I often find myself reading more than one book at a time. This is especially true when there is an invitation for discussion with other women.
Regardless of the subject matter, it is always interesting to have the opportunity to get together to share communication with other women.

One of the books I am reading (again) is Women Who Run With the Wolves. In the introduction, Dr. Pinkola Estes says …”stories set the inner life into motion, and this is particularly important where the inner life is frightened, wedged, or cornered”…
This is very apropos especially now when we are all sequestered in our homes, filled with fear about the future in light of this mysterious virus that has swept across the globe.

She calls the stories collected in this classic “women’s stories, held out as markers along the path…for you to read, contemplate and follow toward your own natural-won freedom…” and to “recover the ways of the natural instinctive psyche.” Let’s remember that the meaning of the word psyche is soul. When women lose touch with this deeper instinct, women are cut away from their natural life cycles and become consumed by the ego culture, out of touch with the very source of health and well being.

Hidden in a footnote Estes adds, “One of the most critical cornerstones in developing a body of study about (the depths available in) the psychology of women is that women themselves observe and describe what takes place in their own lives”… This is the significance of women’s gatherings. This opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, and real life experiences gives our deeper natures a time and place to thrive on “fresh sight and self-integrity.” It is a practice that naturally affords the opportunity for pathways to open into our deeper instinct otherwise laying dormant within. Finding the way into this source is essential for a balanced life.