by Mary Lane
Author of Divine Nourishment: A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food
Fall is a time nature separates the seeds from the chaff in the plant kingdom, embeds them in her body and has the grand cosmic lovemaking with spirit to consecrate her impregnation. You can see and feel it as the brilliantly colored leaves reveal the sacred merging. It is a time when life and death are merged as one. Nature is supported by the animals, wind and birds to spread her seeds, as she carpets her body with the decaying leaves to give them a warm safe bed for the winter. She protects the seeds of her next generation before she retreats and takes time for herself. She rebuilds her energy in the winter before giving birth in the spring. It is truly a magical time and an honor to witness.
Menopause is a passage into the autumn of our life. It prepares us to take a look at the harvest of our life, separate the wheat from the chaff and distill the wisdom from our journey. Once we have taken the time to go inward and do the work it takes to distill the wisdom it is time to come back out as a wise woman and plant the seeds of our wisdom for the next generation. This is quite a different scenario than we have witnessed in our culture for the last few generations. Women have just gotten old after a difficult menopausal passage and discarded by our society. Their usefulness has been hidden by our lack of awareness of the value of this phase of her life. They have been medicated and have had no idea what this passage is truly about. With so many women from the baby boomer generation going through this passage at this time we can not afford to have a vast amount of women just getting old. We can not afford to not honor and welcome our wise women into society to support the collective transformation we are going through. This generation of menopausal women need to take their rightful place in society. We need them!
Nature has been my teacher for many years. I spent 15 years living in the Hawaiian islands on Maui. It is the newest land on Earth. It energetically embodies the creative, orgasmic sexual energy erupting wave after wave. The fire goddess Pele rules in this part of the world. It was the place I focused on learning what this thing called sexual energy was really about, beyond what I was conditioned with from a culture that has definite issues about it. She taught me well. Just as Pele and the energy of those islands taught me about my sexuality as it is reflected by nature, the mountains of North Carolina are teaching me what it looks like to embrace and embody myself as an elder wise woman – integrated with my sexuality. These are the oldest mountains in the world with deep, wise feminine energy. I am a full time student of this phase of life with the best teacher there is.
What do the two have in common? How does one support the other? And what does it have to do with menopause and Divine Nourishment?
First of all, nourishing ourselves according to the Earth’s wisdom, the embodiment of the fully integrated woman, balanced with her masculine, with no apologies about her oozing infinite creative sexual energy, and wise enough to recycle, is the first step in shifting our self rejection as women and open to our wisdom.
Many women naturally experience a rising of kundalini energy as they approach menopause. Their energy is shifting from being projected outward to attract procreation to inward and movement upward through the chakra system. Some experience this as hot flashes as the energy hits up against blocks. This energy is available to clear out the blockages through the entire chakra system that does not represent the fully authentic, integrated powerful feminine. It scours the system for all conditioning that is not compatible. It is a powerful serpentine energy that is the master of transformation. And it is there for us at this time. When we hang onto the old illusory ideas of who we are as a woman menopause can be a nightmare. When we work with this energy in a conscious way it is a journey into our authenticity which prepares for the phase in life that is intolerant of anything less. It prepares us to take our place with the wisdom that comes from the depths of our soul’s journey. It prepares us to be so grounded in it that we are unshakable. We are no longer under the influence of society’s conditioning. We have the strength and power to tell it like it is as we pass the baton to the next generation laced with deeply earned wisdom.
Is it no wonder that it was necessary to convince women that this passage was quite the opposite of its reality? Can you imagine a generation of women from the baby boomers coming into this phase of their life fully empowered? What an impact it would have on this collective transformation.
Honoring ourselves, shifting the self rejection, nourishing ourselves according the our wisdom reflected from nature and making friends with our sexual energy is important preparation for this most sacred passage.
When we are not grounded in our life, unable to nourish ourselves appropriately the kundalini rising through our bodies can become a dangerous vehicle that can carry us to realms we are not prepared for. It can shred and dismember us in such an unmerciful way we can’t integrate it. It is the most powerful energy in the Universe and should not be taken lightly. Opening to this energy in a way that supports the cleansing of the chakra system and prepares us for our role as wise women without getting blown out of the water is a tricky dance.
Nourishing ourselves according to nature’s wisdom grounds us on this wave of transformation season by season at a manageable voltage. We become acquainted with ourselves, transforming cycle by cycle. We are experienced riders by the time menopause arrives. We can then utilize this serpentine energy as it rises up our spine, seasoned with meeting ourselves and ride the wave through this sacred passage. We can then integrate this transformation, embody it and take our place as the elder with a baton that is worth passing on. There may have never been a time in history that is calling for this more than now. We can do this.
When we have been able to experience this sexual, creative serpent energy moving up through our entire being our relationship with this energy takes on quite a different flavor. It no longer is a localized experienced that ends quite quickly. It connects every cell in our body to the Divine. We can ride this wave, bathing ourselves with life giving energy that weaves together the physical and spiritual existence of our soul. We have been well trained by the wave that moves through the Earth’s body from living and eating seasonally. There is much more to this seasonal lifestyle than meets the eye.
Mary Lane is the author of the ebook “Divine Nourishment / A Woman’s Sacred Journey with Food.” She has many years and credentials as a chef and 5 Element Nutritionist, along with Plant Spirit Medicine. She has a strong background in inner alchemy according to ancient Taoist practices and teachings of Mary Magdelene. She lives a lifestyle that allows her to have a deep connection with the natural world, and considers herself a full time student. Mary weaves this all together offering tools in aligning and grounding ourselves in the wisdom of nature through the doorway of nourishment. She draws upon her life’s journey to offer support and wisdom for women who are reclaiming the Divine Feminine within. For more information, see divinenourishment.net.
Mary & Anyaa are offering a week-long event: The Crone, Kundalini & Creativity April 8th-15th, 2010 at Isis Cove Retreat Center in Western NC. click here for a full flyer.
Mary & Anyaa will be offering a free women’s circle evening on Tuesday, 7 pm on March 16th and Tuesday, March 30th at The Women’s Health & Wellness Center, 24 Arlington St., Asheville, NC 28801.
Overview of the Evening:
We will gather together to learn from each other in sacred circle, as seasoned women of consciousness. Cronehood is ready to be re-visioned as a time of integration, making whole and birthing a new creativity in alignment with each woman’s own unique soul qualities. The time is ripe for the Crone to take her place on the wheel of life at the Turning of the Ages. We will move, share, journey and overview The Crone, Kundalini & Creativity, a week-long event taking place for the first time here in Western NC. Co-facilitators Anyaa McAndrew and Mary Lane will guide us through a magical evening dedicated to the menopausal woman!