The Enchanted Life

Blackie, Sharon. The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday. Toronto: Ambrosia--House of Anansi Press, 2018.

9781487004071; Genre--Nonfiction Book--Fairy tales Psychological aspects;

From the author of If Women Rose Rooted.

Taking as her starting point the inspiration and wisdom that can be derived from myth, fairy tales, and folk culture, Dr. Sharon Blackie offers a set of practical and grounded tools for enchanting our lives and the places we live, so leading to a greater sense of meaning and of belonging to the world. 

"Enchantment," according to Blackie, is a vivid sense of belongingness to a rich and many-layered world, a profound and whole-hearted participation in the adventure of life.  Enchantment is a natural, spontaneous human tendency — one we possess as children, but lose through social and cultural pressures as we grow older.  Enchantment is an attitude of mind that can be cultivated making the enchanted life possible for anyone.  Enchantment is intuitive, embraces wonder, and fully engages the mythic imagination — but it is also deeply embodied in ecology and grounded in place and community. 

To live The Enchanted Life 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.

Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer, psychologist, and mythologist who focuses on how myths, fairy tales, and folk traditions (and their development) interact with the world's personal, cultural, and environmental problems.  She has written five books, has appeared in many anthologies, and journals.  Blackie "is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and has taught and lectured at several academic institutions, Jungian organisations, retreat centres and cultural festivals around the world."

• Other works by Sharon Blackie