Because aging and mortality issues have been so much on my
mind, I’ve thought for quite a while about putting on an evening event for women exploring the theme. I've finally collected a story, some poems and my thoughts enough to give it a shot. The email should go out
within the next few days (but info is below).
Here is a rough draft of a new poem. It, too, is called Going to Hel.
There is a choice now
(Perhaps there is always a choice).
This culture nonchalantly tosses
its old ones cloaks or masks of invisibility.
What it doesn’t know
is that these are Hel’s tokens,
allowing elders access to her dark realm.
What do the young know
of Her fiery cauldron of rebirth?
Some think to banish
their elders to oblivion,
to lonely houses of isolation
or the sour halls of old age homes,
warehousing the seemingly weak
and irrelevant.
Out of sight, out of mind.
But if we old ones
do not despair,
we can disappear down
into the shamanic school
of the underworld goddess.
Hey, let’s go trickster all the way!
Let’s refuse to choose oblivion.
We can use the disguise
to our own advantage.
Most of them will never find out
that their curse has become our gift.
At least, not until the mantle
falls on them.
And we know how fast that happens.
Going
to Hel:
Aging and the Crone Archetype
Hel by Susan Seddon Boulet
An evening of story, poetry, conversation
and ritual for women entering, in,
or interested in the elder phase of life
Saturday, February
27th, 7:30 P.M.,
685 ½
Fairmount Avenue, Oakland
Pre-registration
required mayaspector@hotmail.com
$20 donation in advance
(by check or Paypal to barry@madnessatthegates.com)
$25 at the door
