In 1992 Clarissa Pinkola Estes published a book titled "Women Who
Run With The Wolves, Myths and
Stories of the Wild
Woman Archetype." Her background in psychology mixed with her love of lore into a combination of this interesting perspective on
female human nature. In this book she examines the female psyche with the use of an archetype. An archetype, as defined by Websters, is "(in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches." The archetype in "Women Who Run With Wolves", is the canis lupus, or the canis rufus; the
wolf. Generally, when one envisions a wolf, it is a sight of bared fangs may which may cause fear. "In Women Who Run With The Wolves", Estes expounds on the wolf''s psychic characteristics which are in common with a woman''s. Such characteristics are: keen sensing, a playful spirit, a heightened capacity for devotion, being relational, inquiring, and possessed of great endurance and strength. Other characteristics which the female human and the wolf have in common are the tendency to be deeply intuitive, being intensely concerned with their young, mates, and their pack, as well as adapting to constantly changing circumstances, and also being fiercely stalwart and brave.
The nineteen stories which Estes
uses in "Women Who Run With Wolves" convey the traits of the natural instinctive psyche shared by the wild woman and the wolf. A few brief examples are in the stories of "Bluebeard", "Vasalisa", "Manawee", and "Skeleton Woman". "Bluebeard" demonstrates to the reader the naive woman who finds a need to call up her instincts. It is a tale which uses an evil being who wishes to snuff out the light innocent of souls. "Vasalisa" proves the necessity of maturation brought on by conquering hardships. This is done by bequeathing the power of intuition from mother to daughter. This tale is chock-full of drama. The protagonist in this tale is running around like a wild animal in an attempt to save her
life. The purpose of the story of "Manawee" is to assess the duality of woman, and attempts to prove that two heads are better than one. Estes uses twin daughters, a father, a dog, and a would-be suitor for this tale. In "Skeleton Woman" we are shown that devotional love is created by the cyclic nature of the life/death/life force. Like most of the stories in this book, Estes uses a dramatic scenario to convey the emotions felt during this life/death/life struggle. She is not asserting that any of it is easy by any sense of the word. Estes pulls no punches in her story-telling.
There aren''t a lot of stories in this book that reflect traditional or even contemporary thought on a woman''s place in society. These stories read much more like the coming of age stories such as Mark Twain''s "Tom Sawyer" or Stephen King''s "Stand By Me". They are stories of rising to challenges that affect change, growth, and ultimately power over one''s life. This is in opposition to most literature involving a female protagonist, which tends to focus on a love interest as the most important challenge of a woman''s life. As Estes goes to great lengths to expound on even the minutest detail of these stories in the text itself, there is really nothing that can be added that will give the myths justice. It stands on it''s own.
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