Clarissa Pinkola Estes

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fantastic healer...wise woman...
should be the next president !

>>By yansa   (Sunday, 9 Mar 2003 16:44)



I cannot tell you what an impact Clarissa's writing has had and continues to have in my life. I not only own and re-read several copies of "women who run..." but have lovingly bought and given copies to women of all ages who needed to find their own "fire within".
I have been a registered nurse for almost 25 years with a specialty in oncology and have had the priviledge of caring for other human beings who were at their worst, yet striving to function at their very best. I have seen and felt and been drawn into the circle of their spirit by invitation and sometimes by fate. Clarissa's articulate yet earthly descriptions of life,the very central core of being, continues to engage me even when I randomly open her book or listen to her voice reading the words she has so eloquently written. I have wanted to write to her for so many years and thank her for "saving" me. My fire was down to embers and she helped me to blow the saving breath of life back into my soul. I am compelled to share her work with other women and ask them to pass on her wisdom and gifts of spirit strength and endurance to others.

>>By finnslippers@aol.com   (Tuesday, 11 Mar 2003 07:58)



i think i'm going to read every one of her books , someone said books that you need to read always turn up just at the right time would love to talk with such a women. thank U CPE.

>>By wildorchid/ janet   (Monday, 24 Mar 2003 17:29)



After many years of gnawing off my own limbs to get out of the traps I'd mindlessly wandered into, I stumbled on the book I'd received five years earlier, and never even opened. At the time, I was not interested in any "evolved woman" propaganda--the irony is that the book was given to me by my father--extremely out of character for him.
After the crash and burn of every area of my life, I took refuge, personally, professionally, financially, in every possible way, I just ran and hid in a trailer on my dad's property, letting my family provide basic needs and just licking my wounds, pretty much acting like an indulgent brat and feeling guilty (sometimes) because of it. Yet I knew I was useless in this melted-down state, and then, there it was in a box--I found this book. In WOLVES, I found insights and truths that literally seared my skin with recognition. I mean I actually raised blisters as I read--never had a rash in my life before. THe emotion boiled from inside me OHMIGODOHMIGODOHMIGOD IT"S ME! I have read non-stop for twelveor fourteen hours in one sitting, not showering, or eating. It is an amazing gift this woman has given, and my father gave it to me.The irony there is unspeakable.
I have underlined and dog-eared and re-read and wept and, after a year and a half, I still don't know just how to break free, only that I must. Understanding the feral woman, that has helped the most. I most identify with the Red Shoes (especially since I had accumulated, over my lifetime, a collection of red shoes that defies description).
Is CPE alive and well and lecturing? If you know this, please contact me. Thanks for the opportunity to connect.

>>By ufopatti@earthlink.net   (Thursday, 3 Apr 2003 15:05)



Women process guilt in a way that even feeling it makes one additionally guilty. In my own case, everything wrong that I have ever done, or felt I have done, weighs on my every action, my every decision. Being a mother has increased that feeling, in fact increased and underlined every feeling good or bad. While it would be wonderful to participate in Dr. Pinkola Estés´ groups of reflection and interaction, and, at this particular moment when I am faced with my own brand of recent personal crisis and need to ask (others and myself) What do I do now? Where do I go to be helped, to be cleansed, to be comforted, to be understood?, what is closest to me now is Women Who Run With the Wolves, a book it took me (a quick reader) 3 years to read and to which I return with faith always that in scanning the pages rapidly again or reading the notes on the margins, made in pencil, highlighter and different kinds and colors of ink, I will find a road, or at least a direction in which to involve my footsteps.

The book is extremely original, not only because of the way in which it works with color and pull through a maze of archetypal knowledge. There is a particularity to the style of the author. It is in itself unleashed. There are curious ebbs and flows within the text but one can see that it is no intellectual´s literary nod to counterparts. There are misspelled words in other languages, for example, so one can tell the author was not intent on pulchritude but on spiritual verosimilitude; she is passing them through her as they came to her from family, lore, echo, counsel. There are grandiose, magnificent crescendos that beat with something that does actually transmit valor and elusive Truth. There is something of the kitch, and there is something of the prophet. There is a lot which is dubious politically correct, yet at the same time there is little subservient. There are angels and virgins. There are strange interpretations of time. There is an uncanny precision about the subjects touched upon and their challenges to a woman´s spiritual existence.

Sometimes life is so sad, so scary. Sometimes my own vulnerability surprises, shocks me. Sometimes I want to cry with but with whom? To what end? And why cry? I am obsessed with forgiveness: the power to give it and the power to receive it, since we all hurt each other so much, and hurt ourselves so much. Well, Women... may not have solved many of my problems nor answered to full satisfaction some of my strange, simple and complex questions, but it gives me strength. Just looking at its cover reminds me that somewhere I have read something that will make me feel better, give me another perspective, refine my phoenix-bird impulse.

>>By beaventura2003@yahoo.com   (Monday, 30 Jun 2003 03:04)



My copy of Women Who Run With The Wolves is falling apart and I still continue to re-read it always finding new insights. I am am interested in being able to contact Ms. Estes to obtain permission to use some of the images and stories in my own creative work. If someone knows how I can do this please contact me at alphab06279@yahoo.com. Thank you.

>>By Peri Grenell   (Tuesday, 22 Jul 2003 16:44)



Does anyone know if Clarissa is speaking/teaching/facilitating/counseling anymore? Like many others, I would love to get in contact with her and attend anything she might be doing. If you know of anything, please email me at caramia@riseup.net. Thanks, Cara

>>By Caramia   (Sunday, 4 Nov 2007 02:24)



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