Howl of the Wild Woman
La Loba
Go gather bones.
This is the advice scholar, poet, psychoanalyst and cantadora Clarissa Pinkola Estés gives us. But why does La Loba go in search of bones? Why should she? What spurs the wolf woman on such a task? What exactly are these bones?
I have always been fascinated by the one held inside. The one who has much to teach, who may be pursued in part and who will also find us - if we are in dire need. But how do we go in search of La Loba?
For this journey we need to tap into and understand our own La Loba. La Loba and her story are there to touch the auditory nerve, to be relayed upward to our consciousness and to our soul. It all depends on us. The ancient dissectionists spoke of the auditory nerve as being divided into 3 or more pathways deep inside the brain. They surmised that the brain was meant to hear at 3 different levels. One part takes care of the mundane conversations; the second apprehends learning and art; whilst the third exists for the soul to hear guidance. This story is one that required the latter - wild woman comes back to us in stories and we must be in search of that story.
. . .
La Loba
There is an old woman living in hidden places that everyone knows in their souls but few venture in search of. She knows this, and often seems to wait for the lost or wandering people and seekers to come to her.
She is to be found in the most unsuspecting places, often away from the crowd. She calls herself by many names: La Huesera (Bone Woman); La Trapera (The Gatherer); and La Loba (Wolf Woman).
The sole work of La Loba is to collect bones. She is there to preserve what is in danger of being lost. La Loba is a collector of bones, so that she is able to recreate - once she has assembled an entire skeleton she sits by the fire and thinks about what song to sing. When she is certain she stands over the criatura, raises her arms and sings out. This is when the rib bones and leg bones of the wolf flesh out and the creature becomes furred. La Loba sings to bring it back to life, to bring air back to its lungs, till the wolf leaps and runs down the canyon.
Somewhere in its running, whether by speed or splashing into water, or by the rays of the sun or moonlight hitting its side, the wolf transforms into a woman. A woman laughing as she runs free to the horizon.
So if you’re wandering the desert, and it’s near sundown and you’re slightly weary and surely lost and tired, you might be lucky enough that La Loba takes a liking to you and shows you something of the soul.
. . .
La Loba is what we are looking for - our indestructible life force, our bones. These bones are a metaphor for our own selves, these are our own bones. The desert is a symbol of vastness - the vastness of our own lives and experiences, the places in which we might have lost parts of ourselves. It is our work to recover our lost parts and at times it might be a painful process.
La Loba’s work represents an uncuento milagro, a miracle story. As a transformational story it is also a resurrection story of the Wild Woman from the underworld. This story promises that if we sing the song, we can call up the psychic remains of the wild soul and sing her to life again.
To sing is to be in touch with the soul, to use the soul-voice. It means to say on the breath the truth of one’s power and one’s need - to recognise that which is ailing or in need of restoration. This can only be done by reaching deeply into our own desert. With this in mind La Loba becomes the essential means to access an entire instinctual system. She is La Que Sabe, the One Who Knows.
It is said that La Que Sabe created women from a wrinkle on the sole of her divine foot - this is why women are knowing creatures, as they are made of the skin of the sole, which feels everything. We all know and sometimes feel more closely this wild essence that inhibits us. Going by any name, La Loba represents the personal and ancient past. She is the archivist of feminine intention. She preserves female tradition. She exists in infinite time.
