Dead Bones

Take a moment. Journey with me. There is a fairy tale, maybe you have heard it? It is about an old woman who few rarely see or know. She has been known to travel along the highways, dry riverbeds, and deep mountain paths. On her journey, she collects bones of all types of creatures. She is especially fond of the bones of creatures that may be lost forever.

Her favorite is the bones of wolves. Once, she has collected the bones of an entire skeleton of a wolf, she lovingly assembles them together on the floor of her cave. She lights her fire, raises her arms, and begins to sing over the bones. The more she sings the more life returns to the creature. The life energy that the old woman raises is so powerful that the floor of the desert actually shakes. The more the old woman sings, the more the wolf becomes animated. Then, in a blink of an eye, the wolf jumps up and begins to run down the canyon.

While running through the land, the elements of earth, air, water, moon, and sunlight, touch the wolf. In the twinkling of an eye, the wolf is magically transformed into a laughing woman running free.**

Take a deep breath.

As you finish reading this abbreviated version of this tale, what comes up for you? What do you notice?

What dead bones have you discovered within yourself as the world has been experiencing a “Great Pause”? Bones that carry your life force which has been hidden away in the places you have neglected for years? Bones lying within you, waiting to be sung over and be brought back to life?

These questions are very pertinent as we begin to emerge slowly back into the world from our “caves”. The wisdom of your dead bones is sorely needed at this time, not only for ourselves but for our communities as well. These bones contain incredible gifts that are going untapped. If only you were to sing love, joy, hope, and peace over your deepest places, what would emerge through you?

**You can read the full version of “La Loba” in Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.