Women Who Run with the Wolves

Clarissa Pinkola Estés is a Jungian psychoanalyst, poet, and cantadora (keeper of the oral Latina storytelling tradition), whose interdisciplinary background deeply informs the structure and content of Women Who Run with the Wolves. The author’s work with trauma survivors has led her to craft a multifaceted, myth-infused tapestry of narratives that illuminates women’s deepest struggles, strengths, and desires. To this end, she emphasizes folklore and explores several primal archetypes—the wolf and the “Wild Woman”—as vehicles for psychological insight. Drawing upon her Ph.D. in ethno-clinical psychology, the author delivers a unique, story-driven commentary that uses classic imagery to address modern manifestations of age-old psychological obstacles, encouraging women to fully embrace their authentic selves.

Because Estés structures her guidance in the form of stories, relying upon symbolism and spiritual interpretations rather than empirical evidence, her work does reflect an element of imprecision that defies more traditionally linear presentations. This choice is deliberate and encapsulates the implicit suggestion that people’s inner landscapes are just as imprecise as the stories that seek to illuminate them. However, although she draws on folkloric elements from all over the world, her interpretations are rooted primarily in Jungian theory and are informed by her own cultural experiences, and her conclusions may not be universally applicable.