006. Creatrix Rising, Innately Intuitive Podcast
In this episode of Innately Intuitive Podcast, I welcome Stephanie Raffelock. I spoke with Stephanie about her book A Delightful Little Book on Aging back in 2020 (on Soul Chats Podcast). This time, as promised then, I’m speaking with her about her new book Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women.
It’s a dynamic conversation with an intelligent, passionate, powerful woman. Enjoy.
The Transcript
E: Welcome back. I'm so glad that you're able to join me here at my table today and get cozy for a really special treat. Back in 2020, I had the opportunity to speak with Stephanie Raffelock for Soul Chats Podcast, and at that time we were discussing her book A Delightful Little Book on Aging, which truly is delightful.
At that time, we made a commitment that we would reconvene when her new book was ready to be shared, and it is time for that. And so, I invite you to sit back and relax and enjoy this conversation with Stephanie Raffelock about her new book, Creatrix Rising.
Well, hello Stephanie.
S: How are you, Ellen? I can't believe I get to talk to you again. I'm so excited.
E: Me, too.
S: And I have to tell you, this is a great day, because you know I’m in Austin, Texas, where we’ve just had this Winter storm as if we are North. And it’s a perfect sign that I get to talk to you today, because it's just starting to thaw.
E: Oh, what a beautiful thing. Ooh, there's a- there's a metaphor in there. There is a metaphor.
S: There is, isn't there? I feel like- felt so stuck and cold and helpless and frustrated with all that was going on with the weather and all the ramifications of not being prepared for weather in this part of the country. And then today, you know, it's like well, it's a new day and I get to talk to an old friend and the sun is out.
And although we will still have a freeze tonight, I'm sitting in my office and I can see the water dripping down from the trees and the limbs are starting to, you know, kind of lift up a little bit. And I think that that's a metaphor for our times. You know, we get stuck in these cold places and we forget that, you know, everything changes and ends.
E: Yes. I love that so much. And - It's so funny. I'm glad I'm recording this because, well, it may be that this actually becomes, perhaps, part of the episode, even though… It's really kind of an anything goes with this new podcast which sort of cracks me up. But the thing is, what I'm seeing, too, as a metaphor here, Stephanie, is in relation to your new book.
S: Creatrix Rising. Yes.
E: Yeah. Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women.
S: Yup.
E: And it's really interesting. I don't know why I immediately made that association. The thing is, I have a sense of why the more I feel into it, and yet I feel like you have more of a sense of why because this is the work you've been doing. This is path that you have been leaning into.
And so, I'm so curious then, when you stop and think about this deep freeze that Texas - Austin - has been under, and now it's beginning to thaw... How does that relate to midlife women having been somehow locked up, or perhaps being somehow locked up?
S: Well, I mean, I think that women now in our time - midlife women, especially - we've reached a turning point. This is a Darwinian moment for women. We're coming out of a freeze and thaw where we felt cold and dark and frustrated.
And the name creatrix in the title Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women, the name creatrix means a woman who makes things. And I like the word so much better than I like the word crone, because for a long time the paradigm - the archetypal paradigm - that we worked with was maiden, mother, crone.
And crone, no matter how you dress it up or try to reclaim it... I'm sorry, but there are just some words that should never be reclaimed. The word entered the lexicon in the thirteen hundreds and it means haggard, old, disagreeable woman.
E: Oh my gosh.
S: And so, like… Well, what woman wants to embrace that? And so, it's like if you are leaving the mother phase - and I'm looking at about age 45. I mean, you never stop being a mother of course, but you know that age where it's like, well, you're probably not going to have more kids and you know, most of your child rearing is done.
So what is it that is on the horizon? And it surely needs to be something more than the old definition of crone. So, I like the idea that it should be maiden, mother, creatrix, and that this is a time when women are beginning to see their age more as an asset rather than a liability.
You know, in my mother's generation, she would say to me, “Well, never never tell the truth about your age. I never tell anyone how old I am.” As if there was some kind of great shame in that.
And yet now what we see are... Oh gosh. I think the statistics were, in 2018 midterm elections more womenover the age of 50 ran for local state and national office than ever before.
We have women now that, you know, may have started out as young starlets kind of actresses, that now have their own production companies that really kick some yaya. I'm thinking of Reese Witherspoon who started a book club and started acquiring these books and doing these wonderful movies, you know, on HBO and in different places. And you know, you would hardly think that she was a crone, but she's like, she's right on the edge of midlife.
