“Laden with profound wisdom, lightened by humor, this beautifully limned heroine’s journey… a trustworthy guide for anyone seeking their own pathway through the darkness to the light”
—Barbara Graham, NY Times bestselling author of Eye of My Heart and What Jonah Knew
"For many of us, the journey to wholeness—to a sense of self imbued with agency and confidence—is as treacherous as it is essential to our well being. The very act of casting off the limiting expectations and assumptions placed on us by others requires tremendous courage. So does meeting—and overcoming—the obstacles, including our most primal fears and feelings of unworthiness, that inevitably arise along the way. Dale Kushner’s sublime fairy tale, The Princess Who Found Her Name, is the ideal companion for the trip. Laden with profound wisdom, lightened by humor, this beautifully limned heroine’s journey, along with Kushner’s revelatory story of its birth and the accompanying essays, offer a trustworthy guide for anyone seeking their own pathway through the darkness to the light."
—Barbara Graham, NY Times bestselling author of Eye of My Heart and What Jonah Knew
“Will speak to and inspire not only writers and artists, but anyone fascinated by the mysteries of the mind, the process of creating, and the power of stories”
—Judith Claire Mitchell, Author of A Reunion of Ghosts
“A fairy tale she wrote during a time of crisis and rediscovered years later is the spark for Dale M. Kushner’s illuminating meditation on the roles art and creativity play in forging identity and shaping the self. The book also includes three essays by prominent Jungian thinkers who provide their own fascinating insight into the fairy tale. These essays, Kushner’s wise and revelatory analysis, and the charming yet challenging fairy tale at the heart of the book will speak to and inspire not only writers and artists, but anyone fascinated by the mysteries of the mind, the process of creating, and the power of stories.”
—Judith Claire Mitchell, Author of A Reunion of Ghosts
“Brilliant author… teach us to trust our psyche’s healing images and awaken our Omni-Nameable Princess”
—Steven Herrmann, Jungian psychoanalyst, poet, and author of Emily Dickenson: A Medicine Woman for Our Times
“As a published poet and writer with a liberated soul that contains multitudes, this brilliant author of a fabulous fairytale and three creatively wise Jungian interpreters teach us to trust our psyche’s healing images and awaken our Omni-Nameable Princess, who calls us each to become free from bewitchment.”
—Steven Herrmann, Jungian psychoanalyst, poet, and author of Emily Dickenson: A Medicine Woman for Our Times
“A spectacular combination of encounter with psyche and its rendering into consciousness”
—Deborah C. Stewart, LCSW Jungian Analyst, This Jungian Life podcast
“This is a magical tale of a unique and universal princess in search of her true name. It features animal guides, a lost and found heart, and words that weave wonder. Finding freedom from people pleasing is a surprising ride into aliveness and connection with the authentic self. Three interpretive essays by Jungian analysts plus Kushner’s reflective essay on writing as self-enchantment enlarge and deepen the meaning of the tale. Wild Freedom: The Princess Who Found Her Name. On Fairy Tales, Imagination, and the Creative Mind is a spectacular combination of encounter with psyche and its rendering into consciousness. I’m smitten.”
—Deborah C. Stewart, LCSW Jungian Analyst, This Jungian Life podcast
“A magical and unfolding story imbued with emotion and authentic truth… a portal into the wilds of imagination”
—Linda Carter, MSN, Jungian Psychoanalyst, Author, and Educator
“Dreams and imagination are as much a part of the natural world as the stars that shine and the rain that falls. During a time of crisis and within an analytic process, a young writer bravely embarks on a journey of self-exploration by placing herself, uncharacteristically, at the center of a magical and unfolding story imbued with emotion and authentic truth. Present to both her own inner ecology and that of the larger surrounding world, she engages in active imagination and experiences herself anew and apart from the entrapment in a pathological family relational pattern. Surrounded by the transcendent power of ‘amazing grace,’ we see transformation within the tale penned by the younger self as well as in thoughtful reflections from the mature self. By stepping out of the family constellation and through a portal into the wilds of imagination, she comes to recognize endless possibilities in the never-ending Infinite.”
—Linda Carter, MSN, Jungian Psychoanalyst, Author, and Educator
“Kushner’s riveting fairytale is a story of pilgrimage and re-enchantment… a new sense of wholeness”
—Miriam Stein, PhD, Jungian Training Analyst
“Kushner’s riveting fairytale is a story of pilgrimage and re-enchantment, speaking simultaneously to the child and the reflective adult in us all. This beautifully layered book addresses the practical application of Jung’s emphasis on the healing power of the imagination to grapple with irreconcilable opposites toward a new sense of wholeness.”
—Miriam Stein, PhD, Jungian Training Analyst
“Hauntingly beautiful poetic and true… come home to self”
—Kristina Schellinski Author of Individuation for Adult Replacement Children, Ways of Coming into Being
“Hauntingly beautiful poetic and true, is the fairy tale of ‘The Princess Who Found her Name’ by Dale M. Kushner, and so sensitive and insightful the interpretation of the tale by three of the world’s best Jungian Analysts! Wild Freedom is an eye opening read for sisters and brothers and parents and a guide to the soul’s never-ending capacity to foster understanding and thus set us free - to come home to self.”
—Kristina Schellinski Author of Individuation for Adult Replacement Children, Ways of Coming into Being