Me just shy of 50
It’s my birthday today and I’m turning 50. For the last couple of months I’ve been preparing for this particular birthday with a specific purpose in mind - an initiation into the beginning stages of eldering.
On Monday of last week, I met with my magical men’s circle, and I shared a request - Would you bless me with a piece of gold that you’ve observed about me over the course of time you have known me. I asked for this blessing as something I could take with me as part of a ritual I am gifting to myself, which is the continued journey into sovereignty in my life.
In Western culture we treat aging as something to be avoided and prioritize youthfulness because we’ve been sold on the idea that being young has value, while being old is something to be dreaded. However, I’ve been finding that as I step into this year of 50, becoming older is something to cherish. I am at the prime of my life, in the best shape I’ve ever been and I have the weight of experience offering insight, even as I’m aware of how precious my remaining time is.
I am not an elder yet, but I am choosing to become one. When I sat in that circle, the other night, I asked the men, most of them older than me, the rest around my age, for their blessing. It was a magical moment, and one of them also asked something of me:
Imagine the man you’ll be at 60. Who is that man? What has he done? What has changed for him, from that man who was 50?