So all around us, there are midlife women that are flourishing that I believe need to claim a different title for themselves; that I am a creatrix. I'm going to name it and I'm going to claim it.
I'm entering the most creative period of my life. It's a different kind of creativity than birthing children and raising children, which is its own creativity, but it's a kind of creativity that I think in some ways is connected to spirit. It's an omage to spirit that we create, as spirit creates.
“I’m entering the most creative period of my life. It’s a different kind of creativity than birthing children and raising childfen, which is its own creativity, but it’s a kind of creativity that I think in some ways is connected to spirit.” Quote by Stephanie Raffelock from Innately Intuitive Podcast, episode 006, Creatrix Rising. #stephanieraffelock #creatrixrising #indieauthor #midlifewomen #empowerment #womeninpower #creatrix #ellenmgregg #innatelyintuitive #innatelyintuitivepodcast #intuitivehealer
S: And we connect with leadership. And boy, is leadership ever needed. I'm so tired of politicians that want the job of being the politician - of being the senator or the governor or the president or what not - but they really don't want to do the work, you know. So women are coming forward with this really strong sense of leadership.
And with all that has gone on here in Texas in the last week, I've decided, you know, I'm really going to look carefully when I cast my vote. I want to look for those people that I know have leadership qualities, that are there in service, and that they want to help the citizensof their city, their state, their nation.
And I think that's what women are bringing to politics. And it's, you know, partisan. It's not like- It's not separate. Women are bringing that leadership quality to politics, and it's about time.
E: Alleluia.
S: Alleluia.
E: Raising my hands up here in New Hampshire, because yes to all of that. When you mentioned, Stephanie, about first of all being clear about the origins of the word crone and its original meaning, and then when you talked about that point in our life that we are passing motherhood and yet there is…
Gosh, I should have written down what you said because it was so beautiful. It was so beautiful that I put a- I put my hand to my heart because I felt that so deeply. And it was actually about, I think, owning our energy as a creatrix, even though we are perhaps no longer, body-wise, the quote-unquote creator.
S: Exactly. We're not creating children anymore and we are not our creative pour. But what a way to pay homage. You know, in Julia Cameron's book The Artist’s Way, she talks about that connection of creativity and the Creator. And when I do art, whether it's writing or it's my fancy doodling that I like to do, I am the most focused and the most calm in my life.
I feel like I'm in my true authentic self when I am making things. And making things aren't limited, of course, to art, you know. That's the point. Making things can be making leadership, making a garden, making a message that one shares with the world.
“I feel like I’m in my true authentic self when I am making things. And making things isn’t limited, of course, to art, you know. That’s the point. Making things can be making leadership, making a garden, making a message that one shares with the world.” Quote by Stephanie Raffelock from Innately Intuitive Podcast, episode 006, Creatrix Rising. #stephanieraffelock #creatrixrising #indieauthor #midlifewomen #empowerment #womeninpower #creatrix #ellenmgregg #innatelyintuitive #innatelyintuitivepodcast #intuitivehealer
S: I know some wonderful women in Austin that I would describe them as, they make yoga. They will bring you into a class and you are part of their creative process and also part of the larger Universal creative process, when you get into that state where you can breathe and bend and stretch your body.
And that's just a metaphor for breathing and bending and stretching the mind and the and the heart, you know. It's never- We're not one-dimensional creatures.
E: Yes. And the spirit, too, because I noticed such… I don't personally do yoga, and yet even as you were talking about it the flow shifted so much, which is beautiful. I wonder then, too, about that spirit connection to being the creatrix, because it feels so much deeper than… Like, when I say crone, it's like eeh. When I say creatrix, I'm like… Like my whole body goes, “Aaaah!”
S: Right, right. Because she's uplifting rather than diminishing.The crone was diminished. You know, there's a reason she became the haggard old woman of the forest. She was a woman who was diminished, and she was diminished because she could no longer produce.
But now that women are allowed to produce art, leadership, all kinds of things, of course, they are more connected to their essence, their source, creation.
You know, Carl Jung said an interesting thing about aging. He said, it's an interesting thing to contemplate one's accumulating years because nature doesn't really have a need for you after about 45 or 50, you know. You've put more kids into the world. And yet we're still here. So why does nature keep us around?
