MENOPAUSE
Death and Rebirth ~ The Power of Transformation (part 2)
continued from part 1
by Sophia Breillatã
This unique transition in a woman’s life is for tenderly nourishing the birth of her wisdom, for gently nurturing and kindling the fires that spark the passion of transformation. To fully embrace the totality of this transformation, she needs to graciously accept her increasing need for space and solitude. She also needs to surrender to an ever-opening, ever-deepening trust in her body’s innate wisdom and her spirit’s innate presence. 
As her acceptance of her menopausal journey deepens, the impersonal essence and divine presence of She, within the depths of her womb, will lovingly lead her through this void of death into her shining new life as the Crone.
We are living in a culture of increasingly advanced technology, where the intimate beauty, sweet surrender and exquisite tenderness of lovemaking, childbirth and death almost carry the shame of being seen. So much about the powerful truth of the female essence, of who woman truly is in her innermost being, is still hidden beneath the false layers of the world. So much of her deeply nurturing well of love and creativity still remains unacknowledged. The awesome mystery of her essence is so deep, so inner, so beyond physical existence. So much of who woman really is still remains unseen. It takes great perception, great awareness, great openness, great love for her to be truly reached within her place, her mystery. The profundity of the menopausal process occurs in this place, in the deep, beyond rational description and technical explanation. This profundity cannot be dragged to the surface, conveniently labelled as an illness or medical condition, just because it is so little seen or understood.
The contemporary world thrives upon a deep fear of woman’s wisdom and power. Fuelled by an unreal obsession with youth, it ignores her intrinsic need to truly move with grace and serenity into her rightful place as the Wise Crone. To blossom into her menopausal rebirth, she must first die to society’s unreal concepts of her femininity and to the world’s interpretations of her physical and emotional “symptoms”. She, the Ancient One within her womb, is the true healer, the guardian of her mystery, the intuitive priestess and muse who knows All. Her hot flushes, the burning flames of the Dark Goddess’s purging fire, do not need to be quenched, sedated or controlled, for they embody the pure passion of Kundalini power sensuously unfurling at the base of her spine and deliciously stirring in the depths of her womb. This pure fire of her love, of her life energy, of her sexuality is not dying ~ it is being transformed.
The completion of her former life as a fertile woman is frequently experienced as a death. And, so it must be, as so much of her former identity is now dying. She is yet to pass through the Crone’s purging fire, not quite ready for her rebirth as the Queen, the Impersonal Mother of All. It is not really the death of her fertility that grieves her, but the death of her false identification of femininity with fertility.
The modern world misinterprets your fertile phase of life as the reality of your femininity. Although this phase contains much beauty, fulfilment and joy, it does not embrace the totality of the female essence. During your menopausal transformation, you will be asked to die to this mass conditioning, for you are entering a place of power that is beyond fertility. In ancient cultures, you have been honoured during all the sacred cycles of your life. As the wise elder, you have been respected, revered and loved for your mysterious wisdom. This valuable facet of the female essence is a precious shining jewel, sparkling beneath the layers of conditioning that have burdened your psyche. This is a deeply spiritual phase of your life, an awesome rite of passage. When lived consciously, it ultimately bestows you with the freedom to live your life from the bounteous source of your profound impersonal power. Like your true mother, the Earth, you become more giving, more conscious, through embracing your many phases of birth, death, replenishment and renewal.
And, so, she descends into the desert, across the ocean, The Valley of Death and The Dark Night of the Soul. Along the way, she is stripped of her family conditioning and the conditioning of the collective feminine psyche. And it is so very important for her to honour this death, for new life, new light will emerge from the glowing embers of her past. She is clearing, emptying, purifying her body and psyche of the world she has absorbed during the first half of her life. All her acts of doing will soon flow directly from her inner place of being, becoming more subtle, becoming more whole. She will become reborn into a deeper inner reality that aligns with her newly formed presence. She is not to consciously know this yet, for she is still immersed in transformation, in metamorphosis. Her new wings are not yet ready to emerge, fluttering and glistening wet, to carry her into and beyond soaring heights she has never before known.
