DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Sharon Blackie, an award-winning writer, psychologist, and mythologist, discusses the importance of mythology and stories in connecting with the land and finding a sense of belonging. She critiques Joseph Campbell's concept of the hero's journey, which she sees as too individualistic and focused on personal glory. Instead, she advocates for the 'post-heroic journey,' which emphasizes community, balance, and the guidance of elders and non-human beings.
Blackie explores the concept of the 'eco-heroine's journey,' which draws inspiration from ancient Celtic stories and aims to help women reclaim their connection to the land and their role as guardians of balance and fertility. She also delves into the transformative power of menopause and elderhood, offering archetypes from mythology as inspiration for navigating this phase of life.
Throughout the conversation, Blackie emphasizes the need to 're-mythologize' our places and find ways to belong to the land we inhabit, even if it's not the land of our ancestors. She encourages practices like talking to nature and embracing the fluidity of transformation, which is central to many ancient stories and belief systems.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The 'hero's journey' narrative popularized by Joseph Campbell is too individualistic and focused on personal glory, contrasting with many ancient stories that emphasize community, balance, and guidance from elders and non-human beings.
- The 'eco-heroine's journey' offers an alternative vision inspired by Celtic mythology, helping women reclaim their connection to the land and their role as guardians of balance and fertility.
- Menopause and elderhood can be transformative and liberating phases of life, with mythological archetypes offering inspiration for navigating this transition and finding one's unique 'calling' or gift to offer the world.
- Re-mythologizing our places and finding ways to belong to the land we inhabit, even if it's not the land of our ancestors, is crucial for developing a sense of connection and reverence for the natural world.
- Embracing practices like talking to nature and recognizing the fluidity and cyclical nature of transformation, as depicted in many ancient stories, can help us cultivate a more grounded and harmonious relationship with the earth.
- The power of imagination and the ability to envision transformation are essential for creating positive change and finding more sustainable and balanced ways of living.
- Ancient stories and myths offer wisdom and guidance for navigating personal, cultural, and environmental challenges, providing alternative narratives to dominant cultural stories that may be contributing to our current crises.
- Finding a sense of 'belonging to the land's dreaming' is an act of radical belonging and grounding, helping us develop a deeper reverence for the places we inhabit and the other-than-human beings we share those places with.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Story helps us weave ourselves into the land and to feel a sense of wonder and awe when we step outside. And so this re mythologizing, this restoring to me is a really, really important way that we can find a way of belonging to places from which we would otherwise perhaps feel quite alienated.“ by Sharon Blackie
- “There is another big question. I would say that one of the things that I write a lot about is the old concept of calling. And this arose, I guess, in ancient greek times, in ancient greek philosophy and indeed religion, where the idea was that each one of us, every soul, comes into this world with a particular gift or a particularly unique way of being in the world that only we can bring.“ by Sharon Blackie
- “So a post heroic journey is about community, and a post heroic journey is above all about balance, because all of those old stories, particularly if we look in the irish tradition, are about keeping the world in balance. And when people fall out of balance with the land and begin to take too much or begin to take what is not theirs, then you always find serious consequences.“ by Sharon Blackie
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
9/27/22
“Story helps us weave ourselves into the land and feel a sense of wonder and awe when we step outside. This re-mythologizing, restorying to me is a really important way that we can find belonging to places from which we would otherwise perhaps feel quite alienated.”
In this episode, we welcome Dr. Sharon Blackie, an award-winning writer, psychologist and mythologist. Her highly acclaimed books, courses, lectures and workshops are focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of myth, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today.
Some of the topics we explore in this conversation include how the eco-heroine's journey offers more life-enhancing and community-centered visions for our paths forward, embracing menopause and elderhood as liberating and alchemical, what it means to re-enchant our lives with mythology to find belonging in place, and more.
(The musical offering featured in this episode is Power by India Blue. The episode-inspired artwork is by Sabrina Gevaerd.)
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