Will I love Women Who Run with the Wolves?

A collection of myths, fairy tales, and folk stories about the wild woman archetype told and analyzed by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés.

The result is a powerful exploration of the female psyche and experience, of women’s power and knowing, of intuition, femininity, and the ways in which we can reconnect to that power within each of us.

A favorite quote: “There is no 'supposed to be' in bodies. The question is not size or shape or years of age, or even having two of everything, for some do not. But the wild issue is, does this body feel, does it… show more.

This book fundamentally changed my life when I was in my 20s. It was one of the first non-fiction books that helped me see myself. I begged my mother to read it, but it didn’t meet her standards at all.

That difference set up how I made sense of my relationship with my mother for a long time after that. The book's insistence that there IS a wild woman out there for every woman to connect to resonates now more than ever.

This is a must-read for me to understand the archetypes inherent to women. I have not only read it but also reread it and studied it with other women. 

I love anything wild, and so does Dr. Estés. She believes that within every woman, there lives a powerful force filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. The wild is instinctual and endangered. Civilization demands women become rigid in roles contrary to the life-giving messages of our own souls. I have always believed this, and this book reinforces my beliefs.

Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés uses mythology, fairy tales, folk… show more.

I feel that this is a book that every woman should read because it delves into the deeper lessons behind the folk tales ingrained in our psyches, which have been twisted with time to fit a patriarchal narrative.

Estés is a master storyteller herself; therefore, this book stays with you and keeps giving throughout the challenges you face in your life.

I first read Women Who Run With The Wolves 30 years ago and loved it.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés is a born storyteller, having grown up in an extended family where story-telling was a beloved daily tradition practiced by old and young alike. As a young adult, Clarissa became a Jungian analyst. For her doctorate, she travelled the world, seeking out tribal peoples and communities where the traditional stories were still told. These stories were to become the core of her doctoral thesis and this book.

Rereading this book after 30 years elicited palpable excitement in me. I recognized so many… show more.

I never, never, never want to meet this author. This book had me crying on every page and at 520 pages it is a really long book. How dare she expose my soul warts and all to the world? That book set my soul free in a way that few other books have. If you want to face yourself and be yourself! Read this book.

This is not a novel, but an extraordinary exploration of fairy stories, their meaning and their psychological significance. Women who run with the Wolves is an amazing work of scholarship, though it’s sometimes simplistic, and takes some digesting. Clarissa Pinkora Estes is herself a fine storyteller. Each section begins with her retelling of a well-known fairy story, sparse, unadorned, and very powerful. She then writes about its meaning, referring to psychological conditions that are related to the story. She maintains that understanding the story helps us to understand ourselves, our motives and fears, our inhibitions, and how we might move… show more.

I am in love with Women Who Run with the Wolves! I was given a copy of it a few years ago, and though I'd read parts of it in the past, this time it felt like every word was written for me! I have been transformed by reading this book, and I now use it as a source book for teaching my women’s groups. Every time I read a passage, I feel deeply connected to my soul and my wild nature and am reminded of what I know deep within: that I am powerful beyond belief when I… show more.

This book broke ground by bringing the ancient art of storytelling as a teaching tool into our modern times to inform us about our instinctual feminine nature. Like eating cheesecake, it is difficult to fully consume too much of it in one sitting. Each story is meant to be tasted and savored. Slowly. Pinkola-Estes’ words are beautifully lyrical and the wisdom conveyed by her collection of fairytales and folk tales is meant to bypass the limitations of our rational mind, penetrate our psyche, and nourish us at the deepest levels.

This nonfiction classic reminds us that every fairy tale is a collective dream, and by exploring, retelling, and sharing its wisdom, we develop our calling as individuals and societies. Other great Jungian authors have done similar interpretations of fairy tales like dreams of how to live. But I love this one for its deep dive into feminine archetypes—because the wisdom of the feminine is what leads us to that watery, creative, inner world where dreams are made, a world sorely neglected in our achievement-focused world. Written with the haunting cadence of a fairy tale itself, this book is so much… show more.