Pat Taub
GUEST POST by JUDITH NILAN
When people join me on pilgrimage in Ireland, it’s a choice to step away from the rhythms of a busy life and slow down to a rhythm of deep listening and meditation. With the pandemic, we have been gifted that opportunity not by our own choosing. But here we are. And in this slowing down, within these new rhythms, there is the invitation to deep contemplation. There is wisdom here for us.
Slowing down for contemplation
The Wisdom Of Our Narrative
Crone. Hag. Not words enthusiastically embraced by our culture. Many are uncomfortable with both the words and the women who claim them. However, in ancient cultures, the reaction was one of reverence, not revulsion.
A Joyful Crone
Long ago, crone was a positive word associated with crown. It was recognition of the wisdom emanating from elder wise women. Hag comes from hagio, meaning holy. These titles invoke the power and position of elder women in earlier times and earlier communities.
With a life of accumulated wisdom, these women held the stories and histories of their people and their counsel was greatly valued within their communities. As they walked life’s final journey, preparing to step through the portal and back into the mystery, merging ever more deeply with spiritual realms, their sacred knowing was an essential touchstone of balance and harmony.
An ancient crone with the owl power totem
Now, it is ours to reclaim this narrative and bring forward the truth, power of Elder Wise Woman. Of Crone and Hag.
The Wisdom Of Our Stories
As Elders we are the storytellers. We are the wisdom keepers. It is ours to hold and share the stories of what it means to be in right relationship with the Sacred, with the Earth, in Community, and with ourselves.
Yes, we can find ourselves weighed down with the baggage of culturally conditioned stories about what it means to be an older woman. Stories that suggest we no longer have value. Stories of not being enough. Stories we have carried for decades. This is the invitation to shed that baggage, those stories that do not serve us as Elders, as Wise Women
This is for us. And for our people, there is the invitation to gather the stories that need to be told, especially in this unprecedented time of global social and environmental change. These are the stories our people need to hear and heed as we navigate our way to a new future.
A women’s spiritual circle where stories are shared
The Wisdom of Thresholds & Liminal Space
We are standing at a threshold. With the devastation of our environment and spotlight on the brutality of systemic racism, we are standing at thresholds that are unprecedented in human history. As Elders, navigating thresholds is our work.
In our own lives we have stepped through the threshold of knowing that we are on a journey of becoming ancestor. And in this landscape we are called to deepen our relationships with ancestral energies and the great mysteries of spiritual realms. We are called to be comfortable and familiar with shifting rhythms and liminal spaces. There is great wisdom here: wisdom for our own lives and wisdom for our people.
Native American Women at Standing Rock, the wise women leaders in their community
In this time, as people around the world are navigating thresholds of tremendous change and stepping into new landscapes that are not yet known, it is for us to share our wisdom. It is for us to guide our people away from the fear that is so often implicit in great change. It is for us to hold the energy of calm clarity and knowing that crossing thresholds is as old as time and that new landscapes are created when we hold fast the vision and values of who we are as a people and who we can become.
My sisters: This is the time for us to hold the light of Elder wisdom. This is the time to light the way for our people and our planet.
Judith Nilan on one of her pilgrimages to Ireland
