In this chapter, Clarissa Pinkola Estés presents us with the story of “Manawee” to teach us about a spiritual journey to unite the dual nature of women. It is a story about a woman’s true nature. Click here for an audio version by Maria Souza.
In her podcast, Women and Mythology, Maria Souza offers her insights to the symbols from the story. The dual nature of the feminine contains the outer and inner – the civilized and the wildish – the Ego and the Soul Self.
- The Ego will ask: What do I want?
- The Soul Self will ask: What does my deeper self desire?
The Dual Nature functions as different ways of knowing. In our society, we are encouraged to develop the outer self in accordance with what the Overculture wants to see of us. It is the Predator (The Bluebeard) that expects perfection, manipulation and control. It is the The Dark Stranger that can be an inner critic that wants to pull us apart and keep our Dual Nature in pieces. An outer self that ignores the inner self is unbalanced and lopsided. We are called to come into our power to become:
“These ‘two-women-who-are-one’ … separate by conjoined elements which combine in the psyche in thousands of ways”
WWRWW page 115
The characters from myths live in our psyche. When we tell our stories, our wild side listens. If the twins are the Dual Nature, Manawee represents our human nature or the animus of the female psyche. This is the Do Do Do voice that manifests things in our outer world. But when Manawee takes notice and names the Dual Nature and then he takes it to the Father.
The Dog is our instinctual nature. This is not a domesticated being – it is a pack dog that learns to overcome distractions and seductions. Dogs are magicians who can bring the conscious and unconscious together. The big ears have the power to hear what the Ego cannot hear. The Dog has the ability to learn. Hear. Know. It can learn our Name.
Regardless of distractions, the Dog has tenacity to return. It will keep coming back to the task. It will listen for our name and carry it to our consciousness. The Dog will bring it to our Ego. We will fail from the distractions that are robbers of our time and libido. CPE reminds us again that we must discern, like Vasilisa, and separate this from that. We must have some control on our human appetites. “Otherwise, as you can see, one will stop for every bone hock in the road, every pie on a log” (121). Even good distractions are still distractions. But like the Dog, we can persist and return to our duality.
The Father in the story, represents our internal guardian or gatekeeper. The Father reminds us to live in our integrity and that our Dual Nature requires integration. We need to be aware of the state of our Watchman. Is the Screener in our lives keeping out distractions and predators? We need to ask ourselves about our friendships and mates. Do we discuss some topics with some but not others? Or is there a single person that respects and sees our entire selves? They see our civilized and wild sides. We need to occasionally check in and ask ourselves is there a side of ourself that needs nourishment or boundaries?
At times, we may be at odds with how are outer self wants to live. Our inner soul may crave a solitary life in the wild frontier, yet our outer self wants the excitement of the city and the art and culture, food and people it can offer. We are called to craft a life that honors both sides . If we can be aware and NAME our dual nature it may help us map our wild side and our civilized side to integrate and bring them together. We can find a name to describe our own personal dual nature. But do not share this knowledge with the Predator. Only our ideal mates can respond to our duality – like Manawee.
As our healthiest selves, we will blend our duality. We must meet our outer needs and feed our inner souls. We must take time to practice the things our soul loves. We must remind ourselves to watch out for distractions that keep us from our soul work. Like finding our own Name, label the distractions and see them for what they are. Like a plant, it is best to replant it in a new pot and tend to it than to only take notice, tell it nice words, and put it back into a dark closet. We. must commit to our Soul Self work.
I came across a new deck of oracle cards called: Soulful Woman Guidance Cards: Nurtrance, Empowerment, and Inspiration for the Feminine Soul by Shushann Movessian and Gemma Summers. Truth be told, they arrived in time for turning the calendar page for March and became an inspiration for this posting. From their guidebook:
“The sacred feminine is a spiritual term that refers to the universal feminine power; a power that is perhaps most clearly expressed through the amazing cycles of Mother Earth, nature, and the cosmos. The sacred feminine unities and embraces, holds and nourishes. It is the intuitive, heart-based power, one that holds a deep wisdom of the cycles of life and fully understands the power of love. To manifest from the sacred feminine is to live in alignment with these universal feminine principles.”
“To consciously manifest from the sacred feminine we need only relax into the flow of life, trusting that things will come to us when the time is right. Rather than trying to make things happen by pushing harder or doing more, we follow our intuition and act when we are truly inspired to do so. Intuition, trusting, synchronicity, receiving, and allowing are all the keys to manifesting from the sacred feminine.”
“The sacred feminine is our intricate connection to the matrix of creation. Our primordial essence lies in the sacred feminine – she is the blueprint, the deepest model of our own journey as women – the female archetype in all her forms – maiden, mother, queen, and crone. It is from facets of the sacred feminine that we learn about tapping into our own authority, our intuition, and wisdom. She is all that is sacred within us. As we connect to our divine essence we open ourselves up to our inner wisdom and deep knowing. We open to that still quiet place within us that is nature (or consciousness).”
Who is a Soulful Woman?
“She walks a path of love and magnetic attraction. On her way, she is learning to trust her own inner authority, open herself to the infinite source of abundance available to each of us, and tune into the golden web of consciousness that unites us to All That Is.”
“Sometimes we might feel that guidance, wisdom, and insight live outside of us, when in fact, all our answers, meaning and purpose reside within us; we just have to tap into our inner knowing. This knowledge is part of our primordial birthright and inheritance; it is embedded within our female DNA.”
The Power of Story 