Women Who Run with the Wolves
by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
About This Book
When I speak of the Wild Woman, I am invoking an ancient, instinctual force that lies beneath the surface of every woman’s life. She is not a metaphor of rebellion nor a myth for escapism, but a living archetype—the pulse that connects you with the deep feminine knowing, the wolfish intuition that once guided all women before civilization taught them to forget their own scent. *Women Who Run With the Wolves* is my invitation to remember. Imagine standing at the edge of a forest at night, hearing a distant howl. You might feel both fear and longing, because that sound belongs to a part of you that has waited too long to return home. The Wild Woman archetype represents that home—the psychic territory of instinct, creativity, and knowing. Every folk tale and myth I explore in this book offers a map leading back to her. Yet her presence has been heavily suppressed. Modern culture teaches women to be nice, efficient, and productive but not wild, instinctual, or deeply creative. This suppression is not accidental—it serves the smooth functioning of society and commercial life, which depends on women disconnecting from their untamed source of wisdom. The Wild Woman is unpredictable; she loves fiercely, hungers deeply, creates for the sake of creation. When disconnected from her, a woman begins to live a half-life, one that feels domesticated, obedient, and hollow. Through myths, legends, and fairy tales from many cultures, I explore how women can reawaken this force within themselves. Each story—whether it is *La Loba*, who sings bones back to life, or *Vasalisa*, who learns to trust her intuition—serves as a psychological compass. These tales were never mere entertainment; they were lessons encoded in the language of symbols. They carry instructions on how to survive psychic starvation, how to heal the creative soul, how to honor grief and death so that new life may begin. This is not a book of quick answers but of deep remembering. You will feel the dust of forgotten paths and the scent of rain on wild earth. You will meet women in stories who lost their hands, their shoes, their voices—and through them, you will learn how to reclaim your own lost parts. What’s in it for you? The remembrance that your own instincts are sacred, that within you lives a bone collector, a truth teller, a creator who does not ask permission to be whole. As you read, consider yourself a participant in an ancient gathering where wisdom is transmitted through story. Every chapter is an act of homecoming, and by the end, you will no longer simply read about the Wild Woman—you will hear her breathing within you.
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
When I speak of the Wild Woman, I am invoking an ancient, instinctual force that lies beneath the surface of every woman’s life. She is not a metaphor of rebellion nor a myth for escapism, but a living archetype—the pulse that connects you with the deep feminine knowing, the wolfish intuition that once guided all women before civilization taught them to forget their own scent. *Women Who Run With the Wolves* is my invitation to remember.
Imagine standing at the edge of a forest at night, hearing a distant howl. You might feel both fear and longing, because that sound belongs to a part of you that has waited too long to return home. The Wild Woman archetype represents that home—the psychic territory of instinct, creativity, and knowing. Every folk tale and myth I explore in this book offers a map leading back to her.
Yet her presence has been heavily suppressed. Modern culture teaches women to be nice, efficient, and productive but not wild, instinctual, or deeply creative. This suppression is not accidental—it serves the smooth functioning of society and commercial life, which depends on women disconnecting from their untamed source of wisdom. The Wild Woman is unpredictable; she loves fiercely, hungers deeply, creates for the sake of creation. When disconnected from her, a woman begins to live a half-life, one that feels domesticated, obedient, and hollow.
Through myths, legends, and fairy tales from many cultures, I explore how women can reawaken this force within themselves. Each story—whether it is *La Loba*, who sings bones back to life, or *Vasalisa*, who learns to trust her intuition—serves as a psychological compass. These tales were never mere entertainment; they were lessons encoded in the language of symbols. They carry instructions on how to survive psychic starvation, how to heal the creative soul, how to honor grief and death so that new life may begin.
This is not a book of quick answers but of deep remembering. You will feel the dust of forgotten paths and the scent of rain on wild earth. You will meet women in stories who lost their hands, their shoes, their voices—and through them, you will learn how to reclaim your own lost parts. What’s in it for you? The remembrance that your own instincts are sacred, that within you lives a bone collector, a truth teller, a creator who does not ask permission to be whole.
As you read, consider yourself a participant in an ancient gathering where wisdom is transmitted through story. Every chapter is an act of homecoming, and by the end, you will no longer simply read about the Wild Woman—you will hear her breathing within you.
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Key Chapters
La Loba: Reclaiming the Bones of the Wild Self
La Loba, or The Wolf Woman, is the mythic guardian of women’s wild souls. She wanders the desert, collecting bones—the remnants of what has been forgotten or dismembered—and when she has gathered enough, she sings over them. With her song, the skeleton begins to flesh out, to rise, and at the end of the incantation, the creature becomes a living wolf again, running free into the wilderness.
This story is the central metaphor for the entire book. Every woman must at some point become La Loba. The bones represent the essence of female instinct that has been buried under the demands of conformity or trauma. Singing over the bones is the act of remembering—remembering through dream, through poetry, through love, through art. When a woman sings, she invokes creation from death; she begins to breathe life into what she thought was lost.
This reclamation does not occur only in moments of inspiration. Sometimes it happens through grief, through facing the silence within one’s life. The desert in which La Loba works is a psychological space—barren yet full of possibilities. There, stripped from all distractions, one must do the work that cannot be done elsewhere: gathering memory, facing pain, and finding the voice that knows how to sing. To live the La Loba myth is to stop waiting for permission and begin the sacred work of resurrection.
In our world, where the feminine has been commodified and sanitized, to sing bones back to life is a radical act. It restores instinct, passion, and ethical clarity. Once the Wild Woman is revived, she cannot be tamed again; she will insist that we honor cycles of life and death, creativity and rest, union and solitude. That is the rhythm of authentic living, and it begins with the courage to pick up the bones and sing.
Bluebeard: Seeing and Knowing the Predator Within
Every woman carries within her psyche a hidden predator—a destructive force that seeks to silence intuition and curiosity. The Bluebeard tale recounts this archetypal danger: a wealthy man with a forbidden room that hides the bodies of his murdered wives. His new bride, despite his warnings, opens the door and discovers the truth, her life saved only through her quick use of instinct.
Bluebeard is not simply an external villain; he represents the inner pathology that kills the knowing self. That voice which says, 'Don’t look, don’t question,' is Bluebeard speaking. When a woman is uninitiated—when she has not yet learned to trust her inner knowing—she becomes naive, susceptible to seduction by forces that promise safety while demanding silence.
The forbidden room symbolizes the unconscious. Opening it is essential, though it often brings terror. This act of seeing what is hidden marks the difference between a woman who remains in the fairy tale of obedience and one who enters the mythic journey of truth. The key she uses is symbolic of female knowing—a psychic instinct that cannot be destroyed. Even though it bleeds, it continues to reveal.
In everyday life, Bluebeard shows up as self-doubt, as abusive relationships, as cultural norms that keep women from their creative authority. To survive Bluebeard, a woman must not only open the room but also call her inner allies—the voices of wild sisterhood, wisdom, and courage—to confront him. Only through confrontation does transformation occur, freeing her to live with awareness instead of illusion.
Thus, the Bluebeard story is not about fear—it is about vision. The Wild Woman within teaches that danger recognized is danger diminished. Each time a woman listens to her intuition, refuses repression, and sees with unflinching clarity, she becomes further initiated into her own power to know.
Vasalisa the Wise: Intuition as Sacred Guidance
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The Skeleton Woman: Embracing the Life–Death–Life Cycle
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The Red Shoes: When the Creative Soul is Captured
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The Handless Maiden: The Journey of Healing and Regeneration
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Sealskin, Soulskin: Returning to One’s True Home
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The Ugly Duckling: Recognizing the Soul’s True Form
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The Crescent Moon Bear: Courage and Emotional Healing
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The Little Match Girl and the Creative Fire
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The Woman with Hair of Gold: Creative Sovereignty
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Descent and Return: Cycles of Feminine Growth
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Integrating the Wild Woman into Modern Life
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All Chapters in Women Who Run with the Wolves
About the Author
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Clarissa Pinkola Estés is the author of Women Who Run with the Wolves.
Frequently Asked Questions about Women Who Run with the Wolves
When I speak of the Wild Woman, I am invoking an ancient, instinctual force that lies beneath the surface of every woman’s life. She is not a metaphor of rebellion nor a myth for escapism, but a living archetype—the pulse that connects you with the deep feminine knowing, the wolfish intuition that once guided all women before civilization taught them to forget their own scent. *Women Who Run With the Wolves* is my invitation to remember. Imagine standing at the edge of a forest at night, hearing a distant howl. You might feel both fear and longing, because that sound belongs to a part of you that has waited too long to return home. The Wild Woman archetype represents that home—the psychic territory of instinct, creativity, and knowing. Every folk tale and myth I explore in this book offers a map leading back to her. Yet her presence has been heavily suppressed. Modern culture teaches women to be nice, efficient, and productive but not wild, instinctual, or deeply creative. This suppression is not accidental—it serves the smooth functioning of society and commercial life, which depends on women disconnecting from their untamed source of wisdom. The Wild Woman is unpredictable; she loves fiercely, hungers deeply, creates for the sake of creation. When disconnected from her, a woman begins to live a half-life, one that feels domesticated, obedient, and hollow. Through myths, legends, and fairy tales from many cultures, I explore how women can reawaken this force within themselves. Each story—whether it is *La Loba*, who sings bones back to life, or *Vasalisa*, who learns to trust her intuition—serves as a psychological compass. These tales were never mere entertainment; they were lessons encoded in the language of symbols. They carry instructions on how to survive psychic starvation, how to heal the creative soul, how to honor grief and death so that new life may begin. This is not a book of quick answers but of deep remembering. You will feel the dust of forgotten paths and the scent of rain on wild earth. You will meet women in stories who lost their hands, their shoes, their voices—and through them, you will learn how to reclaim your own lost parts. What’s in it for you? The remembrance that your own instincts are sacred, that within you lives a bone collector, a truth teller, a creator who does not ask permission to be whole. As you read, consider yourself a participant in an ancient gathering where wisdom is transmitted through story. Every chapter is an act of homecoming, and by the end, you will no longer simply read about the Wild Woman—you will hear her breathing within you.
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