The Red Shoes: On Torment and the Recovery of Soul Life

The Red Shoes is a dramatic excursion into the realm of the soul with analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Using an ancient tale deeply rooted in our collective psyches―"The Red Shoes"―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: 1) in handmade shoes, crafted with love and care according to the unique needs of the individual soul; or 2) in Red Shoes, which promise instant fulfillment, but ultimately lead to a painful, hollow "split" existence. Drawing from real-world examples―such as the tragic end 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.