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The Art of Enchantment: transforming women's stories

A gathering place for lovers of myth, fairy tales and (post-Jungian, mostly Archetypal) depth psychology. Here, we explore the mysteries of the psyche, our relationship with place and planet – and whatever might lie beyond it all. My focus is on reimagining women’s stories, exploring women’s faith and spirituality, and thinking about the relevance of myths and fairy tales – especially my own native British and Irish stories – to the personal, cultural and environmental issues we face today. The Art of Enchantment is about finding meaning – and joy – in this ever-more-challenging world. And enchantment? I’ve been writing about it for over fifteen years now. In my 2018 book The Enchanted Life, I wrote that ‘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.’ It’s all about relationship, reciprocity – and doing the work.

Subscribe today and receive a free gift – a PDF workbook on ‘Myth and Metamorphosis’ – for joining me.

Who am I?

I’m an award-winning and internationally bestselling author of six books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling If Women Rose Rooted and Hagitude. I’m a psychologist with an academic background in the mythology and folklore of Britain and Celtic Europe, too. I have a degree in Psychology, a PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience (on anxiety and panic), MAs in both Creative Writing and in Celtic Studies, along with many other academic and professional trainings in psychology, psychotherapeutic practice, mythology and folklore. I’ve been awarded research fellowships from the Wellcome Trust and the Mental Health Foundation, have been a British Psychological Society-approved Chartered Psychologist and have worked as a psychotherapist – but these days I’m a full-time writer who does a little teaching and lecturing in between times.

The transformative power of story has been at the heart of my work for decades. My unique approach to working with the mythic imagination, and with an archetypal approach to myth, fairy tales and folklore, highlights the insights these traditions can offer us into authentic and meaningful ways of being in the world. I’m a recognised pioneer in reclaiming women's stories, especially from old British and Northern European traditions. My 2016 word-of-mouth bestseller If Women Rose Rooted offered groundbreaking ideas at the intersection of British and Celtic myth, women's spirituality and ecology. My books Hagitude and Wise Women have led the way for women to reimagine the stories of midlife, menopause and the second half of life.

As well as my books, 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 and US public radio on my areas of expertise. My awards include the Society of Authors’ Roger Deakin Award and a Creative Scotland Writer’s Award.

I’m a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Member of the UK Association of Jungian Analysts, awarded ‘in recognition of the importance of lifetime achievement and contribution to Jungian ideas in the world’. I’ve 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 currently teach an Graduate Certificate Course on ‘Finding Ourselves in Fairy Tales: a Narrative Psychological Approach’ and other programs.

My commitment to those of you who choose to subscribe to The Art of Enchantment is to ensure that you receive something of genuine value in return. 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.

Why subscribe?

There are three ways you can engage with ‘The Art of Enchantment’; please find all the details on different membership levels below.

Free subcription

Join my community as a free subscriber to ‘The Art of Enchantment’, and you’ll receive a monthly newsletter with news and reflections. Since I’m not much on social media any more, this is the best place to find out more about upcoming books and events, and other projects. In addition, you’ll receive a gift for joining me here: a downloadable workbook on ‘Myth and Metamorphosis’. If you’d like new exclusive content from me in your inbox each week, do consider becoming a paying subscriber.

Paid subscription

As a paying subscriber, you’ll also have access to weekly 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 this exclusive new content from me, then for £7 a month/ £70 a year you can have it sent directly to your email inbox.

You’ll receive:

• Access to monthly ‘Myth & Fairy Tale Salons’, in which you can join me or an occasional guest teacher for a live Zoom session to talk about these beautiful old stories in greater depth. In 2025, we’ll be working with some rich and mythic stories in the Arthurian and Grail traditions, as well as the usual complement of fairy tales. Sessions are always recorded for those who can’t make it live

• ‘On the couch’, an occasional ‘advice column’ where I’ll give 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

• ‘Ask me anything’ opportunities

The Hearth

The Hearth is a special space within this community for what Substack terms ‘founding members’: those of you who want to work with me more closely to deepen your focus on story and the mythic imagination. Membership of The Hearth includes all the benefits that paying subscribers have, along with:

• Four live online retreats with me each year. These retreats last for around an hour and a half and are focused on the qualities of the season, kickstarting the imagination, and deepening our sense of belonging to the world around us.

• Access to our Temenos group, for conversations around women’s spirituality and contemporary faith, through articles, chat – and four additional Zoom sharing circles on these topics each year.

• The chance, a couple of times a year, to win a thirty-minute one-to-one session with me.

• Members of The Hearth can engage with me at any time 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.

Membership of The Hearth is £120. Please note that Substack currently only allows founding members to pay annually, not monthly, and does not allow us to discount or give free membership of this plan.

I firmly believe that professional authors should be paid for access to their writing, 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 full subscription but think this community is for you, please email us at sharon@sharonblackie.org and we’ll offer you a 50% discount on an annual paid subscription, with no questions asked. (Please note Substack does not allow us to discount founding member status i.e. The Hearth.)

Refund policy

If you have upgraded to paid status in error, you can request a pro-rata refund within 7 days of making the payment. Refunds are not available in any other circumstances. I hope you will understand that, if this publication should ever be forced to close due to death or serious illness, refunds in such an unfortunate situation will not be possible. Admin email for all such matters is sharon@sharonblackie.org; please note that I don’t reply personally from this address.

Copyright notice

All of my work product here at The Art of Enchantment is my personal copyright, and may not be used or reproduced without my written permission.

The Art of Enchantment is a reader-supported publication. To receive exclusive, subscriber-only offerings and support my work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

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