Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation—in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, PhD, is an American cantadora (storyteller), poet, and Jungian psychoanalyst. Her work explores creativity, anger, self-care, childhood wounds, mother-daughter relationships, and accessing the creative feminine, and she holds workshops on these themes. She is the author of Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.