Paul Robichaud 🪨🐐
@pjrobichaud.bsky.social
Literature, myth, folklore • Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland, & Brittany • Pan: the Great God’s Modern Return • Poems in NewPoetry.ca, The South Shore Review, and The Ekphrastic Review • Professor of English
'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.' — William Lonsdale Watkinson, 1907.
📷Maria Shemesh
📷Maria Shemesh
January 23, 2026 at 3:19 PM
'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.' — William Lonsdale Watkinson, 1907.
📷Maria Shemesh
📷Maria Shemesh
‘There was a sense of intolerable loveliness, of brimming life, of rapture. The thousand faces lifted like a cloud. They heard the piping close. And so He came.’ — Algernon Blackwood, ‘The Touch of Pan’ (1917)
🎨Arnold Böcklin, ‘Idyll’ (detail), 1875.
🎨Arnold Böcklin, ‘Idyll’ (detail), 1875.
January 23, 2026 at 3:13 PM
‘There was a sense of intolerable loveliness, of brimming life, of rapture. The thousand faces lifted like a cloud. They heard the piping close. And so He came.’ — Algernon Blackwood, ‘The Touch of Pan’ (1917)
🎨Arnold Böcklin, ‘Idyll’ (detail), 1875.
🎨Arnold Böcklin, ‘Idyll’ (detail), 1875.
The Pogues, ‘Red Roses for Me’ (1984; 2024 rerelease on red 180g vinyl).
Had this album on cassette back in the 80s. Especially love ‘Dark Streets of London’ and ‘Greenland Whale Fisheries.’
Had this album on cassette back in the 80s. Especially love ‘Dark Streets of London’ and ‘Greenland Whale Fisheries.’
January 21, 2026 at 10:37 PM
The Pogues, ‘Red Roses for Me’ (1984; 2024 rerelease on red 180g vinyl).
Had this album on cassette back in the 80s. Especially love ‘Dark Streets of London’ and ‘Greenland Whale Fisheries.’
Had this album on cassette back in the 80s. Especially love ‘Dark Streets of London’ and ‘Greenland Whale Fisheries.’
Returning to the college today for the start of my Spring classes.
January 21, 2026 at 2:21 PM
Returning to the college today for the start of my Spring classes.
In medieval romance and later ballad, Thomas of Erceldoune was granted the gift of prophecy by the Queen of Elfland after she takes him to live with her for seven years. His prophecies survived in Scottish folklore collected as late as the 19th century. #WyrdWednesday
🎨Thomas Canty
🎨Thomas Canty
January 21, 2026 at 1:01 PM
In medieval romance and later ballad, Thomas of Erceldoune was granted the gift of prophecy by the Queen of Elfland after she takes him to live with her for seven years. His prophecies survived in Scottish folklore collected as late as the 19th century. #WyrdWednesday
🎨Thomas Canty
🎨Thomas Canty
Leonard Cohen was not wrong.
January 21, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Leonard Cohen was not wrong.
Actor Tom Baker was born #OTD in 1934!
📺 Tom Baker at the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire, filming ‘Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood’ (1978)
📺 Tom Baker at the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire, filming ‘Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood’ (1978)
January 20, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Actor Tom Baker was born #OTD in 1934!
📺 Tom Baker at the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire, filming ‘Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood’ (1978)
📺 Tom Baker at the Rollright Stones, Oxfordshire, filming ‘Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood’ (1978)
January 19, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Sheep and stones at the Kerlescan alignments at Carnac in Brittany. #StandingStoneSunday
January 18, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Sheep and stones at the Kerlescan alignments at Carnac in Brittany. #StandingStoneSunday
Now listening: Broadcast, ‘The Future Crayon’ (2006).
January 17, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Now listening: Broadcast, ‘The Future Crayon’ (2006).
‘Sweet, sweet, sweet, O Pan!
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.’
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘A Musical Instrument’ #BookWormSat
🎨Arnold Böcklin
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.’
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘A Musical Instrument’ #BookWormSat
🎨Arnold Böcklin
January 17, 2026 at 2:31 PM
‘Sweet, sweet, sweet, O Pan!
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.’
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘A Musical Instrument’ #BookWormSat
🎨Arnold Böcklin
Piercing sweet by the river!
Blinding sweet, O great god Pan!
The sun on the hill forgot to die,
And the lilies revived, and the dragon-fly
Came back to dream on the river.’
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘A Musical Instrument’ #BookWormSat
🎨Arnold Böcklin
Met this tree last night.
January 17, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Met this tree last night.
The epigraph to Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Shadow Ticket’ (2025). Currently reading.
January 16, 2026 at 10:28 PM
The epigraph to Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Shadow Ticket’ (2025). Currently reading.
New publication date: 'Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany' will be published by Reaktion Books in the UK on 13 April.
