A fascinating read. Unfortunately “enchantment” has become just another buzzword in today’s self help industry. But it’s at the core of all good stories - and those stories have always fueled resistance and change.
Here’s a quote from Robert Mcfarlane’s book “Landmarks”, that sums up much of our disconnection from ourselves and our Mother, and strikes me as another window into enchantment by noting the consequence of its absence.
“In 1917 the sociologist and philosopher Max Weber named ‘disenchantment’ (Entzauberung) as the distinctive injury of modernity. He defined disenchantment as ‘the knowledge or belief that … there are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, master all things by calculation’.”
Your writings brought the Myths back into my awareness and especially the primal energy of the Mother. One I knew existed and I unconsciously searched for during my life, finding her in the stories of other cultures. Reading about the Cailleach and her stories and looking back at all I created over the years made me realize she has always been there, in my life, whispering ... inviting me to listen and return 'home'.
Of course I had to do the inner work myself, and reading about your journey in 'When women rose rooted' and 'Hagitude' made me realize that I walked a different path. One of learning all about life as a self-taught (which is actually a strange word, because I learned from so many others whose earned by life wisdom stories and teachings I took at heart, implementing them in my own life) with my creativity as an instrument to give form and shape to 'what was ailing me'.
In Braiding Sweetgrass (written by Robin Wall Kimmerer) I read the sentence; Life speaks to me in metaphor. When I read this, the world stopped, I died for a moment to become alive again. This is it. This is me. This is how life communicates with me. This is natural to me.
So my mind opened widely and I became filled with joy, reading your books.
I cannot explain and share here how deeply, they moved me literally into a renewing existence ...
I also realize that these are the stories so many have lost connection with, which created a division inside ourselves between our humanity and divinity. As if they are two separate beings ..
For two years now I am working on a story which is all about this … it’s remarkable how the universe brought your books in my life and I am very grateful I dare to follow it’s whispers. Although it also scares me to the bone … because of the resistance of the ones who instead of slowing down and listen to have a conversation, put up a fight and discuss everything I am not.
At this moment in my life I have no clue what it has in store for me. I am grateful and would like to thank you wholeheartedly though for your time writing and sharing all that is moving you.
Helped is an understatement Sharon, they gave me new 'ground' to stand on, which is a real blessing!
I look forward to the day when the option to upgrade with Ideal works. I had a conversation with Ann and a Substack supporter last week because I couldn't upgrade. The option is still in Beta and not available for every new subscriber so I have to wait for it to function. In the meantime I look forward to read and enjoy your free publications.
Thank you for standing up for all of us. I needed this validation and sense of inclusion and belonging. It is all too easy to internalize constant messages that we are irrelevant, weird, powerless, too old/young, not doing what someone else decides we should be doing, etc. It seems as if just being who you are is the core of resistance, says this solar-powered hag. My lawn-less yard, reshaped into native plant habitat is absolutely an act of resistance to the lifeless turf grass alternative.
I so appreciated re-reading this piece this morning. It came on a busy Friday. A grounding piece, with true words about how we can do our work in the world by paying attention to our own voice (at least that’s what I’m thinking at the moment). Thanks.
Enchantment is a different type of dissent from what people believe all dissidents to be. People think of "reactionaries" or "revolutionaries". Where the enchanted don't say "no, I will not comply" or "tear it all down", they actively choose a path seperate from the presented options
A very favorite quote of mine by Maxine Greene, professor of philosophy and education from her book, Releasing the Imagination, Essays on Education, the Arts and Social Change. ' Once we can see are givens as contingencies, then we may have an opportunity to posit alternate ways of living and valuing and to make choices.'
Mmm super. Yes, I'd say the 'living day by day' is the only form of real resistance. Everything else is blather and pomp . It is the living of reality that transforms it, and if we can't actually embody a new way of being then the concepts simply hang in the air like legless phantoms. People like blaming the system or the overculture or the government because, well it's easier than changing habits, isn't it? True those habits might have been absorbed from a dysfunctional society, but at some point each one of us has to take up the baton and transform ourselves. We all have very different ways of doing this, which in itself is the evidence that it's nature working through us, rather than a system imposing upon us.
I couldn't agree more - but I wish you'd add artists to your list of people resisting. As an artist, my aim is always to create beauty, because I am convinced we need beauty in times of ugliness to remind ourselves what we are capable of and the beauty of the world around us I don't want to copy what I see, but elevate it onto a higher plain, add something to it.
In the NZZ on Sunday (Swiss newspaper, 3.3.24) Ukrainian translator and psychoanalyst Jurko Prochasko says "I have never seen so many people in museums and concerts as now. We won't let ourselves be degraded to biological things. Because war not only destroys cultural goods, but creativity itself. And in the Ukraine it shows: we can still create."
