Overview

Who is a woman before socialization? Why do we struggle in relationships? Why do we suffer? How can we find abiding peace? By midlife, a woman may become conscious of some of the ways culture has overdomesticated her, and she may have become aware of her own wild, instinctual animal nature. The wild woman archetype within a woman's psyche is an expression of her innate, soulful essence. Many women within patriarchy become socialized in a way that leads them to be overly ""civilized"" or overly ""domesticated"" almost from birth and that domestication affects how they express their sexuality and conduct relationships. When a woman becomes conscious of the wild woman archetype, she then becomes free to explore sexuality and relationships on her own terms. Paradoxically, the struggles experienced in relationships and with sexuality may be the catalysts that bring her into deeper engagement with psyche and into the realm of the wild woman archetype. This is explored as a process of psychological development that occurs at midlife in relation to Carl Jung's notion of individuation. The psyche has an impetus towards unification and wholeness--towards becoming an in-divisible whole. Relationships can serve as the alchemical vessels of a woman's psychological transformation. Tracking the Wild Woman Archetype finds that the paradoxes and impossibilities of love serve to create a more profound woman who is more conscious of the manifold world of unconscious archetypes. It tracks the process of individuation and alchemical transformation through the study of texts, the author's lived experience, and imaginal ways of knowing, such as dreams, synchronicities, and active imaginations.

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9781630514846

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Reviews

Stacey Shelby's book on the archetype of the wild woman is a brave and deeply thoughtful and honest exploration of the complex, mysterious and often troubling interconnections between love, sexuality, and our search for inner wholeness. -Christine Downing, author of THE GODDESS A soulful work of depth and beauty connecting us to the wildness within. -Jan Clanton Collins, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst Drawing on an impressive range of sources and moving deftly from one subject area to another, Stacey Shelby writes with courage and insight from her own personal experience, illuminating the challenges facing contemporary women as they seek to recover the lost connection to their inner depths of wildness and integrate this into their lives. Supported by scholarly research, Tracking the Wild Woman Archetype is a deep and thoughtful book about relationships, sexuality, psychology, and growth. Yet its language is engaging and fluid, rendering the mysteries of the psyche more accessible to us all. -Keiron Le Grice, Professor of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Author of Several Books, including The Archetypal Cosmos and The Rebirth of the Hero.

""Stacey Shelby's book on the archetype of the wild woman is a brave and deeply thoughtful and honest exploration of the complex, mysterious and often troubling interconnections between love, sexuality, and our search for inner wholeness."" -Christine Downing, author of THE GODDESS ""A soulful work of depth and beauty connecting us to the wildness within."" -Jan Clanton Collins, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst ""Drawing on an impressive range of sources and moving deftly from one subject area to another, Stacey Shelby writes with courage and insight from her own personal experience, illuminating the challenges facing contemporary women as they seek to recover the lost connection to their inner depths of wildness and integrate this into their lives. Supported by scholarly research, Tracking the Wild Woman Archetype is a deep and thoughtful book about relationships, sexuality, psychology, and growth. Yet its language is engaging and fluid, rendering the mysteries of the psyche more accessible to us all."" -Keiron Le Grice, Professor of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Author of Several Books, including The Archetypal Cosmos and The Rebirth of the Hero.

Stacey Shelby's book on the archetype of the wild woman is a brave and deeply thoughtful and honest exploration of the complex, mysterious and often troubling interconnections between love, sexuality, and our search for inner wholeness. -Christine Downing, author of THE GODDESS A soulful work of depth and beauty connecting us to the wildness within. -Jan Clanton Collins, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst Drawing on an impressive range of sources and moving deftly from one subject area to another, Stacey Shelby writes with courage and insight from her own personal experience, illuminating the challenges facing contemporary women as they seek to recover the lost connection to their inner depths of wildness and integrate this into their lives. Supported by scholarly research, Tracking the Wild Woman Archetype is a deep and thoughtful book about relationships, sexuality, psychology, and growth. Yet its language is engaging and fluid, rendering the mysteries of the psyche more accessible to us all. -Keiron Le Grice, Professor of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Author of Several Books, including The Archetypal Cosmos and The Rebirth of the Hero.

"""Stacey Shelby's book on the archetype of the wild woman is a brave and deeply thoughtful and honest exploration of the complex, mysterious and often troubling interconnections between love, sexuality, and our search for inner wholeness."" -Christine Downing, author of THE GODDESS ""A soulful work of depth and beauty connecting us to the wildness within."" -Jan Clanton Collins, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst ""Drawing on an impressive range of sources and moving deftly from one subject area to another, Stacey Shelby writes with courage and insight from her own personal experience, illuminating the challenges facing contemporary women as they seek to recover the lost connection to their inner depths of wildness and integrate this into their lives. Supported by scholarly research, Tracking the Wild Woman Archetype is a deep and thoughtful book about relationships, sexuality, psychology, and growth. Yet its language is engaging and fluid, rendering the mysteries of the psyche more accessible to us all."" -Keiron Le Grice, Professor of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, and Author of Several Books, including The Archetypal Cosmos and The Rebirth of the Hero."

Author Information

Stacey Shelby, Ph.D, is an author, speaker and depth psychotherapist. She is also a Registered Clinical Counselor (RCC) in Canada, a certified clinical dream tender, and she has studied in shamanic and yoga traditions. She has a thriving clinical practice in Squamish, British Columbia, where she works with adults in various stages of personal transformation. She is gifted at working with the symbolic language of the soul and she is dedicated to honoring the soul as it presents in the lived experience of daily life.

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