Please read on for news of this year’s Myth Summer School, which begins next weekend, and a 25% discount on annual paid subscriptions to enable you to take advantage of it. There’s a list of my live appearances for the ret of the year – and a final chance to support the Crowdfunder for the glorious musical incarnation of my book Foxfire, Wolfskin. This email is likely to be cut short by your email provider – so do click on the title to read the full thing in your browser.

The Death of Elaine, by Thomas Hovenden

The second half of the month of May didn’t go entirely according to plan: I managed, and precisely on the UK publication day of Ripening, to hurl myself full-tilt and at some velocity down the thirty-foot steep, grassy slope which divides our house from its narrow strip of low-lying riverside field, narrowly dodging a hazel and a hawthorn tree (but not a very large patch of nettles …) en route. The long set of very uneven and decidedly askew concrete steps down the slope has always been an accident waiting to happen – and indeed, it has now happened! So I now have a back fractured in four places (small, stable; although it’s certainly painful, I’m healing quickly and much to my amazement was up and walking just three days after the event) and the concrete steps now have a hastily erected but sturdy wooden handrail.

Although I’ve been able to walk around and do many of the things I would normally do (except drive long distances – so profuse apologies to those of you who had tickets for the three Ripening events down in the West Country that I had to cancel), in between there have been quite long periods of rest, since sitting upright at a desk for long periods turned out to be the most uncomfortable experience of all. For about a week I enjoyed the process of taking to my bed with a book for most of the day (something I have never done in my life, except for a few feverish days in my early thirties when I had a rare but particularly pernicious flu), but then I began to get fidgety! Nevertheless, the body has its own structures and strictures, and the period of enforced rest has of course been revelatory. Not least in reminding me that, at the grand age of 65, although I am fit enough and very flexible still, I need to be a bit more careful about bouncing around the land as if I were still twenty. I do not remotely propose to take up a sedentary lifestyle, but I do propose to get a grip and recognise (some of …) the limitations of an ageing body!

In the meantime, and thanks to the hard work of my brilliant publishers and publicists, Ripening managed to launch itself perfectly well without me, landing in the UK Top Twenty hardback nonfiction chart as soon as it was published. So thank you so much to all those of you who pre-ordered your copy: it really does make a difference! And if you don’t have a copy yet, it’s now available worldwide, from online booksellers and in physical shops. You’ll find some good purchase links and special editions by clicking on the button below. Also, there are plenty more book events coming up in the autumn, and you’ll find a list of them further down this email.

Please do read on too for news of this year’s exciting Myth Summer School, which is focused on Arthurian women – from the British and some associated French traditions. (And a reminder that you can find my previous extensive work on reclaiming the forgotten stories of British and European women on this Substack here.) And until next month, as ever, I’m wishing you all the blessings of whichever season you find yourself in right now.

I’m excited to announce our second year of Myth Summer School, here at The Art of Enchantment. I’ve planned a virtual story extravaganza for paid subscribers, beginning next weekend and continuing through July and August. And to make attendance more possible for those of you who struggle to afford it, please find below a 25% forever discount on an annual subscription, bringing the cost down to just £1 a week. Please note that to take advantage of this discount you’ll need to sign up before midnight on Tuesday June 30.

As a paid subscriber, you’ll have access to an extensive archive of previous Myth & Fairy Tale Salons, and you’ll be able to join our monthly autumn and winter sessions, in which we’ll continue our longstanding forays into the much-ignored stories of other fascinating women from British myth and folklore – like the archetypal Fairy Queen.

(When you become a paid subscriber, you’ll automatically receive emails with links to the material and to join the live gatherings; you’ll also be able to access the archive of any emails/ material you might have missed.)

The Death of King Arthur, by James Archer

Here’s what I have planned for this year’s Myth Summer School: a series that focuses on women in the Arthurian tradition of Britain, along with some associated French tales. We’ve worked before with a couple of Arthurian women and their stories over the past eighteen months or so (notably, Guinevere in the fascinating old English tale of Gorlagon the Wolf-King, and the very wonderful Lady of the Well from the Welsh Mabinogion), but this extended set of sessions will allow us to delve deeper to form a clearer picture of who these women were, and the archetypal qualities that they represent.

