{"podcast":{"title":"Wonder Cabinet","slug":"wonder-cabinet-7409328","podcast_index_feed_id":7409328,"rss_url":"https://publicfeeds.net/f/120/wondercabinet","website_url":"https://www.wondercabinetproductions.com","image_url":"https://f.prxu.org/120/images/68baf269-f9b6-40c1-be6c-30911ff8037b/Show_Cover-Wonder-Cabinet.png","author":"Wonder Cabinet Productions (hello@wondercabinetproductions.com)","episode_count":19,"summary":"Wonder Cabinet is an independent podcast from Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson, Peabody Award-winning creators of public radio's To The Best Of Our Knowledge. For 35 years, that show brought long-form conversations to 200+ stations nationwide; its interviews are now archived in the Library of Congress . Episodes feature intimate, long-form conversations with scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists who are re-imagining our relationship with the planet. Some study black holes or quantum entanglement; others map mycelial networks or count ancient tree rings. And some explore dream worlds, myths, and fairy tales to revive ways of knowing that challenge what we think we understand about the nature of reality. The name references Enlightenment-era cabinets of curiosities—private collections of shells, fossils, astronomical instruments, and saints' relics that existed at a moment when the scientific revolution was still in conversation with older ways of knowing the world. Today, another shift is taking place, as mechanistic models give way to more holistic, relational understandings of life on a sentient planet. Wonder Cabinet lives at that threshold. About the hosts Anne Stra…","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T10:21:12.700956+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328"},"episode":{"title":"Why We Need Fairy Tales Now — with Sharon Blackie","slug":"why-we-need-fairy-tales-now-with-sharon-blackie","published_at":"2026-05-09T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/why-we-need-fairy-tales-now-with-sharon-blackie","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328","url":"https://wonder-cabinet.ghost.io/why-we-need-fairy-tales-now-with-sharon-blackie/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/48/dovetail.prxu.org/120/44b45e14-20c8-47d7-8eeb-ce2de09e8225/Blackie_mix_01.mp3","summary":"Sharon Blackie is one of our foremost fairy tale interpreters. In her new book, “ Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now, ” she reclaims the subversive fairy tale heroines of the past. Not passive, well-behaved princesses — think Tatterhood instead of Cinderella, the Fox Wife instead of Sleeping Beauty — figures from centuries-old European folk tales that were whispered over hearths and spinning wheels, and handed down from one generation of women to the next, not as children’s entertainment but a blueprint for survival, maps for soul retrieval and cultural regeneration. The brave, smart heroines and wise old women in these tales offer us an alternative, “post-heroic” model of psychological development, Blackie says. A code of ethics based on kinship with the more-than-human world of animals and plants, and a celebration of old-fashioned virtues like compassion, kindness and reciprocity. Fairy tale heroines, Blackie says, don’t slay dragons — they make them part of the team. Fairy tales are part of our collective unconscious, a storehouse of archetypes and images that predate the modern world. There's a bridge back to the enchanted landscapes and animist sensibilities of our ancestors — a gateway to wonder. In this conversation, Blackie shows us how to unlock their power and find our way back the imaginal world. – Website \"The Art of Enchantment\" Substack \"Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now\" The Nostos Institute Sharon’s other books – 0:00 Introduction 2:25 Why Fairy Tales Are Survival Stories 12:25 Beyond the Hero's Journey 27:05 Jung, Hillman, and the Imaginal World 41:45 Active Imagination and Closing Thanks Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can sub…","meta_description":"Sharon Blackie is one of our foremost fairy tale interpreters. In her new book, “ Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now, ” she reclaims the subversive…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2722,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wonder-cabinet-7409328/episodes/why-we-need-fairy-tales-now-with-sharon-blackie/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/why-we-need-fairy-tales-now-with-sharon-blackie.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}