The unfurling of a Baby Crone

I want to share a memory, a time I was profoundly touched by a transmission when I was at a personal development retreat 6 years ago.

About half way through the 7 day training, the women who no longer bled were asked to enter the circle of about 40 participants and 4 women stepped into the circle. They all seemingly intuitively stood in a circle within the group circle and faced outwards—north, south, east and west—they held hands and began circling and making eye contact with every person in the room.

Tears streamed down my face, knowing that this level of reverence for the post menopausal woman was profoundly absent from our world.

I also remember being transfixed by one of the women who, at the time, I perceived to be 'too young for menopause' and I fell in love with the power of her self-holding and reclamation.

My thought process was a result of patriarchal conditioning that was very alive in my still bleeding body; the thoughts of what a post menopausal woman should look like. Of course, there are women that experience surgical menopause early and also women like myself that go through menopause before the age of 45 (the average age of menopause for white Australian women is 51 and approx. 5 years less for first nation women*)

Witnessing those women that day was a transmission of power, safety, majesty and a deep, deep honouring of the feminine for me.

I saw myself mirrored in them.

I think also the transmission was even more palpable because the training we were in was a deep dive into reclaiming our sexual selves. We women are are so conditioned to feel shame about our ageing bodies and too many of us carry the story that we are not worthy to be seen as sexual beings in the way younger women are. We're rarely seen depicted in film or advertising so where is the permission and safety to explore this and really be seen? We need to have more discussions about how women's sexuality evolves as we age, this part of our womanhood has been profoundly repressed. 

I'm constantly asking myself, why don't we celebrate and honour the wisdom and elder initiation of women? Why aren't we revered in our womanly evolution? Why are we conditioned to feel shame about our age?

They are huge feminist questions and ones that I've been committed to uncovering for the past couple of years.

This is what we are supporting women to claim back for themselves in our upcoming offering Midlife Pleasure and Power. It's the inspiration that drives my passion for what Charlotte Young and I have created.

If you are stirred by any of this and you identify as a woman over 40 and/or are peri or post menopause and would love to connect in a progressive, transformational and deeply inspiring space, pop over to the Midlife Pleasure and Power and have a look around!

We’ve created an affordable membership hub for access to resources & education, women's circles, online courses and a vault of life changing conversations.

Let us gather, grant one another permission and lead the reclamation that honours every part of women's midlife initiation.

Can't wait to bring it to you.

x

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Cultivating the courage to pause at midlife.

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My early menopause at 44