Welcome to The Art of Enchantment

One of Substack’s Top Ten Literature Substacks, January 2024

A gathering place for hags, wildlings, lovers of myth, fairy tales and depth psychology, where we explore the mysteries of the psyche and the journey through the second half of life. If you’d like to know more about enchantment, and why I wrote about it, please visit this page.

Subscribe today and receive a free gift – a PDF workbook on ‘Myth and Metamorphosis’ – for joining me. And please scroll down to find out about referral rewards.

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For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m an award-winning author and psychologist; I also have an academic background in mythology and folklore. My work is focused on reimagining women’s stories – especially our journey through the second half of life – and on the relevance of myths, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today. As well as writing five books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling If Women Rose Rooted and my latest, Hagitude, my writing has appeared in several international media outlets – among them the Guardian, the Irish Times, and the Scotsman. I’ve been interviewed by the BBC, US public radio and other broadcasters on my areas of expertise. My awards include the Roger Deakin Award, and a Creative Scotland Writer’s Award. My next book, Wise Women: a new mythology of older women, will be out from Virago in October, 2024.

I’m a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and have taught and lectured at several academic institutions, Jungian organisations, retreat centres and cultural festivals around the world. I’m also online faculty for Pacifica Graduate Institute, California, where I teach an Advanced Training Certificate Course on ‘Finding Ourselves in Fairy Tales: a Narrative Psychological Approach’ and other programs for The Retreat/ Pacifica Online.

I’m represented by Jane Graham Maw at Graham Maw Christie. You can find out much more about me at my main website.



Why subscribe?

My commitment to those of you who choose to become supporters of my work is to ensure that you receive something of value in return for that support. Not just carefully crafted words, but ideas and inspiration for life. Because if I’m passionate about anything, I’m passionate about transformation – about the idea of life as a constant process of becoming. It’s only by transforming ourselves that we can hope to transform the world. And I’m passionate about enchantment, something I’ve been writing about for many years and which I laid out in my book The Enchanted Life in 2018. (Read on for more about enchantment.)

Join my community by subscribing to ‘The Art of Enchantment’, and you’ll be among the first to hear about new writing, books, courses and events. At the ‘free’ level, you’ll receive an emailed monthly newsletter with news and reflections, book recommendations and reviews. There are occasional additional articles for free subscribers, and you will also have access to this archive. In addition, you’ll receive a gift for joining me: a downloadable workbook on ‘Myth and Metamorphosis’.

As a paid subscriber, you’ll have access to work focused on myth and fairy tales, on depth/ archetypal psychology, on women’s stories, on reimagining the second half of life and on place and belonging. If you’d like to access exclusive new content from me, then for £6 a month/ £52 a year – just £1 for each of the exclusive offerings you’ll receive – you can have it sent directly to your email inbox.

You’ll receive, on top of my free monthly newsletter, a midweek thread on The Heroine’s Journey, and a weekly weekend offering from among the following:

  • Monthly ‘fairy tale salons’, in which you can join me for a monthly live Zoom session to talk about these beautiful old stories in greater depth

  • ‘On the couch’, a monthly ‘advice column’ where I’ll give you a long-form answer to one of your questions about an aspect of our journey through life that you’d like help with

  • Long-form articles and opinion pieces in my specialist areas

  • Access to an exclusive occasional podcast in which I’ll be in conversation with a guest on one of the subjects I’m passionate about

  • Occasional ‘Mythopoetic moments’, for those who are interested in some of the ideas behind archetypal psychology and cultivating the mythic imagination

  • ‘Ask me anything’ opportunities

  • Paid subscribers can engage with me in the ‘Chat’ section of Substack; you can also begin your own (relevant) threads there, and enjoy the conversation with the rest of the community

I believe in writers being paid for their work, but as someone who grew up in poverty I also believe in making my work accessible to as many people as possible. So if you are genuinely unable to afford a subscription but think this community is for you, please email us at sharon@sharonblackie.org and we’ll offer you a complimentary subscription, with no questions asked.

The Hearth

The Hearth is an exclusive space within this publication for those of you who want to deepen your work with story and the mythic imagination, and who would like to support my work in a more focused way. Membership of The Hearth includes all the benefits that paid subscribers have, along with four live online retreats with me each year, around the four old seasonal festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa. These retreats will last for around an hour and a half and, like all of my work and courses, will be focused on myth, fairy tales and narrative psychology: kickstarting the imagination, deepening our sense of belonging to the world around us, and facilitating personal transformation.

In between these retreats, you’ll receive occasional exclusive newsletters and occasional extra live sessions with guest storytellers and teachers.

Hearth members will also have the chance, a couple of times a year, to win a thirty-minute one-to-one session with me.

Membership of The Hearth is currently priced at £150 per year.


Why enchantment?

I’ve been writing about enchantment for over a decade now; here’s what I said about it in my book The Enchanted Life:

I believe that enchantment is an attitude of mind which can be cultivated, a way of approaching the world which anyone can learn to adopt: the enchanted life is possible for everybody.

Enchantment, by my definition, has nothing to do with fantasy, or escapism, or magical thinking: it is founded on a vivid sense of belongingness to a rich and many-layered world; a profound and whole-hearted participation in the adventure of life.

The enchanted life is one which is intuitive, embraces wonder and fully engages the creative imagination – but it is also deeply embodied, ecological, grounded in place and community. It flourishes on work that has heart and meaning; it respects the instinctive knowledge and playfulness of children. It understands the myths we live by; thrives on poetry, song and dance. It loves the folkloric, the handcrafted, the practice of traditional skills. It respects wild things, recognises the wisdom of the crow, seeks out the medicine of plants. It rummages and roots on the wild edges, but comes home to an enchanted home and garden. It is engaged with the small, the local, the ethical; enchanted living is slow living.

Ultimately, to live an enchanted life is to pick up the pieces of our bruised and battered psyches, and to offer them the nourishment they long for. It is to be challenged, to be awakened, to be gripped and shaken to the core by the extraordinary which lies at the heart of the ordinary. Above all, to live an enchanted life is to fall in love with the world all over again. This is an active choice, a leap of faith which is necessary not just for our own sakes, but for the sake of the wide, wild Earth in whose being and becoming we are so profoundly and beautifully entangled.

You can find out much more about me and my books at my main website, including a page devoted to my work on enchantment.


Rewards for referrals

If you enjoy ‘The Art of Enchantment’, I’d very much appreciate it if you would help to spread the word, and invite your friends to read it. If you refer friends, you’ll receive rewards that will give you free access.

When you use the personalised referral link below, or the ‘share’ button on any post, you’ll get credit for any new subscribers: one month free for 3 subscribers, three months free for 10 subscribers, and six months free for 25 subscribers. Simply send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media.

Subscribe, then sign into The Art of Enchantment and head to the Leaderboard on the top menu bar. On the leaderboard page, you'll see your unique referral link, your progress i.e. how many people you've referred and have subscribed to the publication, and your place on the leaderboard. One you've reached a referral milestone, you'll receive an email with the reward. Please note that if you are a paid subscriber, your complimentary subscription will be applied at the end of your current billing period.

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New writing from the award-winning author and psychologist. A gathering place for lovers of myth, fairy tales and depth psychology, exploring the mysteries of the psyche and the enchanted life.

People

Award-winning author & psychologist. Fellow, Royal Society of Arts; SoA Roger Deakin Award. 5 books of fiction & nonfiction, inc. the bestselling 'If Women Rose Rooted'; 'Wise Women' coming from Virago October 2024. #8 in Top Literature Substacks.