The profound truth of menopause is not really about hormones. It is not really about a “medical condition” making profits for pharmaceutical companies that prey upon woman’s doubts and fears. It is really about woman becoming more of a woman, through living from a more detached place of love and truth. Menopause is about the deepening of female power, the birth of female wisdom, and the flowering of impersonal love. A woman’s distress, her despair, her fear, her grief, rage and sorrow during her menopausal transformation are simply because she cannot find her true place in contemporary society. Nothing of the world truly prepares and educates her for this transition, and nothing of the world gently eases her into the wise whisperings of her own heart.
It is not really ageing that she fears, but not being loved for who she truly is.
The menopausal woman is frequently displaced within a society that does not value or honour the peaceful serenity of the female elder, the wise counsel of the Crone, the intuitive wisdom of the Muse.
Beautiful woman, you are a flower with a delicate fragrance that opens sweetly to love. When your essence is dishonoured, you close your petals, your heart. Menopause opens a chasm within your psyche, stirring every part of you that has not been faced, felt or honoured in the past. The Dark Goddess purifies your womb in preparation for your initiation as Crone. Your emerging wisdom will reveal the finality of this death ~ you can never go back. From now on, your life will embrace a deeper, more spiritual, more loving way of being.
The simple yet profound truth of menopause has been suppressed for many generations. For woman, it frequently requires a death to putting others’ needs before her own. Through listening to the silent voice of her heart, she now sensitively attunes to her deepest longings, passions and truth. She is learning to become the Immortal Goddess of wisdom and maturity, living from a place beyond identity, roles and attachments. As she softly sinks into the profundity of this death, her insight deepens, as does the impersonal quality of her love.
As you die to your personal identification with your menstrual cycle, your innate need for lovemaking separates from its connection with ovulation. If you awaken to the wild wisdom of your power, you will ultimately have no emotional need for lovemaking. Yet from within the profound stillness of this place, you will remain open and available to sexual loving that is truly intimate, impersonally profound and sensitively attuned to your deepening truth.
As woman becomes more aligned with the immortal Goddess during menopause, she also faces her own physical mortality. This is not a morbid pre-occupation, but a natural insight that ultimately draws her energy more into living within the present moment. Through dying to her past, the perception of her perceived future transforms, as she stands upon the threshold of a new life. As the Dark Goddess reveals to her that her love will never die, she simultaneously becomes more aware of the remainder of physical life awaiting her. There is great joy and peace embodied within this insight, for it creates more fullness, completeness and simplicity in her daily living. Everything in her life then becomes the sacred reality of “only for now”.
During menopause, woman is inwardly nourished by an inherent need for change, as her entire being is profoundly transforming upon a spiritual and cellular level. Any woman who tries to resist this adventurous change, through fear, ignorance or suppression, is denying herself the mysteriously sacred awakening of her female wisdom. If she does not heed this potent call, giving totally to the conscious blossoming of her power, she will feel incomplete as a woman. For somewhere deep within her heart of hearts, she will know that she has compromised her inner truth. Hormones will not bestow this completeness, nor will facelifts or anti-aging pills. Only through living as the profound maturity of the immortal Goddess’s love, will she become gifted with peace-filled completeness of being. If she is to make any real contribution to the blessedness of life upon this earth, this will be revealed through the unfolding of the awesome mystery within her menopausal death and rebirth.
© Copyright ~ Sophia Breillatã
Not to be reproduced without author’s permission
Sophia is a woman who lives, writes and paints from the heart ~ she may be contacted at: wullegurra@hotmail.com
www.wildheartwisdom.com
Roslyne Sophia Breillat
Within the womb of every woman glows the consciousness of Mother Earth. Wildheartwisdom is a web site for nurturing the truth of this powerful feminine spirit and offers support for the female psyche’s many cyclic transformations. Wildheartwisdom focuses upon the deeper joy and purpose of menstruation, lovemaking, pregnancy, childbirth, mothering, relationships, menopause and beyond. Find spiritual guidance for healing from eating disorders, sexual abuse, miscarriage and abortion. There are currently three galleries featuring Sophia’s art and a selection of her article excerpts. As wildheartwisdom evolves more art and articles will be added as well as an extensive resource section. Sophia’s beautiful art and illustrations are for sale and she is currently seeking a publisher for her two books.
