I’m reading a wonderful book of women’s magic by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. called “Women Who Run With the Wolves”.
I’m loving it so far.
Dr. Estes has collected many stories from all around the globe, some familiar and some not, and included them in her book along with an analysis (she’s a Jungian Psychoanalyst) of what they mean in our culture and, specifically, the role that story and others like it plays in the lives of women.
Dr. Estes exerts that we use story as a way to learn lessons about the lives we live and we use the information in them to shape our futures. I always knew I loved stories. Not only do we learn what to do from them, but by hearing them and retelling them to each other we can create change in our lives and move past barriers we had been experiencing.
This is very powerful magic.
Awhile ago, I wrote about the ShadowSelf and what that means in our daily lives. I just wanted to share with you what Dr. Estes wrote. I quote:
The stepmother and stepsisters [in the story ‘Vasalisa’] represent the undeveloped but provocativel cruel elements of the psyche. They are shadow elements, meaning aspects of oneself which are considered by the ego to be undesirable or not useful and are therefore relegated to the dark. On one hand, shadow material can be quite positive, for often a woman’s gifts are pushed into the dark, hidden there and waiting to be discovered. On the other hand, negative shadow material – that which busily kills off or detains all new life – can also be turned to one'[s use, as we shall see. When it erupts and we finally identify its aspects and sources, we are made all the stronger and wiser.
When I read it, I thought it was a good reminder to visit and be familiar with your ShadowSelf. Those elements we hide there in the dark can all be useful and teach us many things, and sometimes there are hidden gems that we’ve secreted from ourselves tucked in there. Like going through your closet, you find many treasures that you forgot you even had and sometimes, you even find a new inspiration for a project long overdue.
