The Red Shoes is a dramatic excursion into the realm of the soul with analyst Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Using an ancient tale deeply rooted in our collective psyches, Dr. Estés illuminates how people fall prey to destructive impulses while seeking to balance their inner lives. In our culture, she begins, we may travel life's path in one of two ways: in handmade shoes, crafted with love and care according to the unique needs of the individual soul; or in Red Shoes, which promise instant fulfillment, but ultimately lead to a painful, hollow, and split existence. Drawing from real-world examples such as the tragic death of Janis Joplin, Dr. Estés analyzes the deeply seated needs that lead to addiction. By listening to your instinctive forces, she says, you can free yourself of the exterior traps that torment and destroy the soul. This is the way to construct a life that is uniquely your own; a life made by hand. The Red Shoes is a treasury of ideas and counsel, threaded with magical storytelling, about the complete life each one of us deserves to lead. Additional contents: The Internal Predator; how instincts are injured; learning to say no; the exile; vulnerability and seduction; feral women; and more. About the Author: Clarissa Pinkola Estes was born in Indiana in 1943 to parents of Spanish and Mexican ancestry, but was later adopted by Hungarian immigrants. She received her Ph.D. from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was certified as a Jungian analyst in 1984. She worked as a psychoanalyst in private practice and developed and taught the Writing as Liberation of the Spirit program in state and federal prisons. Estes served as executive director of the C.G. Jung Center for Education and Research and cofounded and codirected Colorado Authors for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights. One of Estes's better-known writings, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype (1992), is drawn from tales and myths she heard firsthand from members of such cultures as Asian, Mexican, African, and Greek. She also wrote The Gift of Story (1993). Her books can be found indexed under Psychology, Women's Studies, Mythology, Spiritual Development, and Poetry. |
