8. Materialize Your Intuitive Guide & the Story of Vasalisa.
Create your “doll” of intuition. Determine how to feed her daily.

Today we are going to discuss another myth discussed by Estes called Vasalisa.
Has everyone had the chance to read this myth?
The Vasalisa story has similarities to Cinderella. A young woman’s kind mother dies, and in turn, she gets a wicked stepfamily. In Cinderella’s case, she was rescued by a prince, with Vasalisa she developed her own intuitive skills and rescued herself. I will do a step- by -step summary of Estes conclusions.
At the end, there will be a step- by- step process for you to work on.

The Retrieval of Intuition as Initiation. Intuition is the treasure of woman’s psyche.

This is a story of handing down women’s power of intuition from mother to daughter, from one generation to the next. This power is composed of developing inner resources of: seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing.
There are 9 tasks. The end goal is a loving relationship with the Wild Woman.

STEP ONE:
1. Allowing the Too Good Mother to Die.
Psychic tasks- accepting the protective mother (protective part of us, is not an adequate guide for one’s future. Take on the task of being one’s own mother. Notice where danger, intrigue, and politics exist in your life.

Let die what must die. Attitudes and values which are no longer sustaining. Be mindful about phrases you say, or your family says that are too limiting, too protective.
Goal setting and reaching for something important in your life is important. Taking risks toward the goal helps sharpen intuition.

Merging with the too good mother too long suppresses our expression. Clues that we are in an over-protected situation are feelings of suffocation, stagnancy, dreams like people chasing you, cars that won’t start, incomplete pregnancies, being stuck in mud or goop may all be indicators.

Step Two
Exposing the Crude Shadow:
Estes says “ Being good, sweet and nice will not cause life to sing. “ This doesn’t mean that these qualities are always unacceptable, but rather if our motivation is only to be liked and please others, our actions are inauthentic, and we will experience disappointment, or retaliate.
Relating this back to Zukav’s work – this is the pleasing others syndrome, that may create inauthenticity and disappointment.
It takes a lot of courage to glimpse the parts of ourselves that are jealous, exclusionary and exploitive.
You are developing skills in feeling your bodies, being mindful, meditating, and understanding your dreams that are useful to get a clearer view.
Estes says owning these parts and making the best relationship we can with the worst parts of ourselves grows the soul. Let the pressure build between who one is taught to be, and who you really are. It’s a matter of being able to tell ourselves the truth
There is social and internal pressure to comply with other’s wishes. Being ourselves may cause us to be exiled from others, to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves.
We have been taught to set aside what we know to get along with others. Do you remember the first time your parents or friends expected you to lie to yourself to be included or comply? Do you remember how you felt?
Remember being a young child and knowing what the undecorated truth was? How damaged we are in this area depends on our families attitude toward the truth. It is also influenced by society, t.v., friendships, and relationships.

Sometimes we need to suck it up and do this … but at least tell yourself the truth in these circumstances. When circumstances become oppressive, being nice and being in denial causes us to be mistreated more.
The psychic tension created when we alienate others by being ourselves is needed to make soul and create change.

“For deep psychological work to continue, trying to prove one’s worth to a chorus of jealous hags is pointless.”

One hard lesson that I’ve had to learn is that people’s decisions are ultimately about them, not us. We can dance on our head’s trying to make someone else like us, stay with us, respect us, but if that is not on their agenda, we are wasting our time. They ultimately do what is best for them. It does not mean we are good, bad, valueless or anything…it is about them, not us.

When the Goddess closes a door she opens a window. Estes says that when we feel most cold and alone we are willing to find our power. When we make our deeper feelings invisible (to avoid rejection, people leaving us, economic hardship) – all understandable reasons, we deaden ourselves. When the light finally goes out, we may snap out of submission.

Step Three
Navigating in the Dark.
This is the point at which we consciously agree to be in our intuitive power and rely on our inner senses.
Intuition is our inner compass. It senses what direction to go in for the most benefit. It is self- preserving and has a grasp of underlying motives and intention. “It chooses what will cause the least amount of fragmenting of the psyche.
We feed our intuition by listening to it and responding.
We become willing to look at our lives honestly.

Step Four
Facing the Wild Hag
– Being Able to stand the face of Baba Yaga without wavering.
– Familiarizing yourself with the oddness of the wild
– Taking some of Baba’s odd values into our lives.
– Learning to face great powers in others and oneself.

Hypernormalacy creeps up on us until our life is all routine and “lifeless”. Some normalcy is balancing. Too much and life starts to feel meaningless. This encourages a “zombie state”, where we sleep through life. This state discourages intuition.

At this point, we must be willing to go find the wild woman.
Respect in the face of great power is important. We must get used to the face of great power and eventually some of that power will become ours.
It is right to present ourselves honestly and authentically in this situation, neither weaker nor stronger than we actually are.

Women become too nice when they are afraid of being found unnecessary. It is a way to adapt and be accepted. To be strong means meeting one’s true nature without fleeing. It means being able to learn new things and new aspects of ourselves. It means being able to stand what we know.

Step Five-
Serving the Non- Rational
Learning to wash Baba’s laundry is to learn to see and take on strength, and endurance. Learn how to sort, mend and renew theses fibers of being.
Keeping your psychic environment uncluttered is important. Have a clear head, a clear place to work. Complete your projects and ideas.
One’s inner, wildlife has to be kept ordered on a regular basis. To fee Baba Yaga man’s being willing to burn with passion – your art, words, ideas, etc.
Women’s Cycles according to Vasalisa’s tasks are: cleanse one’s thinking, renew your values, clear psyche of clutter. Build a creative fire and cook up ideas.

