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2.01k reviews for:
Women Who Run With The Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
3.92 AVERAGE
2.01k reviews for:
Women Who Run With The Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
3.92 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
I expected to like it more than I did. It came across as condescending to other cultures, which was strange. Obviously there was also outdated 90s feminism stuff.
It made me want to read a book about Jungian psychology, or a book of myths or fairy tales instead. I ended up skimming it.
It made me want to read a book about Jungian psychology, or a book of myths or fairy tales instead. I ended up skimming it.
2,5 - Não é tão ruim mas é muito longo e aí fica chato, nem acabei
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
"I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, and that you will work with these stories from your life - your life - not someone else's life-water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work, the only work".
Reading this book was a journey. I read this book through the lense of my own life, history, trauma, aspirations and deepest feelings. This is necessary to "find all the matching parts of the stories inside ourselves and at depth" allowing for a real transmission of the story by digging down into our roots and finding them embedded in the soil of the wild archetype. All that to say, the archetype is vast. It does not imply that there is one unique kind of woman but that we are all connected to this ancestral, psychic lineage (collective consciousness).
This nourishes us, in dreams, yearnings and gut feelings (aka the instinct, the wild and historical footprints on our psyches). But this has been historically denigrated, severed such as during the time of witch trials to today by the rejection of what is wild in us, and particularly in women. Just as our natural world has been conquered, mastered and exploited, so are we.
Indeed, the book parallels ecological destruction with the repression of the wild female psyche in the effort of civilizing, that is to say the denaturing of the natural, instinctual. In order to resurrect the 'wild woman', Pinkola Estés traces her footprints across time and space, both geographical and psychic, through ancient myths and folklore. These contain the thread of the female wild instinct throughout history and illuminate her historical oppression whilst conserving and transmitting sacred knowledge, like a mapping, so that we may find her.
The female wild psyche is rediscovered via the archetypes presented in folkloric stories and through the analysis of our psychic sisters, the wolf. The wolf is chosen because they too possess "keen sensing, playful spirit, inquiring, great endurance and strength, deeply intuitive and experienced in adapting to constantly changing circumstances". At the same time both are victims to the ideology that they are dangerous, devious and of less value than their detractors. Throughout the discussion of tales, we are (re)introduced to our psychic families and thereby reconnected to our ancestors and to our wild natures/ the wild.
Wild because it is vast, predates the modern, is natural and instinctual and connects us to each other and to the earth. It is like a tree deeply rooted in soil, we are the tree and it is the soil. "Wild because its energy and beauty are always being eyed by somebody for trophy purposes or as a thing to be controlled, reduced, ruled, murdered or redesigned. The wild always needs a guardian or it will be misused".
Another interesting theme (amongst many) is that of the wild life/death/rebirth cycle. I have been interested in this since I saw the film Mother ! which offers an interesting and fruitful companion to this book. Essentially everything is subject to this natural law including ourselves, stages of our lives and aspects of our psyche both personal and collective. There is a natural death in the descent into our unconscious as we stray from the ego and sink into the spirit. We cannot re-emerge the same as before, it necessarily changes us. It bestows us with knowing and a new way of seeing.
The descent is often preceded by a battle with an external or internal negative force (or complex) something that either denigrates or denies us our natural selves (that which inhibits, servers intuition and thus makes us feel powerless). This moves us to find and tend to our internal fires which animate us and allow us (in)sight. This battle is important as it allows us to grow in endurance, to bring to light the dark and negative elements in the id and to rebirth them into something useful. Here there is a parallel with the principal of Kintsugi, so repairing or reinforcing something in a way that it is changed but in this transformation and by it, made stronger, more unique and beautiful.
In order to reconnect to intuition or to sharpen it, we must follow our gut, our yearning despite the negative voice in our outside of our minds by following our own meanings, striving for the attainment of that which moves us. This movement, following of the psychic map strengthens intuition and in doing so we realise that this path has been trodden before, there are footprints, we are not alone. "A woman must be willing to burn hot, burn with passion, burn with words, with ideas, with desire but whatever she truly loves (...) she is at the same time driven into the arms of her kin. It is never a mistake to search for what one requires. Never".
This transformative fire both animates us and moves us, whether we want to or not. It is always burning even in the deepest of winters. This is the nature of psychic life. It continues underground whether we are connected with it or not. "The unconscious nourishes us during our darkest times, plumping us and allowing a continual ripening".
