Third Quarter Moon--The Menopausal Years

Because the Moon is so connected to womanhood, it strikes me that the phases of the Moon, as delineated by Dane Rhudyar in The Lunation Cycle, are a metaphor for the various phases of a woman's life. (Aurora Press, 1986) He described the First Quarter Moon as the Crisis of Action, in which people experience conflict between the solar and lunar aspects of their being, but act it out upon their environment. This is similar to the menarche, in which the young girl first experiences herself as a woman and experiments with femininity while adjusting to her new role. The Full Moon is analogous to the thirties, the fullness of womanhood, when the mature female is most fully and publicly recognized for either the traditional female roles or as a career woman--or both. The Third Quarter would represent the menopausal years. Rhudyar called this quarter the Crisis of Consciousness. The conflicts between the solar and lunar aspects of the personality are no less keenly felt than in the First Quarter square. However, they are internalized rather than externalized, the emotions turned inward and often intensely turbulent. While the teen looks to the world outside herself for validation of her femininity, the menopausal woman must all too often draw on her inner strengths and find validation of her femininity inside. In other respects, the two phases are similar. Both the adolescent girl and the menopausal woman are plagued by mysterious physical and emotional changes over which they have little control. They often feel at the mercy of their bodies, embarrassed by external manifestations, which they imagine everyone around them must be as aware of as they are. They are at a point of questioning what it means to be a woman and to fit into the roles society has assigned. Given the similarities, you would think they would feel a natural affinity for one another's struggles. Too often, however, they are at odds and likely to view one another as competitors or adversaries. There are, of course, fundamental differences, particularly physiologically, in that the teen is just beginning her reproductive cycle, while the menopausal woman is finishing hers. There is also a potential difference in the economy of solar versus lunar direction of energy. In the teen to young adult years, if the more traditional roles are viewed as desirable and a priority, the solar side (self-development, self- expression) often subjugates itself to the lunar roles from here through the Third Quarter. For the menopausal woman, caretaker (lunar) roles typically are no longer so needed, and solar tasks can again come to the forefront. The adjustments to their roles are therefore opposite, just as the two lunar phases are 180 degrees apart. The Dark of the Moon, to which Rudhyar attributes visionary and prophetic qualities, is like the Wise Woman phase past menopause, in which wisdom and experience give older women much to offer the world, if it would but listen. It has become fashionable--on the cusp of politically correct--for fifty- something feminists to refer to themselves as crones. Because the word is uncomfortable, no doubt due to ageist conditioning, I would never, ever call myself that! (Perhaps I shouldn't say never. A walk-in might take over my body and I would eat tofu and call myself a crone. That's how you would know it wasn't me anymore.)