Step Six
Separating This from That
Learn to make fine distinctions.
Observe powers of the unconscious and how it works even when the ego is not aware.
This sorting occurs when we face a question, but not much is forthcoming to help us solve it. Leave it alone and come back to it later and a good answer may be waiting.
What is it that is food for our psyche? What really nourishes us?

Step Seven
Asking the Mysteries.
Learn more about the life/death/life mysteries and how they function. Letting live and letting die is important. It is the basic and natural rhythm which women are meant to understand.
Know there are something’s that are unknowable about mysteries.

Step Eight- Lighting Your Path
Taking on immense power to see and affect others- Vasilisa receives the skull. Looking at one’s life situations in this new light (finding the way back to the old step family)
Too much intuition is not dangerous- too little causes lack of sensitivity to cycles, not following one’s knowing, making choices which turn out poorly. When we get more in touch with our intuition it gives us direction by providing clear pictures about what lies beneath or behind the motives, ideas, and words of others.
Consult it if you’re clashing with an interior demon or completing a task in the outer world.

Intuition is not disposable. If you consult your intuition follow its
advice.

Step Nine
Recasting the Shadow.
When one sees and senses what is destructive, one has to do something about it. To possess good intuition causes work. First, we must watch and comprehend negative forces and imbalances
inwardly and outwardly. Second, gather up your will to do something about what one sees.
Intuition tells us when there are betrayal, envy, and lack of courage. When women have repressed the things that are oppressive have no libido. Without libido, they lack power. Negative aspects of the psyche can diminish by being watched.

A woman must choose her friends and lovers wisely. A lover can destroy even our most durable connections to our own cycles and ideas.
The way to maintain one’s connection to the wild is to ask yourself. What is it that you want? There is a difference between what beckons us and what calls from our soul.

When sorting poppy seed from dirt, ask yourself. What is it I want, rather than what is handy?
Another way to strengthen soul connection is to refuse to allow anyone to repress your thoughts, ideas, values, morals or ideals.

Be alert to your own cycles. We have our menstrual cycles, our astrological cycles, our age cycle. We do not bloom all of the time. Let your own innate cycles dictate the ups and downs, not another person outside of yourself.
When you are connected to the instinctual self you always have choices; the two opposites and the middle ground.
To let die is not against most women’s nature, only their training.
Hand Out- Based on work from Women Who Run With Wolves
C. Pinkola Estes

The Retrieval of Intuition as Initiation.
Intuition is the treasure of woman’s psyche.
This is a story of handing down women’s power of intuition from mother to daughter, from one generation to the next. This power is composed of developing inner resources of seeing, hearing, sensing and knowing.

There are 9 tasks. The end goal is a loving relationship with the Wild Woman.

Step One- Let the too good mother die.
Is there anywhere in your life where naiveté or denial may be occurring? How are you profiting from not knowing?
What attitudes or values that you hold support this?
Do you have a phrase or saying that verbalizes that belief?
What new attitude or belief could replace this?
Could you come up with a new phrase or affirmation?
Set a goal that you are willing to take risks for.
Are your dreams showing you, that you have been too sweet too long?

Step Two- Exposing the Crude Shadow
Is there any part of you, or any part of your life where you feel oppressed?
Are you in any of these circumstances setting aside your insight to get along?
Is there anywhere you are trying to prove your self-worth to a “chorus of
jealous hags/
Is there any situation in which you have allowed a piece of yourself to die in order to fit in? Describe.

Step Three- Navigating in the Dark.
What type of intuition does your mother, and other women in your family have?

How have they passed their abilities to you? How does your intuition differ from your families?
How has your intuition grown in the Integrated Therapies Course?
Can you think of any exercises, habits or attitudes that could support your intuition?

Keep a journal about what happens when you listen to your intuition, and what happens when you don’t
Track your real reasons for not listening to your intuition. What are you afraid of losing?

Step Four- Facing the Wild Hag.
Are there any areas of your life or being, where you are still wild?
Have any areas become too routine or stagnant?
How do you react when you are around powerful people?
How do you act and feel when you are in a powerful position?

Step Five- Serving the Non-Rational
How do you clear your head?
When was the last time you clean, sorted and organized your workspace?
What projects or ideas do you need or wish to finish?
What has been holding you up?
How can you support your own progress?
What in you is burning to come into being?

Step Six- Separating This From That
In what circumstances do you make good judgments?
Has your unconscious ever helped with providing information on a question, through a dream, feeling, new thought, new approach?
How did you nurture this process?

Step Seven- Asking the Mysteries (life/death/life).
What does this phrase of Estes mean? “To let die is not against most women’s nature, only their training”.

Is there wisdom at times in letting someone or something, or some part of you live, and another part die? How so? Do you have an example from your life?

Step Eight- Standing on All Four’s
Is there any pat of you afraid of being too intuitive? How so?
How do we hold onto our intuition even if it is uncomfortable?

Step Nine- Recasting the Shadow
Oppressive situations have no life force. Where in your life do you feel “flat” or passionless?
When in your life have you settled with what was handy, rather than what you wanted? How is that working for you?

Practice asking yourself- What do I really want?
Try it around food, relationships, when you plan your time and when you choose your spiritual practices?
How good are you at hearing your own reply? Do you act on it? If yes, when and who supports you. If no, why not and what might you be afraid of losing?