Making Space for Meaning: The Renewal of Myth and Storytelling with Jonathan Pageau

In this episode of Makers & Mystics, Stephen Roach sits down with cultural critic, writer, and iconographer Jonathan Pageau to explore the state of contemporary storytelling and the enduring power of myth.

Pageau, creator of The Symbolic World, explains how symbols operate beneath conscious awareness to shape imagination and culture. Together, they discuss why traditional narratives appear depleted, how propaganda differs from true myth, and why fairy tales continue to communicate truths modern culture struggles to articulate.

The conversation turns toward artists and storytellers, what it means to create work rooted in beauty, transcendence, and enduring symbolic patterns rather than novelty or cynicism. The conversation also connects with the theme of The Breath and the Clay 2026 —what it means to make space: space in our art, in our imagination, and in our lives for transcendent meaning to take root.

Jonathan Pageau will be our keynote presenter for this year's event in Winston-Salem, NC, March 20-22. http://www.thebreathandtheclay.com

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Myth, Orthodox, storytellingStephen RoachFebruary 23, 2026Jonathan Pageau, The Symbolic World

S5 E2: The Symbolic World with Jonathan Pageau

Jonathan Pageau is a professional artist, writer and public speaker. He delivers several lectures every year in Universities, conferences and other venues around North America. He speaks on art, but mostly on the symbolic structures that underlie our experience of the world.

Through his YouTube channel and podcast, The Symbolic World, he also furthers the conversation on symbolism, meaning and patterns in everything from movies, to icons, to social trends.

As an artist, Jonathan is one of the only professional icon carvers in North America, taking on institutional and personal art commissions from all over the world. You can view his works in his carving website.

Jonathan is the editor and a contributor for the Orthodox Arts Journal which looks at the revival and significance of liturgical art today. He also gives weeklong carving classes with Hexaemeron School of Liturgical Arts , which are credited by Pontifex University.

Beauty, Faith and Art, PhilosophyStephen RoachJanuary 29, 2019Jonathan Pageau, The Symbolic World, Pentecost for the zombie apocalypse, symbolism, Christian symbolism