Something I have struggled with is the idea/presentiment that there are multitudes to the psyche. Not only do I feel the presence of different psychic actors (a protective force, a childlike feeling, an instinctual voice) but I feel like I am not the same person across time and experience. This is individuation and not a disorder, lol. It is important to permit the union of the animus and the spirit (so our executor/protector and our inner worldly deep, creative self) so that there be a coherence between the two and that our outer actions be invested with spiritual meaning and authenticity. (Rather than be a robot, cut off from self).
The two poles, animus and spirit, are bridged by a messenger who has a foot in each world, bringing ideas and inspiration from each into the other. The fourth presence is of course the wild psyche, that collective and ancient archetype that imbues us with knowing, guiding us lovingly. "Psychically she has the fragrance of wood fire about her. It is usual that she begins to act here what she had learned there through the conjunction of the psychic poles.
My only criticism would be that I would have wanted more explanations into the jungian analysis and particularly a more concrete description of the wild psyche. That said I think that it is intentional as she is so vast she cannot be pinned down by a couple of words and more likely, we have to meet her ourselves in order to truly understand (/recognise) her, as Pinkola Estés teaches "she is undefinable, only communicable through art and stories. To meet with her we must use active imagination and practice ancient practices of women"
All in all, I really loved this book. Reading it felt like sitting on my grandmother's lap as she recounted ancetoral tales, warned about predators and tending to my deep self. In this sense I felt reconnected to an ancient tradition and lineage which is something I have been searching for and that has been alienating me. I loved the tales and their infusement with jungian psychology or rather, their illumination of more modern manners of understanding the soul. The parallels with the natural world and its own decimation and "de wilding" really enriched the whole work and gave me a lot to think about, allowing me to reconnect with the wild world and "to leap into the forest".
I think this will be a book that I will have to come back to in cycles in order to replenish, reframe and as I hopefully descend deeper into understanding. These give us stories which must be told and retold for our own acknowledgement of the self and for the nourishment of future generations. We must leave our own footprints that others may follow.
Reading this book was a journey. I read this book through the lense of my own life, history, trauma, aspirations and deepest feelings. This is necessary to "find all the matching parts of the stories inside ourselves and at depth" allowing for a real transmission of the story by digging down into our roots and finding them embedded in the soil of the wild archetype. All that to say, the archetype is vast. It does not imply that there is one unique kind of woman but that we are all connected to this ancestral, psychic lineage (collective consciousness).
This nourishes us, in dreams, yearnings and gut feelings (aka the instinct, the wild and historical footprints on our psyches). But this has been historically denigrated, severed such as during the time of witch trials to today by the rejection of what is wild in us, and particularly in women. Just as our natural world has been conquered, mastered and exploited, so are we.
Indeed, the book parallels ecological destruction with the repression of the wild female psyche in the effort of civilizing, that is to say the denaturing of the natural, instinctual. In order to resurrect the 'wild woman', Pinkola Estés traces her footprints across time and space, both geographical and psychic, through ancient myths and folklore. These contain the thread of the female wild instinct throughout history and illuminate her historical oppression whilst conserving and transmitting sacred knowledge, like a mapping, so that we may find her.
The female wild psyche is rediscovered via the archetypes presented in folkloric stories and through the analysis of our psychic sisters, the wolf. The wolf is chosen because they too possess "keen sensing, playful spirit, inquiring, great endurance and strength, deeply intuitive and experienced in adapting to constantly changing circumstances". At the same time both are victims to the ideology that they are dangerous, devious and of less value than their detractors. Throughout the discussion of tales, we are (re)introduced to our psychic families and thereby reconnected to our ancestors and to our wild natures/ the wild.
Wild because it is vast, predates the modern, is natural and instinctual and connects us to each other and to the earth. It is like a tree deeply rooted in soil, we are the tree and it is the soil. "Wild because its energy and beauty are always being eyed by somebody for trophy purposes or as a thing to be controlled, reduced, ruled, murdered or redesigned. The wild always needs a guardian or it will be misused".