We’ll work with stories that illuminate each of the three character types I’ve chosen over a two-week period, focusing on one character type per month over the three summer months. For each of them, on the first Saturday morning you’ll receive an article with video or audio and written notes on the stories and their contexts, and my thoughts on why they and their stories matter to us now. Then, the following weekend, we’ll gather together on Zoom from 16.00 to 17.00 UK time to have a live conversation about it all. Throughout, we can continue exchanging ideas on these and related stories in the comments section of the articles.

If you’re gallivanting around and about over the summer holiday period, never fear: all live sessions will be recorded and if you miss one, you can watch it at your leisure when you return home.

Here are the three character and story types that we’ll be working with, and the relevant dates. (You can also confirm Myth & Fairy Tale Salon dates for the rest of the year on the Calendar page here.)

We begin with one of the most challenging feminine character types in Arthurian myth: the tragic, unrequited lover, as exemplified by Elaine of Astolat and Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott. Are these stories just simply depressing and diminishing, or can they inspire and inform us in ways we might not yet have imagined? What do they tell us about what women were thought to love, and perceived to want in a mate? And is that what we do actually want? How (and why) do we relate to the remote, perfect Hero?

In contrast to the tragic heroines from month one, the ladies of the lake in Arthurian myth represent a very old feminine archetype, especially in the British and Irish traditions: women of the waters who live beyond the influence of men. Their stories shed light on the ways in which these women expressed their power, and might once have been honoured – and how it came to be that then, in the end, they were not.

The Grail myths, in their many complex and various iterations, are packed full of prominent women who are both the bearers and the messengers of the Grail, and who understand and even embody its mysteries. We’ll look at recurring motifs like the Castle of Maidens, and consider these characters in a wide context of mythical women in the British and Irish traditions who are responsible for mediating the gifts of the Otherworld.

Morgan le Fay, by Frederick Sandys

June 13 – 14, 11.30am. Keynote at the Spiritual Ecology Festival 2026, St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London. Now online. Information and tickets here.

June 28, 10am. Keynote at the Realisation Festival, St Giles House, Dorset. Now online. More information here.

September 2, 6.45pm. SEED Talk, Friends Meeting House, Manchester. Details coming soon.

September 6, 12 noon. Brontë Women’s Writing Festival, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Haworth. Details coming soon.

September 28, 7pm. Topping & Co, Edinburgh. Tickets here.

September 29, Topping & Co, St Andrews – tickets coming soon.

October 10, 1.15pm. Ilkley Literature Festival. Details coming soon.

October 19, evening. With Marina Warner, at the Redgrave Theatre, Clifton, Bristol. Details coming soon.

November 15 – 20. ‘Nostos’ retreat at Broughton Sanctuary, North Yorkshire. Information and bookings here.

Anna, Charl and Lydia of the English folk band Wise Woman are planning a wonderful musical incarnation of my 2019 collection of reimagined fairy tales, Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women.

Composed by Wise Woman, and performed by the trio and a collection of guest musicians, the album will combine original songs, spoken word and soundscape to conjure the book’s mythical retellings of female transformation, regeneration and wildness from across Europe:

... the wolf woman who has lost her skin

... the mighty bird princess who roams the mountainside

... the fox with a surprising secret

Listen to this amazing video clip of what they’re up to – if those voices don’t send shivers down your spine, I don’t know what will! Those of you who loved my ‘Wolfskin’ story – about a wolf woman whose skin was stolen by a man – with consequences for the man – at the start of Foxfire, Wolfskin will be sure to love this. Their Crowdfunder appeal soon comes to a close, and if you can help we’d all be grateful for your support to fund recording, mixing and mastering Foxfire, in preparation for release in early 2027. Anna, Charl and Lydia hope this album is just the first unfolding of a larger vision: a live performance combining the album, storytelling and artwork into a magical concert experience. But for now, it all begins in the studio …

‘The Art of Enchantment’ is a reader-supported publication. My monthly newsletters are free to all, but to receive exclusive weekly posts – articles, video, audio – and access to online learning sessions, summer schools and sharing circles, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.