Raising Children with Myths and Ancestral Tales
How Mothers and Caregivers Can Guide Children Through the Wisdom of Story
You will not only learn how to tell stories, but also which stories to tell, when to tell them, and why they matter, so you can bring the right tale to the right moment in a child’s life. Through practical tools, story insights, and guided reflection, you’ll gain the confidence to bring stories to life, create moments of meaning, and pass on teachings that will stay with your children as they grow into who they are meant to be.
Stories have always helped us make sense of the world, and they remain one of the most meaningful ways to connect with children.
This course is not for children, but for the adults who guide, teach, and care for them. It is designed for mothers, caregivers, and educators who want to understand the deeper wisdom in myths and ancestral tales, and learn how to share them in ways that spark imagination, emotional growth, and connection.
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
— Albert Einstein
Modules Overview
The Power of Stories
Discover how stories carry emotional, cultural, and moral wisdom. Learn from key authors, folklorists, and traditions that have shaped the stories we pass on to children.
Bringing Story Wisdom
into Everyday Life
Use stories to help children understand and express emotions like fear, jealousy, courage, and kindness. Create moments of calm, focus, and imaginative exploration through symbolic storytelling.
Storytelling as a Tool for Connection
Learn how to share stories in a natural, engaging way. Discover techniques to involve children as active participants, turning storytime into moments of genuine connection.
Discover and Practice Stories to Share
Experience live tellings of classic and lesser-known tales. Build a meaningful story collection tailored to your child’s age and interests, and learn how to adapt each story to different stages and everyday moments.
What Will You Gain
Confidence to Tell the Right Story at the Right Time
Learn how to choose meaningful stories that meet your child where they are—emotionally, developmentally, and imaginatively.
A Deeper Understanding of Story as a Tool for Connection
Discover how myths and ancestral tales can help you connect with your child in everyday moments—whether during transitions, challenges, or quiet times of reflection.
The Skills to Bring Stories to Life
Explore voice, tone, rhythm, and presence—simple yet powerful tools to make stories engaging and alive for your child.
A Rich Repertoire of Timeless Tales
Build a collection of classic and lesser-known stories to draw from—each one carrying wisdom that supports emotional growth and imagination.
Ways to Support Emotional and Creative Development
Use stories to help children navigate emotions like fear, courage, jealousy, and kindness, while fostering creativity, empathy, and inner strength.
A Renewed Sense of Purpose in Your Role
Whether you’re a mother, caregiver, or educator, this course will reconnect you with your role as a guide, helping you pass down wisdom, wonder, and presence through story.
A Community of Like-Hearted Women
Join a cohort of mothers and caregivers who believe in the power of stories. Share experiences, exchange tales, and grow alongside others who are walking this meaningful path of raising children with depth and imagination.
Course Structure
During 16 recorded sessions, we are going to dwell on the archetypes of the female soul, by focusing on the book Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
Each session is focused on one chapter of the book, where the mythologist and facilitator Maria Souza will unpack the key elements, propose discussions, and bring to light the wisdom of each story.
Through experienced facilitation, you will be guided into deep reflection, ancestral wisdom and the healing magic of stories.
Words from Those Who’ve Experienced the Journey
Sessions Outline
Session 1: Introduction to the course
Unpacking our mythical journey
Session 2: The Wolf Woman
Story of La Loba
Meeting and Resurrection of the Wild Woman archetype.
Session 3: The Beginning Initiation
Story of Bluebeard
The Natural Predator of the Psyche. Naive Women as Prey. The Key to Knowing: The Importance of curiosity.
Session 4: The Retrieval of Intuition as Initiation
Story of Vasalisa
Allowing the Too-Good Mother to Die. Facing the Wild Hag. Learning Discernment and Asking the Mysteries.
