Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life

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Menopause, like all times of transition, is a time between stories, when the old story fades and a new one is waiting to emerge. Its invitations are manifold, as we hover on the brink of profound transformation. During this period of intense physical change, it’s also necessary to turn inwards, to embark upon the inner work of elderhood – the work of reimagining and shaping who we want to be in the world, of gaining new perspectives on life, of challenging and evolving our belief systems, of exploring our calling, of uncovering meaning. In the crucible of menopause, we can dream a new life into being. I was really excited about the insight this book offers about the later stages of life and some of the characterizations we see about this in folklore and other stories. I found it very compelling until it slipped into a long, sort of meandering tirade invalidating trans women. Stating that trans rights are human rights and in the same breath asserting that they essentially cannot be considered women is weird and gross. Carolyn will join us to talk about her Book of Hag, wrapped around travels into old age and towards ancientness, and the grandmothers from her Weaver’s Oracle, created from thirty years of paintings, mythic tales and work with women’s archetypal mysteries. There isn’t enough information about elderhood, for those interested. There certainly isn’t enough written in a positive framework about women who age, nor enough mythical introductions which aren’t preaching from the current fashion of witchstagram (again many who are authentic get drowned out by trolls, who have the patience of a pamphlet)

I recently had surgery turning me into a hag, un infertile woman, so this felt like the perfect book to read. I loved all the folklore and stories about elderly women. In some way it rekindled my love for old stories and myths. I want to read more. I really liked all the "shed the old, embrace the new", the rebirth into a different sort of being, the hag (with an attitude). During this workshop, Moya will share her understanding of the energy of Death, and we will explore the ways in which we can welcome this energy into our lives so that we can live more fully.Moya will offer us a workshop on working with the energy of Death. Moya has been apprenticed to Death for a lifetime, beginning with a brush with Death as a child in a near-drowning experience; subsequently, she worked as a nurse in Complementary Therapies with a Specialist Palliative Care Service. She now consciously walks with Death by her side – which, she considers, makes every step sacred. Moya considers Death to be her greatest teacher and friend, and her life is enriched by the presence of Death. Manda Scott has spent a lifetime combining spirituality, creativity and activism. From her earliest novels, through the Boudica series and beyond, her writing has always had a subtext, available to those who wanted to access it. Since the early years of the new millennium, she has taught shamanic dreaming, always with a focus of action out in the world: ‘What do you want of me?’ is the core question – and in her personal experience, has always led to deeper connection to the web of life combined with more concrete action in the world. In her trademark mythopoetic style of writing sharing deeply researched folk legends from our very own British Isles, and with a wild and deep attachment to these lands she inhabits, this book will remind you of just how powerful and transformative this midlife journey we are in truly is.

I was born in the north-east of England, a Celt through and through: my family and ancestry is both Scottish and Irish, and I was raised on an imaginatively rich diet of Irish myth, poetry, music and history. After studying psychology, I spent several years as an academic neuroscientist/ psychologist specialising in the field of anxiety and panic, and working at the Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris and the Institute of Neurology in London. After a few twists and turns, including some unwise years advising a tobacco company on smoking and health and safer cigarettes, and the acquisition of a master’s degree in Creative Writing, I moved to a croft in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. There I returned to my roots, in practice as a therapist specialising in narrative psychology, myth- and storytelling, as well as in other creative imagination techniques and clinical hypnotherapy. My passion during those years was, and still is, creating transformation in individuals and groups. Heather will offer an experiential workshop on dance movement medicine for the embodied elder. All movement at your own pace and interpretation. A wonderfully inspiring rallying cry, an eloquent and engaging offering of a world of hope and possibilities to all the women about to enter or who are already in, the second half of life.’ Please read the important information in the ‘How to Join’ section above, which tells you how to access your material, before proceeding. This twelve-Module self-study program explores the ways in which we might flourish at midlife and beyond, in the decades that so often are portrayed as a time of decline. How can we map the territory, prepare ourselves for yet another searing transformation, and move into the second half of life with a new sense of vitality, creativity and vision?This dynamic book sets out an approach to ageing, that is not about staying at all costs young but instead advocates harnessing your power, learning from myths, archetypes and role models, and plotting a liberating new path to an elder (as opposed to elderly) woman. Bring on inconvenience, I say.’ It may be the first time CBC or BBC book recommendation and interviews have let me down. Hagatude is almost in it’s entirety a memoir of their menopause and post-menopausal life. Did I need to know about their husband’s midlife crisis, NO. Did I really need so much information about their cancer, NO. Not more than as a transition point that made them face their own mortality and thus an intro into the next elder woman archetype.

Hagitude is already becoming a beloved cult classic, as a myth-infused manifesto for the possibilities for life from middle age onwards.’ Anne is a Jungian analyst based in England, and is the author and co-author of seven books, including her groundbreaking 1993 volume, The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image, with Jules Cashford. Her latest book is The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul. She is passionately interested in the fate of the Earth and the survival of our species in this critically important time of evolutionary change. Her work is devoted to the recognition that we live in an ensouled world, and to the restoration of the lost sense of communion between us and the invisible dimension of the universe that is the source or ground of all that we call ‘life’.Moya McGinley is based at Cosán Ciúin, in Co. Leitrim, Ireland: a peaceful, natural haven – complete with triple-spiral labyrinth – which invites us to enter into a space of relationship with the earth and nature surrounding us. Maybe I’m the wrong age, maybe the author and I are too many generations separated, maybe our realities and understanding of the universe is too different, but this book did not work for me.

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING IF WOMEN ROSE ROOTED , EMPOWERING WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE. It is elegantly written and seems to be well researched and supported in some places. Other places it’s very diary entry, literary review with no clear thesis. This twelve-Module program explores the ways in which we might flourish at midlife and beyond, in the decades that so often are portrayed as a time of decline. How can we map the territory, prepare ourselves for yet another searing transformation, and move into the second half of life with a new sense of vitality, creativity and vision?

Hagitude unearths the stories of the little-known but powerful elder women in European myth and folklore, inspiring readers to imagine that the last decades of our lives might be the most dynamic of all. This moving and uplifting book will inspire a new generation of female elders: women who have reclaimed their Inner Hag, matured into their own unique brand of hagitude and who are ready to pass down their deep feminine wisdom for the benefit of the wider Earth community. Author of A Wild Soul Woman and Reclaiming the Wild Soul, a 2015 Nautilus Award-winner, Mary’s writings have also appeared in numerous other publications and anthologies. Through her books, courses, and talks, she reaches creatives, change-makers, and seekers who long to awaken to their most courageous and Earth-connected selves and have the impact they desire. A tidal wave of wisdom and creativity. I have participated in several programs about menopause and aging but never felt it was an authentic, intimate discovery process. I found this in the Hagitude Program, which has been deeply enriching.’ Hannah MacDonald (b.1971) grew up in Oxford and began working in publishing after studying English and American Literature at Manchester University. After twenty years of publishing at Andre Deutsch, Random House and HarperCollins, Hannah founded September Publishing. She is also the author of two well-received novels, The Sun Road and Julianna Kiss, and a winner of a Betty Trask Award for first novels. Starting an independent publisher was a natural extension of a life-long, escapist pleasure in buying, reading and – above all – sharing good books. She lives with her family in Kent. @septemberbooks If you’re standing on the threshold of menopause and looking for support to navigate this intense and transformative alchemical journey, this program is for you.