Welcome to The Art of Enchantment

A gathering place for hags, lovers of myth, fairy tales and narrative psychology, and all those seeking the enchanted life.

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

I’m Dr Sharon Blackie – award-winning and bestselling author, psychologist and mythologist. My books, courses and lectures are focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of myths, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today. I’m especially passionate about re-enchanting, and reimagining, women’s stories.

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 anthologies, collections and in several international media outlets – among them the Guardian, the Irish Times, the i and the Scotsman. My books have been translated into several languages, and I’ve been interviewed by the BBC, US public radio and other broadcasters on my areas of expertise. My awards include the Society of Author’s Roger Deakin Award, and a Creative Scotland Writer’s Award. My next book, Wise Women: Myths and folklore in celebration of older women will be published by Virago in 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. 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 if we want to change the dominant, life-denying cultural mythology which is failing us and failing the planet, we also need to begin by transforming the myths that each one of us chooses to live by. We need to discover our personal calling, to uncover the unique gift that we each bring to the world at this time – and to understand our own individual mythopoetic journey through this life. That’s the foundation for all of my work.

Join my pack 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. This includes book recommendations/reviews, and a favourite poem or quote. There are occasional additional articles for newsletter subscribers, and you will also have access to this archive. Free subscribers will also have access to post comments so that you can engage with me and my growing community. In addition, you’ll receive a gift for joining me: a downloadable workbook on ‘Myth and Metamorphosis’.

If you’d like to access exclusive new writing and audio from me, then for £6 a month/ £55 a year you can have them sent directly to your email inbox each week. This work is focused on myth and fairy tales, on psychology, on women’s stories, on women reimagining the second half of life and on our relationship with our places. You’ll have access to:

• At least one article a month in my specialist areas: myth, folklore & fairy tales; narrative psychology; place and belonging; and Hagitude – articles about the ways in which women can begin to re-enchant and reimagine the second half of our lives

• Access to an exclusive regular podcast in which I’ll be in conversation with a guest on one of the subjects I’m passionate about, or in which I’ll offer reflections on a favourite myth or fairy tale, or other areas encompassed by the term ‘enchantment’

• Regular ‘fairy tale salons’, in which I’ll provide an audio file of me reading a favourite fairy tale or short piece of mythic fiction, and then invite you to discuss it in the ‘comments’ section. From January 2024, there’ll also be a monthly live Zoom session with me so that we can talk about these beautiful old stories in greater depth.

• At least one ‘drop of enchantment’ each month: prompts to encourage you to reflect on the enchanted life

• Regular ‘ask me anything’ opportunities

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

• By clicking the ‘leave a comment’ button at the bottom of each post you receive in your email box, you can travel swiftly to this site to participate in subscriber-only conversations with me relating to the issues I’m writing about or working with right now.

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. 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 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.

You’ll also have access to other resources for working with the mythic imagination which I’ll offer at intervals throughout the year: audio journeys, workbooks and more.

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

Be enchanted

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 to The Art of Enchantment.

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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