Unveiling the Wild Woman Archetype in Fairy Tales

HIDDEN INSTINCTS

Below the surface of folklore and fairy tales hides the forgotten instinctual soul of the wild woman archetype, and while the morality of these tales may be questionable, I believe they are the trigger in bringing the forgotten instincts to the surface. The stories can bring empowerment as we interpret them to understand why we have lost our instincts and guide us in our transformation back to this forgotten self. This paper will discuss the connection between the wild woman and the tales, along with the meanings behind some of the stories.

Fairy Tales, Folklore and the Unconsciousness

While we are all aware of the Disneyfied versions of fairy tales and folklore, however, long before Walt Disney, the stories were not so

Because when we look for the hidden meanings in the tales that seem similar to our circumstances we can look at the meanings we uncover from the story to help recover the buried memories or instincts. Certainly we all have parts of ourselves that we hide away from the world and even from ourselves, because as we all know sometimes it is easier to forget them rather than facing the fact we are not living the life we wish. Though we habitually bury them so deep that even our consciousness itself is unaware, however, they are always present in the unconscious and this effects the decisions we make along with the feelings or thoughts that appear and we are unable to explain them to ourselves until we begin to remember and set ourselves free (Radulescu,

and using that to outline your life cycle (Estés. 2010). Coincidentally Estés also practices Jungian Psychology; in general this method of using fairy tales to understand your inner psyche seems very popular with those that practice this type of psychology. First by analyzing your life you can see where the ups and downs have been, what caused them and how you brought yourself out of the down cycles, while this is not exactly how she does it, if you just do it anyway you can and make the effort, this will start you on your journey. For myself, I am undertaking this using years and what happened those years along with how I felt, problems, and accomplishments to help me focus on improving my future and letting that wild woman out to create the life I wish for. Once this has been accomplished you can take the stories that resonate with you and read, research and start healing your life, in particularly stopping the poor choices that are holding you down as you begin to understand the reasoning you made those