The Menopausal Journey, Birth of The Baby Crone By S. Fairman, C.Ac.
Having begun my menopausal journey in the past seven years, it has become clear to me that there are a vast majority of women that view this very Spiritual change as something akin to a disease. I was especially blessed. I knew intuitively that I was not supposed to mess around with a naturally occurring process in my body and I found a wealth of knowledge available on bookshelves supported by my husband nursing me through the worst of the physical ailments with Polarity Therapy and Herbal Tinctures plus regular visits to the Chinese doctor who trained me in acupuncture.In my own practice, I have observed clients, the majority of which are women, firstly not recognizing the symptoms of approaching menopause and then ferociously denying that they are changing. Neither one of these situations is healthy and there is much one can do to prepare, nourish oneself through the change to ease the emergence of the new persona born through the tremendous shift.
Most women will start their natural peri-menopause with hot flushes, insomnia, erratic menstrual periods, which can include pain, flooding, fibroids, mood swings, feeling depressed and ill. These are expected occurrences as the hormones are shifting and depending on the woman, can be mild, moderate or severe. In the past, we were told that HRT replacement was the “cure” for menopause, but recent data indicates that the majority of women can ride the wave of menopause with natural herbal remedies, alternative medical practices, such as acupuncture, naturopathy, aromatherapy, polarity therapy and good old commiserating with other women and of course, the most potent of all medicines - knowledge. After all, menopause is a natural event in a woman’s life; why fix what is not broken?
Technically, a woman is fully in menopause on the 13th month of her missed menstrual periods.
A common misconception regarding menopause is that we are estrogen deficient. Estrogens are many hormones, not just one. We are estriadiol deficient, which is slightly different but the whole hormone system is not in a deficient position at all. We are on OVERLOAD. High as a kite; tripping out. Maybe that is why the view of a menopausal woman is connected to “going crazy”. Menopausal women have exceptionally high levels of hormones. Although estradiol levels do drop, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone levels increase up to 50%. Estradiol levels fluctuate on a daily basis in any woman, but in a menopausal woman this is especially true. If one looks at a woman in menopause dealing with an INCREASED level of hormones instead of a deficiency condition, it would be more prudent to alleviate the symptoms by nourishment to the areas that are calling out for attention instead of further overloading the system with MORE hormones.
Another little known fact about menopause is the reason for the 10-15 pound weight gain (usually around the abdomen). Estrogens are stored in fat. The female body has a natural mechanism in place to release needed estrogens while going through menopause. This weight gain may last for 5 years or a little more, but it will shift and leave again. It is a very bad idea to diet while in menopause, which adds more strain on an already overloaded system. Better to give thanks to a Creator that allows us to have a built-in reservoir of what we need when we need it.
The physical changes of menopause are only mirroring the tremendous change that is taking place in our psyche. The inner always mirrors the outer. A woman in menopause is going through some radical changes in her mental, emotional and spiritual layers. She is saying good-bye to a precious, known quality about her life; her life as a fertile woman. This can be a frightening experience, as anything in the unknown can be, but has the potential for exhilaration as well.
Let’s go on a little journey of connecting dots. For anyone that has studied some of the Eastern Philosophies, there is a current of energy known as Kundalini that is dormant until puberty and then enters the body via the base charka and then rises along the primarily channel in the body and completes a circuit. Most noted is its shape of a snake. Kundalini in Sanskrit means “she who is coiled”. Usually the symptoms start at the left big toe, winding its way up the leg up through the various chakras until it finally reaches the Crown of the head. However, tradition states that it becomes uncoiled at the base of the spine. There are various descriptions of what it does while it is doing this and competing stories of just where it starts and where it ends. When this journey of energy is completed, it is said to confer a state of enlightenment upon the individual. Not to say that the person is enlightened, but that the journey of enlightenment has begun.
Some of the symptoms of this awakening or rising kundalini are curiously quite similar to menopausal symptoms being:
- Feeling extremely hot or cold - itching, burning, a feeling of ants crawling on the skin - digestive distress, feeling mysteriously ill for an hour and then the symptoms leave - heart palpitations - hearing loud roaring, rushing sounds in the ears - seeing brilliant colors, increased intuition - pain, numbness, especially in shoulders, upper back - difficulty concentrating, insomnia - fluctuating mood swings like anxiety and paranoia, violent muscle spasms - crying, laughing, depression, bliss states - increased creativity, new interest in self-expression and spiritual communication through music, art, poetry.
Traditions further state that there are 3 energy channels in the body. One is the primary middle pathway on which the 7 chakras are situated. The other two, referred to as the Sun and Moon channels and which loosely correspond to the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous systems, cross over the primary channel like a cadeuceus at each chakra point.
As the energy rises along the primary channel, it may encounter what is considered “blockages”. Since kundalini energy once starting its ascent will not stop, its tendency is to burn off or through these blockages and we can interpret these “burnings” on a physical, emotional or spiritual level.
Let us further connect the dots now to the young girl who starts to menstruate for the first time. At that point, it is stated that the kundalini energy enters into the body via the base chakra, awakened by the hormones of puberty but does not necessarily start its ascent. Kundalini then moves from the base of the spine and resides in a young woman’s uterus. The energy builds up until she has a period and is let loose, along with the menstrual blood each month.
When a menopausal woman has her last menstrual period, the energy that has been allowed to release through the menstrual cycle can no longer flow out of that gate. It starts to build up and increase in power and heat and has no where to go except up – the only channel now made available to it – the primary channel.
By the very fact of being born female, women are given the gift of rising kundalini at menopause. This does not mean that every woman will have a connection with this concept but if you search through the ancient books, you will find a wealth of information on how important older women were in the spiritual aspects of things. Ancient women were Priestesses of the Temples. Pictures of witches are primarily women with the all-seeing eye. Clair-sentience, clair-audience, clair-voyance were all powers that were commonly attributed to women. Having let this concept into your consciousness and connecting it to the physical manifestations of menopause, it is absolutely essential to take care of one’s body and mind while in this transformatory state. We are taught as women to be the care-givers to everyone else except ourselves. At the point of menopause, this must change.
Susun Weed’s article on Menopause mentions that there are 3 distinct phases to a woman’s menopausal journey: Melt-down, Isolation and Re-Emergence. The Meltdown phase is where one lets go of redundant and worn-out modes of thinking and being, including old friends, jobs, homes and intimate relationships. The Isolation phase removes oneself from the present environment in which to transform – much like a cocoon so that a butterfly may eventually emerge. This phase is usually met with frustration as becoming a hermit is very difficult to accomplish in the midst of a busy life. Re-Emergence is a critical phase in which one shifts from the Fertile Mother into the Wise Old Crone, a transition which brings in a new view of the world and oneself and what contributions one may make in the third segment of this journey we call Life.
Menopause is a powerful trip. Supported with knowledge and care, the birth of the new self may be met with full rejoicing, just as a new infant is welcomed and cherished by its mother. This infant is lovingly referred to as a baby Crone and her new name is Wisdom.
S. Fairman is a Practitioner of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and long-time student of the Western Esoteric Tradition. She is hosting, along with noted Los Angeles teacher, Anna-Kria King, “Claiming the Power of the Crone…a Menopausal Journey”, a 2 Day Workshop dedicated to peri-menopausal, menopausal and post-menopausal women on September 18 and 19th in Toronto. For further information, please contact s.fairman@sympatico.ca.
© copyright S. Fairman, C.Ac. 2006