From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 11/2/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #303] Voices
"Although the new stepmother and her daughters spoke in polite tones and always smiled like ladies, there was something of the rodent behind their smiles which Vasalisa's father did not perceive. Sure enough, when the three women were alone with Vasalisa, they tormented her, forced her to wait on them, sent her to chop wood so that her lovely skin would become blemished. They hated her because she had a sweetness about her that was otherworldly."
-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Women Who Run With the Wolves
Folk tales have lasting significance because they give us wisdom about human nature. Clarissa Estes is a folk tale collector, teller, and interpreter, who is sometimes regarded as a women's author. She writes and tells spellbinding stories for everyone, young and old, female and male.
The wicked stepmother and selfish sisters often appear in folk tales. They represent the belittling, discouraging, and humiliating voices that we have taken in from our environment and repeat to ourselves. They represent those voices that would keep us from experiencing our potential wholeness.
When one is "locked in a room" with those horrible voices, it often helps to share what the voices are saying with a partner who just listens. Sharing what the voices say out loud reveals them for what they are: hurtful and untrue.
Experiment: Dialogue with your partner, revealing what the wicked stepmother and sisters in your head are saying. When you are the listener, don't argue with the voices. Just mirror the words and the feelings that these words provoke.
Affirmation: We are inviting the stepmother and her daughters to move away as we share what they are saying and hear how they sound.
The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
