Ambrosia, 2018. 356 pages. Nonfiction
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. By Dr. Blackie's definition, 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. It is an attitude of mind which can be cultivated: the enchanted life is possible for anyone. It is intuitive, embraces wonder, and fully engages the mythic imagination—but it is also deeply embodied in ecology, grounded in place and community.
"To live this way 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 shares with us what she perceives as the enchanted life. With beautiful prose and creative storytelling, she crafts thought provoking chapters describing how to find the magic in the everyday. At times the advice can seem a bit woo woo but it is impactful all the same. At the end of each point, she provides stimulating questions to help you evaluate your life and see how you can enliven your being. This book would be a great one to read for a book group as it contains its own talking points! Anyone who enjoys self-evaluation, myth and fairy tales, and connecting with nature will find themselves enchanted by this book.
JJC
If you like The Enchanted Life you might also like:
Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit
By Lyanda Lynn Haupt
Little, Brown Spark, 2021. 240 pages. Nonfiction
In Rooted, cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth?
Award-winning writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s highly personal new book is a brilliant invitation to live with the earth in both simple and profound ways—from walking barefoot in the woods and reimagining our relationship with animals and trees, to examining the very language we use to describe and think about nature. She invokes rootedness as a way of being in concert with the wilderness—and wildness—that sustains humans and all of life.
In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Mary Oliver, Haupt writes with urgency and grace, reminding us that at the crossroads of science, nature, and spirit we find true hope. Each chapter provides tools for bringing our unique gifts to the fore and transforming our sense of belonging within the magic and wonder of the natural world.
By Kaitlin B. Curtice
Brazos Press, 2023. 208 pages. Nonfiction
In an era in which "resistance" has become tokenized, popular Indigenous author Kaitlin Curtice reclaims it as a basic human calling. Resistance is for every human who longs to see their neighbors' holistic flourishing. We each have a role to play in the world right where we are, and our everyday acts of resistance hold us all together.
Curtice shows that we can learn to practice embodied ways of belonging and connection to ourselves and one another through everyday practices, such as getting more in touch with our bodies, resting, and remembering our ancestors. She explores four "realms of resistance"—the personal, the communal, the ancestral, and the integral—and shows how these realms overlap and why all are needed for our liberation. Listeners will be empowered to seek wholeness in whatever spheres of influence they inhabit.
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