It is easy to create ugly pictures. It is easy not to wrestle with yourself until you feel you have created the best you can - something that carries a numinosity and transmits beauty - which is always hope, as Martin Heidegger said: "Great art opens our eyes for something we could not see before, small art only changes the shape of what is.". I hope, one day, to make great art.
He also says, which you probably know, that war is also a mythology - myths cannot be destroyed, just like war. Both are elementary. Wars need to be justified, and myths deliver this justification. He thinks war is inherent to human beings and distances us from the animal kingdom. He also says that before the second world war people were already having disturbingly violent dreams, about burning humans, destruction - similar to those his patients were telling him before the Russian offensive into Ukraine...
Hi Sibylle - there was no list, really; I was mostly talking about writers because I am one. But of course artists do the same; I wrote about two of them (Paula Rego and Judy Chicago) in Hagitude.
I am forever grateful, Sharon, for the various forms and manifestations of your resistance that you willingly share with the world! I am always enriched in receiving these!
Thanks. Just what I needed to read this morning-a reminder of the role of writers as I push through feelings of vanity and self-doubt. After a chance encounter with a friend and long conversation about Enchantment, she pointed me here. Building the web. Glad to be here.
This post, which hit me right where I live and I suspect I’ll be reading several times in the coming days, was very welcome to me. In the midst of so much “everyday”, I need to be reminded of other layers of life, of other ideas and ways of seeing/hearing/feeling/being. Thank you.
Yes. This is my way as well. And creating perfumes and anointing oils from natural ingredients, resins, herbs . . . Yes. I use magic and enchantment and have for decades (I’m 72 this March). In my presentations in the 1980s up till now - fall in love with Earth, open to voices . . . I don’t need to go on. This is the way forward. This is the magic that has the potential to shift/transform. We are now in the Age of Aquarius. We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. Doing the old way harder, is not the solution. I love this post so much. And I agree about the coming of the light this year. I haven’t always. But this year I am simply not ready for the dark to leave. There is much work to do and I need dark for it. So I’m sensing - how to make dark a way of . . . not quite being, but something. I’m not ready for bright sun and heat and that intensity.
A fascinating read. Unfortunately “enchantment” has become just another buzzword in today’s self help industry. But it’s at the core of all good stories - and those stories have always fueled resistance and change.
I like to think I worked with it first :-)
Posted this in the wrong place. I meant it as a comment on the note “Enchantment is Resistance” instead!
Here’s a quote from Robert Mcfarlane’s book “Landmarks”, that sums up much of our disconnection from ourselves and our Mother, and strikes me as another window into enchantment by noting the consequence of its absence.
“In 1917 the sociologist and philosopher Max Weber named ‘disenchantment’ (Entzauberung) as the distinctive injury of modernity. He defined disenchantment as ‘the knowledge or belief that … there are no mysterious incalculable forces that come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, master all things by calculation’.”
Yes, good quote. Much of Weber in 'The Enchanted Life'.
Thankful for your resistance Sharon.
Your writings brought the Myths back into my awareness and especially the primal energy of the Mother. One I knew existed and I unconsciously searched for during my life, finding her in the stories of other cultures. Reading about the Cailleach and her stories and looking back at all I created over the years made me realize she has always been there, in my life, whispering ... inviting me to listen and return 'home'.
Of course I had to do the inner work myself, and reading about your journey in 'When women rose rooted' and 'Hagitude' made me realize that I walked a different path. One of learning all about life as a self-taught (which is actually a strange word, because I learned from so many others whose earned by life wisdom stories and teachings I took at heart, implementing them in my own life) with my creativity as an instrument to give form and shape to 'what was ailing me'.
In Braiding Sweetgrass (written by Robin Wall Kimmerer) I read the sentence; Life speaks to me in metaphor. When I read this, the world stopped, I died for a moment to become alive again. This is it. This is me. This is how life communicates with me. This is natural to me.
So my mind opened widely and I became filled with joy, reading your books.
I cannot explain and share here how deeply, they moved me literally into a renewing existence ...
I also realize that these are the stories so many have lost connection with, which created a division inside ourselves between our humanity and divinity. As if they are two separate beings ..
For two years now I am working on a story which is all about this … it’s remarkable how the universe brought your books in my life and I am very grateful I dare to follow it’s whispers. Although it also scares me to the bone … because of the resistance of the ones who instead of slowing down and listen to have a conversation, put up a fight and discuss everything I am not.
At this moment in my life I have no clue what it has in store for me. I am grateful and would like to thank you wholeheartedly though for your time writing and sharing all that is moving you.
Warmly,
Alja
Thank you, Alja, that's lovely. I'm so glad my books have helped.
Helped is an understatement Sharon, they gave me new 'ground' to stand on, which is a real blessing!
I look forward to the day when the option to upgrade with Ideal works. I had a conversation with Ann and a Substack supporter last week because I couldn't upgrade. The option is still in Beta and not available for every new subscriber so I have to wait for it to function. In the meantime I look forward to read and enjoy your free publications.