And I think that it's just what you said. Nature keeps us around so that in these later years, starting at 45 and marching forward, we can more deeply contemplate our life's purpose. We can see the arc of transformation in our life and we can contemplate spirit and our place along that horizon of infinity, along that horizon of stardust of which, you know, we will return to that.
“Starting at age 45 and marching forward, we can more deeply contemplate our life’s purpose. We can see the arc of transformation in our life and we can contemplate spirit and our place along that horizon of infinity, along that horizon of stardust…” Quote by Stephanie Raffelock from Innately Intuitive Podcast, episode 006, Creatrix Rising. #stephanieraffelock #creatrixrising #indieauthor #midlifewomen #empowerment #womeninpower #creatrix #ellenmgregg #innatelyintuitive #innatelyintuitivepodcast #intuitivehealer
So I think that’s why the word creatrix feels uplifting. It's like, there is a purpose to midlife and beyond that becomes more spiritual as we age. And that's why age becomes an asset rather than…
You know, Madison Avenue would like us to believe that it's liability, but it's not. It's an asset because now you have a chance to, in my age - and I'm going to turn 69 in a couple of months - I now have a chance to pass my light to the women behind me and in doing so that light illuminates the path a little bit. And then it will be their turn, you know to turn around and pass that light to the women behind them.
E: Yes.
S: So that's… that's all the creatrix. I love that.
E: Oh, gosh. I love that, too. The visual of passing that light, passing that torch is… I mean, that's the more obvious but there's something… I don't know. The torch feels so much more physical and the light feels so much more encompassing.
S: Yes. It’s like you can embody the light. Yeah.
E: Yeah, you can't really embody a torch.
S: Right.
E: And what you said, too, that struck me, like, so hard was about women are now allowed.
S: Yes. That’s part of coming out of a freeze, isn't it?
E: Oh, I tell you. Yes, there's that metaphor, for sure. And the thing is, it is really striking to stop and consider that 100 years ago, 80 years ago, 70 years ago women weren't allowed. You know? They're-
S: So much. And if - You know, even more current than that. I mean, just in my lifetime. See, I came of age- I would have turned 21 in 1973. In 1973, the Fair Credit Act which happened in 1974 had not yet passed, which means that if you were a young woman, out in her apartment and her new job, you couldn't get a credit card without the signature of a husband or a male relative.
E: Oh, my gosh.
S: That was just 1974 that that law changed. In 1986, when I was in my early to mid 30s, there was an article that came out in Newsweek magazine. And the cover of Newsweek magazine was something like, “Too Late for Prince Charming?” And the premise of the article, which was the featured article, was that women from about 33 onward had a greater chance of being killed by a terrorist than they did of finding a man to marry them.
E: Oh, my gosh.
S: Now, that was just 1986. Now, 20 years later Newsweek apologized for that article. And said, yes and the research on it was not well done and, you know, it was debunked and, you know, all of that. But you think about that: That was 30-some years ago; wasn't that long ago.
And I remember how it kind of went into my being, that sense of, like, Oh, my gosh. Have I blown this by trying to have a career? Oh, my gosh, you know? How does the world see me? And of course how the world saw me was much more important at that age than how I saw myself.
I think that's just part of the maturation process is that we need to cross that bridge that keeps us from, It's not how others see you, it's how you see yourself that's really important. So, the sense of being allowed? You're absolutely right. Being allowed things like credit, things like equal pay for equal work.
We're still fighting that one in spite of the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which guaranteed that you get equal pay for equal work. Women are still fighting that job. We know that women still make 80 cents on the dollar. For every dollar a man makes, a woman makes 80% and, yeah.
There was a study done recently if that, you put a man and a woman side by side and they each had a job that paid the same and they put away the same amount of money, well, you would think that they would both have the same amount of savings at the end of their life, but that's not true.
And the reason being that women need to take time off if they're going to have children. They can't pop out a baby and go back to work the next day. That women often, even though they think they're getting equal pay for equal work, the man is more likely to get bonuses or raises or being able to upgrade his position with a company; his title.
So that's still going on. And I don't want to sound like, well, I'm one of those women that doesn't like men, because that's not true. But this is a time for women to rise up and shine. It's like our moment has come; what I referred to as this is a Darwinian moment.
Because I think that women are much more vocal about claiming their space in the world than they were 30 years ago when that article came outin Newsweek, or even 20 years ago. And so we're getting there.
