“Bone by bone, hair by hair, Wild Woman comes back. Through night dreams, through events half understood and half remembered…Wild Woman comes back…”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Dr. Estés invites you to enter the depths of universal themes when you read her analysis of stories and myths. She introduces us to archetypal realities, and through her text, teaches us to understand them.
The old woman in the desert is a collector of bones. According to CPE: “They are by their structure hard to burn, nearly impossible to pulverize. In myth and story, they represent the indestructible soul-spirit” (31). As an archetype, bones mean many things to many people. There is life force that runs through our marrow. Bones are the structure of our bodies and without them we have no form and no ability to move through our worlds.
CPE says: “Bones are heavy enough to hurt with, sharp enough to cut through flesh, and when old and if strung, tinkle like glass. The bones of the living are alive and creatural in themselves; they constantly renew themselves” (31).
Some say the bones are all of our experiences in all of their good, bad, and indifferent forms. Our experiences are what give us strength and most important ones are the bones that we can gather and assemble and rely on whenever we need them. We can breathe life into our own wisdom and then sing. We can give them voice. We can take back our own voices.
ACTIVITY: “Assemble your Bones”. Spend some time remembering and reflecting on important moments in your life. They can be happy or sad, good or bad, powerful or minimal. Jot down these various moments as they come to you over a few days or weeks. When ready, make a timeline and then recreate a skeleton of your bones. Get creative. Sing over your bones.
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The Power of Story 