What Does It Mean to Go Into the Woods?

We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone - Ursula K. Le Guin

About six years ago, I moved from an apartment that was walking distance to the lake, to one that was closer to forests. It was the year I turned 40, and it felt like a fitting change.

The lake had filled me with beauty and serenity as I rebuilt my life after leaving an 11 year marriage. Yet as I entered a new decade of life, I felt my Soul longed for forest.

I longed to be around trees, for the smell of damp earth and the sounds of birds, the rustling of leaves, the changing colors of the seasons. I wanted to be surrounded, to disappear, to be hidden and lost and yet deeply, deeply embraced in this incredible ecosystem.

(I want to take a moment to say how privileged I am to live somewhere where walks in nature are possible. I do not take this for granted).

When Sanne and I were thinking of a title for our upcoming 3-class workshop, we thought of the name: Into the Woods.

Since we are meeting online, we are not inviting you into the actual woods with us. Yet we are inviting you to join us as we step into what a forest might symbolize.

So what might a forest represent?

In the Jungian / depth psychology approach, the forest often represents the unconscious: Untamed, teeming with life - and potential danger - and holding many layers that can never fully be known.

Of course, a forest does not only symbolize the unconscious - a symbol as opposed to a sign can mean many things. It might mean something completely different to you. For example, when I asked my partner what forests represent for him, he simply replied ‘home’ which I find beautiful.

Going back to my 40-year old self: As I fantasied about frequent walks in the forest, I understood I was not only craving the physicality of a forest. I also longed for depth, for mystery, for the unknown which was showing up through the image of the forest. I believe many of us feel similar longings as we approach midlife, yet our culture has lost touch with the wisdom traditions that once provided this.

According to Archetype Matrix, a website which invites people to share their dream symbols, the forest is the symbol which appears most frequently in people’s dreams: People reported dreaming of being in a forest, sometimes lost and other times standing at the edge.

In many fairy tales, the forest is also present. It represents a different realm to the ‘civilized’ world of human order - a wild, untameable world where anything is possible. It might be a place of exile like in Hansel and Gretel who are abandoned by their parents. It might be a place of initiation like for Little Red Riding Hood or it might be a place of retreat and healing, where guides are found, as in the tale of The Handless Maiden. It can be a place where our hero or heroine wander around blind for years in a sort of maturation process like the Prince in Rapunzel. Or it could be a place of trials and tribulations, where the hero or heroine are tested by a magical being. One thing seems certain: The person who enters the forest is not the same person as the one who leaves. We do not leave a forest unchanged.

As Sharon Blackie writes, forests often symbolize a liminal space or an in-between place full of paradox:

…in which the heroine is caught between the life behind her and the life to come. It’s familiar and yet profoundly alien; it’s a place where you can certainly lose yourself, but also where if you give yourself over to the challenge, you can find yourself.

Perhaps you might find yourself in a moment of life where the woods are calling.

Learning the language of symbols can give us access to dreams and the symbolic realm that is present in fairy tales.

I deeply believe this is a home many of us are longing to return to.

We start on November 8 with the New Moon in Scorpio. If you feel called to join, you can find out more here.