Croning Ceremony: Celebrating Menopause
Last week was a BIG week.
Not in the usual way one might imagine - an anniversary, birthday, new job, big sale, sobriety date, or birth announcement... but rather in a subtle, more internal way.
Last week I hit MENOPAUSE... (per the calendar... - you can look it up if that's unclear).
So yep, I'm officially a CRONE, which is the archetypal figure, who together with the Maiden and the Mother represents the cycle of life.
I hesitated to even share this because, well doh - who celebrates milestones such as Menopause publicly?!?!?
And yet I want to be one of the voices that is changing the conversation and dynamic around women and women's bodies, and aging. I want to be one small voice that is helping to change the way we look at women as we age and I want to be one who is reclaiming the word Crone from the negative connotations it has to the powerful meanings the word originates from. (some interesting reading on how the negative words surrounding the crone were manipulated from their true definitions of 'wisdom' and 'holy' can be found here: https://www.goddess-guide.com/crone.html)
So I'm sharing this rather personal and vulnerable post as a way to do my part to turn the tide of empowering women to step into their power and beauty as they move into this stage of life. I want to change the story of menopause from one of suffering and decline to one of empowerment, beauty, and wisdom. I want to both acknowledge the challenges that are real and also not be defined by them. I want to help create a world where we collectively celebrate the passage into menopause as much as we do the 'Sweet 16' birthday or the birth of a child.
See my FB page for a few pictures of a 'Croning Ceremony' I created for myself to not only welcome this phase of my life but also celebrate it. I created a sacred space and brought in elements important to me as I looked to embrace all that this stage represents for me. I stated aloud what it meant to me to be a crone and I honored and owned the wisdom, grace, courage, and power that comes only with time. I also allowed the grief for what is lost with this transition to have space, be seen and felt, and welcomed as part of the truth of this journey. I danced, I sang, I swam, I laughed, I smudged myself and touched myself, I thought of my ancestors, my girlfriends, and all women everywhere.
I'm so grateful to my Soul Sisters Shelley, Cindy, and Gillian for holding space for me during the seemingly endless contraction and expansion phases in the months leading up to this ceremony and sacred day and how to honor it and share about it with others.
I'm grateful to my coach Suzy for guiding me gently along the path as I moved my way through this transition and into a personal sabbatical year.
I'm grateful to my husband Harlan who participated in part of the ceremony when I asked him and helped bring a powerful presence of the sacred masculine into the circle I created. His presence helps me on the daily to balance out the yin/yang energy in and around me.
I'm also so grateful to all the women who have gone before me in this journey, for so many reasons.
While I don't love everything about this process that my body is undergoing, I am committed to doing what I can to accept the changes and love myself even stronger and harder on the other side.
Here's to cronehood! Thank you for witnessing.
#menopause #menopausecelebration #croningceremony #crone #wisewoman #wisewomantradition