On the Wild Woman Archetype
“Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing.”
– Clarissa Pinkola Estes
What is the Wild Woman archetype?
The Wild Woman is a part of all of us. She may be stifled, she may be loud and free… she’s there in different capacities for all of us. She is a part of Self.
Have you ever met a woman who has a strength to her that cannot be challenged? She will not allow herself to be influenced by others’ ideas.
She’s different than most. She has a deep inner knowing that cannot be shook. She is strong in her core. She may throw you off because of how strong she is in herself. She has a solid hold on her center.
She arrives fully in all of her interactions, with her whole body. She may exude a quiet strength. She sets her own rules and goals, and moves to the rhythm of an ancient drum.
She doesn’t cling to the little things of life, but rather relaxes into life’s flow. She trusts life’s rhythms and cycles. She sees that a deeper truth is possible in every situation. She has wisdom for the grander unfolding of the highest good. This doesn’t come from a place of spiritual bypassing, but a deep inner confident knowing.
She has a deep presence to her that comes from this deep acceptance of life and its rhythms. She accepts the life-death-life cycle. She knows it and loves it. When we come to this place of loving the life-death-life cycle, we actually land deeper in our bodies.
We become more present to our lives. Even its’ chaos.
She doesn’t care for societal norms. She has no need to please others in order to feel good within herself.
She has deep acceptance of self. She has deep love for self.
She is free. This is what Wild Woman is.
She has a level of freedom that is unparalleled. She knows, accepts, loves, and expresses herself authentically.
“I accept my curves. I accept my loudness. I accept my pimples and moles. I accept my curly hair. I accept my scars. I accept my passions. I accept my gifts and my limitations. I accept age and the movement of time. I accept my family system. I accept my anger. ”
Can you feel the amount of freedom that comes from this archetype?
Freedom and healing come from acceptance.
With acceptance, energy is freed up to be expressed creatively and freely.
She embodies her creative essence. She expresses her full life force in her community.
She shows up fully as herself.
She leaves people touched.
Wild Woman accepts all aspects of the feminine that society/culture may deem as being flawed, too much, not enough, or not the right kind.
Wild Woman is about acceptance of the fullness of self. Because of this deep level of acceptance and freedom, she walks soulfully.
She is embodied. She is grounded. It’s like her soul fully lives in her body — it’s in the fullness of her being.
She takes up her space.
She knows herself. She knows the stories she carries. She knows where she comes from. She knows her flaws and shadows. She knows what she likes, what she’s passionate about, what turns her on.
“Wild Woman is the health of all women. Without her, women’s psychology makes no sense… She canalizes through women. If they are suppressed, she struggles upward. If women are free, she is free. Fortunately, no matter how many times she is pushed down, she bounds up again. No matter how many times she is forbidden, quelled, cut back, diluted, tortured, touted as unsafe, dangerous, mad and other derogations, she emanates upward in women, so that even the quietest, even the most restrained woman keeps a secret place for her.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes
She has peeled back the false masks and either taken them off, or has chosen to use them knowingly. She knows what’s underneath the masks.
So, she isn’t easily swayed by someone else’s wishes for her. She knows herself and has the strength to continue standing in her full self. She is deeply rooted in her full self.
She knows who she is and who she isn’t… and thus knows who she belongs to. She is ancient, knowing, timeless, wise, crone, expressive, and so much more.
She knows her truth and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. She’s not afraid to stand up and speak for what she believes in and what she feels is right.
She doesn’t listen to others’ guidelines. She is listening to her deepest values. She doesn’t think, “is that too loud? Too outspoken? Too bright?”
There is not “too much” of anything that is life-giving and life-nurturing.
How to reclaim the Wild Woman archetype?
How to hear the call of the Wild Woman?
It’s often a deep primal call.
We know it in our bones, we may feel it in our belly, our womb.
She often lands into your life in a mysterious & synchronistic way.
If you know there is so much more to your expression, then she is calling.
You know there is something freer, more authentic, more purposeful, and more meaningful that you should be doing. This may be followed with a wrenching sadness that is difficult to explain and put into words.
It is almost as if there is a distant self, calling out to you from beyond the horizon that you are trying to reach… This is your Wild Woman stirring inside of you, calling to you to awaken.
There is much that is possible to gain from working with the Wild Woman archetype, such as freedom, liberation, fullness, authentic self-expression, creative flow & so much more.
She moves us past our own judgements, expectations, the world’s judgements, and absorbed conditioning from family and culture. We might have shame around our sexuality, or working with our sexual energy. She goes, “This is so human! There is nothing wrong with your sexual desires, nor with your primal, animal aspects of self.”
What is the expression of Wild Woman that is most wanting to awaken within you?
What exactly is asking to rise? To be unleashed? To be expressed?
If she calls you, consider it an invitation into the upcoming Women’s Journey: Women Who Run With The Wolves.