The Bloomers: Wise Women Creating a New World

By A. J. White

There’s a new power broker in town: The person with the money, control, and wisdom
to change the world! She is a member of a powerful group—a most powerful group that has been invisible to the world—until now.
She is one of The Bloomers! She is the woman over 50 who has the capability of
changing the world. Like a spent flower, society has relegated her to the compost pile—not
needed or wanted. Not so. You must read The Bloomers: Wise Women Creating a New World.
The Bloomers was written by a PhD student who is collecting social security!
A. J. White RN, PhD candidate, is a late bloomer woman who is challenging all women over the age of 50 to wake up and take control of creating a New World. She understands that women
have millennia of wisdom, experience, and knowledge to share with the world.
The Bloomers: Wise Women Creating a New World is a book of empowerment and a clarion call to awaken women. It’s funny, irreverent, politically incorrect, and filled with pearls
of wisdom. It will pick you up, shake you by your knickers, and prod you into kicking up your heels.

The Bloomers: Wise Women Creating a New World is a call-to-arms for the most powerful group of people in the world—they just didn’t know it until now!
Successful aging is a hot topic as the population is getting older. There are very few books written on successful aging, with the seminal work written in 1998 by Rowe and Kahn. What is written is within the biomedical realm—diet, lifestyle, preventative medicine. It is also not gender specific. Women both think and age differently than men. Women are very conscientious in their care for their bodies and mental health. Having good self-esteem helps a person’s concept of successful aging. The Bloomers is written specifically for the older woman to become aware of herself and the shifts she feels, both emotionally and psychologically, as she ages. It is a book of empowerment for the post-menopausal woman to assist her to reinvent herself as a new person. It offers six different aspects of successful aging that releases the power of her wisdom. This is an inspirational self-help book written from the biopsychosocial realm honoring the uniqueness of women.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A. J. White
• Release date: Feb 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988194618

A. J. White

A.J. White has been in a variety of nursing roles in many different venues worldwide. She has worked years in the hospital and corporate environment. A.J. Has a Masters in Nursing from the University of Illinois-Chicago and is completing her dissertation in a PhD in Nursing from University of Phoenix in the spring of 2013 focusing on successful aging and the post- menopausal woman. Throughout all this healthcare management and interaction experience, what AJ found was that there were overriding commonalities in the populations served. Women cared about their health and the health of their families. Women were the lynchpin of health and wellness in their homes and communities. Women knew and understood how to heal. A.J. found in her research that worldwide, women were wise and undervalued. There is very little research on the woman over age 50; she is invisible and relegated to the corner—not interesting or needed. She found that the cohort of women over 50 are powerful, filled with creativity and wisdom. They are ready to bring forth their seeds of creation and to bloom. A.J.’s passion is to empower women to claim her rightful place in society. A.J. has written her first book called The Bloomer: Wise Women Creating a New World released the end of 2012. Following this book will be three guidebooks that will assist the awakening woman to heal herself and claim her authority. Life is just getting interesting!!

Book preview

The Bloomers Wise Women Creating a New World

A. J. White

Copyright A. J. White 2013

Published by: Wise Women Press at Smashwords

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge all the wise women I have been privileged to know over the years. It is from you that this book came into reality. I especially recognize the spiritual women—from Illinois, Montana, Colorado, and around the world who have held the Feminine and connection with the Mother. You have been a beacon of light, holding the flame of the emerging Feminine Healing Star that has been germinating underground for millennia waiting for the right time to surface. I honor your process. I honor your sharing.

Thanks to Judith Briles, www.The Book Shepherd.com, for her book mentoring, advocacy and vision. She believed in this feminine manifesto and the call to arms. John Maling—so needed your editing. A nod to Nick Zelinger for his superb graphic designs and book cover; it makes me smile.

To my family, you have forced me to step into my power as a woman. We choose our family for mutual teaching and for making us better people, evolving into a more complete human. We are living our dream of making this world a better place. Mother Earth has come forth by igniting the fire in the belly of the rise of the Feminine. A special thank you, Mother, for choosing me to carry your message.

Thanks to the women who wrote their stories that were included in this book. You made the Seeds of Creation real. You supported me during this process. You are the true healers of yourself, the community, and the Earth. I honor you.

Dedication

My Female Lineage

Johanna Margaret—1818 to 869

Catherine D—1849 to 1924

Katherine (Katie) Mary—1877 to 1945 Esther Agnes – 1904 to 1986

A. J. (Anna Jane)—1943

Sarah Ann—1976 –

Gwendolyn Ann—2006 –

Table of Contents

Definition

Introduction

Chapter 1 - How Are The Bloomers Different?

