Menopause
There is a combination of emotions centered around this event in a woman's life; and this is an ongoing transition, remember. If a natural menopause is experienced, you will not wake up some morning to abruptly find yourself transitioned from Mother to Crone. It doesn't work that way. This too, this last phase of woman's life, is still a learning process, a gradual awakening. And yes, it's an awakening, it's not an end. Menopause is simply another beginning, a new beginning. You will be allowed now to view the world, your life and the divine, from a whole new perspective. You will come full-circle; you will taste the victory of having lived and learned, of having lived and survived, of having lived to reach the stage you are now, the most illuminating and beautiful stage of a woman's life. This is your time. Finally, after years of being someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's mother, someone's grandmother, it's time to re-center. It's time to refocus, it's time to renew a relationship with yourself.
Personal Menopause Rituals:
Things you want to leave behind.
List all of these things on a single piece of paper, whether they are actual physical things or people, or whether they are circumstances, emotions, and such that have been bothering you. You can list them all on one great big piece of paper because they are one great big lump of crap that needs to be disposed of. And this is exactly what you're going to do; you're going to dispose of this list and these negative things, people, and circumstances by putting this paper in a box, a small cardboard box, the kind that you will find in a hobby/craft shop, those little ones that are just waiting to be decorated.
How do you want to get rid of it?
If you bury it in the earth-- off your property and a distance away!-- these things will most certainly stop bothering you, but they may not go completely away. They will still be there, but the feeling of them will be sort of blunt, a far-off "Oh, ya, I remember __________, funny how I haven't thought of that in a while." This might be okay if what you want to rid yourself of is something that you might want to change, but not necessarily banish completely from your life.
For things that you really truly want to go completely away, never to come back, take this little box and find a nice rushing stream, or a river, a body of water with a flow to it, not a stagnant pool or lake. Stop on a bridge, or take a nice walk along the bank, and when you're ready, throw this box in the moving water. Sling it out there, give it some oomph. After all, this is stuff you want as far away from you as possible. Be sure to show the universe just how strongly you feel about it. (If you happen to stomp your feet, or throw a few cuss words out there, or spit-- that's okay, you're making your point.)
Things you still want to accomplish:
This sounds like a "Bucket List", but it's more than that. This isn't just Things-You-Wish-You-Could-Do-Before-You-Die. These are actual things that you were put here to do. They are things you were meant to do. They are things that just got postponed while you were busy having babies, raising a family, earning a wage, and taking care of all the things Life threw your way and made your responsibility.
Now it's your turn.
What do you still want to accomplish? What do you have left to do?
Make a list. Sit on a quiet day, over a cup of coffee, looking out a rainy window, and think of all of the wonderful, incredible, simple, complicated, difficult, and easy things that you still want to do. Write this list on a plain piece of paper, or on a paper laced with flowers, or on a paper with stars in the background, or on a paper with no lines or boundaries at all.
Get a small box for this piece of paper too. The ones I spoke of, those small boxes that are just waiting to be decorated. You're going to keep this one, and you might even decorate it-- decorate it with wishes and fantasies, dreams and realities. You're going to keep it close by, handy enough so that you can open it every now and then and look at this list, and check things off as you get them done, and add new things to the bottom of the list to do, because you are not stagnant but incredibly creative and adventurous.
This is your I-Am-An-Amazing-Woman-Box.
This is an excerpt from one of my books,
The Spiritual Feminist, by Amythyst Raine
Purchase your copy @ Amazon
This book includes a look at 45 goddesses from around the world, their energy, their power, their culture of origin; as well as their points of expertise in the daily lives of the devoted who worship them. You'll also find sections in this book on the stages of a woman's life; holidays and their connection to our own traditions; as well as a look at the Motherpeace Tarot Deck, and much much more... all geared to women and our incredible journey through life.
No comments:
Post a Comment