“The Quintessential Wild Feminine”

Quotes to Stir Your Wild Feminine Heart & Soul 

“The quintessential feminine Self stands at the center of the psyche and it is wild, meaning natural and free, and utterly wise.  It is not ‘something’ we must strive to create.  This Self is already fully present, burning strong and waiting for us to come into its presence.”  – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“We are all filled with a longing for the wild.  There are few culturally-sanctioned antidotes for this yearning.  We were taught to feel shame for such a desire.  We grew our hair long and used it to hide our feelings.  But the shadow of Wild Woman still lurks behind us during our days and in our nights.  No matter where we are, the shadow that trots behind us is definitely four-footed.”  – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“Although many things are good and nutritious for the soul, most fall into Wild Woman’s four basic food groups: time, belonging, passion, and sovereignty. Stock up.”- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“The sacred and the sensual/sexual live very near one another in the psyche, for they are all brought to attention through a sense of wonder, not from intellectualizing but through experiencing something through the physical pathways of the body, something that for the moment or forever, whether is a kiss, a vision, a belly laugh, or whatever, changes us, shakes us out, takes us to a pinnacle, smoothes our our lines, gives us a dance step, a whistle, a true burst of life…in the sacred, the obscene, the sexual, there is always a wild laugh waiting…laughter is hidden side of women’s sexuality; it is a physical, elemental, passionate, vitalizing, and therefore arousing.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés,, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

Our Wild Nature + The Wildness of the Planet

“It’s not by accident that the pristine wildness of our planet disappears as the understanding of our own inner wild nature fades.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés,, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“The comprehension of this Wild Woman nature is not a religion but a practice. It is a psychology in its truest sense…a knowing of the soul. Without her, women are without ears to hear soul talk or to register the chiming of their own inner rhythms…Without her, they forget why they’re here, they hold on when they would best hold out. Without her they are silent when they are in fact on fire. She is their regulator, she is their soulful heart, the same as the human heart regulates the physical body.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

Doors to the Wild Self + Natural Beauty

“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious.  If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door.  If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door.  If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door … Be proud of your scars.  They have everything to do with your strength and what you’ve endured.  They’re a treasure map to the deep self.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“Tell the truth about your wound, and then you will get a truthful picture of the remedy to apply to it.  Don’t pack whatever is easiest or most available into the emptiness. Hold out for the right medicine.  You will recognize it because it makes your life stronger rather than weaker.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype 

“When we accept our own wild beauty, it is put into perspective, and we are no longer poignantly aware of it anymore, but neither would we forsake it or disclaim it either.  Does a wolf know how beautiful she is when she leaps?  Does a feline know what beautiful shapes she makes when she sits?  Is a bird awed by the sound it hears when it snaps open its wings?  Learning from them, we just act in our own true way and do not draw back from or hide our natural beauty.  Like the creatures, we just are, and it is right.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., Women Who Run with the Wolves:  Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype