Photo Credit: Thomas Bonometti on Unsplash.

The She-Wolf Inside Us

May 1, 2024

There is an ancient folktale from the desert Southwest about “a woman who was a wolf who was a woman” also known as “Loba Girl” or Wolf Woman who climbs the canyons, and sifts through the arroyos or dry riverbeds, gathering wolf bones over which she sings, until they spring back to life and run off laughing with the voice of a woman. Inspired by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ retelling of this story in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, this folktale invites us to call back to life those buried and discarded parts of ourselves, so that we can find our true voice again.

Power Beneath the Surface: The Psychic Waters of the Unconscious

March 5, 2024

The ocean is a prominent and enigmatic feature in many folktales around the world including: the Irish folktale of the Selkie, the Inuit folktale of Sedna, and the Vietnamese folktale of Dragon and the Crane. According to Carl Jung, the radical and inspirational psychoanalyst, we can explore the meaning of the ocean as a symbol of the unconscious and through this process we can find ways in which the characters’ struggles and transformations resonate with our own illuminating the path to our own self-discovery, forging a deeper connection to our own true authentic identity and our full potential.

For the Late Bloomers: Earth Blooms with Us

November 9, 2023

Autumn’s late blooming flowers remind us, year after year, we are meant to be flowering right when we do. The late bloomer comes in many guises, and appears in the folklore of the Baba Yaga, creatrix and witch, and the Selkie, a shapeshifting seal woman. In a world that often glorifies early achievements and rapid success, these two ancient folktales of late bloomers are still remarkably relevant and timeless in their wisdom. They teach us that even in the midst of challenges that slow us down, there is always the capacity for growth, transformation, and the emergence of something truly extraordinary.