Women who run with the wolves - Chapter 07

Wolves were painted with a black brush in fairy tales and to this day they scare defenseless girls. But they were not always seen as terrible and violent creatures. In ancient Greece and Rome, the animal was the consort of Artemis, the huntress, and affectionately breastfed the heroes. Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés believes that in our society women are being treated in a similar way. By investigating the crushing of the feminine instinctual nature, Clarissa discovered the key to the modern woman's feeling of powerlessness. Her book, Women Who Run with the Wolves, was on the bestseller list in the United States for a year. Covering 19 myths, legends and fairy tales, such as the story of the ugly duckling and Bluebeard, Estés shows how women's instinctive nature was tamed over time, in a process that punished all those who rebelled. According to the analyst, like virgin forests and wild animals, instincts were devastated and natural female cycles were forcibly transformed into artificial rhythms to please others. But her vital energy, according to her, can be restored by psychic-archaeological excavations in the ruins of the underground world.