Thank you for clicking onto this series. I’m super excited about sharing my thoughts on such a beautiful take on the female psyche. One that will remain relevant and profound in any point in history. The first quote that I’d like to unpack is:
When woman reassert their relationship with the wildish nature, they are gifted with a permanent and internal watcher, a knower, a visionary, an oracle, an inspiratrice, an intuitive, a maker, a creator, an inventor, and a listener who guide, suggest and urge the vibrant life of the inner and outer world.
Clarissa Pinkola EstÉs
I believe this is the perfect starting point to understanding what this book is about: Returning back to the wildish nature. This does not mean being crazy, out of control or acting out of bounds. No. On the contrary, the wildish woman knows how to exercise discipline and control. But she understands her nature. She knows what she needs in order to feel liberated and connected with every part of her multi-faceted being.
Estes uses the term “reassert.“ This implies that the bond, the relationship between us and our wild intuition is and will always be there. There is something encouraging about knowing that we have an indestructible connection to our souls, our intuition (which to me, are one and the same thing). Yes, the bond can weaken, it can dwindle into almost nothing as we lose ourselves in societal expectations, in suffocating and toxic environments. But it will never be lost. It is permanent and therefore retrievable.
Estes enumerates what the wildish nature embodies: An internal watcher, a knower, a visionary, an oracle, an inspatrice etc. These are not mere adjectives but rather roles. They illustrate that within us lies a wise overseer, a spiritual guide. I’m sure we’ve heard the expression “don’t just look with your eyes.” It’s true. Our eyes don’t show us enough. Our intuition tells us more than what reality presents to us. We just have to listen to it.
There’s an episode of The Adventure of the Gummi Bears that I love. It’s when Tummy (whose guided by his stomach if you know what I mean) is running from the evil Duke’s ogres and finds himsef in the cottage of a kind and gentle blind lady. She is blind, but relies on all her other senses to tell her if she is in the presence of danger. To me, her blindness is no longer a disability but a gift. She is connected to the wildish nature that guides her. Together they create hilarious pranks to scare the ogres off should they knock at her cottage demanding the whereabouts of Tummy. The plans are both creative, inventive and so cleverly attune to the follies of human nature (because of course, the Evil Duke and his Ogres fall for every one of them). This reminds me how the eyes of our innervoice are more perceptive, more sharp than the eyes of our body.
Lastly, there is the presence of the inner and outer world. This is a salient element as it bridges the inner (subconcious, dormant) parts of ourselves with the outer parts of ourselves. I believe the world places negative connotations on dual elements. Duality implies an unhealthy instability, a sort of schitzophrenia or perhaps even indecision. When in fact, the most beautiful characteristic of human beings is our complexity, our hybridity, our multidimensions. It is finding the bridge that connects us to the dual elements (inner and outer) so that each can inform and strengthen the other which we should focus on.
And you? What strikes you about these ideas? Do you believe that people are moving further and further away from their intuitive selves? Or maybe the opposite— do you believe that more and more people are seeking unconventional forms of healing internal wounds?
