Having turned part of the garden over to wildflowers and seen significant increases in insect and bird population I am looking at the connections between these two concepts…
Exploring Enchantment: A Journey of Wonder and Connection
Enchantment is an elusive yet profoundly impactful experience that invites us to see the world through a lens of wonder and interconnectedness.
Enchantment in Art and Life
In my art manifesto, I touch upon the concept of enchantment as a means to generate new and helpful myths for the future, working towards the re-enchantment of human beings and human actions suggesting that art can be a powerful tool to reconnect us with a sense of wonder and meaning.
Literary Perspectives on Enchantment
Katherine May, in her book “Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age” describes it as a small yet magnified wonder, a sense of fascination caught in the web of fable and memory. She emphasizes that enchantment relies on small doses of meaning and fascination, found only when we actively look for them. It is the ability to sense magic in the everyday, to channel it through our minds and bodies, and to be sustained by it. She says:
“I don’t have words to describe what it meant to play with my moon shadow. Instead, I feel it in my body, a kind of physical wonder at what is there waiting for me when I stop to notice.” p.221
This perspective highlights the subtle and often overlooked aspects of enchantment that enrich our daily lives. My personal word for 2024 to hold in mind is “NOTICE” – it’s a helpful one – it invites slowing down, deep looking, investigating effects and affects on the self and sometimes recording in images or words.
Enchantment as a Way of Being
Sharon Blackie, writing on Substack, offers a definition of enchantment that is grounded in a vivid sense of belonging and participation in life. She describes the enchanted life as one that embraces wonder, engages the creative imagination, and is deeply embodied and ecological. It is about respecting the wisdom of the natural world, thriving on poetry, song, and dance, and living slowly and ethically. Enchantment, for Blackie, is about falling in love with the world anew and making a conscious choice to nourish our bruised psyches. Her approach underscores the holistic and integrative nature of enchantment as a way to live fully and meaningfully.
Personal Reflections
In my own practice, I find that the deliberate pursuit of attention, ritual, or reflection does not draw in anything external but rather rearranges what I already know to find new insights. This symbolic thought process offers a repository of understanding that can be triggered by everyday experiences, creating a physical sense of wonder when I stop to notice. This personal reflection aligns with the broader themes of enchantment as a means of self-discovery and connection as well as cultivating a sense of awe as I described here in a piece about drawing outside and cultivating a sense of awe.
Are you ready to embrace the multifaceted experience of enchantment that invites us to engage with the world in deeper and more meaningful ways? Whether through art, literature, or personal reflection, it offers a path to reconnect with the wonder and magic inherent in our lives and that creates meaning for us – something we all need and something we can cultivate in noticing the weeds in the cracks in the pavement and our own plants in window-boxes, balconies and gardens or in walking in our neighbourhood or out in the wider countryside if we have access to that.
Wilding and Re-wilding (a film)
I am currently researching the concept of Wilding and Re-wilding and as part of this I am looking forward to seeing the film ‘Wilding’ next week which is on at smaller cinemas currently. (Local friends I am going to the Orbit in Wellington, Telford on Friday July at 2.30 – join me!!). Wilding tells the story of a young couple that bets on nature for the future of their failing, four-hundred-year-old estate. The young couple battles entrenched tradition, and dares to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down the fences, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe.
In UK and Irish cinemas from June 14. Book tickets on www.WildingMovie.com.
To me this film will probably fit well with the notion of Enchantment – I will think about what the connection sparks.
Here’s a trailer:
I would love to know your views on wielding, re-wilding and the cultivation of Enchantment as re-enchantment!
That’s it from me – I’m off to draw in the garden! – a bientôt !!
love
Clare
Book Ref: May, Katherine (2024), Enchantment: Reawakening Wonder in an Exhausted Age, London: Faber & Faber
Clare Wassermann Art 