Elder Medicine: Elderhood or Old Age?
Which one is for you?

Have you thought about what it means to be an elder?
Our world is crying out for wise elders.
Home
Elder Medicine
The Medicine Wheel

There are few opportunities in our secular Western society to mark and celebrate the stages of life, and even fewer opportunities for us to cherish our self-respect as we become older and then elderly. In some other cultures older people are regarded as tradition holders; the mere fact of having lived a significant number of years is assumed to have given us experiences which may help younger people.

There's no clear demarcation for us as we age. Many women, but by no means all, have the menopause as a marker. There is no such obvious transition for men. And as we expect to live longer, the perceived half-way mark moves.

So what does make us 'elders' or 'seniors'? Is it a number thing: number of years, number of wrinkles (nicely described as 'lines of experience'), or the number of times younger people have referred to us as old women or old men?

In the tradition of the Medicine Wheel, the Adult is placed in the North direction. Elderhood appears to be placed there also. But the East is the home of Spirit, of perspective and far sight, and represents the place where new beginnings are made. For me this makes it appropriate to include the East in any exploration of ageing.

The 'enemy of the East' is death, especially the fear of death. Sitting in the West, the home of the body's death, one looks straight across the Wheel to the place of Spirit; and at death this is the 'Blue Road' of one's spirit walk. (The 'Red Road' is the journey from the South – childhood - to the North - adulthood.)

The Wheel takes us on a life journey. At this stage in our lives, we may be seeking knowledge of the transition from body to spirit which awaits us.

We may not feel we have got to old age yet, but to my mind any birthday we celebrate over about forty is a gift which needs to be recognised. Will you choose the downward stroll into old age or the self-renewing challenge of elderhood?

I don't set out to give you answers. I can't tell you what to do or how to cope if or when the physical and emotional aspects of growing older become painfully hard to bear.

But I can help you find strong ceremonies to mark the passage from youth and middle age to true elderhood, powerful tools for your personal growth, and time and space for you to exchange stories and information with your peers.