Menopause: The Cycle of Elder Wisdom

There comes a time when a woman moves into the phase of menopause - the

ceasing of ovulation/menstruation cycle. Once again her hormones adjust and her whole body adjusts. Where oestrogen was high and dominant in puberty, it now transitions to lower levels in response to fewer and fewer ovulations. The HPO axis changes, so that no longer are the ovaries stimulated in the same way to make oestrogen and progesterone.

For many women it can be a challenging time as they make this transition, a result of the previous cycles mentioned above. This is not the body's way of punishing her, very far from it actually - but rather its way of clearing all that has accumulated. The quality of the foundation that has been set by a woman's livingness will be the foundation of her experience at this time. This phase is referred to as Perimenopause. A phase that has arisen as a result of the way women live.

The buoyancy of the hormones throughout her ovulatory years is no longer and she is being asked to resource the depths of her being and the quality of repose to be what now supports her. Contrary to common beliefs, the ovary does not become inactive - in fact, the centre of the ovary, the connective tissue called the stroma, becomes activated for the first time in a woman's life. It produces small amounts of hormones in these latter years, along with the adrenal glands.

Just as the core of the ovary is awakened, so too is a woman asked to deepen into the core of who she is, so the deep wisdom that has always been there can be in active expression.

Elder wisdom is an energetic state of being, it can be present in younger women who live very connected to their inner most core, it is not dependant on age but every woman who enters the cycle of menopause is offered the opportunity to surrender within, to know herself from the inside out and be the living reflection of elder wisdom for all other women.

When elder wisdom is embraced a woman will feel deeply settled. A natural letting go of the subservience to the ideals and beliefs that indoctrinate women on who and how they should be occurs, and with this a level of detachment transpires that supports her to observe life and bring understanding to all she sees. In this connection to her inner elder wisdom she emanates a beholding presence that reassures and offers a tangible inspiration of how women can live.

She is to be accessed - like the ancient wise women of the past - the trusted member of a community who have lived through the earlier cycles of life and now remain ever present as a resource of wisdom and an inspiration to younger wisdom. In this lived way of elder wisdom, the woman emanates a reflection that confirms that a woman’s role may change with the cycles but within this change she will always remain significant and have a purposeful contribution to bring to all.

There is so much to embrace about Menopause - we have been utterly robbed of it's richness and wholesomeness when a woman thinks she is less, not enough, hides or thinks she has nothing to offer. In order to reclaim Menopause, women need to reclaim themselves.