E: Yes. Bit by bit. And that's how it happens. It would be wonderful if we could snap our fingers or wave a magic wand and have it be that we are in that position of truly being treated with complete equality, and yet, yeah…
S: Right. Including the respect aspect. You know, just in the last- When I think about the the last 50 years, there were some major things that happened that really changed the course for women.
The first one was the advent of oral birth control, because it was the first time that women had a real say over planning their families, or just the pleasure of sex without having a baby be involved. That changed everything and I think that without oral birth control, not only would the sexual revolution not have happened, but probably many revolutions that followed in the footsteps of that. I think it comes down to oral birth control.
The other thing that happened is we got, you know, some equal rights with regards to money so that we could start a business without the signature of a husband or a male relative. We entered the workforce in droves. And then, you get to like really current day: The women's March of 2017.
What an amazing story that was, when thousands upon thousands of us came out into the streets and marched, wearing those funny little pink pussy hats. You know, kind of as, it's like, “We're not the punch line buddy. We are not the punchline.”
But when I think about that time… My husband had pointed out to me, in our local paper - we were living in Oregon at the time. He said, “Oh, look, there's going to be this women's march and they're meeting at the library and they're predicting 600 people.”
Well, at the time I lived in a town of 20,000. I thought, well, 600 people is a lot. I went down and I marched and oh, my gosh. It was 10,000 people. And I was texting with my nephew who was marching in Denver, and I was texting with a girlfriend in Los Angeles, and it's like all over the country, women were marching.
So we got to the end of that women's march and you can bet that a lot of women who ran for political office in 2018 made that decision the day of the women's March. The thing that happened after the women's march was the #metoo movement, which was crucial to our healing. We all know that secrets can keep us sick if we just keep secrets about things. And that the power in #metoo was, in fact, the me, too part.
So, the #metoo movement was a kind of freeing, because suddenly women weren't alone with that dirty little secret anymore. Instead, it was way out in the open and it was liberating. So, those points in just the last 50 years - oral birth control, entering the workforce in droves, the women's march, #metoo, women running for office. Now, here we are.
And so what's the result of that is that women are rising up: Creatrix Rising. This is the unlocking of our power as midlife women. So, I have a lot of hope for the future because of women.
E: Yes. And that gives me such goosebumps. The whole of it gives me such goosebumps, because… I keep on being shown the symbol of a witch. So, it's the silhouette of a woman with- And it's really interesting. It's almost a caricature in the sense that there's an elongated chin and you can see the pointy hat.
And the point is for me to be clear about what I'm being shown, and yet, you know, I see that and I put it up against what you've just said, what we're talking about here, about women being allowed, about women rising, and about the creatrix herself. And I feel as though a point is being made here, too, that the witch is the creatrix.
And there's been a really interesting rise in women who are claiming the word witch for themselves. And the reason I'm bringing this up - because it isn't about being a witch -
S: Right.
E: It is about reclaiming parts of ourselves that, for hundreds of years, we were not allowed to express.
S: The thing about the witch, which is interesting to me that that you bring it up, is that for a long time, witch was the only thing that represented any kind of power.
E: Mmm…
S: That, you know, but she wasn't accepted. So, she was- We vilified her by making her ugly. You know, we elongated the chin and made it pointy. We gave her big warts with hair growing out of them. We did everything that we could possibly do to make her unattractive.
But I think that the witch, the crone… I think that these are archetypes of the shadows now. That that's really the place where they belong. We don't want to lose sight of that story - the story of the witch or the story of the crone - because those archetypes paid a dear price, too.
But we have to understand that we are no longer that; that we’re now- The creatrix is also a woman that makes things; a woman that has, for lack of a better word, a kind of magic about her. But the label is not such a toxic stereotype. That her power is not a toxic stereotype. The witch’s power is toxic and stereotypical in the way that, you know, you said the pointy chin, the pointy hat, the pointy nose.
E: Yeah, and I see your point there. I think… I’m just actually leaning into that to see if that's what wanted to be highlighted. That and-
Yes. Also, though, what we what we see here, which we feel is very important to point out because we feel it is very much in alignment with how you, Stephanie, are bringing forth the creatrix, is that the witch became a term assigned to those who were more than; those who were the midwives, the herbalists…
S: Yes. Yes.
…the healers, the wisdom holders. It was well, if those people were men. It was not well if those people were women, because the perception was,women with that sort of power were dangerous in some way.