Chapter 2 – Seeds of Creation

Chapter 3 – Wisdom

Chapter 4 – Knowledge

Chapter 5 – Experience

Chapter 6 – Love

Chapter 7 – Vulnerability

Chapter 8 – Healing

Chapter 9 – The Garden of Eve

Chapter 10 – Final Thoughts

Working with A. J. White

Author’s Notes

Bloomers:

Any woman over the age of 50. Throughout the book, Bloomers are single women, women with partners, and women who may have children and grandchildren. All post-menopausal women are to be included. This is your journey.

Source:

An energy source, a higher spiritual source. For you it may mean God, Allah, a Higher Being, Spirit, or One. If you do not resonate with these terms, please insert a term that describes your connection with energy or spiritual energy.

Pomegranate Lore:

The lush color of pomegranate juice is a perfect metaphor for the juiciness of the Bloomer woman. This color was purposefully chosen for the Bloomers book cover.

Rumor has it that the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit that was eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is the symbol of resurrection. In Greek mythology, Persephone is the goddess of the underworld. When she arrives on Earth in the spring, she brings prosperity and abundance. This is the time when Earth is in full bloom and life abounds. In the autumn, she goes to the under- world and the Earth goes dormant.

The changing of the seasons is said to be caused by Persephone eating a pomegranate seed, food of the underworld. The tales of Persephone and the pomegranate is a metaphor for the continual growth cycle of dormancy and regrowth, just like the Bloomer.

References

A partial list of websites, materials, and references that were used during the writing of this book are available on my website for the researcher in you: www.TheWiseWomenSeries.com. I choose to not include this material in the book as it is technical and perhaps a little academic. You may not be interested in exploring this element in your creative process.

Definition

bloo•mer noun \ˈblü-mər\

1: a costume for women consisting of a skirt over long, loose

trousers gathered closely about the ankles which became popular in the mid 1850s. Although not created by Amelia Bloomer, her name is associated with bloomers due to her ideas of dress reform and her work in the temperance movement and social advocacy.

2: a plant that blooms.

3: a person who reaches full competence or maturity.

4: a post menopausal woman. Bloomers are a cohort of intergenerational women, age 50 and older. The Bloomers are mature women who are wise in experience and knowing; they are creative and healing in vulnerability and love.

Introduction

The human mind must be active, and the thoughts of woman's heart must find vent in some way; and if the garden of the mind instead of being highly cultivated, so that it may produce a rich harvest of fruits and flowers, is suffered to run to waste, it is not surprising that it yields nothing but weeds, briars, and thorns.

— Amelia Bloomer

It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun.

— Henry Ward Beecher

The Naughty Dandelion

Dandelions are considered by most as pesky, naughty invasive weeds. Dandelions are the one flower, beautiful in its glorious golden color, that anyone with a lawn in America knows and resents. They are tenacious and ubiquitous. They come back, no matter what you do. They are very creative in their ability to grow and thrive. And when they rear their heads, there isn’t a lawn owner who doesn’t want to whack them off.

In other parts of the world, dandelions are revered as a vegetable, consumed with affection as a gourmet treat. Other than being a wonderfully tasty, bitter, but spicy food source, they are used for healing, treating inflammation, detoxifying the liver and kidneys. There is clear evidence that dandelions can be used to treat cancer, alleviate pain, and lower cholesterol. Dandelions are filled with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The flowers can also be used to make intoxicating wines and jellies. Why not in America? In America, a dandelion is considered a weed to be pulled, poisoned, cursed, and relegated to the compost pile.

Women over the age of 50 are the dandelions of the world and relegated to the compost pile.

There are hundreds of different species of dandelions worldwide. The name means a remedy for disorders. The beautiful golden flower is equivalent to a group of people who society has decided are pesky, ever-present and just won’t go away. If you are a woman over the age of 50, you are one of the dandelions of the world. Yes indeed, you have been relegated to the compost pile.

Not so!

You are filled with robust knowledge and knowing; you have the ability to heal. You are the unseen healers for the 21st century ills. Your talents and skills have been germinating and hidden, but like the tenacious dandelion, your roots run deep into Mother Earth, and you are getting ready to burst forth with your wisdom and power. You are a Bloomer!

Who Are the Bloomers?

Today, there are more women in the world than men; and women are living longer—women will live more than half of their lives as post-menopausal women. By 2015, over one half of women will be over age 45. You soon will be a member of one of the most powerful groups in the world. Post-menopausal means no longer having your period and that you can no longer reproduce. You are in the minds of the public considered a physical commodity, one that is no longer productive; therefore, not useful from a group perspective. From a cultural viewpoint, the post-menopausal woman is no longer important to the world. She is invisible. My imperative: Why have you allowed yourself to become invisible— invisible to society, the world … and gulp, to yourself?!

Society delivers a barrage of negative messages:

• You are old.

• You are inferior.

• You are asexual.

