Laphrodite's Guide to Mindful Menopause

Laphrodite's Guide to Mindful Menopause 

or the Adventures of a Baby Crone

An enchanting collection of midlife musings, moon magic, and meditations for mindful menopause.Over the last three years menopause has brought me to my knees. In this humbled position, I offer anecdotes, potential antidotes, and some not so common advice.

According to the Mayo Clinic, menopause is experienced by over 3 million women a year in the United States alone. What makes this book different is viewing menopause as a time of incredible spiritual growth and creativity, rather than just a physical experience that needs a special diet or more exercise.

The book offers concrete tools such as guided visualizations, meditations, and rituals to honor this significant passage in a woman's life. Rather than a dry reference book, it includes humorous stories, inspiring poetry, and juicy practices to experience mindful menopause. 

My Journey Through the Tarot

Back in November, I went to the Salvador Dali museum in Monterey, California. There were several lithographs of Tarot cards that he had designed for the James Bond movie, Live and Let Die. My husband and I talked about the movie, which I did not remember seeing. I know I read the book as a child, since I read all of Ian Fleming's work, the few available books in English available at the Luxembourg airport, along with Agatha Christie.

I didn't really remember the story or that there was a tarot reader in it, but I do remember being about twelve years old and going to London for the first time. We went to the large department store Harrods, which I had heard had an amazing toy section. I searched and searched for Tarot cards. They had many different playing cards and card games but no oracle decks. In the twelfth grade, I wrote an essay on the tarot, even though I had not yet seen, let alone touched a deck, cobbled from some information in the Random House Encyclopedia.

It was only in my early twenties, the summer I came to Santa Cruz, that I encountered the tarot for the first time. I was at a LBQ-BBQ up at UCSC, and one of the women had brought the Motherpeace Tarot by Vickie Noble. I was enchanted. I went down to Gateway's Bookstore the next day for my own set. About a year later, in 1988, I came across the Daughters of the Moon Deck by Fiona Morgan, which was then just a black and white deck. I spent about a year living in Idaho and during that healing time hand painted the deck with watercolors.

After I returned from the Global Walk for a Livable World, I worked at a metaphysical bookstore called Aries Arts for three years. We carried around seventy different tarot decks. I loved bringing them out from the glass counter showing people the cards, talking about the cards, learning about the cards. Then I owned my own bookstore, the Herland women's book-Cafe, we carried at least three dozen different decks by female artists. When the store across the street, 13 Real Magik, closed, they consigned all their decks to me so now we had around a hundred different oracle card sets. After I closed the bookstore, I began doing reviews for US Game Systems. They would send me decks and I would post on my blog. By now I had a lot of decks, so a few I sold, a few gifted to clients and quite a few given to local metaphysical bookstores.

I moved from retail therapy to hypnotherapy. I finished my PhD in Holistic Health. My thesis was entitled Journey Through the Tarot: An Integrated System for Holistic Healing. A comparison of the traditional Rider Waite Tarot cards to four modern-day decks (Daughter's of the Moon, Tarot of Transformation, Osho Zen Tarot and The Tarot of Transformation) demonstrates how the Tarot is an integrated tool for holistic health that offers insights for personal growth and transcendance through the use of symbols, archetypes, and allegories. It's a sweet little primer, check it out.

Then I took a class in Soul Collage at Cabrillo College. I set the intention to make my own deck of 78 cards which I call the Baby Crone's Tarot. About a year later, I wrote poems for each of the images which are now published as a meditation set.

I have been working on two other decks, one called the Tarot of the Banal which is photographs of everyday objects. The other is the Holistic Tarot which is a combination of colored pencils and watercolor focused on universal symbols. I also have a series of portraits. I've only done the Major Arcana but I think the Tarot of Kayla could be a totally fun project. I continue to take classes, most recently with Afefe of Touched By Tarot. It has been a long romance, yet I still feel like I've just begun courting the cards.

Blessed be.

Mystic Alarm Clock

Mystic Alarm Clock

Wake up at five a.m, notice

The neighbors bathroom lights

Through the bedroom window

Covers thrown back

Another sweaty night

Reflected in the bathroom mirror

The other neighbors’ backyard 

Colored fairy lights twinkle

Maybe there's a party

What if I walked over

 In my frumpy pajamas

They'd say

Hey hot stuff!

Going down the stairs

Street lights through stain glass

Cast ghostly rainbows

Shadows of crystals

Glow in the dark stars

Lead the way

Onto the cool porch

Only to be bathed by the

Fluorescent motion detector

Run into the kitchen, flip

The switch

Step into the yard

Sweat finally cooling on skin

Damp grass beneath feet

Sound of surf

Blissful love light

Full moon in Leo

Winter curtains open

To catch the first drop of sunlight

Curl up with green tea

A cat on either side

Watch the dawn

Listen for hummingbirds

The honking of geese

Right at eight a.m sharp 

Sunbeam pierces

My eyeball

Move the clothes pin 

Back into place

Time to start the day

May I

Write what is true

For me 

This moment

Clear mind

Open heart

Enter the circle

Loving the kindness

"Sing to me, Muse, 

and I will tell my story"

Honor every voice

Bold intention

Celebrate the magic

Accept the mundane

Welcome the muse

Reveal and heal

Come to the page

Begin.

The Adventures of Baby Moon

 

The Adventures of Baby Moon
Written and Illustrated by Nona Kayla

Join Claire de la Lune in the Adventures of Baby Moon. A charming illustrated children's book filled with pleasing water colors, perfect for reading at story time, bedtime or any time. Claire discovers the seasons, connects with family and friends, and yes, even helps to save the day.

 

Woman on the Edge

I'm a woman on the edge

I'm not mainstream

Sometimes all the politicizing

Just makes me want to scream

They're trying to control our bodies

Trying to control our minds

With social media and TV shows

 And laws that are just unkind

I'm on the edge of screaming

On the edge of rage

Need a little nonviolent communication

Some way to turn the page

I'm on the edge of the circle

Reaching out my hands

Connecting with other women

All across the lands

Connecting with the people of color

Connecting with the men's too

Connecting with all the fabulous queers

Connecting with the Jews.

They can say we're all radicals

They can say we're all unhinged

But we're weaving a stronger tapestry

And they're only see the fringe

Unconditional

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.


Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me

And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.
I bow to the one who has made it so,
Who has crafted this Master Game;
To play it is purest delight;
To honor its form — true devotion.


© Jennifer Welwood