A conversation about Celtic mythology, feminine wisdom, the post-heroic journey, ecological belonging, the dark crone, Jungian psychology, and the transformative power of reclaiming the stories that connect us to the land.
What if the journey we need today is not about becoming heroes, but about remembering our relationship with the land, the feminine, and the world beyond ourselves?
In this episode of the Alchemical Toil Podcast, Alexis Durgee sits down with award-winning author, psychologist, and mythologist Dr. Sharon Blackie for a conversation about Celtic mythology, feminine wisdom, ecological consciousness, and the changing nature of the psychological journey.
Drawing on her book If Women Rose Rooted, Sharon explores the limitations of traditional heroic narratives and the emergence of what she calls the post-heroic or eco-heroine's journey: a movement away from individual achievement and toward relationship, community, and responsibility for the living world.
Their conversation moves through Jungian and post-Jungian thought, the mythic imagination, the sovereignty of the land, the wisdom of elder women, and the importance of recognizing grief, anger, and transformation as meaningful dimensions of psychological life.
Again and again, the discussion returns to a central question: What might become possible when we begin to understand ourselves not as separate from the world, but as participants within it?
In this episode, Alexis and Sharon explore:
Joseph Campbell's hero's journey and Maureen Murdock's heroine's journey
The post-heroic and eco-heroine's journey described in If Women Rose Rooted
Celtic mythology, the Grail legends, and the relationship between sovereignty and the land
The importance of community, compassion, and ecological responsibility
Jung's later work and the idea of psyche extending beyond the individual
James Hillman, the anima mundi, and the imaginal world
Fairy tales and folklore as expressions of an ancestral worldview
Reclaiming feminine wisdom through the stories of Britain and Ireland
Grief, rage, righteous anger, and the necessity of consequences
The Cailleach, Baba Yaga, and the truth-telling wisdom of the dark crone
The crone as initiator, protector, and disruptive force for transformation
Life transitions, the underworld journey, and the importance of remaining an apprentice to life
Listen to the Episode
Listen to Celtic Mythology, Feminine Wisdom & the Post-Heroic Journey with Dr. Sharon Blackie on the Alchemical Toil Podcast.
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Beyond the Hero's Journey
Alexis and Sharon begin by reconsidering Joseph Campbell's hero's journey and Maureen Murdock's heroine's journey. While acknowledging the importance of these frameworks, Sharon questions whether stories centered on individual achievement adequately reflect the challenges of the present. Her post-heroic or eco-heroine's journey shifts attention toward community, compassion, and ecological belonging. In the Celtic Grail traditions, she finds an alternative model of heroism: one in which the quest is fulfilled not through conquest, but through asking the wounded Fisher King a compassionate question and recognizing the sovereignty of the land.
Jung, the World Soul & the Mythic Imagination
Sharon describes her relationship with Jungian psychology and her particular interest in Jung's later work, when his thinking became increasingly concerned with the relationship between psyche and the wider world. Rather than interpreting every figure in a dream or fairy tale as merely an aspect of the individual, she considers the possibility that archetypal images and stories possess a life beyond us. Drawing on ideas associated with James Hillman, the anima mundi, and the imaginal world, the conversation explores what changes when psyche is understood as something we participate in rather than simply possess.
Reclaiming the Stories of the Land
For Sharon, the fairy tales and mythologies of Britain and Ireland are more than entertainment. They preserve traces of an ancestral worldview in which people, place, the otherworld, and the feminine were deeply interconnected. Rediscovering these stories became an important part of her own psychological journey, revealing powerful female figures who acted as guardians and protectors of the land. Alexis and Sharon consider how reconnecting with these traditions can restore a sense of belonging and responsibility, particularly in a time of ecological crisis and cultural disconnection.
The Dark Crone, Truth & Consequences
The conversation turns toward the Cailleach, Baba Yaga, and the formidable elder women of European folklore. Rather than treating these figures simply as frightening or destructive, Sharon understands them as truth-tellers, initiators, and protectors who insist upon accountability. Their wisdom is not always gentle, and their presence often disrupts what can no longer continue. Alexis and Sharon explore the importance of grief, rage, and righteous anger, questioning approaches to spirituality that emphasize forgiveness and positivity while overlooking the need for boundaries, consequences, and meaningful change.
Life as an Ongoing Apprenticeship
Sharon returns to one of the qualities she most admires in Jung: his willingness to remain a student throughout his life. Psychological transformation, she suggests, is not a single journey completed at a particular age, but an ongoing process of descent, discovery, and renewal. Reflecting on her own years in the corporate world, she describes how experiences once regarded as mistakes eventually became part of the understanding that informed her later work. The challenge is not to avoid difficult transitions, but to recognize that uncertainty, loss, and change may also be essential parts of becoming.
ABOUT | Dr. Sharon Blackie
Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning author, psychologist, and mythologist whose work explores the intersection of mythology, psychology, ecology, and the transformative possibilities of the mythic imagination.
Her writing draws on the native myths, fairy tales, and folklore of Britain and Ireland, examining their relevance to contemporary questions of identity, feminine experience, ecological responsibility, and psychological transformation.
She is the author of If Women Rose Rooted, The Enchanted Life, and Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women.
Through her books, teaching, and exploration of traditional stories, Sharon examines how myth can help restore a sense of belonging to the land, community, and the wider living world.
Listen to the Episode
Listen to Celtic Mythology, Feminine Wisdom & the Post-Heroic Journey with Dr. Sharon Blackie on the Alchemical Toil Podcast.
LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS | LISTEN ON SPOTIFY | WATCH ON YOUTUBE
Explore Further
Dr. Sharon Blackie
If Women Rose Rooted
The Enchanted Life
Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women
Mentioned & Explored in This Episode
C. G. Jung
Joseph Campbell — The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Maureen Murdock — The Heroine's Journey
James Hillman
The hero's journey and post-heroic journey
The eco-heroine's journey
Celtic mythology and Grail traditions
The Fisher King and the sovereignty of the land
The anima mundi and mundus imaginalis
The Cailleach
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa
The Loathly Lady and Kundry
Hecate and the dark feminine
Grief, rage, and righteous anger
The crone as initiator and trickster
Individuation and lifelong transformation
Alchemical Toil explores the inner life through conversations at the intersection of Jungian and depth psychology, psychoanalysis, mythology, embodiment, imagination, and the unconscious.