• You are redundant.

• You are irrelevant.

• You are obsolete.

Researchers predominately research the younger woman, her reproductive choices and rights. Not the older woman. Once she becomes the redundant woman, even feminist researchers lose interest.

Ah, there is a shift in the wind.

The self-concept of the aging woman is different today than 20 years ago. Women are finding their personal power. You, as a Bloomer, creating your own self-concept, are emerging from the stereotypes of old, unnecessary, asexual and disengaged. You are still young, in command of your wits, fiscally educated and responsible.

You are The Bloomers. You are interested in being in command of your wellbeing: emotionally, physically, and psychologically.

You know who you are and what you want. Breaking through the negative images of ageism, you are eager to learn about longevity, self-agency, and care of self. You have done your inner journeys of self-discovery and you are an emerging tsunami of feminine strength

Leave the term post-menopausal on the cutting room floor. You now carry the spark of creative consciousness like no other group in the world.

You are The Bloomers. Look in the mirror. Claim your authority.

Back to Top

Your vision will clear only when you look

Into your heart. Those who look outside, dream.

Those who look inside, awaken.

—Carl Jung

The Making of a Bloomer

We sat on the attic floor in the summer heat and she looked at me and said OK, I’ll be the teacher and you’ll be the nurse.

Right. We didn’t cut our hands and declare a blood oath; we spit in our palms and held hands with power and promise. Spit was enough to seal the deal. That was the full summation of our career planning. No one else was there to advise us. Deciding to choose a career was provocative enough for that time. The societal demands however were clear; we were to become wives and have babies.

My friend did become a teacher. Unfortunately, I lost contact with her. I went to college for a year, fell in love, became pregnant, and got married. I had two kids and 10 years later finally went through a two-year nursing program. That spit in the hand de- cision, in the long term, drove my life.

As a Bloomer, I was not encouraged to do anything other than be a wife, mother, and support for my husband. I did that for years as did most Bloomers. We were the invisible women—we would always defer to our husbands. We would sustain our mates. My career was incidental. When I went to school, I was commanded that it would in no way interfere with the home responsibilities. I was grateful that I was even allowed to go to school, allowed to get a driver’s license! He was not unkind. He was living the collective expectations and scripts, the same as I; he being in control, and I being passive.

Making a decision on what one will do for the rest of one’s life is many times by default, not a conscious choice. That’s where I was. I was unconscious and almost 20 when I got married—old by the standard of the locale. We embarked on a whole life of responsibility without any education or information. We did go to Cana Conferences—a religious, three session discussion with a priest, who unfortunately, didn’t know any more about relation- ships or marriage than we did.

Now, years later—after divorce, three kids grown, and still in school—as a Bloomer, I can finally and confidently speak to what gives me pleasure and how to create a joyous life. As an eccentric, older woman, I live my life in wisdom and joy. The question is for you Bloomers, how are we living our lives, are we incorporating all the experiences and pain and joy into a meaningful life? What are the vital Seeds of Creation that support the Bloomer to transform and create a New World?

Let’s find out together.

Bloomers Think Differently— Very Differently!

The female brain works very differently than the male brain. This is due to hormonal influences and specific wiring. Women think differently. Any female knows immediately that she thinks, feels, and processes differently than males around her. It’s a given among women. In neuropsychiatrist Luann Brizendine’s seminal work, The Female Brain, she describes the critical differences between the male and female brain. She is a Bloomer woman, the same as you, and she understands the female brain. You come from a multidimensional place of knowing and remembering. Her research will give men a serious case of brain envy, if only they could understand.

Bloomer brains are no longer governed by hormones. There is very little research on how the Bloomer brain functions. They no longer carry the need to nurture, the need to keep the peace, and are less inclined to care and tend others. As a Bloomer, your world is expanding from your past, hormone driven, younger self.

• You think differently, feel differently, and want to use the fire of creation in your belly for something other than procreation.

• You may become passionately invested in career, in activism.

• Your sexuality shifts and may in fact become more enjoyable.

• You may be dusting yourself with hormones to balance your testosterone and estrogen. Research tells us this is still important.

• You may become more sexual.

• You may be changing the rules of your relationships.

• You are experiencing more freedom and personal control over your life.

• You are creative in a very different way.

• You can be having much more fun.

In other words, it’s a very yeasty time for women.

With the Change Comes Change

At this time, women have the opportunity to totally change their lives. Before menopause, women’s hormones prepare them each month to possibly conceive a baby. The hormones shift with

menopause and that ability to conceive ends. It can be a time of sadness, especially if women are attached to the creative power of having babies. For others there is joy—this ends the fear of conception. They can see themselves as whole people and no longer just an agent of birthing.

The change opens up the world for exploration of a woman’s power and sense of self-agency.

Self-agency is the ability