Treat the Bones is grounded in the tale of Bluebeard, as it appears in Women Who Run with the Wolves. Read through a Jungian lens, the story is understood not as an external drama, but as an inner psychological narrative. The cruel husband represents an inner predator — a destructive psychic force — while the sisters embody inner capacities of awareness, instinct, and protection that emerge in moments of danger.
At the center of the handkerchief, the groom offers the young woman a garment that does not fit her, a gesture that signals misalignment and self-betrayal. The surrounding figures stand alert, ready to intervene, reflecting the psyche’s innate ability to recognize threat and mobilize support.
The work speaks to intuition, discernment, and the quiet strength of internal solidarity — the forces within that know when and how to act.