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Sharon Blackie calls us to the ancient archetype of the Hag as a figure of unapologetic emergence from cultural pressures that lock us into outworn roles and limiting beliefs.

Drawing upon her transformative experiences in menopause Blackie grounds the mythic figure of the old woman who fashioned the world in her fierce determination to dissolve and reconfigure her professional and personal life. Identifying and rejecting cultural pressures to look and act a certain way as she ages, she claims the second half of her life for a post-heroic journey of intense creativity and unapologetic self-expression.

Ancient Celtic fairytales, myths, and folk stories carry the spirit of the Cailleach, the divine old woman who shapes the landscape and scourges it clean through winter storms. This Queen of Winter is sharp and wild. Those who discover the Cailleach within carry her ruthless truths as unavoidable facts that demand acknowledgment. Her stark reality strips away one's inner illusions and avoidance of death, leaving her sharp eye facing outward. Tending the web of life becomes the great task, and acting to restore balance to the community, the central role.

The path to the Hag is hidden in stories. Blackie reminds us that reviving the ancient themes and images expands our imagination and helps us recover the dark woods we once knew well. Wise old ones revive awe and connection. Trees and plants, rivers and crows have secrets to teach us that require a depth of listening undisturbed by collective gibbering.

Elderhood can be a time to shed the roles assigned to us. Menopause can be welcomed as a rite of passage with the Hag silently waiting for us to see her. If we have learned how to recognize her, renewal and reclaiming is possible. The stories of those who have gone before us carry a strange beauty that can stir a memory in our soul and set us on the path.

Here's the dream we analyze:
“I’m in a Baby Fostering and Adoption facility. Babies are waiting like chicks in low, wide plastic containers. They could see out but were content to wait. I wanted to select one past the crying stage, so I asked the caretaker who was the oldest. She extracts a teenage girl they’ve had for a long time from the center of the container. I take the girl to foster. We went to a city and stopped at a takeaway to buy her a salad, though the restaurant did not look healthy. I pay and assume the girl is behind me. I don’t understand the currency, so I offer it to the guy at the counter to choose. He takes some and gives me back a lot of coins whose value I don’t know. The girl was gone when I turned with the salad. Frantic, I tried to find her because I was supposed to return her to the facility. I desperately cry, “Help me! Help me!” I rush into a daycare and ask a female staff member to help me. She might have, but she was in charge of the daycare. As I wake, I realize the girl slipped away by choice. I wasn’t scared she was abducted; I just panicked that she left without a discussion. I felt like a bumbling idiot because it reflected badly on me, and I wondered why I had agreed to begin with.” [This dream was edited for brevity and clarity.]

ABOUT SHARON:
Website: https://sharonblackie.net/
Order her book: Hagitude. Reimagining the second half of life: https://hagitude.org/

RESOURCES:

Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts, ADVANCED CLINICAL PRACTICE PROGRAM: A case seminar for experienced clinicians to read, explore and apply Jung's concepts to clinical practice: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/as...

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A SERIOUS STUDY OF JUNG? Enroll in the Philadelphia Jungian Seminar 2023 Fall Semester and start your journey: https://www.cgjungphiladelphia.org/se...

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