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Monday, May 16, 2011

The Animal Groom

I lied. Reading WWRW always ends up giving me something to say. 

If you've been reading here you'll recall that I have dreams/nightmares with the continuing theme of "what it is is not what it seems". 

Here is what the book gave me tonight: 
The animal groom character is a marker in the psyche, symbolizing a malevolent thing disguised as a benevolent thing. This or some proximate characterization is always present when a woman carries naive presentments about something or someone. When a woman is attempting to avoid the facts of her own devastations, her night dreams will shout warnings to her...
Over the years, I've seen many women's dreams with this animal groom feature or this things-are-not-as-nice-as-they-seem aura. 
If this continues I will have to declare this book as the best recovery book I've read.

6 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE Women Who Run With the Wolves. Fantastic book!
    Too many folks give up on it way too quickly, in my opinion.
    Estes gets to the heart of the matter, literally.
    I don't know about you, but I felt instant relief when I started reading it...as if I had suddenly been given permission to be myself again, after decades of socialization.

    Have you ever read any Marion Woodman? She's fantastic, too.

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  2. Jen - I read most of it over a decade ago during a period of huge transition in my life. It was followed by a period of strength in all areas of my life which I can't completely attribute to the book, but it was there in the center.

    It is funny (and a little disconcerting) how easily we forget things. It's been on my shelf, and as I've been doing recent work to rediscover self from within a pile of rubble, I was instinctively drawn back to the book. Almost every time I read it I am stunned by how accurate Estes description of the female psyche (as I've experienced it) is.

    I haven't read Marion Woodman, I'll look her up.

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  3. Well, I read chapter 2 and I am now aware that part of my turmoil is the bleeding key that I've been holding and my attempts to stop the bleeding. I connected with a lot, wrote a whole post, but now I'm really hoping there will be more (in further chapters) so that I don't feel so naked and unarmed.

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  4. Yay for chapter 2! I loved the bleeding key. And yes, there is more.

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  5. I've met several women who have read it at very different stages in life. It seems so universal and indiscriminate, I love that!

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  6. Yes, Estes has managed to write a book that is a comprehensive view of the female psyche, covering every possible scenario without always having to do so directly.

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