Women Who Run with the Wolves

Many ancient goddess cults celebrated obscenity, and sexual humor is used to this day as a way to relax people who have become too tightly wound. The first story about Baubo, the belly goddess, begins with the earth goddess Demeter, who has a daughter called Persephone. Unbeknownst to Demeter, Persephone has been abducted by Hades and carried away to the underworld. For months, Demeter searches in vain for her daughter. She has cursed the earth so that nothing will grow or can be born. Disheveled and depressed, Demeter collapses beside a well when she is approached by Baubo.

This peculiar little goddess has no head. Nipples appear where her eyes should be, and her mouth is a vulva. Demeter begins to smile at this odd creature. Baubo recounts some very dirty jokes, which make Demeter laugh. The earth goddess regains her perspective: A good laugh gives her the energy to continue her quest and find her daughter. “The little belly Goddess Baubo raises the interesting idea that a little obscenity can help to break a depression” (339).

The second story, “Coyote Dick,” was told to Estés by a trailer park manager in Arizona. Coyote Dick is a lazy, shiftless trickster who likes to sleep a good deal of the time.