Novelist Dale Kushner has entertained a lifelong fascination with the psyche. In her recent book, Wild Freedom, she notes that we can learn from fairy tales and other ancient stories handed down to us over the centuries. They present a record of universal human challenges—fear, jealousy, abandonment, betrayal—and offer a map to navigating these collective struggles. When all seems lost, we can find ourselves through stories.
Can fairy tales and the unconscious mind help us navigate life’s challenges?
For children as well as adults, fairy tales help us make sense of our lives. They speak the language of the unconscious through images, archetypes, and metaphors. They are simultaneously engaging and delightful tales and also representations of psychological truths about ourselves and the world that transcend cultural and racial differences. Fairy tales invite us to face our difficult emotions indirectly and with a sense of safety.
By identifying with characters who confront darkness and emerge transformed, we discover models for resilience, courage, creativity, and hope. Fairy tales remind us that challenges are part of a larger human story and that there is often a silver lining to those challenges if we accept the call to action: unexpected help, insight, transformation.
Do fairy tales offer insight into personal transformation?
Yes. Fairy tales are, fundamentally, transformation stories. The stories we get in fairy tales remind us that our wounds are not only personal but also timeless human dilemmas.
As in fairy tales, so in life—transformation begins with a conflict. Our world is destabilized. We are tested, broken open by adversity, forced to confront aspects of ourselves and others that are unexpected and difficult.
This was true for me. My imagination helped me out of a deep crisis by inspiring me to write an original fairy tale during a time of crisis and despondency. The crisis became an opportunity to re-vision, re-frame, and re-imagine my life’s oath. The fairy tale I wrote, “The Princess Who Found Her Name,” began with an image of a lonely girl staring out a window. This tale is at the center of my recent book—a blend of fairy tale, a memoir-essay, and commentary by Jungian analysts.
Writing the fairy tale and later the essay was a rebirth for me; it became a blueprint for my own psychological growth and self-awareness.
Do fairy tales offer insight into creativity?
Fairy tales catapult the hero or heroine into the territory of the unknown where they must trust their instincts, intuition, and creative powers to defeat adversarial forces. This often involves breaking established rules and becoming a lonely sojourner through the metaphoric dark forest. Fairy tales call us to be courageously creative in the face of uncertainty and to accept help from unexpected sources with humility.
Creativity is a collaboration between our conscious mind and the unconscious. When I write, images and symbols arise spontaneously, without conscious thought, carrying truths I didn’t know I knew.
How can imagination, storytelling, and creativity help people heal from trauma?
As a child dealing with fear and vulnerability, books became my refuge, stories the place where I could imagine another life. In these alternative fantasy lives, I was a clever, resourceful, intelligent girl, capable of overcoming dangers (not realizing I was all those things already).
We are wired to create narratives out of our memories, fantasies, and random ideas. Stories enable us to glean meaning from the chaotic stream of experience. They anchor us in a time-bound world of cause and effect. When we tell a story, we create a distance between ourselves and emotional wounds or deep trauma without directly naming them.
Through storytelling, people can reclaim agency, discover meaning, and create narratives of survival over victimhood. Further, through knowing the stories of others, we quickly realize we are not alone. The lonely princess at the center of “The Princess Who Found Her Name” is every child trapped in a troubled family and longing to find her true home.
How do animal guides bring you personal healing?
For me, animals function as symbolic helpers, messengers from the unconscious, or embodiments of instinctive wisdom. There is a long history of fairy tales featuring magical animals and assisting protagonists when human resources fail. Animal guides can help reconnect us with intuition, resilience, and aspects of ourselves that have been neglected or silenced.
Why is imagination a spiritual practice?
Spiritual practices and imagination are linked aspects of the mind, in which we open ourselves to contemplating the unknown mysteries beyond our rational understanding of the world. Science is one way of knowing the world, and imagination is another way. Spiritual practice is a bridge between these two modes of being.
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Imagination opens us up to wonder, awe, possibility, and a connection to something larger than ourselves. Imagination expands our consciousness, allowing us to participate in the ongoing creation of meaning in our lives and in the lives of others. It is the means by which we can empathize with and understand others different from ourselves.
How can the creative self be nurtured when it conflicts with family roles or identity?
To be there for others, we also have to be there for ourselves. Creativity allows us to expand beyond the boxes we or society put ourselves in. I am a parent. I am also a spouse. I am also a professional. I am also a daughter.
Walt Whitman famously wrote in his epic poem, “Song of Myself,” “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Nurturing the creative self honors our experiences, dreams, desires, and imaginative impulses, challenging established identities and creating new ones. All of that can only enrich life.
How can self-enchantment encourage us to embark on our own journeys of self-discovery?
Self-enchantment is the willingness to view one’s life as a meaningful story rather than a collection of isolated events. Fairy tales invite us to see ourselves as protagonists capable of growth, courage, and transformation. By embracing imagination, curiosity, and symbolic thinking, we become more open to unexpected possibilities and hidden dimensions of experience. Self-enchantment encourages us to follow the call toward deeper self-knowledge, trusting that the challenges we encounter may be part of a larger journey toward wholeness. Like the heroes of fairy tales, we learn that the path through uncertainty often leads to wisdom, freedom, and renewal.
We are all heroes.
