My Book Review > Women Who Run With the Wolves", by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“Women Who Run With the Wolves” is a book on the instinctive nature of women: the ‘wild woman’ who secretly lies inside each of us. A Jungian psychoanalyst, Clarissa Pinkola Estes sees the ‘wild woman’ as the archetype (universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious; Wikipedia) of women’s Psyche. Sadly, as a result of modern life and because of social pressure, we forget or ignore the ‘wild woman’; and because of this we are weak, we make mistakes, we feel lost and are way too often victim of abuse... There is no alternative but to look for the ‘wild woman’: she’s strong, and she knows! How can we find her? Well, she’s in every story and fairy tale. Because “A story is not just a story. In its most innate and proper sense, it is someone’s life”. “Stories are medicine”. They are our guide, they show the way. “If you don’t go out in the woods, nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin”. “A woman cannot make the culture more aware by saying ‘Change’. But she can change her own attitude toward herself, thereby causing devaluing projections to glance off”. “To realize the injury, and yet memorize it, allows thriving to come forth. Thriving is what was meant for us on this earth. Thriving, not just surviving, is our birthright as women”.