The cover of the Culture Magazine of The Sunday
Times last weekend caught me attention as it featured a stunning photo of Dame Judi Dench who is currently
starring in the movie ‘Philomena’ which opened recently in cinemas in Ireland. Amid the sea of perfectly enhanced faces we
normally see on the cover of magazines Ms Dench’s portrait is refreshingly
beautiful in what I hope is an honest way.
There is currently an ad on TV which begins by a woman
announcing that she is growing old gracefully to her friend who in turn says
that she would like to grow old disgracefully.
There are a number of women in the conversation mentioning things like
glowing from within. However just about
the time that you the viewer is harbouring an inner glow in the hope that this
is another refreshingly honest take on older women – they mention some bloody
serum that ‘really works’. A fact they
know because of the ‘second looks’ they get.
Ta Dah... plus ca change?
The message stays the same – women must fight ageing all the
way and remember that our worth is entirely dependent on how good, i.e.
youthful we look. The results of this ‘war
on ageing’ can be seen every week on The X Factor as Ms Osborne resorts to
jumping about a lot to make up for the fact that her face is not quite as
mobile as it should be. Madonna is
another example of someone who is maybe winning the war on ageing by beginning
to look extraordinary... anyone remember the series from the 80s called V
(about reptilian people). And then there
is or was Cher... well. I rest my case.
My husband is a photographer and he often says that women
who have ‘had work done’ (God be with the days when that meant the addition of
a conservatory) might look young from a distance but that up close they scare
the bejaysus out of him.
It’s beyond time that real women (who like me, even if I
could afford ‘work’ I am way more afraid of looking odd than looking old) took
a stand and retrieved women’s middle and senior years as being just as valid as
their youth.
In ancient mythology woman was represented by the Triple
Goddess of The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone. The triple spiral found in ancient Ireland is
said to be a representation of triumvirate view of woman. The maiden was of course revered for her
physical youth and beauty, the mother respected as the nurturer and carer. And the Crone was respected for her wisdom. But it was this wise and powerful woman, this
Crone that became hijacked over the centuries to become the evil witch capable
of knowing the unknown and of dastardly deeds.
By the middle ages she was a witch with evil powers but at least she had
power. In today’s society the older
woman has been reduced to nothing. Age
is seen as entirely negative and we must fight to remain young.... to the point of cutting and pasting of our
faces.
British actress Kristin Scott Thomas who is 53 spoke this
summer about how she feels invisible and not just when she is in the company of
younger co-stars but even walking down the street or among strangers. And if someone as well known, as accomplished
an actress, as beautiful as Ms Scott Thomas feels like that what about the rest
of us?
Ageing is seen by modern society as failure, particularly
for women. And it seems to me that
modern, older women are content to accept this as fact and to undergo surgery
and injecting poisons in order to attempt to delay the inevitable? This fact depresses me far more than noticing
my lines and wrinkles.
Tomorrow we celebrate the ancient Celtic festival of
Samhain. Samhain marked the end of the
harvest but it is also the time when we celebrate the Goddess as Crone.
So amid the mayhem and madness this is time for older women
to retrieve their true power. We are in
many ways at the pinnacle of our real power.
We have been around the block a few times; we have lived, perhaps given
birth and raised children. We have worked,
we have loved, we have cried and we have laughed. We have gathered wisdom and stories along the
way.
The Crone stage is not the end. It is a new beginning. It is time women to step into your power, don
your witch’s hat and scream it from the rooftops. WE ARE WISE POWERFUL WOMEN...as for
invisible... only if you allow yourself to be.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN....
