Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother's Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul

Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul
 
“Have You Forgotten? I Am Your Mother. You Are Under My Protection.”

“There is a promise Holy Mother makes to us,” proclaims Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, “that any soul needing comfort, vision, guidance, or strength can cry out to her, flee to her protection, and Blessed Mother will immediately arrive with veils flying. She will place us under her mantle for refuge, and give us the warmth of her most compassionate touch, and strong guidance about how to go by the soul’s lights.” Untie the Strong Woman is Dr. Estés invitation to come together under the shelter of The Mother—whether she appears to us as the Madonna, Our Lady of Guadalupe, or any one of her countless incarnations. In this unforgettable collection of stories, prayers, and blessings, Dr. Estés shares:

• “The Drunkard and the Lady”—a story of unexpected miracles that arise from the mud and soil
• “Guadalupe is a Girl Gang Leader in Heaven”—a poem of resistance and hope
• “No One Too Bad, Too Mean, or Too Hopeless”—the fierce Mother that never gives up on us
• “The Shirt of Arrows”—a love that is invincible no matter how many times we are wounded
•  “The Black Madonna”—she who stands at the juncture between two worlds and protects us as we enter the dark places

 
Why does the face of Our Lady appear in the most humble and unexpected places? Why does she burst forth into every culture no matter how hard authority tries to suppress her? It is because no bonds can restrain the power of her love, nor prevent her from returning to those who need her most. With Untie the Strong Woman, Dr. Estés invites you to encounter the force of Immaculate Love—“So that your memory of Her is renewed, or that the knowledge of her miraculous, fierce, enduring ways is drawn into your heart for the very first time.”
 


Contents
 
First Words
Our Ancestral Great Mother
Opening Blessing:  Totus Tuus, I Belong to You, Blessed Mother
 
Chapter Two
How the Great Woman Was Erased:  Our Part in Restoring Her
Untie the Strong Woman
 
Chapter Three
She Is the Inspiratus for Souls Who Suffer
The Drunkard and the Lady
 
Chapter Four
In Humble, Helpless Love with Her
Guadalupe Is a Girl Gang Leader in Heaven
 
Chapter Five
Rise Up!  Even From Bloodshed, Says La Conquista, Our Lady of the Conquered
Massacre of the Dreamers:  The Maiz Mother
 
Chapter Six
“Shirt of Arrows:” She Teaches Protection of the Vulnerable:  No Exceptions
The Memorare, Remember!
 
Chapter Seven
The Uses of Broken-Heartedness, Mater Dolorosa Ever Bends Near
The Use of the Seven Swords Through the Heart
 
Chapter Eight
Many Kinds of Prisons:  The Last Woman Standing
“Our Lady Behind the Wall”
 
Chapter Nine
Carrying the Name of the Mother
A Man Named Mary
 
Chapter Ten
Forged in the Fiery Furnace
The Black Madonna
Chapter Eleven
No One Too Bad, Too Mean, or Too Hopeless
How the Motherfuckers Became the Blessed Mothers
 
Chapter Twelve
No Racism, No Discrimination, No One Is An “Untouchable”
The Great Woman Appears to Us Daily
 
Chapter Thirteen
Her Names Without Classic
Litany of the Mother Road:  Chant of Her Incandescent Names
 
Chapter Fourteen
Compassionate Mother:  Restoring The Soul After Shock
Post-Abortion Compassion:  “The Children She Got That She Did Not Get”
 
Chapter Fifteen
The Lasso of Our Lady…For Saving a Life
The Drowning Man
 
Chapter Sixteen
Holding Fast to the Soul
God Has No Hands:  Comforting Maria, The Ritual of Pesame
 
Chapter Seventeen
The Great Mother Inspires the Little Mothers
The Marys of Mother Africa
 
Chapter Eighteen
Refusing the Holy:  No Room for You Here
The “Oh Yes, There Is Too Room for You Here” Ritual of La Posada
 
Chapter Nineteen
Letter to the Young Mystics Following Holy Mother
Our Lady of Guadalupe:  The Path of the Broken Heart
 
Chapter Twenty
Los Inmigrantes, We Are All Immigrants:  The Undousable Creative Fire
They Tried to Stop Her At the Border
 
Chapter Twenty-One
Mi Madre, Tu Madre, La Madre de Ella, La Madre de El, Nuestra Madre:  My Mother, Your Mother, Her Mother, His Mother, Our Mother
The Truth About How Very Hard it is to Get Into Heaven
 
 
Chapter Twenty-Two
That You Be Watched Over and Kept Safe Until We See Each Other Again
Closing Blessing:  Have You Forgotten?  I Am Your Mother
 
Chapter Twenty-Three
Beautiful Words About the Mother
Some of the Ways Other Creative Souls Understand Relationship With Mother
 
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aymen, Aymen, Aymen…And A Little Woman
The Highest Prayer