Another interesting theme (amongst many) is that of the wild life/death/rebirth cycle. I have been interested in this since I saw the film Mother ! which offers an interesting and fruitful companion to this book. Essentially everything is subject to this natural law including ourselves, stages of our lives and aspects of our psyche both personal and collective. There is a natural death in the descent into our unconscious as we stray from the ego and sink into the spirit. We cannot re-emerge the same as before, it necessarily changes us. It bestows us with knowing and a new way of seeing.
The descent is often preceded by a battle with an external or internal negative force (or complex) something that either denigrates or denies us our natural selves (that which inhibits, servers intuition and thus makes us feel powerless). This moves us to find and tend to our internal fires which animate us and allow us (in)sight. This battle is important as it allows us to grow in endurance, to bring to light the dark and negative elements in the id and to rebirth them into something useful. Here there is a parallel with the principal of Kintsugi, so repairing or reinforcing something in a way that it is changed but in this transformation and by it, made stronger, more unique and beautiful.
In order to reconnect to intuition or to sharpen it, we must follow our gut, our yearning despite the negative voice in our outside of our minds by following our own meanings, striving for the attainment of that which moves us. This movement, following of the psychic map strengthens intuition and in doing so we realise that this path has been trodden before, there are footprints, we are not alone. "A woman must be willing to burn hot, burn with passion, burn with words, with ideas, with desire but whatever she truly loves (...) she is at the same time driven into the arms of her kin. It is never a mistake to search for what one requires. Never".
This transformative fire both animates us and moves us, whether we want to or not. It is always burning even in the deepest of winters. This is the nature of psychic life. It continues underground whether we are connected with it or not. "The unconscious nourishes us during our darkest times, plumping us and allowing a continual ripening".
Something I have struggled with is the idea/presentiment that there are multitudes to the psyche. Not only do I feel the presence of different psychic actors (a protective force, a childlike feeling, an instinctual voice) but I feel like I am not the same person across time and experience. This is individuation and not a disorder, lol. It is important to permit the union of the animus and the spirit (so our executor/protector and our inner worldly deep, creative self) so that there be a coherence between the two and that our outer actions be invested with spiritual meaning and authenticity. (Rather than be a robot, cut off from self).
The two poles, animus and spirit, are bridged by a messenger who has a foot in each world, bringing ideas and inspiration from each into the other. The fourth presence is of course the wild psyche, that collective and ancient archetype that imbues us with knowing, guiding us lovingly. "Psychically she has the fragrance of wood fire about her. It is usual that she begins to act here what she had learned there through the conjunction of the psychic poles.
My only criticism would be that I would have wanted more explanations into the jungian analysis and particularly a more concrete description of the wild psyche. That said I think that it is intentional as she is so vast she cannot be pinned down by a couple of words and more likely, we have to meet her ourselves in order to truly understand (/recognise) her, as Pinkola Estés teaches "she is undefinable, only communicable through art and stories. To meet with her we must use active imagination and practice ancient practices of women"
All in all, I really loved this book. Reading it felt like sitting on my grandmother's lap as she recounted ancetoral tales, warned about predators and tending to my deep self. In this sense I felt reconnected to an ancient tradition and lineage which is something I have been searching for and that has been alienating me. I loved the tales and their infusement with jungian psychology or rather, their illumination of more modern manners of understanding the soul. The parallels with the natural world and its own decimation and "de wilding" really enriched the whole work and gave me a lot to think about, allowing me to reconnect with the wild world and "to leap into the forest".
I think this will be a book that I will have to come back to in cycles in order to replenish, reframe and as I hopefully descend deeper into understanding. These give us stories which must be told and retold for our own acknowledgement of the self and for the nourishment of future generations. We must leave our own footprints that others may follow.
Reading this book for the second time was like drinking from the river of life and eating the forbidden fruit at the same time. With a fresh outlook out from under the manmade constraints of a religion I no longer embrace, I was able to breathe in the wisdom of each story and the beautiful unpacking of wisdom found in them. I am forever changed after reading this book for the second time and will probably read it once a year from now on. I could have dog-eared every page when something I read resonated deeply within my soul.
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I'm not certain where i got the recommendation for this book, but possibly because i have a daughter, i gave it a go. Really disliked the book. Maybe some of the knowledge from the book has made its way into current readings, but i didn't learn much and it was really dry.
i read because an older woman i respect recommended this. i still respect her but idk about this one
slow-paced