Decoding the Wild Woman — Sacred Art Journeys with Kathy Stanley, M.A.

Once upon a time I worked on the 23rd floor of a sparkly glass office tower in the downtown of a major city. At my desk I processed requests for multi-million dollar mortgages on commercial real estate. It was a great job! Commercial Mortgage Underwriter. I traveled the city in my car taking pictures of gleaming shopping malls, suburban strip plazas and multi-unit apartment buildings. I took vacations and traveled to Africa, Egypt and other desirable destinations.

‘Wild Woman” by Kathy Stanley 24 x 30 inch acrylic painting

And it was not enough. It sounds so good, right? I earned an income, gave my time and all of my psychic, mental and physical energy to earn that income. And in my early forties it left me empty and I knew it was over. My life was fragmented and I suffered spiritually and mentally, years before I had the ability to leave the job. Looking back, I see that there was one powerful force that I was cultivating and allowing to start to take up more residence in my psyche. That force was the archetypal energy of the Wild Woman. She helped me to break free out of the cage. . . at the right time.

Who is the Wild Woman? Why is she a powerful internal archetypal energy for women? Why has she been on the ascendant these past couple of decades with so many women and groups identifying themselves as ‘Wild Women’?

For myself, one of the things I feel she represents is the strong instinctual side of my nature- the part of my soul that knew when to take bold action, when to hold back, when to pounce on an opportunity because “SHE” said yes, even if the other rational parts of my nature weren’t so sure…. And to take leaps of faith we need to have a strong internalized sense of a sure footing underneath us that anchors and supports us.

She is a provocative guide for a woman’s inner journey, this Wild Woman. I believe that when she is suppressed we may feel depressed, without spark or joy, tired, powerless and worthless. Reclaiming her power within us gives us access to our strong powers of intuition, feeding our creativity with juicy sustenance and inspiration as we break through limitations left over from patriarchy and society.

This Wild Woman painting evolved in 2018 as I was getting ready to give a talk at a local bookstore where I illuminated the mythical and archetypal elements behind the term and discussed why ‘Wild Woman’ serves as a powerful ally for women’s soul and psyche and helps women to actualize their dreams. The presentation included a guided journey for participants to meet their inner Wild Woman. The Wild Woman archetype showed up in an empowering evening for all!