Hagitude

Unearths the stories of the little-known but powerful elder women in European myth and folklore, inspiring readers to radically reimagine the last decades of their lives as the most dynamic of all

Western folklore and mythology are rife with brilliantly creative, fulfilled, feisty, and furious role models for aging women, despite our culture's focus on youthfulness. In her exciting new book, mythologist and storyteller Sharon Blackie explores these archetypes, presenting them in a way sure to appeal to contemporary women. Drawing inspiration from these examples, women can reclaim midlife as a liberating, alchemical moment rich with possibility and their elder years as a path to dynamic power.

After menopause, women can expect to live another forty to fifty years, making this stage of life longer than childbearing years. As Blackie describes it, midlife is the threshold to decades of opportunity and profound transformation, a time to learn, flourish, and claim the desires and identities that are often limited during earlier life stages. This is a time for gaining new perspectives, challenging and evolving our belief systems, exploring our calling, uncovering meaning, and ultimately finding healing for our accumulated wounds.

Deftly weaving together feminine wisdom, myth, psychology, and memoir, Hagitude explores the many ways women can thrive during what is so often portrayed as a time of decline. Readers will discover the promise of adventure and influence in their postmenopausal years and learn to define and embody their own unique "hag attitude."