Vasilisa Lists

Characters that figure in the Vasilisa story:
Young Mother (dies at beginning of story)
Vasilisa (main character)
Husband of Young Mother (Father of Vasilisa)
God
Doll (gift, promise, blessing from Young Mother to Vasilisa)
Step-Mother
Step-Mother's Daughters (2)
Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga's Men (in white/ red/ black) on Horses (of white/ red/ black)
Baba Yaga's Hands


Scenes/Places in the Vasilisa story:
Dying Young Mother's bedroom
Hearth
The Wood/ Forest
Baba Yaga's Hut
Baba Yaga's Mortar-shaped Flying Cauldron
Home


Events in Vasilisa story:
Bequeathing of Doll from Young Mother to Vasilisa
Death of Young Mother and subsequent Grieving
Arrival of New Family
Sending out of Vasilisa to Forest
Searching for Baba Yaga
Tasks and Tests assigned to Vasilisa by Baba Yaga
     (various house-keeping tasks, plus sorting good/bad corn, and sifting poppy seeds from dirt)
Completion of Tasks and Passing of Tests by Vasilisa w/ help from Doll
Carrying Fire
Returning Home
Fire Burns up Step-Mother and Sisters


Estes' List of Tasks:
"Allowing the Too-Good Mother to Die"
"Exposing the Crude Shadow"
"Navigating in the Dark"
"Facing the Wild Hag"
"Serving the Non-Rational"
"Separating This from That"
"Asking the Mysteries"
"Standing on All Fours"
"Recasting the Shadow"

I must admit: I'm not entirely following Estes' interpretations.  I'm not convinced her assigning some things as all w/in one psyche and other things as externals is consistent or adequately explained.  I'll have to come back to this after I've read more.  To me, everything in the story should be understood as an aspect of the young psyche.  While it may be true that we find and act out externally dramas that we are sorting internally, the interpreter of the myth should be able to interpret the myth entirely in terms of the internal workings of the psyche.  And maybe Estes' is doing this and I'm just not understanding her writing.  Regardless of Estes' interpretation, I'm interested in exploring my own!