image credit: alice popkorn
Many of you reading this will have had your lives enriched by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ most famous book, Women Who Run With the Wolves. Even if you’ve never read it, you’ll probably have heard of it.
Dr Pinkola Estes’ journey through myth and archetype continues with the release of her new series, The Dangerous Old Woman.
Did you know, you were born as the first, and the last and the best and the only one of your kind, and that eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness? These are two of the crone truths I have to offer you.
The first thing to know about this series is that it is not a book; it’s an audio CD/download. I don’t know if there are plans to turn it into a book but I almost hope not, because listening to it is a magnificent, enchanting experience.
So much of Dr Pinkola Estes’ work concerns oral narrative, it’s fantastic to listen to her tell and then unpack stories such as Snow White, the Ruby Red Fox, the Three Old Re-Weavers and others. Because it turns out she isn’t only gifted at writing down her stories, she is a wonderfully gifted story-teller. “Welcome to the fireside…” she says, and it’s like settling down at the feet of your grandmother to be transported into a magical land. The cadence of her voice changes, it rises and falls, she inhabits her characters and brings them to life.
And once the story finished, she presents challenges for us to live fully in our danger.
Which is an important point because she gives another meaning to the word dangerous.
Wildness without wisdom can be folly, and wisdom without wildness can be starched. Dangerous does not mean someone who insults others… I began this work understanding the word danger in its oldest form… long ago it meant to protect. You! Stand in my danger… stand in my aura which says certain things of this earth are so precious they can never be allowed to be harmed… You! Stand in my danger because I will protect, I will help, I will create, I will defend, I will unleash… I will carve doors in walls. You! Stand in my danger.
She talks of normalcy as a curse:
Sit at your writing desk and write down all the eccentricities you’ve ever been accused of since childhood. These are your gifts.
Now the format of this series is a little confusing. It is in three parts:
- The Dangerous Old Woman
- The Power of the Crone
- The Joyous Body
Thank you very much for this review Tess. Women Who Run has had a big impact on my life. I have read and re-read it for at least a decade and at one time was co-leading a Dark Moon Womens` Circle where we read it together, which was very enlightening… so I shall definitely be taking a look at this latest offering from Dr Estes.
Kate, Dark Moon Women’s Circle sounds really interesting – are you able to tell us a bit more about this?
Well, it started as a monthly Full Moon Circle of women meeting to meditate and share as a kind of spontaneous response to the events of 11th September 2001. Reflecting the open and expansive nature of the full moon, these meetings were entirely open and informal. Several years later, arising from this a group of us expressed a desire to meet in a closed and more committed circle and this seemed to follow the more introspective energy of the Dark Moon and so we began to meet and study Women Who Run. It is a very worthwhile experience sharing a book like this as a group, I highly recommend it as do I recommend Dr Jean Shinoda Bolen`s book The Millionth Circle….Thanks for asking Tess! x
Fascinating! It reminds me of another book, which I think I must have given to someone: Mysteries of the Dark Moon by Demetra George. Also worth a look.
Yes! I was going to mention that one…and also, well we are on this subject, “Calling the Circle” by Christine Baldwin …
Eccentricities as gift … I like that.
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And I think it’s so true. I saw it in my own mother, who was always a bit of an eccentric, but in the latter part of her life cared far less about what others thought of her.
There isn’t anyone or any life form who isn’t different so we are all the same.
My first reaction to this was “huh?”
But now I think I see what you mean.
I love the quote that my eccentricities are my gifts! I must be very gifted.
Thanks for this Tess–I’ve listened to the first cd set but need to purchase the other two. I just started reading her latest book, “Untie the Strong Woman” and am trying to savoring the wisdom as I read.
cheers!
June Mears Driedger recently posted..Domesticating Francis of Assisi
Yes, Untie the Strong Woman is on my list!
When I saw your post was about “The Dangerous Old Woman” my first thought was of the witch hunts — from the way they were persecuted and executed by the millions, they must really have been “dangerous.” During that awful era, the old women of the community went from being repositories of the collective wisdom to objects of fear and loathing. I think we are still feeling the after-effects of that time in the way we fear age and the thought of turning into an “old hag.” Cultural anthropologists credit the “grandmother revolution” with making us human — that human females undergo menopause and live beyond their ability to reproduce says that there is something else of great evolutionary value in women besides our ability to reproduce. It also reminds me of something I read about men’s magic being “death magic” (hunting magic — attracting animals in order to kill them, and warrior magic – killing enemies) and women’s magic being “life magic” — child bearing, food making and healing. I like Dr. Estes’ point about the original meaning of “danger” — Stand in my danger!
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This is an interesting point about death and life magic. If I were a man I might be quite depressed about that, but I suppose it can be seen as embracing the whole circular life/death continuum.
This sounds wonderful! I love listening to her tell the stories herself. It’s mesmerizing, and seems to engage my mind (and psyche) on a deeper level than reading alone does.
I checked out the description at Sounds True and am intrigued by a tale called “The Mad Knitter.” It was listed as part of the on-demand event – is it on the CD as well?
Thanks for another great review!
Jane, yes I think the voice goes to the whole ancient human activity of story-telling.
I don’t know about the tale you mention – it’s the on-demand event that I have, so I’m not sure if it’s on the CD.
You could contact Sounds True and ask them, though, I’ve found them extremely helpful. You can contact them at info “at” soundstrue.com
[...] * Tess Giles Marshall review of “The Dangerous old Woman” by Dr Pinkola Estes on her blog site Pilgrim’s Moon [...]