My guest today is a proper badass hag. Jane Hardwicke Collings is a grandmother, former homebirth midwife for 30 years, a teacher, writer and menstrual educator. She gives workshops on mother and daughter preparation for menstruation, the spiritual practice of menstruation, and the sacred dimensions of pregnancy, birth and menopause. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Womancraft, an international Women’s Mysteries School.
I wanted to know how to be a fab elder, or hag or crone because there really aren’t so many positive role models or much signposting. We discussed:
o What menopause taught Jane about being an elder.
o The importance of owning our language and how we name ourselves: hag, crone, elder, wise woman
o How to balance following your passion with caring for being in an ageing body.
o How can we protect against the mental effects of ageing
o How do we counteract the miserable narratives about older women
o What Jane wished she had known in her 40’s
o How Jane’s relationship with death illuminates her day-to-day living
You’ll notice in the conversation that though we both use a seasonal structure as a map for life, Jane and I do this differently. Jane sees one cycle through the seasons with the end of Winter announcing death, and I see two cycles, with a Second Spring starting postmenopause.
Jane’s links:
Website www.janehardwickecollings.com and www.schoolofshamanicwomancraft.com
Instagram @janehardwickecollings
Facebook ‘Jane Hardwicke Collings’
Stay up to date with my goings-on at my Instagram @kate_codrington
Second Spring: the self-care guide to menopause is published by HarperCollins and available from your favourite bookshop
You will find the podcast on Spotify, iTunes and all major platforms, just search for ‘Life – An Inside Job’.
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Music
Trust Me (instrumental) by RYYZN
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
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Artwork
My portrait is by Lori Fitzdoodles
