Foxfire Wolfskin – a book review

Sharon Blackie’s latest book is out and has me all hearts.in.eyes. Stories of women part wolf, part seal, part horse, part ice, connecting and reclaiming the instinctual aspect of their lives, wayfinding their own path in a world bent on establishment and certain-ways-of-doing. A book of peregrination of Being via fairy tales.

 

 

But these aren’t your fluffy fairy tales. Exploring themes of shape-shifting, self-hood, love, longing, purpose, separateness vs belonging, these stories are darker, hungry, closer to the germanic ‘stuff’ of brothers Grimm, and empowered and feminized for a modern twist.

 

 

“Word-wounded, world-wounded. ‘The thing to do’, I said to her, ‘is to take your life in your own hands.’ This island will chew you up, if you let it. This island, and the stories they tell about how it is supposed to be. ‘Make your own story,’ I said to the girl. ‘Make your own ending. Whatever story you choose, make it your choice – not theirs’”.

 

 

The stories remind me of the Anais Nin quote, “Had I not created my whole world, I would certainly have died in other people’s”, and the Clarissa Pinkola Estes quote: “if you have never been called a defiant, incorrigible, impossible woman…..have faith. There is yet time”

 

 

Have you read Foxfire, Wolfskin? If so, which one was your favorite? I am always fond of the selkie myth. Here, Blackie crafts a male selkie:

“He was a strange creature, my selkie. When he was on land he longed for the sea; when he was in the sea he longed for the land. And is that not given to us all, to long for what we can never fully hold? Sometimes love is like that. Sometimes, love can only exist while balancing, like angels, on the head of a silver pin”.

 

 

Happy reading, wilds

 

 

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Written by Dr. Allison Mitch, PT (DPT), RYT, reiki master, shamanic practitioner. All written material by Allison is copyright protected. This piece is modified from a social media post on 8/29/19

 

For questions and collaboration, please email: wildwomaninthesuburbs@gmail.com

 

Please check out Sharon Blackie’s other incredible books and podcasts:

 

Sharon Blackie found and referenced my review over IG and FB – my heart was so full