For Women Who Desire to Become
Empowered Elders of Age and Wisdom

Hello and thanks for stopping by...

Let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Sondra Fields the creatress of this Corn Mother website andThe Corn Mother News newsletter and my PASSION is to help you and I take our rightful role as wise elder women.

My Story:

At the age of 50, I hoisted a backpack, filled with enough clothes and supplies that hopefully would sustain me for the next six months, and hopped on a plane to Mexico. I sought the women's mysteries, the blood mysteries, associated with old age.

I had met a wise old Huichol Indian woman I wanted to interview. My notebook held her name and the name of a pueblo somewhere in the interior of Mexico. She didn't know I was coming and I wasn't sure she would be willing to be my primary research participant once I found her.....scroll down the page to read the rest of the story.

Sometimes I envision a poster that reads....
Attention!
Strong, Empowered Elder Women Needed to
Light the Path for Young Women Today.
Begin Your Preparation Now.
 
If you say "Yes, I agree.".... Please read on.

It's so important, in my opinion, for girls and young women to know what it is they can become, and not merely in the arena of doing as in career or talent, but in the arena of being... as in what it means to be a woman through the entire life cycle.

An elder Huichol Indian wise woman once told me that as a young woman she saw the light of the old Huichol women and wanted to become like them.

Wow!

Imagine for a moment...
What our society, our world, would be like if young girls saw the light of old women and strove to become like them?

The journey starts long before you get there.

When I interviewed Susana Valadez  at her Huichol Cultural Center in Mexico, this is how she described the elder Huichol women---A lit elder woman is so strong and rooted in her knowing that anyone looking at her will know she is lit and that her light can never be extinguished.

When I was doing my literary research into the women's mysteries, the mysterious world of women seemed to stop at menopause in culture after culture.

Since so much of what it means to be a woman has been suppressed over the years... I questioned this omission.

In contrast, when I read the writings of spiritual feminists the "story of woman" and her unique powers did not end with the holding of her blood at menopause, in fact, quite the contrary. Extraordinary claims were made attributing great powers to women as a result of their contained blood following menopause.

It was as if the energy generated by holding one's blood became a portal to expanded knowledge and awareness. Here are some examples:

...Retained menstrual blood was often regarded as the source of their wisdom...their magical powers resulted from permanent retention of their lunar blood within their bodies....

Barbara Walker, The Crone

...You will find an incredible challenge for which you are better equipped than any other two legged. You have the opportunity to sit in council and using the power of the blood held among you to create a harmonious world around you.

Brooke Medicine Eagle, "Grandmother Lodge"

...She stopped bleeding because she was retaining the blood in her body this time not to make a baby, but to make wisdom.

Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen, Wise-Woman Archetype

...I believe what the menopause is, is a fundamental shift in energy from one way of being in the world to...being more in touch with direct current, more in touch with their inner wisdom.

Dr. Christiane Northrup, Menopause: A Time of Knowing

Despite the work of progressive women writers and speakers, we women on a large scale are still trying to hold onto every morsel of youth we can manage to capture and contain.

To want to be healthy and vital with energy and zest is a worthy goal.The desire to be healthy and vital is a whole different energy from that of the woman who is so afraid of growing old that she is driven to deny her rightful age and place on the circle of life.

Actions motivated by fear drain our precious energy, create stress and as a result we age more rapidly.

My Story continued: The Women's Network

From the first time I stepped off the plane in Guadalajara until the end of my research 6 years later...I was guided and aided by the women of Mexico...Mexican, Indian, Mestizo...it didn't matter. Women, generally in their middle years, would come to my assistance, most of the time without my having asked. Whether I was at the bus terminal in Mexico City, standing outside the airport in Guadalajara, hitching rides out of the high Sierras, the women of Mexico were there for me. They would step forth with warnings or advice for this single gringa with grayish hair who was looking rather perplexed.

If I had kept better notes in this regard, I could probably chronicle my 6 years by connecting the dots of the women of Mexico who popped up with a smile and a helping hand as I muddled about.

To illustrate this women's connection, I'll tell this brief story of the time in the early part of my journey when I arrived at a small pueblo above an old volcanic lake once the home of the Aztecs. The elder Huichol woman I sought, I was told, lived nearby and the woman who would lead me to her lived at the lake below. As I was standing in el Centro of this pueblo, getting the lay of the land, I noticed a Mexican woman walking towards me from across the center. When she approached she greeted me with "buenas dias" and proceeded to ask what I needed.  When she learned I wanted to go to the lake below she pointed to a green vehicle she said was a taxi.