S: Right. Right. I mean, you see it now. You know, the late Rush Limbaugh, even in later years, referred to independent women as feminazis.
E: Oh, my gosh.
S: I know. It was a diminishment of women's power. And when we talk about the word power, it's an interesting thing. I just finished reading Elizabeth Lesser’s book Cassandra which, if you haven't read it, is just a wonderful read; it's about women's stories and women storytellers.
But we are not someone’s stereotype. And part of the work of the creatrix is to define herself and- Oh, I know what it was. It was the word empowerment and power that we were talking about.
Women's power is different than men's power. Men's power is is a little bit out of balance because it's all very warrior oriented. It's about having power over something. This is what Lesser describes in her book. Men's power is about having power over something.
Women's power is different. Women's power is a more cooperative kind of power. And the word empowerment for women, I think, has been overused and misunderstood somewhat. Empowerment is having a kind of confidence that you don’t need to be like a man in order to be a successful, full, complete human being.
And one would think, well, that's a given, that's easy, duh. Except that we are also influenced by the monotheistic religions that contain the hierarchy of men where women are seen as helpmeets, or they're seen as seductresses, or they're seen as 2nd-class citizens, or that's who you, you know, sell into slavery. They're not at the top of the food chain, by any means.
So, while it should be easy for us to accept our power, it's a courageous journey for most of us to accept our power and realize that we can stand in the light of our truth, and we have something to say, and that the world changes when we share our story from our feminine perspective; the story that I create, the creatrix creates. So, that's part of the value of this uprising, too.
“While it should be easy for us to accept our power, it’s a courageous journey for most of us to accept our power and realize that we can stand in the light of our truth, and we have something to say, and that the world changes when we share our story from our feminine perspective…” Quote by Stephanie Raffelock from Innately Intuitive Podcast, episode 006, Creatrix Rising. #stephanieraffelock #creatrixrising #indieauthor #midlifewomen #empowerment #womeninpower #creatrix #ellenmgregg #innatelyintuitive #innatelyintuitivepodcast #intuitivehealer
S: And I'd love to touch on the whole idea of archetype, because I think sometimes that can be a misunderstood word. Creatrix isn't a being. Creatrix is a set of qualities that we recognize; qualities that are familiar, typical; like archetype typical. An arc, if you look at the arc of women's evolution. So, archetypical or archetypal, rather, is the word.
So, the qualities of the creatrix are becoming so commonplace around us - and I don't mean common in a demeaning way. I mean common in that more and more women are embodying this; that now this becomes an archetype.
We know archetypes from fairy tales. If I say warrior, you have an image of that. If I say witch, you have an image of that. So what we need now, is an image when we say creatrix. Women get an image of that, and that's what feeds and nourishes their heart and soul as they mature in life; as they grow psychologicallyand spiritually in life, and not the toxic stereotypes that came before. Does that help?
E: Oh, I love it. Absolutely. And I think it's so important to talk about that aspect of it because yes, saying creatrix… Like, you picture a woman, which is really funny, but I think it's because it is such an innately feminine archetype energy. You know? That’s just the way it is. She's the goddess. She is the all and all. The creatrix is the all…
S: Oh, I like that.
E: …and all. Yeah, me too. That came through from Spirit, so giving credit where credit is due there.
When you talked about, or mentioned, women allowing themselves to envision what the creatrix looks like, I was shown a snapshot of a painting that I did probably… I'm going to say 15 years ago, that a friend actually ended up asking if she could have because she loved it so much. And it was very simple.
I painted a woman, and it was just from the chest up. And that was necessary, because her hair was actually, like-It was almost as though it was rising straight up and there was filaments of light, billows of light pouring out of the crown of her head and rising upward.
S: Wow.
E: And that was immediately what came to me. And the thing is, I was like, oh, that is so cool. Because when I think creatrix, what I feel is connection; what I feel is the ability to have the awareness to draw in to us and then express out of us that which needs expression. And as you said, whatever that might look like. It could be a yoga class; it could be a belly dancing class; it could be an essay or a scathing editorial.
S: Right. It's the woman who makes things. The word creatrix… When I first heard it, I thought my editor had made it up. But she hadn’t. Creatrix, it turns out, is one of the three Fates; one of the three Greek Fates. There was the Spinner, the Weaver and the Cutter. So, the creatrix was the Weaver. And so it's kind of a perfect word.