Thank you for standing up for all of us. I needed this validation and sense of inclusion and belonging. It is all too easy to internalize constant messages that we are irrelevant, weird, powerless, too old/young, not doing what someone else decides we should be doing, etc. It seems as if just being who you are is the core of resistance, says this solar-powered hag. My lawn-less yard, reshaped into native plant habitat is absolutely an act of resistance to the lifeless turf grass alternative.
I so appreciated re-reading this piece this morning. It came on a busy Friday. A grounding piece, with true words about how we can do our work in the world by paying attention to our own voice (at least that’s what I’m thinking at the moment). Thanks.
Enchantment is a different type of dissent from what people believe all dissidents to be. People think of "reactionaries" or "revolutionaries". Where the enchanted don't say "no, I will not comply" or "tear it all down", they actively choose a path seperate from the presented options
A very favorite quote of mine by Maxine Greene, professor of philosophy and education from her book, Releasing the Imagination, Essays on Education, the Arts and Social Change. ' Once we can see are givens as contingencies, then we may have an opportunity to posit alternate ways of living and valuing and to make choices.'
Mmm super. Yes, I'd say the 'living day by day' is the only form of real resistance. Everything else is blather and pomp . It is the living of reality that transforms it, and if we can't actually embody a new way of being then the concepts simply hang in the air like legless phantoms. People like blaming the system or the overculture or the government because, well it's easier than changing habits, isn't it? True those habits might have been absorbed from a dysfunctional society, but at some point each one of us has to take up the baton and transform ourselves. We all have very different ways of doing this, which in itself is the evidence that it's nature working through us, rather than a system imposing upon us.
I couldn't agree more - but I wish you'd add artists to your list of people resisting. As an artist, my aim is always to create beauty, because I am convinced we need beauty in times of ugliness to remind ourselves what we are capable of and the beauty of the world around us I don't want to copy what I see, but elevate it onto a higher plain, add something to it.
In the NZZ on Sunday (Swiss newspaper, 3.3.24) Ukrainian translator and psychoanalyst Jurko Prochasko says "I have never seen so many people in museums and concerts as now. We won't let ourselves be degraded to biological things. Because war not only destroys cultural goods, but creativity itself. And in the Ukraine it shows: we can still create."
It is easy to create ugly pictures. It is easy not to wrestle with yourself until you feel you have created the best you can - something that carries a numinosity and transmits beauty - which is always hope, as Martin Heidegger said: "Great art opens our eyes for something we could not see before, small art only changes the shape of what is.". I hope, one day, to make great art.
He also says, which you probably know, that war is also a mythology - myths cannot be destroyed, just like war. Both are elementary. Wars need to be justified, and myths deliver this justification. He thinks war is inherent to human beings and distances us from the animal kingdom. He also says that before the second world war people were already having disturbingly violent dreams, about burning humans, destruction - similar to those his patients were telling him before the Russian offensive into Ukraine...
all the best,
Sibylle
Hi Sibylle - there was no list, really; I was mostly talking about writers because I am one. But of course artists do the same; I wrote about two of them (Paula Rego and Judy Chicago) in Hagitude.
I am forever grateful, Sharon, for the various forms and manifestations of your resistance that you willingly share with the world! I am always enriched in receiving these!
Thanks, Hillel!
Thanks. Just what I needed to read this morning-a reminder of the role of writers as I push through feelings of vanity and self-doubt. After a chance encounter with a friend and long conversation about Enchantment, she pointed me here. Building the web. Glad to be here.
Welcome!
This post, which hit me right where I live and I suspect I’ll be reading several times in the coming days, was very welcome to me. In the midst of so much “everyday”, I need to be reminded of other layers of life, of other ideas and ways of seeing/hearing/feeling/being. Thank you.
Thanks, Lise.
Beautiful. Such encouraging and energizing thoughts. It’s like a warm hug and smile.
Thank you!
Powerfully inspiring. Thank you, Sharon. I'm on the same March.
Thank you!
Yes. This is my way as well. And creating perfumes and anointing oils from natural ingredients, resins, herbs . . . Yes. I use magic and enchantment and have for decades (I’m 72 this March). In my presentations in the 1980s up till now - fall in love with Earth, open to voices . . . I don’t need to go on. This is the way forward. This is the magic that has the potential to shift/transform. We are now in the Age of Aquarius. We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. Doing the old way harder, is not the solution. I love this post so much. And I agree about the coming of the light this year. I haven’t always. But this year I am simply not ready for the dark to leave. There is much work to do and I need dark for it. So I’m sensing - how to make dark a way of . . . not quite being, but something. I’m not ready for bright sun and heat and that intensity.
There really are a lot of dark-loving hags out there! Thank you.
So beautiful, so resonant. A balm for my soul. Thank you!
You're very welcome.