Clarissa Pinkola Estes - Women Who Run With the Wolves - suggested by PZZ

This book isn't just another book. It is a gift of profound insight, wisdom, and love. An oracle from one who knows."—Alice Walker.
Within every woman there lives a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. She is the Wild Woman, who represents the instinctual nature of women. But she is an endangered species. In WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES, Dr. Estés unfolds rich intercultural myths, fairy tales, and stories, many from her own family, in order to help women reconnect with the fierce, healthy, visionary attributes of this instinctual nature. Through the stories and commentaries in this remarkable book, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand the Wild Woman and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine. Dr. Estés has created a new lexicon for describing the female psyche. Fertile and life-giving, it is a psychology of women in the truest sense, a knowing of the soul."This volume reminds us that we are nature for all our sophistication, that we are still wild, and the recovery of that vitality will itself set us right in the world."—Thomas Moore Author of Care of the Soul"I am grateful to WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES and to Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. The work shows the reader how glorious it is to be daring, to be caring, and to be women. Everyone who can read should read this book."—Maya Angelou"An inspiring book, the 'vitamins for the soul' [for] women who are cut off from their intuitive nature."—San Francisco Chronicle"Stands out from the pack . . . A joy and sparkle in [the] prose . . . This book will become a bible for women interested in doing deep work. . . . It is a road map of all the pitfalls, those familiar and those horrifically unexpected, that a woman encounters on the way back to her instinctual self. Wolves . . . is a gift."—Los Angeles Times"A mesmerizing voice . . . Dramatic storytelling she learned at the knees of her [immigrant] aunts."—Newsweek
The wild woman. She is the internal, eternal essence of the feminine: instinctive, intuitive, primitive, powerful. In this remarkable collection of multicultural myths and stories, a renowned Jungian analyst and storyteller reintroduces this important archetype into the lives of modern women.

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Folklore, fairy tales and dream symbols are called on to help restore women's neglected intuitive and instinctive abilities in this earthy first book by a Jungian analyst. According to Estes, wolves and women share a psychic bond in their fierceness, grace and devotion to mate and community. This comparison defines the archetype of the Wild Woman, a female in touch with her primitive side and able to rely on gut feelings to make choices. The tales here, from various cultures, are not necessarily about wolves; instead, they illuminate fresh perspectives on relationships, self-image, even addiction. An African tale of twins who baffle a man represents the dual nature of woman; from the Middle East, a story about a threadbare but secretly magic carpet shows society's failure to look beyond appearances. Three brief, ribald stories advocate a playful, open sexuality; other examples suggest ways to deal with anger and jealousy. At times, Estes's commentary--in which she urges readers to draw upon and enjoy their Wild Woman aspects--is hyperbolic, but overall her widely researched study offers usable advice for modern women.
When I turned thirteen my mum gave me a copy of this book, telling me, "This is a book that no woman should be without." I was thrilled with having a "grown-up" book, and treasured it. It took me several years to understand it enough to read beyond the wonderful stories...but then one day I started reading and it all just clicked. I couldn't put it down and it has been my constant companion ever since.
This is a beautifully written book made up of many stories, some well-known and others less so, explanations of these stories and what they can teach us about ourselves and advice on how to implement these insights for the maximum feeling of freedom and happiness in our everyday life. This book has helped me through many times when I was in need of comfort and strength and will help me through more to come.
Whether reading the stories or the interpretations of them, it is like reading pure poetry. Clarissa Estes speaks with wisdom about things that she has obviously spent her life studying and learning.
One reviewer talked about this as being a book for man-haters. I have been reading it for well over 10 years now and I never ever got that impression. I don't see why glorifying the feminine has to equal hating the masculine. For me this book is about feeling more empowered in myself as a woman, and not anything to do with the putting down of men.
I have recommended it to many friends, as well as sharing it for one (who loves it as much as I do), and I am planning on giving it to more friends soon. Give yourself a treat and buy it today, it's a book that will last you a lifetime.

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Meet the Author
Clarissa Pinkola Estes was born in Indiana in 1943 to parents of Spanish and Mexican ancestry, but was later adopted by Hungarian immigrants. She received her Ph.D. from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was certified as a Jungian analyst in 1984. She worked as a psychoanalyst in private practice and developed and taught the Writing as Liberation of the Spirit program in state and federal prisons. Estes served as executive director of the C.G. Jung Center for Education and Research and cofounded and codirected Colorado Authors for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights. One of Estes's better-known writings, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (1992), is drawn from tales and myths she heard firsthand from members of such cultures as Asian, Mexican, African, and Greek. She also wrote The Gift of Story (1993). Her books can be found indexed under Psychology, Women's Studies, Mythology, Spiritual Development, and Poetry.