Pre-order through your favourite bookseller! #BookSky
Pre-order through your favourite bookseller! #BookSky
January 16, 2026 at 4:33 PM
New publication date: 'Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany' will be published by Reaktion Books in the UK on 13 April.
Pre-order through your favourite bookseller! #BookSky
Pre-order through your favourite bookseller! #BookSky
Finally tracked down a copy of ‘Doctor Who Chronicles: 1970.’ I recently rewatched this season of Doctor Who on Blu-Ray. If you’re a fan, these ‘Chronicles’ for specific years of the series are excellent.
January 16, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Finally tracked down a copy of ‘Doctor Who Chronicles: 1970.’ I recently rewatched this season of Doctor Who on Blu-Ray. If you’re a fan, these ‘Chronicles’ for specific years of the series are excellent.
I recently completed OBOD's Bardic grade course and thought it was excellent. I'd been looking for a more solid foundation for my personal practice, and Druidry seemed a good fit with my stage of life and spiritual, cultural, and ecological concerns. Looking forward to continuing the journey. /|\
January 15, 2026 at 8:01 PM
I recently completed OBOD's Bardic grade course and thought it was excellent. I'd been looking for a more solid foundation for my personal practice, and Druidry seemed a good fit with my stage of life and spiritual, cultural, and ecological concerns. Looking forward to continuing the journey. /|\
‘You may think all this strange nonsense; it may be strange, but it is true, and the ancients knew what lifting the veil means. They called it seeing the god Pan.’ — Arthur Machen, ‘The Great God Pan’ (1894)
🎨Aubrey Beardsley, frontispiece, ‘The Great God Pan’
🎨Aubrey Beardsley, frontispiece, ‘The Great God Pan’
January 15, 2026 at 12:40 PM
‘You may think all this strange nonsense; it may be strange, but it is true, and the ancients knew what lifting the veil means. They called it seeing the god Pan.’ — Arthur Machen, ‘The Great God Pan’ (1894)
🎨Aubrey Beardsley, frontispiece, ‘The Great God Pan’
🎨Aubrey Beardsley, frontispiece, ‘The Great God Pan’
‘‘Afraid?’ murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. ‘Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet — and yet — O, Mole, I am afraid!’’ — Kenneth Grahame, ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (1908) #WyrdWednesday
🎨Arthur Rackham, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ (1939)
🎨Arthur Rackham, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ (1939)
January 14, 2026 at 12:28 PM
‘‘Afraid?’ murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. ‘Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet — and yet — O, Mole, I am afraid!’’ — Kenneth Grahame, ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (1908) #WyrdWednesday
🎨Arthur Rackham, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ (1939)
🎨Arthur Rackham, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ (1939)
In Robert Eggers’ 2015 film ‘The Witch,’ the goat named Black Phillip tempts Thomasin by asking, ‘Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?’ #WyrdWednesday
January 14, 2026 at 11:37 AM
In Robert Eggers’ 2015 film ‘The Witch,’ the goat named Black Phillip tempts Thomasin by asking, ‘Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?’ #WyrdWednesday
Enjoyed ‘Northern Nights,’ an anthology of Canadian ‘strange stories’ edited by Michael Kelly. Shout out to Marc A. Godin, whose story ‘The Mi-Carême’ is set during the Acadian Deportation and draws on Acadian folklore!
January 13, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Enjoyed ‘Northern Nights,’ an anthology of Canadian ‘strange stories’ edited by Michael Kelly. Shout out to Marc A. Godin, whose story ‘The Mi-Carême’ is set during the Acadian Deportation and draws on Acadian folklore!
The Crucuno dolmen near Erdeven in Brittany, June 2023. #TombTuesday
January 13, 2026 at 12:21 PM
The Crucuno dolmen near Erdeven in Brittany, June 2023. #TombTuesday
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Stonehenge was brought to Salisbury Plain from ‘Mount Killarus’ in Ireland, where it was known as the Giants’ Dance, having been constructed by giants with stones from Africa. The move was made possible through Merlin’s cunning. #MythologyMonday
January 12, 2026 at 11:49 AM
According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Stonehenge was brought to Salisbury Plain from ‘Mount Killarus’ in Ireland, where it was known as the Giants’ Dance, having been constructed by giants with stones from Africa. The move was made possible through Merlin’s cunning. #MythologyMonday
Two views of Union Station in Toronto.
January 12, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Two views of Union Station in Toronto.
Saying goodbye to the Royal York Hotel, a Toronto landmark. 🫡
January 11, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Saying goodbye to the Royal York Hotel, a Toronto landmark. 🫡
Blue skies over Stanton Drew Stone Circles, Somerset, July 2023. In folklore, the stones were believed to drink at night from the river Chew. #StandingStoneSunday
January 11, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Blue skies over Stanton Drew Stone Circles, Somerset, July 2023. In folklore, the stones were believed to drink at night from the river Chew. #StandingStoneSunday