To La Loba, animal and wilderness are both allies and teachers and through her connection to nature and subsequent deeper understanding of life and everything beyond, she seems to be able to see not just through her own two eyes, but through the eyes of a thousand others. She is the essence of the female soul, the key to new life and rebirth.Īnd so, La Loba presides nearly omniscient amongst the mountains, sand, dried up river beds and craggy outlooks of the barren Mexican desert searching for the bones of wolves. In literature and tradition world over since the dawn of time, nature and life have been associated with womanhood mother nature carries everything a woman needs to be and know. The wolf is the often the symbol of wild nature incarnate, carrying her deepest secrets, stories, dreams, words and songs.

Her supposed preoccupation with the icon of the wolf runs parallel with the wolf’s long held connotations with nature, the wild and, through such channels, womanhood and life itself. There are myths within myths surrounding her, her identity and overall purpose as a woman some purporting that she entangles passed souls with intricately, magically woven dream catches and restrains them within the flickering flames of her fire, itself the centre of a dark cave filled with her timeless collection of bones old and new, snake, deer and, most treasured of all, wolf. La Loba, known to local superstitions as Soul Stealer, is a fascinating, powerful character of unreserved knowing and passion. The story is a continuation of Estes ‘ long held fascination with the wild woman archetype and the raw, natural power of female intuition and instinct. One day, she decides to attempt to resurrect the unrestrained spirit of life itself from the depths of the Underworld. Inspired by my research of Lesely and her love of travel, culture and exploration (and being ever eager to learn more about women of the world and different cultures myself), I read up on some of her personal favourite stories from around the world and there was one in particular I ‘ve just f allen in love with.Ĭlarissa Pinkola Estes’ La Loba: Wild Woman, Luminous Wolf is an enchantingly gorgeous, mythical tale set in the barren wilderness of Mexico’s northern deserts, where there lives a mysterious woman of many names and identities who devotes her life to the collection of precious and endangered things, such as the bones of once sacred animals. Tomorrow at GWL we welcome musician and storyteller Lesley O’Brien for an incredible, unique Story Café special.

Clarissa pinkola estes books