the forest
in the book "after the laundry, the ecstasy" by Jack Kornfield, there's an intriguing folklore tale about an old lady called Baba Yaga:
Baba Yaga is an old woman with a wild, hag-like visage who stirs her pot and knows all things. She lives deep in the forest. When we seek her out we are frightened, for she requires us to go into the dark, to ask dangerous questions, to step outside the world of logic and comfort.
Baba Yaga promptly throws him into the pot and cooks him.
The next to attempt this quest, a young woman, sees the smoldering fire and hears the cackle of Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga again demands, "Are you on your own errand or are you sent by another?" This young woman has been pulled to the woods alone to seek what she can find there. "I am on my own errand," she replies.
Baba Yaga throws her in the pot and cooks her too.
Later a third visitor, again a young woman, deeply confused by the world, comes to Baba Yaga's house far into the forest. She sees the smoke and knows it is dangerous. Baba Yaga confronts her, "Are you on you on errand, are you on your own errand? Or are you sent by another?
This young woman answers truthfully. "In large part I'm on my own errand, but in large part I also come because of others. And in large part I have come because you are here, and because of the forest, and something I have forgotten, and in large part I know not why I come: Baba Yaga regards her for a moment, and says: "You'll do," before showing her into the hut.