As we are all well aware, menopause is a time of great changes physiologically ,emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. As women we experience life and life changing events right to the core of our being. We experience life in its fullest capacities from puberty, to pregnancy to child birth, to bringing up children, to living our lives, partners, lovers, work, careers, menstruation and finally approaching into menopause and beyond into the second half of our lives; the spiritual life, our life.
As we approach menopause we experience changes. Energy that is/was used for our life before, is now being readied for the next phase of life. We exert tremendous amounts of energy raising families, working, living etc.. Menopause is not the end but rather a time of new beginnings, a fresh start, a time in life when one can approach life from one’s own unique perspective rather than having to approach life from set roles.
Is it any wonder that as we come into menopause as our bodies and functions start to change and we experience fluctuations in and around ourselves that we can start to feel vulnerable, uncertain and sometimes confused and overwhelmed. Not only do our biological functions change and eventually diminish, so do the roles we have experienced and lived through for so many years. Along with that change in role is a change in our purpose, function, ability, needs and our expression of who we are and who we have been. We can find ourselves alone with ourselves, sometimes for the first time in our life.
Finding ourselves in unknown and unfamiliar territory can be a daunting experience for some and for others can be an exhilarating and liberating experience. Menopause is a time of transition, a time that we are blessed with that gives us the opportunity to gradually acknowledge our own power, passion, choices and freedom, because we no longer have to submit to pressures from the outside world.
Menopause offers us the opportunity to pass beyond being vulnerable, dependent, sometimes isolated and disadvantaged. It offers us the possibility for opportunities that may have been denied us for most of our lives. How do we bridge the gap between solitary confinement to one of freedom and self-determination both politically, economically and spiritually.
Menopause is a time of rebirth, birthing the real you, your true potential and being. We physically birth babies and birthing our spiritual/true self is no less miraculous and mysterious. It is our birth right, a Divine gift that for too long has been denied and denigrated because it truly is a miracle. You are part of that miracle. Perhaps your life experience does not reflect these truths. Perhaps life has been teaching you lessons that maybe you did not fully understand. Menopause offers us the opportunity to birth our Divine Inner Child, the mysterious and profound unity between mother and child, between Wise Woman and Divine Child, connection between body and spirit.
It is a time to heal old wounds, old losses that may have been carried for far too long. Letting go of situations, circumstances and people that no longer hold any purpose in our being. Menopause is a time of loss and grieving and a wonderful opportunity it is to be given, to heal and release, preparing to move into the future with power, purpose and passion. Perhaps you have a dream and need to follow that dream. Do what makes your heart sing, and if a song of grief arises from your soul sing that song, seek support to help you through this time of great change. And in time a new song will emerge, a song of power, passion, purity, the song of the Woman of Wise Blood.
By Arielle Kaph
