Sum Dea = I am Goddess
Depicted as the last aspect of a woman’s journey through life, the Crone was originally honoured, loved and worshipped. She represented wisdom and beauty and was known as the healer and midwife. The word Crone comes from the word Crown and I think we all deserve a crown for the fabulous things we have achieved in this life; whether it be raising a family, supporting friends and family or building a fabulous career.
Whether your journey has been a relatively easy one or one that has thrown you a curve ball at each corner, we should be proud of ourselves and embrace this potentially amazing transition in our lives. We can make a positive change by embracing our Goddesses, making the next stage of our journey an incredible one. We have a choice!
It was during the Middle Ages that the term Crone was used in a detrimental way and “the powers that be” depicted these amazing women in a negative light – as a wicked witch or a hag and unfortunately it is how many people, including women, still view the menopause.
But thankfully things are changing. With many of us blessed with longer lives, there are more and more strong, positive women prominent in today’s world. Things are far from perfect though – if not a little scary at times – but we can make a difference. If we can just start to look at what we DO have and what we have learned, instead of what we DON’T have any more, it’s a great start.
As wise women, we can really make a difference – especially to our younger girlies who will be faced with the same problems that we were and sometimes I think the pressure on them is actually worse than anything I faced growing up.
We are not in competition with them – we’ve had those years – we are here to guide, to help them, to show them that it’s ok to make a fool of yourself, to not take yourself too seriously and embrace everything that life throws at you, LEARN from it and go on to be a better person.
We have done such a brilliant thing in preparing our young ladies for puberty but the subject of menopause is still a little hush hush. It’s a sure thing that we are going to hit it at some point, so we need to start educating ourselves and those around us.
It’s not about getting old, its about getting wiser and ‘sassier’, feeling comfortable in our own skin, bodies and minds. We need to be kind to ourselves and pat ourselves on the back for surviving this long!!
The change of life can be a positive change but only you can make that happen. You are powerful, beautiful and sassy! Sum Dea means “I am Goddess”. Embrace your Goddess and grow older, wiser and why not do it a little bit disgracefully – but in a natural way of course!
With the help of homeopathy, natural products and suggestions, take back the control and responsibility of your health to become the crowned Crone inside of you and be the best that we can be and deserve!
Josephine @ Crone, Goddess, owner of a colourful life, mother to a beautiful 18 year old son and a good friend
This week I’ll be mostly…….. wishing I was 30 again (Or do I?)
This blog has literally come out of a photo that was shared on Facebook of me around about 12 years old!
The funny thing is I still have the same haircut!!……. although I’m much blonder now (it’s easier to maintain when the grey starts to come through!)
I looked at my younger self and it started me thinking of the journey I have been on since then. Hitting puberty for me was tough. I didn’t like the way I looked, I thought everyone else was prettier than me. I thought I was fat and I was so scared of boys! I remember hiding away in the toilets at the Youth Club Disco when the ‘erection section’ came on at the end of the night just in case I was asked to dance…. or even worse not being asked at all!! And all that anxiety was before mobile phones and social media! I would have hated hitting puberty now with all that additional pressure on how women should look.
I started to think about the different stages in my life too…. late teens – experiencing my first love and then discovering rugby and pints with the help of my crazy welsh girlfriends. My twenties was spent working and playing hard. I also remember falling in love again and discovering the rave scene!
Having survived those crazy times – with relatively good kidneys and a liver still in tact, my 30’s were a more gentler time in my life. It is here that I discovered homeopathy and I began a new chapter. Having a baby basically and for those who have been blessed with a child or children, your life is just never the same!
My forties were different again – I had a bit of a ‘mid-life crisis’ I think haha x I dropped 3 stone, felt the sexiest I’d ever been, had a wild time with a man 8 years younger than me but this time I had wisdom on my side….. oh and I bought myself an old golf convertible that I had always dreamed about!
But if I’m perfectly honest, up until around about my late 30’s my self esteem was, basically, shite. Various knocks, disappointments and believing that I didn’t deserve better, had a negative impact on my life at times especially when it came to relationships. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a good life and I am so grateful for everything that has happened and for every person who has crossed my path. It’s certainly been colourful! But I realise I spent too much time on my looks and not on what truly made me happy x
I look back now and I think I was OK, I was beautiful in my own way. I remember not taking part in things because I didn’t want people to look at me. I put up with things because I didn’t think I deserved any better. It makes me feel sad that at times I had just been mean to younger myself x
I’m now in my fifties and out the other side of menopause – it’s been 1 whole year with no periods and no hot flushes and my focus and memory is so much better – thanks to my remedies my transition was relatively easy. I think it was my peri-menopause that caused me more bother – because I didn’t realise I was in it for age. But I’m now in a good space emotionally and so much kinder to myself. My confidence is good, I’m blessed with good people around me and I’m focused on doing stuff for me….
What I’m trying to say is, don’t spend your life wishing you looked different. Stop giving yourself a hard time. Don’t look back at photos of yourself and wish you looked like that again – its not going to happen. You’re not the same person you were then. In 10 years time you’ll be wishing you looked like you do today so why wait to appreciate how lovely you are – Be kind and embrace the lovely unique woman that you are NOW x
Let’s started working on our core – I’m not talking about doing 200 press-ups and holding the plank until you are physically shaking (although exercise does have its benefits) – work on what’s going to see you through this life – work on your heart, your mindset and your soul…
If you have younger women in your life, show them this blog. Don’t let them go through life judging and comparing themselves. As older wiser, sassier women we can do that for them x
Much love Ladies x
This week I’ll be mostly…… waking up at 3.00am!
