What you will receive

• 6 Live Webinar Sessions with Q & A
• 6 Links to the Recordings
• 25 minute audio file of an active imagination journey which can be used throughout the course
• Creative prompts and reflective questions

Course Description

Menopause is a time between stories, when the old story fades and a new story is waiting to emerge. It’s a liminal time, when we hover on the brink of the profound transformation which ultimately leads to elderhood, and contemplate the work of gaining new perspectives on our life, of challenging and evolving our belief systems, of exploring our calling, of uncovering meaning, and ultimately finding healing for a lifetime’s accumulation of wounds.

Nevertheless, the second half of women’s lives is often portrayed as a time of decline. How can we challenge this narrative, map the new territory, prepare ourselves for yet another searing transformation, and move into the second half of life with a sense of vitality, creativity and vision?

Grounded in myth, narrative techniques and archetypal psychology, this course will focus on the following questions:

• How can we navigate the stormy waters of menopause and find continued growth, meaning and authenticity in the second half of life?
• How might we work with the stories of the little-known but powerful elder women in myth and folklore – both to inspire us to create new stories of our own, and to reimagine our journey to and through elderhood?
• How can we each uncover, and embrace, our own unique, archetypal Inner Hag?
• How, by working with and understanding our own stories, and our own mythopoetic journey through life, can we fully and finally embody the unique gift which each of us brings to this world, at this time?

This course is ideal if

• You’re standing on the threshold of menopause and looking for inspiration for navigating this intense and transformative alchemical journey.
• You’re already on the road to elderhood, and would like to explore your continuing journey more deeply.
• You’re a younger woman who’d like to map and plan for the journey ahead of you.
• You’re a therapist or clinician helping others to find direction in the second half of life.
• You’re interested in exploring neglected aspects of the archetypal feminine.

Course Overview

Week One: July 20

Connecting with our calling

The nature of our work during the second half of life is to grow into the person we always were meant to become: our most authentic self. This requires insight into the unique gift which each of us brings to the world in these troubled times. In this class, we’ll discuss the nature of calling, and explore the ways in which we can find clues about our own calling through working with image and story.

Week Two: July 27

Elderhood as a post-Heroic Journey

If the Hero’s Journey is more suited to the outward-focused first half of life, what does the journey through the second half of life look like? This week, we’ll explore the notion of elderhood as a Post-Heroic Journey – a search for meaning, for the numinous, and for wholeness.

Week 3: August 3

Archetypes of menopause: the Medial Woman

The Medial Woman, first outlined by Toni Wolff, is an archetype we all encounter in one way or another as we approach menopause. From the Alchemist to the Witch, this class explores several iterations of the Medial Woman in European myth and folklore.

Week 4: August 10

Archetypes of elderhood: the Inner Hag

The Inner Hag whose image we each carry within us reflects our own unique variety of wisdom. In this class we’ll uncover the little-known elder women of European myth and folklore: Tricksters and Truth-tellers, Mentors, Creatrixes, Dangerous Old Women, and many more.

Week 5: August 17

Journeying through the Country of Death

Our journey through the second half of life inevitably ends with a journey through the Country of Death. In this class, we’ll explore archetypes of Death and harbingers of Death in the European tradition.

Week 6: August 24

Re-storying elderhood

In this final class, we’ll work with narrative techniques which will help us to identify and, where needed, to transform the personal myths and stories we carry into elderhood.

By the End of This Course You Will Be Able To

• Embrace the second half of life as a new and profoundly transformative, alchemical journey
• Explore the concept of the Post-Heroic journey
• Understand the various faces of archetypal elder women in European myth and folklore
• Work with resources for connecting to the archetypal elder within