"The wolf has become an iconic symbol for wild women. Countless lost to ranching, farming, hunting and the wide-spread colonization of her habitat, she is a being in exile. All that she gifts the world trembles precariously on the edge of being and being-no-longer. Maybe its the way she reminds us of what is at stake… and of what has already been lost. Or perhaps it is her forest habitat that stirs us so strongly. The dark wood of light and shadow, twisting with game trails and hidden footpaths. Here there are too many opportunities to take a wrong turn; and yet still some part of us is drawn like moths to the sweet smell of earth and rot. To the fecund embrace of dark. Maybe we each have wondered in secret longing-terror, is the forest where I belong?" —Laura Anne of @therhythmway #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2le5Uzs Image @wildwomansisterhoodofficial

"Carry that part of me, back to me; in your truth-dripping teeth, your independent jaws. My giving, my shameless longing, my fierce softness. Breathe it back into my body and tell me it belongs to me. I left it on a salty tear-stained trail. It became too heavy to carry into the fog, but it was a mistake. Reclaim the strength of my rough, mission-driven soul. The part of me that holds the energy of a thousand unknown huntresses, buried in my bones, dying to be heard. Resting between feline paws, sleeping in the bliss of holy purpose. You, Black Panther, contain the mystery of the SHE. Find her for me: she is so tired of the wreckage." —@maura_coyne #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2meC6QH

"For a woodpecker, every tree is an opportunity to nourish or to nest. In this way, you might take a hint from the woodpecker to ask yourself three questions: What nourishes me? What helps me rest? What helps me nest? Women, of course, have the option to contemplate our physical womb space and from there understand the true nature of cyclical birth, transformation and destruction. But, know that it begins from a place of nourishment, rest and nesting. It is from this place that creativity explodes. Expectant mothers and new mothers would benefit enormously from remembering their own womb of nourishment, nest and rest." —@dilshad.mehta #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2l3MjT6 Image: Benjamin Wong (@vonwong)

"The Crone should not be ignored. She is smart and full of wisdom and intuition. She is funny, charming, and a bit off a rocker, the way your 80-year-old grandma is when she no longer gives a shit what others think. The Mother represents, to me, everything that comes with loving someone else so much it hurts. This part is equally worrying, as it is nurturing. If you have ever watched someone you love make a decision that you knew would hurt him or her, then you know that feeling in the pit of your stomach. The Maiden represents the young and spontaneous spirit of women before motherhood. She is a representation of coming of age, first loves, and starting out on your own. She is the part of you that wants to dance and sing and feels all that pent up sexual energy." —Sarah Akers #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2kWEyMB

"Communion is not when we reach out to another, join them in their space, dump the contents of our soul and lose ourselves. Communion is holding so strongly to the self that we are concentrated essence moving through space. From this place we receive the other. We receive what rolls in, trees, clouds, whomever steps in. We don’t leave for another; when we are fully present the other steps in to meets us. Communion is without effort, without giving away essential parts, without losing what is precious. Practicing holding center, firm boundaries and embodied essence of self, I explore Communion. On the beaches of the Puget Sound, holding the truth of an ecstatic core moving through space, awareness guides me. What a yummy experience that is! Movement calls me into relationship, a cedar swaying, a seagull in flight, even the line of rising waves moving down the beach to crash on shore is communication. These experiences step into communion with me." —Lisa Marks #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2lrg4y3 Image: @thugunicorn

"I know a girl Maybe you do too That is sensitive to this world Cries four times a day Trying to flush away
The energy
People
Actions
Events
That oppress
And circumvent
Her joy
They don’t know that’s what they’ve done
Moving mindlessly
And on the run
She sees it, feels it
It clings to her cells..." —Brigid Hopkins of @thatbrigidhopkins #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2hs0DTy Images: @rmdrk

"She knows that you forget the stories, as you walk on concrete paths with blindfolds on your feet, and miss seeing the entrance to the forest, as you rush back to the box you dwell in. She knows how easy it is to become entrenched in the business of surviving, forgetting that without coming to see her, you are merely existing instead of living from a place of joy in each moment." —Keren Stanton of @kerenstanton #WAKINGWILD Read more: http://bit.ly/2hpeaup Image via @eliza_purewhite

"My wild is protective and fierce and fucking and free and truth telling, fortune telling, wandering chaos that settles around your feet like a fallen dress, like the dress you ripped off to show your nakedness, to show your bare form in all it’s wonderful vulnerable glory. Wild is being who your heart calls out to be." —Courtney Quinlan #WAKINGWILD #WILDWOMAN Read more: http://bit.ly/2hOMSPI @kayharr73 @ladypantzz @tanyamarkul @thugunicorn Image: @ladypantzz