If you’re peri-menopause or menopause, the chances are you wake at least once at night….. (only once I hear you cry!) whether it’s because your bladder is about to burst or your hot flushes, night sweats have again left you in a pool of your own sweat and your nightie is clinging to you like a flying lemur! Gone are the days of the Miss Wet T-Shirt competition eh?!
This is such a nightmare and do any of you experience waking at the exact time every night? When I started my journey into the last aspect of my womanhood, for a whole week I woke at 3.06am every morning….. to the point where I would come to and almost plead for it not to be 3.06am – It was starting to get a little spooky! not to mention bloody annoying…….
From someone who has never really had problems sleeping, or urinating in the middle of the night, this was a real shock to my system….. sleep is just so important. I even managed to escape those sleepless nights as a young mum as my son was an absolute dream of a baby and slept through the night from about 11 weeks……… I promise there is no smugness around this statement but its probably why I stopped at one child! I just knew if I bred again, I would end up with the Satan’s sporn. Even now, he can sleep on the side of a penny!
But I just wanted to share with you what homeopathy did for me. I took the appropriate remedies that best matched my symptoms and things settled down nicely. What I found though, the symptoms that occur through the menopause can change on a daily, weekly and monthly basis so because I had the knowledge and remedies close to hand, I was able to feed my immune system what it needed….. I looked at the symptoms and took the appropriate remedy.
Our bodies at this time are changing rapidly with levels of oestrogen and progesterone peaking and troughing regularly – that’s why we feel like we are all over the place! Up then down, angry then weepy. Some days you’d do anything to be alone then the next you may feel really lonely and crave the company of good friends or your partner or your children who are usually getting ready to fly the nest or worse, they are young teenagers and speaking to you like you are dog shite on their shoes………
It can be a tough time x
My menopause was eased so much by homeopathy and I so want you to understand that it doesn’t have to be a negative, scary stage. With regular contact with a homeopath, you will be given remedies that will help YOU.
My hot flushes were helped by a remedy called Pulsatilla. I would take one and almost immediately the flushing would ease. I didn’t wake up at night, I felt happier and my memory improved dramatically. Then I found with my journey, about two weeks later, I would wake up in the night doing the Hokey Cokey (left leg in, left leg out… in, out, in, out) or I would be doing something during the day and I would feel a hottie coming on! So I would then repeat the remedy, and the symptoms would disappear.
That was nearly three months ago. Because I was in a position to have access to the right remedies, I fed my body what it needed and it got stronger and the imbalances were addressed. I have not woken now in the night for weeks and I have not had a hot flush either.
I cannot tell you how amazing I feel now. You don’t realise just how hormonal you are until your not! My confidence is up, I feel like I can ditch the post-it notes (although I still write lists!) and generally I feel great.
All I have to do now is lose 2 stone by next Saturday (Party to go to) and the world will be rosy! Seriously though, I really am now on a mission to address my eating habits and I choose to take a more nutritional route and get back on a low carb diet which really suits me. I am DETERMINED not to have another fat summer – watch this space x
This week I’ll be mostly…forgetting everything!
For someone who in their heart still feels 29, becoming perimenopausal – and admitting it – was a bit of a shock! But it was surprisingly comforting to know I wasn’t losing the plot. There was a perfectly good reason for my craziness – phew!
At 50, one of the worst things for me was my memory, or lack of it I should I say. All of a sudden, I found myself drawn to those cards in Clintons that said things like, “How come I can still remember the words from that song from 1973, but I can’t remember why I was walking up the stairs?”! I took comfort knowing that if there was a card about it then I couldn’t be the only one! Having laughed out loud (LOL – check my bad self!), I shared one of those lovely moments with a complete stranger that day in the card shop who could also relate to the irony. It was then that I thought, us ladies need to start talking about it more openly and sharing our stories and funny moments. Hence this blog…../if it was happening to me, I was positive it was happening to others too!
So let’s not be embarrassed but instead embrace it….. ‘cos there ain’t nuffink we can do about it! It’ll happen to all of us. I personally can’t wait to not be hormonal anymore 😉
Being self employed meant I needed to stay focused and remember names, places, clients, appointments – I didn’t have team members to remind me or someone who I could secretly ask “What’s their name again?”. The pressure was on!! Everyone became Lovely, Mate or Toots!
So I became the Queen of the Post-It notes…….. those little darlings became my best friends…… I’d see them everyday, on the fridge, by the side of the bed, in my diary!! My favourite ones were the ones reminding me I was on a diet, placed strategically on the bread bin, kitchen cupboards etc. I even resorted to hanging my favourite size 12 jeans on the back of the kitchen door for inspiration, as well as reminding me that my size 16 arse was no closer to getting in them than it was the year before!!
The great thing about having a poor memory though was my ability to keep secrets!!! Whether they were my friends’ or clients’ ………… they could rely on me to not spill the beans! Countless conversations ensued with me saying “Noooooo you never told meeeee!” – I’m sure I managed to blag it most of the time though…………. but there were many occasions my friends would look at me doubtfully but happily give me the details again or perhaps they too were menopausal and didn’t realise they had told me before!
I also went from being a fabulous card sender – never missing a birthday or celebration……………….to a really bad one!!! But, unless I wrote it in my diary, there was no chance!!! I’d have no problem remembering my own birthday though 😉 – and of course I’d leave post-it notes around for everyone else so they wouldn’t forget hehe x
My crowning glory though was when, one sunday, I reached into the cupboard for the potatoes to peel for our Sunday roast, only to find a carrier bag, a bleeding carrier bag actually…. with a joint of beef in it!!! There was a brief moment of confusion followed by the realisation, I’d put the potatoes in the freezer instead of said joint and the joint in the vegetable cupboard.
But as I have always found, there is always humour and something positive to bring out of what, at times, appears to be the worst situations. I learnt this from my fabulous Dad, who I miss every day.
Thank God for remedies x
Sum Dea 