Celebrating Fairy Tales - with Dr Sharon Blackie

Dr Sharon Blackie joins Sara to chat about the origins of Fairytales and why she believes they are still so important and relevant today.

Sharon is a former neuroscientist and psychologist, turned bestselling author and speaker who has a background in mythology and folklore.

As part of the BBC's 'Once Upon A Time' season - Sara an Sharon explore the origins of Fairytales, how she used them in her practices - and why we're still so fascinated with them.

Here's a little more info on Sharon's book, 'Ripening':

In this world in which all our old certainties seem to be crumbling, many women feel lost. In Ripening, Sharon Blackie insists that fairy tales are precisely the stories we need for such times.

Long before they became bywords for people-pleasing princesses, these old stories – passed down to us through generations by our peasant ancestors – told us everything that women need to learn about the world. They might be set in difficult and dangerous times, but they insist that their heroines face the unfaceable and dig deep for previously unimagined inner resources. They teach us to be savvy, inspire us to grow in confidence, show us how to be bold and claim the future we dream of.

More than anything, fairy tales are soul-food. They show us how to take hold of our own personal narratives and transform them into stories that might begin with trauma, but end with empowerment. They offer us images of startling resonance and beauty, while showing us how to recognise and make use of the possibilities that rise to the surface when broken systems are cracked open.