I thanked the woman, asked about the cost of the taxi, and then began to inquire if it was possible to walk to the lake. After all, I had just spent a few hours on a rattlely old bus and the idea of a taxi was not at all appealing. I wanted to connect with this land, with her people. Going from the pueblo to the lake below seemed like the real beginning of my journey and I wanted to enter it in a more natural ,organic way. A taxi was far too removed.

As we fumbled about trying to understand one another, others drew near and began asking questions to try and understand what this crazy gringa wanted. After much laughter and gestering with failing arms and hands the light of comprehension shown and the woman pointed to of all people...a Huichol Indian man. As goose bumps broke out on the back of my neck, I thanked the woman again and turned to the Huichol man, who was dressed in sacred ceremonial clothing. It just so happened that this man was on his way to the lake-- on foot-- through the forest. I followed.

The bits and pieces of the story of how I found Guadalupe, the woman I sought, and our journey together you will find in my newsletter The Corn Mother News and on the Excerpt page. Occasionally, I may also add an article on the Articles page, so check them all out.

And One last thing.

When you hear the call... Stop and Listen! It could be your soul alerting you to the next step in your journey to empowerment. If you are anything like me, all kinds of objections will arise:  money concerns, time issues, work obligations, family needs, etc, etc. If you feel compelled, that is, a strong pull from within, consider this....the universe wouldn't call if the time were not right. So, have a talk with your soul. And after that, if you are still feeling compelled....

Let go of the fear and LEAP! This just could be a most important mid-life journey for you to undertake.

Sondra Wynne Fields received her doctorate from The Union Institute in the combined fields of Gerontology and Women’s Studies with concentrations in Communications. As part of her doctoral work Sondra spent five years studying and journeying to sacred lands with an elder Huichol Indian wise woman and healer, Guadalupe de la Cruz Rios. Her Project Demonstrating Excellence which incorporates the Doctoral Dissertation, Crossing Rivers: Two Journeys into the Heart of Old Woman, tells the story of how these two women meet, cross cultures, and inform each others journey. Exploration into the Women’s Mysteries associated with old age was the focus of her research.

After receiving her B.S. in Elementary Education Sondra taught Kindergarten and First Grade. While obtaining her M.A. in Educational Psychology she worked with emotionally disturbed and neurologically impaired adolescents. Having taught young children and adolescents, being a young middle-aged adult herself, she figured her next area of learning was old age. She began this exploration with Dana Home Care, the first Home Care agency in Boulder, Colorado based on the contemplative Buddhist perspective of skillful means, mindfulness and attention to detail.

Sondra continued her work with elders, primarily women, for over two decades and has produced over 70 locally and nationally broadcast radio programs pertaining to the subjects of women and/or aging. These include:

National Public Radio (NPR) - “Crossroads Multicultural Magazine”
• Grandmothers and Granddaughters in Native American Culture
  
• Sin Fronteras: The Retablo
  
• Minority Elders in the United States
  
• Low Suicide Rate Among Native American Elders
  

NPR - “Horizon’s Documentary
• Spousal Abuse: An Elderly Tragedy
  

High Plains News
• Maruca Gonzales de Salazar: Her Art Contains Message for Daughter
  
• Becoming a Wise Woman with Alegra Alquist
  
• Gerontology Masters Program at the Naropa Institute
  
• Community Food Share: Delivers food to Mountain Elders
  

KGNU Public Radio
• Mirrors: A Womanthology, - produced approx. 40 programs for this series.
  
• Melvinita and Her Art
  
• The Elder News Update- a 25 part series.
  
• Elder Spousal Abuse- a three part series
  
• Gwendolyn Brooks on “Being Old”
  
• Woman and Aging with Diana Laskin Siegal
  
• Dispelling the Myth of Inflexibility with June Duke
  

Currently, at home in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado Sondra is working on a book describing her work. When not writing or lecturing on her favorite topic, the value of the Wise Old Woman, she can be found hiking mountain trails, sitting beside waterfalls and dancing in her beloved Rocky Mountains.