Hazel Ray
Did you enjoy listening to fairy tales as a child? "Fairy tales help children deal with conflicts they are too young to articulate to the adults around them," states Bruno Bettelheim in Uses of Enchantment However, Stories As Medicine shows that fairy tales are not just for children.
Each of the stories discussed in Stories As Medicine presents a challenging life situation and its resolution according to the particular tale. Themes such as low self esteem, belongingness, risk taking, and immaturity are examined. Of particular interest are the tales of personality integration: The Frog Prince for women and Beauty and the Beast for men.
This entertaining and informative little book will surely provide food for thought long after the final page.
Hazel Bailey Ray has been a student of metaphysics for many years. She was first inspired to write metaphysical interpretations of fairy tales in 1990 while listening to a recording of The Wiz, the African American musical based on L. Frank Baum''s The Wizard of Oz. Over the years, interpretations for other stories came to her and she eventually decided to put them in a book.
Ms. Ray has taught a class based on Stories As Medicine and is currently developing workshops on other topics including Bluebeard, A Tale of Women''s Empowerment based on the tale found in Women Who Run With the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. She also plans to publish her poetry in a future book
Cinderella goes to the ball, bedazzles the prince and is caught by surprise when the clock strikes 12. She dashes away and loses a glass slipper during her flight. The prince takes off after her, retrieves the glass slipper, but cannot find Cinderella.
The prince then plans an extensive campaign to find the one whose foot fits the glass slipper. After an exhaustive search, the prince finally arrives at Cinderella’s house. The stepsisters try on the glass slipper but, of course, it doesn’t fit. When the prince demands to know if there is another young woman in the house, Cinderella comes forward and tries on the slipper. It fits, the prince is elated, and he takes Cinderella away to the palace to marry her and live happily ever after.
In this story Cinderella represents anyone with low self esteem. Low self esteem can be a very deep and insidious thing. How does one bring about a complete cure? Is that possible? Let’s see what can be gleaned from Cinderella.
When we find ourselves in a condition of low self esteem, (Cinderella), several other phenomena may also be present: 1) lack of nurturing feminine presence (deceased mother); 2) our basic survival needs are met—otherwise, self esteem would not be a major issue (father’s legacy); 3) negative self concept (stepmother); 4) negative thoughts and experiences (stepsisters).
To escape from all of this negativity, we seek a savior (prince) who will provide us with a better way of life (ball). If we are sincere seekers, our higher guidance (fairy godmother) assists us in getting started on our identified goal and our transformation process begins (pumpkin into coach, mice into horses, etc.).
However, this initial process only gets us started, and we must at some point wake up to our true goal, or rather our soul’s goal—the spiritual understanding which leads to wholeness. Some shift in our outer and/or inner worlds will signal that it is time to move on to a deeper level of transformative work (stroke of midnight and loss of glass slipper).
This greater transformation is not as easily obtained and requires diligent effort (search for slipper’s owner). When we have reached a full spiritual understanding of who and what we are, we will see it manifest in our inner and outer worlds. (wedding of Cinderella and the prince).
Looking at the archetype represented by Cinderella, I saw that my self esteem problems had their roots in my role as the “lost child” in an alcoholic dysfunctional family, a rich culture for the growth of such problems. Even though I know myself to be multi-talented and accomplished in many areas, the self esteem issues have been like a pall over my life. Even though my basic survival needs were met, (father’s legacy—my parents were good providers) negative thoughts and experiences (stepmother & stepsisters—well intentioned, but often non-nurturing behavior of parents) were daily fare. My several years older siblings left home when I was small, so I was left to cope as best I could.
