I am creating The Amuseum, a podcast about meaning, I am not a semiologist, or anyone who has ever studied meaning in an academic capacity; but I love making films, and I am a witch. Both of these have caused me to think deeply about symbols, metaphors, and motifs and how these languages are interpreted.

Take for example, my statement ‘I am a witch’, this will of course evoke images unique to each reader, depending on what you think a witch is which depends on your knowledge of witchcraft is; did it come from Harry Potter, horror films, or the church? So despite that yes, you might all agree, I am a witch; what that means is fragile.

I am excited by language, all kinds of language, visual, aural, textual and symbolic. I find it fascinating that there is the teller, the broadcaster, the person speaking, writing, playing an instrument, painting a picture, making a dress whatever, and this person has an intention for what this communiqué represents. Then there is the audience receiving this information, and despite the fact that they might even agree on what this item represents, they may not agree on its meaning.

After I left my job in advertising, making media people actively avoided, I read tarot cards at a community farmer’s market. Week after week people, usually women, would sit at my table as I laid out their reading, hoping to find some meaning, some communication from another paradigm that would give meaning to their love lives, financial situations, or life choices. You see the cards have no inherent meaning, they do not carry messages from beyond. It is a symbolic language, a deeply personal language and the symbols will mean something different to everyone. People are funny, they want to believe in free will, and they want to believe in destiny.

The Amuseum will also explore myths, legends, fairytales and folklore. Some of these stories are of course thousands of years old. Their meaning, or the relative importance of these meanings could be contested. It is interesting though that many of these symbols and themes have been told over and over again, in various forms, around the world. And that they still have the capacity to entertain us, they still feel relevant.

I know that looking for meaning in things isn’t considered rational, and that today it is more generally thought that things mean nothing. That only science and rationality is important. Believe me, I am a fan of science, I am even a fan of reason, I just don’t think they are mutually exclusive. I think the sun can be the centre of our solar-system and we can still think it is worth celebrating as the winter-born king. I don’t think the world around us lost meaning it lost emotional, psychological or philosophical meaning and became resources. The forest became timber, the ocean became the fishing industry, and we became ‘the market’. Maybe it is time we looked harder for other meanings…