Enchantment

Katherine May argues that the flattened, exhausted feeling many people carry after prolonged crisis and overstimulation is not merely tiredness but a loss of enchantment — a diminished capacity to feel wonder, meaning, and aliveness in ordinary experience. She insists this loss is not permanent or something that simply happens to us; enchantment can be rebuilt through deliberate practices of attention, slowing down, and ritual, organized loosely around the classical elements of earth, water, fire, and air. Crucially, May frames enchantment as active work rather than a passive gift that either arrives or doesn't — something closer to a discipline of noticing than a mood you wait to feel.

This matters because modern life, especially after periods of collective anxiety and isolation, tends to encourage exactly the opposite of enchantment: rushing, distraction, and a rationalist suspicion of anything that smacks of mystery or ritual. May pushes back against the idea that intelligent adults should have outgrown wonder, arguing that reclaiming small, sacred moments in ordinary life — watching a swarm of insects, foraging, walking a familiar path with new attention — is not escapism but a necessary corrective to burnout. The approach is personal and impressionistic rather than a step-by-step program, and readers looking for rigorous empirical backing should treat it as reflective memoir and practice rather than clinical prescription.

Who should read it

Anyone feeling numb, burned out, or disconnected from a sense of meaning after a difficult stretch of life will find companionship here. It suits readers who enjoyed May's earlier work on rest and retreat, or anyone drawn to slow, attentive nature writing over prescriptive self-help.

About the author

Katherine May is a British author known for blending memoir with reflections on nature and psychological resilience, most notably in her earlier book on winter and retreat.