Awaken Your Souls Deepest Cravings
Where do you turn during your toughest times and darkest soul journeys?
In my life, I find myself returning to the work of Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
Her book Women Who Run With The Wolves set me on the path of discovering my inner wild and wise woman. Amidst a current life challenge, I've turned to this healing wisdom once again and wanted to share one of my favourite quotes:
Oh la! A woman may crave to be near water, or be belly down, her face in the earth, smelling that wild smell. She may have to trek into the hills, leaping from rock to rock trying out her voice against the mountain. She may need hours of starry nights where the stars are like face powder split on a black marble floor.
And she may feel she will die if she does not dance naked in a thunderstorm, sit in perfect silence, return home ink-stained, paint-stained, tear-stained, moon-stained.
What is your Soul Craving?
Months before I set off for 40 days of solo wild camping on Dartmoor two years ago, I had a deep and inexplainable craving for mud!
Cravings were nothing new to me, but this one was different.
For years, I had pushed myself relentlessly to be the best version of myself, treating cravings as forbidden territory as they clashed with the image of control and perfection I had worked so hard to maintain.
At least I used to understand my usual cravings.
Sugar was often my response to the lack of sweetness in my life.
Caffeine was my way of borrowing tomorrow's energy to survive the exhaustion of today.
Alcohol was giving the middle finger to the drill sergeant living in my head throughout the day shouting to do more…to be more.
But this deeper, dirtier craving for mud? That was something I couldn't understand until I stopped my busyness and tuned into what was underneath. Listening to it set me off on one of the greatest adventures of my life and helped forge me into the person I am now.
It taught me there is wisdom in our cravings…even the bizarre ones.
What Does Your ‘Inner Bad Girl’ Desire?
One of my favourite activities at our True Nature Retreats is gathering in a small group and taking turns completing the sentence…
‘If I was a bad girl I would…’
We go around the small group, repeatedly asking the same question, each time giving a different answer.
The responses vary from hilarious to erotic, and even to downright violent. The beauty is that every answer, no matter how wild or unexpected, is welcomed and celebrated.
After doing that for 5-10 minutes, we repeat it but with a different sentence…
‘What I truly desire is…’
This is where the magic happens.
When we free ourselves, even if only in our imaginations, from the expectations, needs, and judgments of others, we begin to connect with our deepest desires—those we’ve been too afraid to acknowledge.
While there is immense power in doing this exercise with other women, it’s equally liberating to use it as a journal prompt and see what emerges.
This exercise comes from the book Unbound: A Woman's Guide to Power by Kasia Urbaniak. If you're looking for a great summer read, I highly recommend it—especially the audio version, which is read by the author.
How Can We Help You?
We're in the exciting process of designing our True Nature Events Programme for the coming year!
Is there a craving or desire you have that we can help bring to life?
Perhaps there’s something you’ve been eager to learn more about, a unique event you’ve dreamed of attending but haven’t seen offered anywhere, or a way to connect with other women that you feel is missing from your life right now.
Your input is invaluable to us as we shape our events to better meet the needs and desires of our community.
We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas by answering a few simple questions in this survey.
Your feedback will help us create meaningful experiences that resonate with you.
Click here for the survey
As a thank you for spending your precious time, you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 voucher towards any True Nature event.
The above pictures are from one of my favourite artists, Lucy Campbell.
You can find more of her art on Etsy here.
Sending you so much love in these summer months,
Faye and The True Nature Team 🌿
