To speak of gestation and creativity and birthing as being integral to advent is to speak of the wild as well.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, in her classic work Women Who Run with the Wolves, talks about pregnancy as a door to wildness and wildness as a mark of authenticity. “For some women, this vitalizing ‘taste of the wild’ comes during pregnancy.” Maybe this is why Mary’s Magnificat is as wild as it is.
Wildness, says Estes, also arrives during nursing, or during “the miracle of changing oneself as one raises a child, during attending to a love relationship as one would attend to a beloved garden.”
She tells us about the deeper issues that are important to women and that psychology often ignores. Issues such as “the archetypal, the intuitive, the sexual and cyclical, the ages of women, a woman’s way, a woman’s knowing, her creative fire.” All this is included in the Wild Woman archetype.
When she uses the world “wild,” she is not using it
…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.
Wild and Woman go together she feels such that all women recognize it:
No matter by which culture a woman is influenced, she understands the words wild and woman intuitively.
Estes speaks eloquently of the wildness of creativity, a passage I happily included in my book on Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet: She is
…patroness to all painters, writers, sculptors, dancers, thinkers, prayermakers, seekers, finders—for they are all busy with the work of invention and that is the Wild Woman’s main occupation. As in all art, she resides in the guts, not in the head….She is the one who thunders after injustice.
Thomas Berry also recognizes the wild as being at the heart of all creativity among all the creatures of the Earth when he says:
Wildness we might consider as the root of the authentic spontaneity of any being. It is that wellspring of creativity whence comes the instinctive activities that enable all living beings to obtain their food, to find shelter, to bring forth their young: to sing and dance and fly through the air and swim through the depths of the sea. This is the same inner tendency that evokes the insight of the poet, the skill of the artist and the power of the shaman.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations, pp. 282, 281, 285
And Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet, pp. 152, 42.
To read a transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner image: Wolf. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
Do you recognize wildness as a “wellspring of creativity” to be found among all creatures? And as coming through pregnancy and through works of art? What follows from that?
Recommended Reading
Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in directions that promote love of life (biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic.
“Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead.” –Bishop John Shelby Spong, author, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin
16 thoughts on “With Pregnancy Comes the Wild: Clarissa Estes, Thomas Berry”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a teacher of mine who wrote: Women Who Run with the Wolves, talks about pregnancy as a door to wildness, and wildness as a mark of authenticity. “For some women, this vitalizing ‘taste of the wild’ comes during pregnancy.” And Matthew, you add, “Maybe this is why Mary’s Magnificat is as wild as it is!” Estes tells us about the deeper issues that are important to women and that psychology often ignores–such as the cycle of womanhood as held in Goddess traditions of Maiden (before childbearing age), Mother (childbearing years), and Crone (or Wisewoman)–these following the phases of the moon as waxing, full and waning. And the woman’s cycle follows the 28 day cycle of the moon as well. But Estes also says, “No matter by which culture a woman is influenced, she understands the words wild and woman intuitively.” I have a t-shirt that says, “I love my wild woman on wine!” Thomas Berry also recognizes the wild at the heart of all creativity among all the creatures of the Earth when he says that we might consider wildness as the root of authentic spontaneity. It is that wellspring of creativity that enables all living beings to obtain their food, to find shelter, to bring forth their young: to sing and dance and fly through the air and swim through the depths of the sea. This is the same inner tendency that evokes the insight of the poet, the skill of the artist and the power of the shaman. And “Yes” I do see wildness as the wellspring of creativity, and I dip into that wellspring when I write, paint and sing the songs I have written!
We were born to ‘be wild’ until we walked into the cages that we now find ourselves in. Domesticated, fed and content now with the discontentment of life. We are sad creatures residing in the confines no different than that of animals in a zoo. Who will free the captives? Will we dare ‘walk out of our cages. when the doors have been opened? Will we be fearful of ‘the wild’ we are no longer accustomed to? Who will be willing to take that chance? Why not now, today? If not now, when? — BB.
Bill, You write today in part: “We were born to ‘be wild’…” And its true, just as Steppenwolf sang back in the day…
Absolutely love the positive image of wild woman… savage daughter… wise crone… extra… portrayed in today’s DM, both through the video and
Mathew’s message. I am She and my wildness is beautiful!
Women’s wildness, has for centuries been falsley portrayed in such a negative way… which has caused a deep collective womb wound within the souls, the psyches of all women. This aspect of womanness has suffered greatly in the most horrendous of ways down through the ages; through religious and cultural patriarchal and hierarchical misuse and abuse of power over… due to ignorance, arrogance and fear.
Yet the essence of this wildness within women remains present, as a burning ember… often deeply hidden within… waiting to be claimed and kindled. Women are beginning to arise, emerging like a Phoenix from the ashes of oppression, suppression, judgement, criticism, condemnation and the scaring of being crucified… resurrecting the authentic beauty and wisdom of their wildness in uniquely creative, imaginative, healing and transformative ways. “Beloved are we wild women, blessed our the fruits of our ONE shared womb, bearing forth and birthing the reemergence of the Holy Spirit of the Mother Goddess within.”
