Energies of Nature: Gender roles of the Wheel of the Year #7: Wise woman (Old Woman), Wise man (Old Man)

Hi, my dear friends!

Today I offer you the third and last post dedicated to the approaching day of the Autumn Equinox and at the same time to Mabon. I hope you have a good time, the weather pleases you with warm autumn days, and nature with the beauty of autumn foliage.

Wikipedia defines the Wheel of the Year as

an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern Pagans. It consists of either four or eight festivals: either the solstices and equinoxes, known as the "quarter days", or the four midpoints between, known as the "cross quarter days"; syncretic traditions like Wicca often celebrate all eight festivals"

These eight seasonal festivals are:
Yule (December, 20-23)
Imbolc (February, 2)
Ostara (March, 19-22)
Beltane (May, 1)
Midsummer (June, 19-23)
Lughnasadh (August, 1)
Mabon (September, 21-24)
Samhain (November, 1)

Each holiday of the Wheel of the Year is associated with certain natural energies and traditional human activities.

Roles - are what the society requires of people of a certain gender for normal interaction. If a person can not adequately choose a role for a certain type of communication, he will be inadequate to the situation, since he will react from another social role. These roles can be considered by analogy with subpersonalities. In general, everything depends on a specific approach, but the gender roles of the Wheel of the Year should not be confused with the archetypes. As we will see later, for example, the role of the Mistress differs significantly from the archetype of the Mistress. The names of the roles should not confuse you.
The study of each role allows you to harmonize the personality within your gender. Conversely, if some role is not sufficiently developed, it can impede the full implementation of other roles.

To understand how this works, imagine a wheel with eight spokes. One spoke is broken and the wheel in that place was weighed down. It is clear that the wagon will shake. Now imagine that two, three spokes were broken. Will you like the trip?

Women's roles for the Year:
Woman in childbirth - Yule (December, 20-23),
Mother - Imbolc (February, 2),
Girlfriend - Ostara (March, 19-22),
Mistress - Beltane (May, 1),
Wife - Midsummer (June, 19-23),
Landlady - Lughnasadh (August, 1)
Wise woman (Old Woman) - Mabon (September, 21-24),
Woman survived a loss (Widow) - Samhain (November, 1).

Men's roles for the Year:
New-born - Yule (December, 20-23),
Educated - Imbolc (February, 2),
Boyfriend - Ostara (March, 19-22),
Lover - Beltane (May, 1),
Husband - Midsummer (June, 19-23),
Landlord - Lughnasadh (August, 1),
Wise man (Old Man) - Mabon (September, 21-24)
The man who leaves a woman - Samhain (November, 1).

The designation of the male and female roles of the Wheel of the Year is largely due to the fact that traditionally both women and men are required to perform certain social functions.

Any role becomes a problem if it is expressed too weak or too much. Unfortunately, practice shows that often of eight roles only one or two are activated and well developed. The rest of the roles are fragmented. This leads to communication failure, when we can not understand what the surrounding people are waiting for from us consciously or subconsciously.

All eight roles can be connected and worked out gradually, step by step throughout the year.

There is a very important point that I want to draw attention to. Certainly, some roles can be more accentuated at a certain age. But this does not mean that they do not work at other ages, just at different ages they will have a different manifestation.

And here I again allow myself a small disclaimer. When I write about the gender roles of the Wheel of the Year, I do not aim to drag you into the distant past, in the days of matriarchy or patriarchy. Rather, it is about which facets of our character are most easily and harmoniously subject to improvement in a given period, when natural rhythms are most favorable for this. When we talk about roles as female or male, I would interpret this as a manner of manifestation of certain qualities and properties of our character. However, if you are more comfortable in traditional understandings of gender roles, you may perceive it that way. Our world is constantly changing and our identity is changing with it. This is a normal process. In some countries it goes faster, in some slower, and this is also normal. Therefore, as always, I urge you to "refract" everything written under your own reality.😉

Gender roles of the Wise woman (Old Woman) and Wise man (Old Man)These roles take effect after Mabon (September, 21-24).

This is quite logical. Autumn is a time of maturity.

If we talk about the female role (Wise woman (Old Woman), then this is a woman who basically played all the social roles - she was a mother, a wife, a mistress, etc. Now she can afford to free herself from the influence of society and begin to satisfy exactly her needs.

This state is well illustrated by the phrase of one of the actors of the movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces." When her daughter says to her: "I made a dinner, would not you like to make coffee?", She replies: "I raised two daughters, I buried my husband, I has made my coffee".

Of course, here you need to hear the context in order to understand this phrase completely. In a simpler version, this state is conveyed by the expression: "I am already at the age when everything is possible and nothing is shameful."

In Western tradition, the image of a Wise Woman is more common. These are those elderly ladies who lead an active lifestyle, travel a lot, do not hide their age and are able to take it for granted. Often they begin to realize themselves in those areas that were previously inaccessible to them because of a shortage of time or money (they start drawing, playing music instruments, etc.).

But, as we saw before, any role can be worked out insufficiently, which causes distortions in its manifestation.

There is a saying: "Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone." And then we see a rather unpleasant character in front of us: an eternally dissatisfied, spiteful old woman who condemns everyone and everything around her.

She sincerely thinks herself cleverer than others and one that has the right to tell other people, especially young people, how they should live and what they need to do.

One of the manifestations of not accepting this role is the fear of old age. A woman begins to struggle desperately against age changes, sometimes leading this struggle to absurdity.

The male role of the Wise Man (the Old Man) consists in an adequate assessment of his strengths and weaknesses. He no longer tries to compete absolutely with everyone. He understands that he can not control everything around him. Thus, he achieves a certain harmony and knows how to balance, depending on the circumstances. He is calm, confident in himself and easily accepts the successes of others.

Skew in this role can have two kinds of manifestation. In the first case, the man refuses any competition. In the second case, he tries to look like an "alpha male", continues to be included in projects that he can not do.