‘The Cave of the Grandmothers’
by Jude Lally
1. Community
Menopause can be tough. One day you’re sailing along thinking you have got a handle on it and then BOOM! Something unexpected and the ground yet again shifts beneath our feet.
This isn’t something we should have to go through alone. Women have told me that they want to hear other women’s stories, and tell our stories. Within the course, we meet via a Zoom gathering and when the course is completed there is the opportunity to meet Dark Moon Gatherings
2. Reinvent Yourself
I look at menopause as an opportunity for change. Often much wanted but never got around to change. After all, menopause is ‘the change’ and we can work on who we want to become as we engage with this physical, emotional, and spiritual journey.
3. Ritual & Ceremony
Viewing menopause as a rite of passage gives us the opportunity to really engage - to go through the descent, the deep and emerging - just like the journey of the caterpillar into Butterfly. We can use ritual to speak to explore the things that come up and many women celebrate with a ceremony such as a Croning Ceremony. I’ll be sharing two women's stories of Croning Ceremonies and ideas if you wish to have your own.
4. Call the Midwife
All this change isn’t easy, it takes work. Yet this natural change gives us the opportunity for a rebirth, to quote Ursula Le Guinn, we need to give birth to ourselves and so we call on a midwife to help us through this. There’s lots of inspiration in the course to help pick this diety, ancestor of Goddess figure such as figures from Celtic folklore such as the Goddess Brighid or the Cailleach. Just think of going through the ‘change’ with the Cailleach as your midwife!
5. Becoming Crone
Ultimately, if we are lucky enough, the path we begin in menopause will lead us to crone. She is not someone who is valued in our society, and so we submerge ourselves in exploring the wisdom of the crone, her liminal position with her otherworld connections, and explore birth, death, and rebirth as we go through this transformational process.