Jeanette, You write today: “Women’s wildness, has for centuries been falsely portrayed in such a negative way… which has caused a deep collective womb wound within the souls, the psyches of all women. This aspect of womanness has suffered greatly in the most horrendous of ways down through the ages; through religious and cultural patriarchal and hierarchical misuse and abuse of power over… due to ignorance, arrogance and fear.” And so, in response to your words, I offer as exhibit A: “The Burning Times”–where thousands of women were terrorized and put to death as so-called witches !!! Oh, and by the way, it wasn’t just the Catholics who were behind it, both Catholics and Protestants were involved.
Poem ‘Lonely Female Warrior’ from ‘Journey Home Singing’ by Jan Ellan Bows…. 1985 (Extracts only)
This poem was inspired by reading Clarissa’s book.
‘Oh dark, gleeful destroyer of equilibrium, keeper of ancient secret knowledge,
say ‘NO to complacency and sing the battle cry of ‘Freedom’
Prepare to break down the comfort of security, shedding layer after layer of illusion…..
Carry spears for rupturing false truths and arrows for initiation and learning…..
Besiege the mind with awesome possibilities and endure the stabbing pains of insight….
Place ordinariness and conditioning on the sacrificial altar…
dig for the gold in the soul to find the deep quiet self.
Stay on the path, surrendering to the soft route of gentleness…
This is the way, the lonely way, suitable only for the bravest of hearts…..
Be sure, be strong and stare danger in the face…..
Laugh with modesty but arrive alive and jubilant’.
Dedicated to all women of courage.
Jan, It sounds like the song of warrior women !!!
I love these lines from Bows’ poem. “Prepare to break down the comfort of security, shedding layer after layer of illusion…..Carry spears for rupturing false truths and arrows for initiation and learning….” As a playwright, I find myself constantly arguing against the constraints laid by men since Greek times regarding what a play must be–that it must follow an arc based on male sexuality. I am told that a woman’s creative fire must be squelched, her wings clipped, so that her writing fits inside the constraints of an ancient patriarchal model. Women’s lives are not designed after one conquest after another followed by a denouement. Women’s lives do not center on conquest of other people, philosophies, or endeavors. Women’s lives gather. They undulate. So, as a playwright, I am incorrigible. I am defiant against the rules set down by men for how to tell a story. Thank you for reminding me that I must be on the right track.
You go, girl!
Thank you one and all for such insightful and inspiring comments.
Some of my fondest memories over the years are encountering wild
women who took me into the woods at night to call in the owls, who
danced under the moon, who taught me to trust in the cycles of
nature, following the credo that creation is good, and that magic is
afoot when we give ourselves space to rest and see what unfolds
from the deep unconscious and the world around us.
Wild in my heart, clumsy in my prose, I admire (dark-thought envy) those who craft poetry. How to speak mystic truth in eloquent precision while yet releasing deep geysers of unfettered intuition? I have no gifts of poetic virtuosity.. Aren’t’ mystical people supposed to be born knowing poetry?? I’m a verbal spud in a garden of roses.
Two years ago, in the bowels of the pandemic, I vowed to write, in poetic-ish, about my mystical experience.
(Untitled)
My wings did not melt.
I ate the stars, heedless, ecstatic.
My hunger devoured me.
Skin shed, eyes lost or forgotten.
Where did I put it all?
Oh, well, not there now.
Guess what? Every box can explode!
Open is a lot bigger than I thought
Hidden, a prize. I found
everything I was looking for
and more. I am
So big now. Beautifully strange
My skin fits perfectly.
My wings did not melt!
Melinda, I beg to differ when you say: “I have no gifts of poetic virtuosity.. Aren’t’ mystical people supposed to be born knowing poetry?? I’m a verbal spud in a garden of roses”–the poem you share is very good and beautiful !!!
I agree with Richard, Melinda. Your poem does indeed communicate a mystical experience. Keep writing. xoxoxox
I love compassionate, beautiful, creative ‘Wild Women’!
🔥💜🌎🙏
Thought provoking as always — loved the Savage Daughter video, where she sings about not cutting her hair or lowering her voice. I’ve always felt I was part savage, and I felt so thwarted (without knowing quite why) when my mother (East Coast New England) made me keep my hair never longer than just below chin length as a child. Also, I had a loud voice — a 6th grade study hall proctor once told me , Miss Badger, you have a very loud carrying voice! — as if this were a reprehensible quality. So thank you for presencing the necessary creativity and wildness of women, and the need to value and claim it, during this time of dwelling in the apophatic darkness.
God’s enrich is trust. Saviour our rejoice. Trust enrich trust.