A story that has journeyed with me throughout the years. Teaching me what I needed learn. Telling me what I needed to hear. Walking with me on all fours. Calling out to me when I lost her.
A story that has traveled through the mountains in a backpack. Each chapter being ripped out as it's finished. The lessons not forgotten. Protected. Guiding me on the path.
The wolf on the side of that building. Pointing the way. Leading me home.
For the initiated, we know it as sacred. Call it by many names. Bible. Manifesto. Guide. The call of the soul.
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
Our story begins with La Loba. Wolf woman.
'There is an old woman who lives in a hidden place that everyone knows in their souls, but few have ever seen'.
Inviting us into deeper knowing. Inviting us to connect with what is already inside. The Wild. The ugly. The unknown. The underworld. Hidden away, but not far.
La Loba.
Her work is to collect the bones. Of animals. Of all kinds. Especially the bones of wolves. That wild creature who roams the deserts, the mountains, the streams. Lurking in the shadows. Illuminated by the moon, if she allows. Always near, but out of sight.
Once she has taken the time, the care, to collect the full skeleton, she begins to sing over the bones. Deeper and deeper. Louder and louder. Going down into the underbelly, the underworld. Reaching the depths of the unknown.
And... the creature slowly, gently... comes alive. Shakes and howls. Becomes furry, strong, fierce.
And once whole, watch out. For she runs free. Natural and unashamed.
The parts of us that are there, yet disconnected. Hidden.
Maybe we can't hear her. Can't feel her. But, she's there. Waiting to be found.
With patience. With time. With deep listening. Turning towards. Running alongside. Laying in the grass beside her to rest.
She is here. She always was.
Call her wolf. Call her goddess. Call her divine. Call her home. Soul.
She is here. Waiting to be discovered. Fully known. Seen. Heard. Held. Experienced.
Some parting words...
'If you wander the desert, and it is near sundown, and you are perhaps a little bit lost, and certainly tired, that you are lucky, for La Loba may take a liking to you and show you something - something of the soul'.