Perimenopause: The Soul Forge
Introducing my concept of perimenopause as being a ‘soul forge’.
Perimenopause is a liminal state.
You’re navigating a transitional place between your menstruating years and the post-menopausal years, with menopause itself being the sacred threshold you cross to get there.
Energetically it’s akin to the pre-menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle: you’re moving from the summertime of your life through an inner autumn. In this respect menopause brings the death-like energy of winter and the void of darkness – before being reborn into a post-menopausal second spring*.
Now, don’t get me wrong.
I am emphatically not suggesting your 40s are a waiting room where you anxiously hang around until your periods stop!
Far from it, your 40s are an opportunity to get clear on who you are and what you want and don’t want from life, to define and set your boundaries, and to do deep soul work and healing.
Your inner autumn
This inner autumn offers a time of release and recalibration.
A time of discernment and clarity.
Yes, it’s a time of strong emotional tides and challenging feelings but it’s also the invitation to become the Queen-Sovereign of your life and to claim your throne.
It’s a time where many of us feel a strong call to find meaning and direction, an authentic spiritual connection, and to forge a more intimate relationship with ourselves.
To walk our true soul path through life.
This is what I mean by the ‘Soul Forge’ analogy.
Smithcraft
Let’s consider the ancient art of smithcraft.
In a blacksmith’s forge, the smith takes her raw material of iron and plunges it into burning coals and holds it there until it becomes red hot and pliable.
With care, she takes the glowing metal and hammers it into shape on the anvil.
But the job is not complete with one visit to the fire! Oh no, she must work slowly and mindfully. Moving back and forth between the fire and her anvil.
Gradually, with care, she crafts the iron with the blows of her hammer. Working steadily, trusting in the process … until, with its own perfect timing, the piece has been worked to completion.
And this is what we are experiencing in the perimenopause rite of passage.
We must allow ourselves to be worked by the process; to allow ourselves to become pliable in the fires of this soul forge; to shed the layers which no longer are in alignment with our truth; to keep going no matter how hard it feels; to trust in the process; to reform ourselves and rebirth ourselves in our new and unique form.
Our soul’s truth.
*
Smithing is hard work. Believe me I know!
As part of my Priestess of Brighid training, I worked at a forge - as per the picture collage below.
It was intense. I didn’t think I’d have the strength to keep hammering that piece of iron on the anvil.
But I kept at it and birthed a beautiful and utterly unique swan-head spiral from the iron rod I began with.
*Kate Codrington uses this term in her work. Kate is a menstrual and menopause mentor and author of the forthcoming book Second Spring: The positive guide to menopause.
