical Magic-inspired true-crime parody, the real cases featured in this episode involve actual victims and families whose experiences are anything but fictional. We've approached these stories with care and respect, but some of the details may be disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.

⚠️ CONTENT ADVISORY: This episode includes a discussion of historical werewolf trials involving allegations of violence against children, murder, and cannibalism. Listener discretion is advised. Last week, we followed the wolf through folklore, symbolism, and the world of Practical Magic. This week, we’re staying on the wolf trail—but turning our attention to one of the most infamous plants ever to bear its name: wolfsbane. Also known as aconite and monkshood, this beautiful purple flower has spent centuries straddling the line between medicine and poison, protection and danger, history and myth. But how did a plant once associated with poisoning actual wolves become so inseparable from witches, werewolves, shapeshifting, and the supernatural? We’re digging into the very real science behind one of the world’s most toxic plants, its long and deadly history, ancient mythology, witchcraft and magical correspondences, the modern Poison Path, lycanthropy lore, and the many ways books, movies, television, and horror have transformed wolfsbane into the ultimate supernatural plot device. AND... remember that little sidequest into the Werewolf Witch Trials we stumbled upon last week? Well, apparently we weren't finished with THAT rabbit hole! 🐺 This week, we're digging even deeper into the chilling history of people accused of transforming into wolves, the witchcraft hysteria surrounding lycanthropy, and the very real consequences of believing that werewolves walked among us. And, of course, we’re returning to the Owens poison garden, where wolfsbane may have a small presence on the page—but in The Rules of Magic, it becomes something far more significant in the story of Vincent Owens, death, transformation, and escape. Plus: Roman poisonings, witches’ flying ointments, Hecate and Cerberus, Shakespeare, The Wolf Man, Harry Potter, a bizarre Maisie Williams/Practical Magic 2 red string, and the question we somehow never stopped to ask: Why the hell is it called WOLFSBANE in the first place? Grab your gardening gloves—actually, maybe don’t touch anything at all—and meet us in the poison garden. 🌿💀

There are few creatures that live so completely between the worlds of fact and folklore as the wolf. They've been feared as monsters lurking beyond the edge of the woods, revered as guardians and guides, transformed into werewolves, woven into fairy tales, and called upon as symbols of instinct, loyalty, protection, freedom—and the wildness within us that refuses to be tamed. And naturally, the wolf has left its tracks throughout Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series. This week, we're following those tracks through all four books, with special attention to Faith Owens and her beloved familiar, Keeper, whose story gives new meaning to one of the most beautiful ideas in Magic Lessons: Love is a wolf. Then we're stepping beyond the garden gate to meet the real animal beneath the mythology. We're exploring wolf behavior and family dynamics, the truth behind the infamous "alpha wolf," wolves vs. dogs, howling and communication, and the complicated relationship between wolves and humans. From there, we're heading deep into the woods for wolves in mythology, fairy tales, witchcraft and folklore—from ancient wolf gods and legendary shapeshifters to Little Red Riding Hood, werewolves and lycanthropy, The Company of Wolves, and the Wild Woman archetype of Women Who Run with the Wolves. Finally, we'll explore wolves as magical and psychological symbols: intuition, protection, belonging, dreams, shadow work, transformation, and reclaiming the untamed self. Because after centuries of being told to stay on the path and beware of what waits in the woods... perhaps it's time we asked whether the wolf was ever really the monster. Keep your lantern lit, Witches. We're following the howl. 🐺🌙

The Stinas are back from Lancaster County, PA... and we have some STORIES to tell.

💎WARNING: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF BILLY ZANE…💎 When Alice Hoffman published Practical Magic, she planted one small detail into Maria Owens’s story: a blue sapphire. Maria wore the stone until the day she died—a gift from the man she loved, worn to remind herself of what was important and what was not. But as Alice expanded the Owens family story, she also expanded the mythology of this little blue stone. Across all four books, the sapphire accumulates layers of love, wisdom, prophecy, magic, inheritance…and one particularly interesting mystery. Because somewhere along the way, Maria Owens’s sapphire goes missing. In The Rules of Magic, Franny sells the centuries-old family heirloom to help Vincent escape. As far as readers know, it’s gone. And yet, decades later in The Book of Magic, there it is again…around Sally Owens’s neck at her wedding, with absolutely no explanation for how it found its way home. Naturally, Justina couldn’t leave that alone. So in addition to tracing the sapphire through Owens family history and the chronology of Alice Hoffman’s writing, she’s connecting a few red strings of her own. Today, we’re filling in that mysterious missing chapter with a little Magnolia Street fanfiction we’re calling The Sapphire Gap. And then things get even more Magnolia Street. Because sapphires have their own fascinating history filled with folklore, superstition, prophecy, famous jewels…and curses. And following those red strings somehow brought us back to an inexplicably recurring Magnolia Street obsession: The Titanic. Rose DeWitt Bukater (WAS she a long lost Owens ancestor?). And, of course, Billy Zane. Justina has been sitting on pieces of this madness since Season Two: abandoned notes, unfinished theories, strange coincidences, and red strings that never quite connected. Until now. This episode is her Roman Empire. So grab your magnifying glass, your grimoire, your gemological equipment (and perhaps a life jacket) because after four years of Magnolia Street lore, we have to ask: 💙 Have we been circling the same blue stone all along?