We were looking for a feminine word that would describe this emerging archetypal energy that we feel in midlife and beyond. And so we came up with words like sage and, you know,that's a male word: sage. Transformer: that reminded me of a kids’ movie where the robots turn into cars and that didn't quite work.
So, the word creatrix came up. And when I began to investigate creatrix, I went, oh my gosh, she was one of the three Greek Fates, and she was the Weaver. And weaving is such a great metaphor for a woman's life, because a woman never works with just one strand of anything. You know, women’s superpower is that, you know, everybody multitasks all of the time. Try having three kids and a job, you know? You know, exactly what I mean, right?
E: Yup. Yup.
S: So, I mean she is the Weaver. Somehow she is able to take all these strands and weave them together. And the wolf and the warp of that, in motherhood, is what then gives way to the Weaver, the creatrix, later on; who is still making things, still gathering those strands.
Where midlife women, I think, have gotten frustrated in the past is there's kind of been this idea that, you know, after motherhood you stop working or maybe you're not as interested in sex as you once were, or… There's, you know, kind of a list of things that happen and we call it “midlife crises.”
If you look up midlife women on the Internet- You know, go in to Google and type in “midlife women.” What you'll find are pages and pages and pages and pages of midlife crises. And so, it begs the question, doesn't it? All of this creative energy that we’re beginning to experience… Is this really a crisis or is this midlife awakening? And of course, you know, which one I'm going to go with.
E: Yes, and I-
S: This is midlife awakening. And the creatrix, this new archetype that is emerging, is what's bringing us forward. And it will be interesting for women over the years to contemplate: “Well, what does she look like?”
Because something will emerge, just like the figure of motherhood. You know, you kind of get that Madonna image a little bit, although in my Madonna image, you know, the mother always has skinned knees and baby barf on her shoulder. That's real courage to me.
But Creatrix, you know, has her own image, too. Not to get political, but I think a lot of Stacey Abrams who we- Regardless of your political affiliation, this was a woman who just rolled up her sleeves and did this grassroots effort, and inspired people to get out and vote. And she is a true creatrix.
So, when I think of creatrix, I often think of Black women who, more than in my privileged life, have had to fight for every little inch gained. And I think about what's happened with Black women is like… Wow! Kamala Harris in the White House. That is so cool. Yeah.
E: Yes, that is so cool.
S: And so I feel they hold an even brighter light for all of usand it's like, yeah, I'll follow that. You bet.
E: Yes. I love that so much. And it's so interesting that you know, you mentioned Stacey Abrams and something came up, too, around the midlife piece associated with that, because I saw her image and then I saw Amanda Gorman.
S: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Who represents the new maiden. Which also, by the way… I mean, it wasn't my book to write, but maiden is really a tired old term. It's right up there with the virgin. You know? It’s just, I mean... It's somebody else's definition. It’s some guy’s definition. She was hardly a maiden.
E: Yeah.
S: And I don't know what to call what she brought forth in her poetry that day except that I know she did it with a kind of what I would call strong humility. She gave herself so much to the poem that she was reciting, that there wasn't any of her left. There was no, like, ego trip in it.
E: No.
S: She just gave herself to the message of that poem. And for me, listening to that on inauguration day, I felt hope. I mean, like strong hope. It’s like, okay, we're going to be okay. This is the younger generation and this is their offering. This is what they bring. So yeah, Amanda Gorman what a woman.
E: Yeah. And the thing is, what I wonder about that too, Stephanie, and I'm so curious to know, if you feel that perhaps as time goes on here that women will claim that creatrix energy, that creatrix archetype, earlier and earlier in their lives?
S: I don’t know.
E: Okay.
S: I mean, I think there is a maturation process. And so I do think that there are phases and cycles. I mean, I look to nature a lot for answers in my life, and what I see is that everything changes and ends. There's always a new season. There's always a new cycle.
And so, there are gifts to being a midlife woman and older woman that I can address because I've lived through that. But what Amanda Gorman brings to the table is, she brings the new light for that younger generation.
You know, we forget that in every generation the feminist history shifts a little bit where, you know, we are allowed more; where there's more opportunity; where there's something. And probably her generation has been encouraged to - ”Hey, you can do whatever you want. You can play whatever sport you want.” - more so than the generations that came before her.
