The circle of wise women

In 'The Circle of Wise Women', psychoanalyst and poet Clarissa Pinkola Estés reveres female maturity and pays a moving and profound tribute to those women who knew how to accumulate wisdom throughout their lives. The book has a metaphorical language, which is similar to old stories told by mothers to daughters, and hits bookstores in the last week of May. Clarissa Pinkola Estés starts with a sweet invitation to the reader to sit next to her and enjoy with her the drink that was reserved for 'a special situation', so that they can talk about 'subjects that really matter' to two women , with the guarantee that 'here your soul is safe'. Seduced by a tender, emotional and powerful language, the author presents the charms of this 'mysterious and irresistible archetype of the wise woman, of which the grandmother is a symbolic representation' and who 'does not arrive suddenly, perfectly formed and shapes like a cape on the shoulders of a woman of a certain age'. The most seductive aspect of the book lies precisely in the symbolic representation contained in the grandmothers. From the matriarchs of mythology to the grandmothers of fairy tales, including those anonymous from her professional experiences, the author reaches the grandmothers of her family traditions, magnificently describing the arrival in America of the ancestors who became part of her family life, those 'four old refugees who jumped from huge black trains into the night fog on the platform where we awaited them with great expectation'. In the end, the nine prayers of gratitude - for all the elderly women in the world, for the cunning older women, for the grandmothers in the kitchens, for the perceptive aunts, for the daughters who are learning, for all the daughters and old women - represent a perfect culmination of the pleasure reading these pages full of light, melody, emotion and enchantment.