Let’s be honest. Wild is a fully loaded word.
Especially in the place I call home, Oklahoma, the heartland of America.
Throw the words wild and woman together in the same breath around these parts, and you’re likely to get some sideways glances from people immediately calling your moral character into question.
In the weeks ahead I’ll be sharing with you actionable steps for embodying your wildish nature. But first, we need to get really clear on what I mean when I say wild.
For starters, here’s my favorite definition from Merriam-Webster:
WILD:
adjective \ ˈwī(-ə)ld \
not ordinarily tame or domesticated
In previous posts I defined wild in my own words, detailing what an untamed, undomesticated life looks and feels like. Today I want to share with you words from the inspirators and teachers whose lives and work have embodied what it means to truly be wild. And whose teachings have shaped the direction of both my personal passion and my professional work. Owing to this, I call them my muses.
INTRODUCING: MY THREE MUSES
1. CARL GUSTAV JUNG
Swiss Psychiatrist, Individuation Enthusiast, & Conjuror of the Unconscious
FAMOUS WORDS:
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
“The Self is our life’s goal, for it is the completest expression of that fateful combination we call individuality.”
“If you can prove receptive to this “call of the wild,” the longing for fulfillment will quicken the sterile wilderness of your soul as rain quickens dry earth.”
2. HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Poet, Philosopher, & the Original Wild Minimalist
FAMOUS WORDS:
“In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
And my personal favorite: In his Fact Book, Thoreau defined ‘wild’ as “the past participle of ‘to will’; self-willed.”
To be wild means to be self-willed.
3. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES
Jungian Analyst, Spoken Word Artist, Original Coiner-ess of the Wildish Nature, & Wild Woman Personified
FAMOUS WORDS from Women Who Run With the Wolves:
“When women reassert their relationship with the wildish nature, they are gifted with a permanent and internal watcher, a knower, a visionary, an oracle, an inspiratrice, an intuitive, a maker, a creator, an inventor, and a listener who guide, suggest, and urge vibrant life in the inner and outer worlds. When women are close to this nature, the fact of that relationship glows through them. This wild teacher, wild mother, wild mentor supports their inner and outer lives, no matter what.
So, the word wild here is not used in its modern pejorative sense, meaning out of control, but in its original sense, which means to live a natural life, one in which the criatura, creature, has innate integrity and healthy boundaries. These words, wild and woman, cause women to remember who they are and what they are about. They create a metaphor to describe the force which funds all females. They personify a force women cannot live without.”
In a word, wild, is the great unknown within. It’s the untamed part of you that’s trying to come through in everything you do. Living in tune with your wildish nature means trusting your intuition, allowing your inner guidance to lead you, and shaping who you are from the inside-out, rather than the outside-in.
Tell me: When did you first hear the call of the wild? Was it the sky? A scar? That still, small voice inside whispering, “there’s more to life than meets the eye”? Let me know in the comments!
In Love & Wildness,