But at the same time, she's still not exempt from going through the cyclical processes and seasons that we all go through to get to a spiritually and psychologically mature point in our life.
E: Right.
S: I don't believe there's an endpoint. I believe that that cycle of psychological and spiritual growth is always happening, so… And I don't know what the name of that emerging archetype will be, because clearly that is the new archetype as well; the energy that she brought forth…
E: Yes.
S: …on that stage, on that platform. It’s certainly way beyond maiden. But as I said, that was not my book to write. Maybe it will be hers.
E: Yeah, and I love that. I love that perspective and I love that insight and contemplation, because I do feel, I do know… “cutting edge.” I just heard, “cutting edge,” and… and I feel that that's being assigned to you and what you are bringing forth. You are the creatrix bringing forth - illuminating - the creatrix.
S: Just pointing her out, girls. Just pointing her out. Yeah, it's interesting. Isn't it? It's a… It's a big idea. But I think it's an idea whose time has come, that we as women… we don't really need to change. We just need start seeing ourselves differently and claim what's already there. Name it and claim it; throw your stake into the ground and claim it.
E: Yeah. Yeah.
S: And a lot of that comes with confidence that I think is an ongoing courageous journey for women: the journey of confidence; self-confidence.
E: Yes. I think. Not I think, I feel deeply which means I know that women still are, in many ways… I want to say taken for granted as far as their abilities, as far as their worth, as far as everything that they can bring to life and do bring to life.
And so, you, Stephanie, birthing this book this year I feel is so important because I feel as though we're on truly the cusp of a great sea change in those perceptions.
S: Yes. Once again that phrase Darwinian moments comes to mind, and we are that. And you know, one more thing on that: You used the word connection a while ago, and one of the things that I'm noticing about women of this newer generation - women that are maybe 15 years younger or so than I am, or even 20 years younger - is that there is this greater sense of connection; this greater sense of lifting up other women.
And I think that's an important part of the piece that keeps all of this going and evolving is that, yes, it is about us. It's important to know who you are. It's important to have your own sense of who you are. And it's also so important to always extend a helping hand and help to lift up the women around you however you can.
Whether that means just being an ear to a friend that needs somebody to listen to them while they, you know, talk out loud and kind of sort out their work scene or their relationship scene or whatever that is. If it's your encouragement and your support of other women, you know.
We should make it our business, I believe, to extend kindness to the women around us, to extend respect to the women around us.
E: Yes.
S: And you know, women have been disrespected, as you said. Taken for granted is another way of saying being disrespected. So, it's very important that as we embrace respecting ourselves, that we embrace respecting one another.
And that can be done in the simplest but most profoundly meaningful kind of ways. That's very awkward word structure, profoundly meaningful, but… but I think you know what I mean.
It's like, you know, do you take the time to thank the young woman behind the counter in the grocery store? “Thank you for being here.” Like, you know, she's coming in exposing herself to COVID every day, mask or not, and are you saying, “Thank you for being here. It's courageous what you do.”
You know, it doesn't take very long to say that and yet I think that we all think those things from time to time. I don't know. We have an editor that works between our brain and our mouth sometimes that we don't just let it out. We think that, you know, we’ll be perceived as corny or kind of crazy and it's like, so what? If somebody perceives you as crazy, so what?
But how much effort does it take to say to someone, “Thanks for being here today. I really appreciate you. It takes courage to come here every day. Thank you.”
I've had women turn around and say to me, you know cashiers in the grocery store, “Wow. Thank you for saying that. Thank you for telling me that.” You just made someone's day and they're not even going to remember you because they only can see you from like, you know, the eyes up right?
E: Right. Right.
S: We can't flash them a big smile on the way out the door. So, connection to ourselves is important, but connection to other women through inspiring them, lifting them up and being a good listener to them, praising them. None of us ever gets enough praise. I'm sorry, we just don't.
E: Agreed.
S: None of us can ever get enough praise, you know? It's like, it makes your day when somebody writes a comment, you know, under your show notes and goes, “Oh my God, I love this podcast.” You know, it makes your day and we should be doing that for each other, I believe.
I don't like to use the word should very often but I think this is one of those shoulds with women. I think this is like, in the rulebook that none of us got. This is like rule number 14 or something that says, “Uplift other women.”
E: Yeah.
S: A creatrix does that.
E: Yes. Make that the new normal. You know?
S: Yes.
