The Wild Soul

When I was in high school, I read two books that fundamentally shaped my spiritual beliefs and practices. The first was The Mists of Avalon by Marrion Zimmer Bradley. Although it's fiction, I have always found that there is Truth in stories, even if they aren't true in the factual sense. There is a deeper meaning inside them that matters more than facts and figures. The second book I read confirmed that belief in a very academic way. Not only did it help me get more deeply into stories, but it also gave me words for what I was talking about. Particularly, I started learning about Jung and archetypes and the universal unconscious. The book that opened that door for me was Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from what she has to say about stories:

"Fairy tales, myths, and stories provide understandings which sharpen our sight so that we can pick out the path left by the wildish nature. The instruction found in story reassures us that the path has not run out, but still leads women deeper, and more deeply still, into their own knowing. The tracks we all are following are those of the wild and innate instinctual Self."

To me, this is just a beautiful way of explaining why stories matter. Neil Gaiman and G.K. Chesterton both have similar quotes, though I didn't find them so early in my life, and therefore they weren't quite as essential to my developing beliefs.