In November of 1995, I journeyed to Egypt with a group of nearly 200 men and women. When I returned to my home on Cape Cod, after two weeks of visiting temples, pyramids, tombs and sacred sites, and doing rituals along the way, one of the first actions I was moved to take was to rewrite my will. In fact, I was driven to accomplish that task as soon as possible. 

As strange as that may seem, I was so moved by my Egyptian experience that I needed to make clear on paper what my wishes were for the disposal of my physical body after my death. I believe that was my first acknowledgment of my mortality and first realization that the process of my personal initiation into the Wise-Woman aspect of my life had begun. 

Almost overnight, I became aware that my body was starting to show signs of changing. Of course, it had probably been happening for awhile at that point, but my denial was blocking my awareness. Also at just about this time, I realized that I wanted to "do" my menopause in a different way than my present day culture was doing it. I didn't want to ignore it, pretend it wasn't happening, or be irritated with the inconvenience of hot flashes, mood swings, sleeplessness, etc. 

Nor did I wish to commiserate with my contemporaries and heighten the "misery" by complaining and whining about how horrendous all these symptoms can be. I wanted to somehow CELEBRATE my passage out of mother- hood and my reproductive years, into what I looked forward to as the "glory" years—my years as a Wise-Woman. 

As a result of this decision to celebrate my change and how I would go about it, a message came to me early one morning when my angels and - guides do their most intense work with me. I was given the name of a work-shop that I would be researching and ultimately presenting. The name given to me was "Crossing to Crone: Celebrating Menopause." 

Since that morning when my research started, I discovered that much information has been made available and continues to be forthcoming regarding menopause. Therefore my research has been much more easily facilitated than it would have been had I been inspired even five years ago. I am grateful for these resources. 

When I read in Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, a wonderful resource book by Christiane Northrup, MD, (a physician who has made it her life's business to apprise herself of ALL possibilities in the healing process of her patients), that 50 million Baby Boomers in this country will be menopausal by the year 2013, I thought that just maybe this workshop would be timely. 

I started talking about it to friends and clients and generally got very positive feedback. So, for selfish reasons, I have decided to present what I call a workshop/play-shop celebrating a rite of passage that has long been neglected or abused and has suffered much bad press. 

In this gathering of like-minded women, my intention is to create a forum of safety and support in which we will journey through the 3 stages of Initiation. Susan Weed, a Wise Woman Herbalist and author of Menopausal Years: The Wise Woman Way, identifies these stages as isolation, death (of the old), and rebirth. In the process of this journey, we will separate these three stages into rituals and exercises that will help define each one. In the isolation phase, the group will individually and briefly tell "her story"— her personal experiences of menopause— and then we will journey via drumming into our sacred womb space. 

The second or death phase will be the actual physical construction of a moon shield which will represent the "letting go" of our old images of ourselves in relation to our procreating or mothering years. And the third and final, rebirth phase, will be a Web of Life dance and croning ritual. 

We will move individually through our processes and yet be supported by the group energy. By the end of the experience it is my hope that we will be ready to celebrate our rebirth into our new lives as respected Wise Women in the community of our peers and most importantly, ourselves. 

I have intentionally left out any such parts of the menopause experience that would be addressed as remedies for symptoms by the medical or complementary healthcare communities. I feel that would be at least one, if not several, more workshops which may follow up at a later time by more qualified people than myself. 

I have begun my rite of passage into my personal menopause experience with a wide-eyed enthusiasm that I feel I would otherwise have neglected had I not been guided to approach it from a less conventional slant. I have recognized in myself a creativity that has certainly been tapped into over the years in various ways, but just as certainly not with the fulfillment that I have felt since "doing" my menopause with such positive awareness. I anticipate my crossing to crone experience with excitement and abandon. HO! 

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Suzanne Hill is a spiritual Healer and Teacher, a Reiki Master and MariEL Healer, and the founder and co-owner of Osterville Therapeutic and Healing Center and free Reiki Healing Clinic in Osterville, Mass. She is a "Spiritual Electrician," facilitating re-wiring and re-membering for total health and well-being of body, mind and spirit. Suzanne conducts her practice on Cape Cod and the South Shore, Boston. She can be reached at 508-428-5436 or 781-293-7812 or by email at: mariel@ici.net.

Call or email Suzanne for info on the 'Crossing to Crone' workshop / playshop!