In this episode, we explore how the Wild Woman archetype lives through three iconic women: Dolly Parton, Maya Angelou, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Following the loss of Dolly Parton, we reflect on why her life touched so many people across generations and differences. Her wildness wasn’t rebellion for rebellion’s sake—it was radical self-definition. She transformed her Appalachian roots into art, protected ownership of her work, embraced femininity on her own terms, and used her success to create opportunities for others. Dolly represents the Wild Woman as Creator: I will make something beautiful from what I’ve been given.
Maya Angelou represents the Wild Woman as Voice. Through trauma, silence, motherhood, activism, and art, she repeatedly refused to let the world define the limits of her being. She entered the places where women can be silenced—and returned with a voice powerful enough to transform personal experience into communal wisdom. Her declaration: I will speak what I know.
Georgia O’Keeffe embodies the Wild Woman as Sovereign. She built a life around her own rhythms, perceptions, creativity, and relationship with the natural world. Through solitude and fierce independence, she listened to the call of her own life more closely than she listened to cultural expectations. Her declaration: I will live according to my own nature.
Together, these women invite us to:
- Move from adaptation to instinct
- Move from pleasing to authenticity
- Move from silence to voice
- Move from fragmentation to wholeness
- Move from cultural expectations to inner authority
The Wild Woman is not simply the “bad girl” or the rebellious woman. As Clarissa Pinkola Estés describes her, she is the woman who is instinctual, creative, psychologically alive, sovereign, and unwilling to abandon herself.
Perhaps the world recognizes and honors the Wild Woman without always having language for her. Perhaps the women who embody her are, as Maya Angelou wrote, truly phenomenal women.
Dolly: Create. Maya: Speak. Georgia: Be.
Watch Maya Angelou perform “Phenomenal Woman.”
Other Episodes You Might Like:
Episode 114: Use Your Voice
Episode 135: Mandy Fabian: Fiercely Feminine Film Director
Episode 212: The Rewilding Path
Episode 76: Women Finding Their Voice
Today’s Episode sponsored by:
Kate Moreland Coaching (https://www.katemorelandcoach
Dr Yoga Momma (https://dryogamomma.com/)
Heartland Yoga (https://heartlandyoga.com/)
Want to do coaching work with Kate or mind-body psychotherapy with Betsy?
Kate Moreland Coaching (https://www.katemorelandcoach
Dr Yoga Momma (https://dryogamomma.com/)
Interested in our online Rewilding Course?
We taught a 4-week live online rewilding course in July 2026 to 50+ women. It was an amazingly transformational container that allowed people to engage in 4 things.
- Understand the call we receive to rewild
- Unravel the conditioning that has kept us distance from our inner wild or essence
- Reclaim the parts of self that got splintered away over the years, including our bodies, creativity, intuition, emotions
- Commit to a rewilded life
If you would like to take this course on your own, join anytime. All the details here: https://dryogamomma.com/
Want to go on retreat?
Want to join Betsy in Mexico in February May 20-27, 2027 on retreat? This beautiful retreat center in the nourishing haven of Playa Chacala on the Pacific Ocean will the home for a week of deep self-care. Teaching retreat is one of Betsy’s favorite jobs as it gives her a chance to move into deeper realms with people over an extended period of time using the tools of yoga, meditation, hypnosis, energy work, and self-inquiry. People typically observe deep shifts and quantum leaps forward on such retreats. All the details here!
Want to join Betsy in Morocco in October 2027 on retreat? This small, curated experience in Marrakech will blend introspection and rest using the tools of yoga-psychology with cultural immersion and adventure as we tour markets, traditional Moroccan massage, and take a hot air balloon ride above the desert at sunset. All the details here!
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