Session 5: Union With the Other
Story of the Manawee: the Wild Mate
The Dual Nature of Women. The Power of Name. Unravelling Seductive Appetite. Achieving Fierceness
Session 6: When the Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Story of Skeleton Woman
Facing the Life/Death/Life Nature of Love. Death in Love. The First Phases of Love: from Finding to Chasing, Recognizing to Untangling, Trusting to Giving Life. Love Making Between Soul Partners.
Session 7. Finding One's Pack: Belonging as Blessing
Story of The Ugly Duckling
Exile of the Unmatched Child. The figure of the mother. What are bad surroundings.
Feeling frozen, without vitality and creativity. Exile as power to encounter the soul
Session 8. Joyous Body: The Wild Flesh
Story of La Mariposa, Butterfly Woman
Exploring and accepting the female body. Learning to move with our bodies. Creating a physical home for the soul
Session 9. Self-preservation: Identifying Leg Traps, Cages, and Poisoned Bait
Story of the Red Shoes
The traps that women need to overcome. Not falling into captivity or burning the treasure. Not living a secret life, faking it, obsession and developing an addiction. The hunger of the soul.
Session 10. Homing: Returning to OneSelf
Story of Sealskin, Soulskin
Understanding Loneliness and Returning to OneSelf. Loss of Sense of Soul as Initiation. Marriage between the soul and the outer life. Listening to the soul call and returning home.
Session 11. Clear Water: Nourishing the Creative Life
Story of La Llorona
Pollutions of the Wild Soul and Renewing the creative fire. Exploring inner and outer blockages of our creative life. Taking back one's creative life
Session 12. Heat: Retrieving a Sacred Sexuality
Story of Baubo: The Belly Goddess
Exploring sacred sexuality. Coming closer to our body and our sensual femininity.
Session 13. Marking Territory: The Boundaries of Rage and Forgiveness
Story of The Crescent Moon Bear
Understanding Rage as Teacher, Righteous Rage, Collective Rage. Stuck in old rage. The 4 stages of forgiveness
Session 14. Battle Scars: Membership in the Scar Clan
Story of The Woman With Hair of Gold
Reflecting on the danger of secrets and the dead zone it creates in the psyche.
Session 15. La Selva Subterránea: Initiation in the Underground Forest
Story of The Handless Maiden
The complete journey of a women's life and the integration of feminine and masculine.
Session 16. The Wolf's Eyelash, Story as Medicine and The Deep Song
An overview of the course, the final passages of the book and a closing ceremony to mark the end of our course.
About Your Facilitator
Maria Souza
Maria Souza is a Comparative Mythologist and Educator. Maria is the author of the mythopoetic book Wild Daughters and is a member of the Joseph Campbell Foundation Myth Maker Network. She is the host of the podcast Women and Mythology in which she shares and interprets myths and fairy tales. Maria has been delivering programs on mythology since 2016.
Join The Program
INCLUDES
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16 Recorded sessions of 1,5 hours each
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Online group with other participants for support and conversation
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Supporting Resources (meditation, poems, articles, images)
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Deepening inquiry for each session
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Slide presentation for each session
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Certificate of Participation
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Access during one year of all the materials
Frequently Asked Questions
After I register for the program, what should I do?
Look for a welcome email with supporting information to join the Hotmart platform and access all your materials.
I am interested in only 1 session of the course. Can I purchase only a specific session?
No, to ensure a special experience we only accept full program participants. That means you must register for the full program.
Is reading compulsory? How much reading should I do for the course?
Reading is not compulsory. Maria will retell the story and present the key elements. You can fully participate in the sessions without reading the book.
I still have questions, what should I do?
We would love to hear from you!
Send us a message trough the contact form below or at maria@womenandmythology.com
Is this for you?
This program is recommended for women of all backgrounds and ages, for those who are not aware of mythological archetypes and for those who have felt some stirring.
If you are looking to deepen your understanding of self and widen your repertoire of tools and knowledge this is a course for you.
This course will provide rational and creative minds with more food for thought to expand their intuitive and instinctive potencies.