E: Yeah. Oh Stephanie. Holy moly. So, tell us when we can actually read Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women.
S: It will be launched on August 24th of this year. Believe it or not, you can pre-order it on Amazon now, although you may forget why you pre-ordered it so you may want to wait. But I, you know, I hope to do lots of these podcasts between, you know, now and the release date. I love the broadcasting format. I love, you know, picking up the phone.
And I was so excited this morning. I went, oh my gosh, I get to talk to Ellen Gregg. She was absolutely fabulous. I had like made these little notes on you and put them on a file folder and said, you know- I texted my my agent who booked me on your show and said would you contact her and see if I can do her show again?
Because you know, you’re fun but you're very deep. And I mean, that's… that’s a lovely quality and it's a lovely combination to be someone that has a, you know, kind of a light-hearted laugh and a good sense of humor, but also isn't afraid to go deep, you know. Clearly you're a woman who does her inner work.
So, for all those women out there who aspire to be like you and who are like you, Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife, August 24th. You can get it on Amazon. I always like to say indiebound.org and bookshop.org. Those are organizations that contribute to local bookstores and I'm real big on local bookstores.
I don't have a hate-Amazon campaign going on. I love Amazon. But if you get a chance to buy the book through one of these other, you know, dot orgs like bookshop.org or indiebound.org, it's a good way to support local bookstores by doing that. So there you have it.
E: I love that. Oh, thank you, Stephanie. And I will be linking to, yes, Amazon with its pre-order because I will be pre-ordering it so I don't forget. I’m one of those people who does that. And yet I will also link to indiebound.org and bookshop.org so that- Yes, I don't know if they're doing pre-orders there or if they have the ability.
S: I know they have the book up and I don't know if everything pre-orders yet, but it's worth the investigation.
E: Yeah, and I will link directly to the book.
S: Okay.
E: Yeah. So no matter what it will be easy to grab that way.
S: Great.
E: And also Stephanie, is there a preference as far as people reaching out to you, where you would prefer they do that?
S: Well, you know, I went through a rebranding of my website this year, which is always fun when you go through rebranding, which is, you know, it's kind of like a little mini reinvention. You know?
E: Yes.
S: I have a girlfriend that says, “Reinvention is reawakening.” So I like that. So I am at byline-stephanie.com, and Stephanie is spelled in the classical way: s-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e. And you can find me at @byline.stephanie on Instagram, you can email me at byline.stephanie@gmail.com, and hopefully that will be in your show notes and people reach out.
I always answer all my emails. I answer all the comments under my blogs, and I love to hear from people and sort of love women, so I love to talk to them. So I'm happy to talk to you… happy to talk to your listeners.
E: Well, all of this will be in the show notes, for sure, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with you again. I had that same sense of excitement waking up this morning and remembering that you were on my calendar today. So, I’m just- I'm so grateful. And I'm grateful, yes, for the opportunity to converse with you again, and yet I am even more grateful that you were guided or urged or felt the powerful need to bring this book forward.
S: Thank you. I'm glad I followed the urge.
E: Yeah, I'm glad you did too. So, so glad. So glad. Well, my dear, it has been an absolute pleasure. And I'm so looking forward to sharing this conversation and sharing your wisdom, your perspective and your book.
S: Thank you so much, Ellen.
E: Thank you, Stephanie.
S: Big hugs to you. Big virtual hugs.
E: Yes, and the same back to you. And here is to a return to comfort for everyone in Texas really soon.
S: Thank you. Thank you. Send warm thoughts.
E: Thank- Absolutely doing that. You take such good care.
S: Alright. You too, sweetheart.
E: Okay. Bye-bye.
You can subscribe to Innately Intuitive Podcast through most major podcast outlets. If you wish to leave a comment or a suggestion, you can do that in the blog post associated with this podcast episode at ellenmgregg.com. The link is in the show notes.
Thank you so much for being here today, for being present for this conversation and its topic, and for being supportive of the creatrix rising both within yourself and with those women in your life. Take good care.
Creatrix Rising
At amazon.com*
Connect with Stephanie
Resources
A Delightful Little Book on Aging* by Stephanie Raffelock
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity* by Julia Cameron
Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes* by Elizabeth Lesser
Podcast music, “For Spring Inspiration” by Praded, licensed through AudioJungle.
Note
*This is an Amazon Associate link. Purchases made through this link may result in me receiving a percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you.
