Wonder Cabinet Why We Need Fairy Tales Now — with Sharon Blackie
May 9, 2026
Sharon Blackie, folklorist, fairy‑tale scholar and psychotherapist, reclaims fierce, wise heroines from oral tradition. She explores tales as survival maps, the imaginal world, midlife transformation, and active imagination. Short, vivid stories show relational, post‑heroic pathways and a kinship with the more‑than‑human world.
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Fairy Tales As Women's Survival Manuals
- Fairy tales originated as survival stories told by women to other women, not children, offering unvarnished scenarios like fathers harming daughters to teach resilience.
- Sharon Blackie emphasizes these tales functioned as practical maps for danger, community-building, and psychological survival in harsh real-world contexts.
Heroines Survive By Leaving And Building Kinship
- Fairy tale heroines respond to catastrophe by leaving and building interspecies community rather than acting alone or seeking revenge.
- In The Handless Maiden the heroine survives by relying on forest resources, animals, and later regrows hands through seven years in nature.
Post-Heroic Journey Versus Campbellian Hero
- The Campbell hero's journey emphasizes individual glory and violence, whereas the fairy tale heroine's journey is post-heroic, relational, and often integrates adversaries.
- Blackie argues women’s journeys favor making the dragon part of the team instead of slaying it, valuing reciprocity over conquest.
