The Old Woman Tales: Stories of Wisdom and Healing

By Miriam Jacobs

I found the tales to be inspirational, deeply moving and truly of a healing nature. They seem to bring a sense of peace to the reader. Debra A. Hendron, M.Div., CASAC
As recently as a few hundred years ago, we lived in close-knit communities and our lives revolved around our extended family and the changing of the seasons. Our modern life gives us many more options, but it also creates an alienation that leaves us yearning for meaning and connection.
The Old Woman Tales, by Miriam Jacobs is a collection of luminous short stories set in a mythic past. As we follow the Old Woman on her travels, she helps us to explore the journey of our own life, and gives us a model to help us navigate it with wisdom, humor and grace.
These tales, told with approachable simplicity, offer insights about identity, self respect, making our dreams come true, losses, aging with grace, sacrifice, honoring our calling, overcoming adverse circumstances, forgiveness, gratitude and so much more. They soothe the aching heart and celebrate and honor the resilient beauty of spirit.
This book also comes with an invitation to write your own Old Woman story and share your wisdom with others on theoldwomantales.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9781477176887

Miriam Jacobs

Miriam Jacobs, aka Miriam, daughter of Selma, granddaughter of Esther, was born in Uruguay, spent some childhood years in India and her adolescence in the Netherlands. She completed her college education and has lived (mostly) in the North East of the US. Miriam has owned her own store, has recruited software engineers, has written mysteries and published cookbooks, and is currently a forensic document examiner. She sings, acts, writes for the theatre and has performed three weddings and a funeral. Miriam Jacobs has three children and lives in Great Barrington, MA.

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Copyright © 2009 by Miriam Jacobs.

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Old Woman Leaves

Chapter 2: The Old Woman and the Beggar Woman

Chapter 3: The Old Woman and the Fellow Pilgrim

Chapter 4: The Old Woman and the Gift

Chapter 5: The Old Woman and the Young Girl at the Stream

Chapter 6: The Old Woman and the Teaching Assignment

Chapter 7: The Old Woman and the Angry Man

Chapter 8: The Old Woman and the Cycles of Life

Chapter 9: The Old Woman and the Mother of the Dying Man

Chapter 10: The Old Woman and the Fairytale

Chapter 11: The Old Woman and the Hooded Brother

Chapter 12: The Old Woman and the Humpbacked Man

Chapter 13: The Old Woman and the Hurt Boy

Chapter 14: The Old Woman and the Young Weaver

Chapter 15: The Old Woman and the Teacher

Postscript

Dedication

for three wise women

Selma

Irma

and

Fie

Wisdom is the principal thing.

—Proverbs 4:7

Introduction

Y ou might be wondering who this Old Woman is and where and when her journey takes place. I can tell you a little, but the rest you will have to figure out on your own.

I am sure she has a name very much like yours and mine. She is, after all, a daughter and a granddaughter just as you are. You might not have known your mother or your grandmother, but their blood runs in your veins, their strength is in your bones, their courage fuels your heart. Maybe you had more than one mother, many of us do; our lives are rarely straightforward and neat. Even though our worldly names usually acknowledge our fathers and later, perhaps, our husbands, there is a special bond of women’s experience, wisdom and knowledge linking us with the women through whom we trace our lineage.

I am also certain that her journey goes to the exact same places you visit on your life’s journey. There is no set time for our lessons to come forward, not one predictable place where we experience a piece of wisdom coming to rest in us. We have our spiritual teachers who preach to us and our holy books from which to study, but the important moments in our journey are the instances when wisdom jumps from our head into our heart.

The third thing I am sure of is the time: it is always now, the eternal present. There is no other time to learn, to heal, and to love because now is all you and I have. The past cannot be changed, though you are always free to reinterpret those events right now to better support yourself. The future is not set in stone, but it is clearly influenced by the thoughts and actions you take, right now. Treasure this moment, and use your time to get the important work of your life done. It helps me to write my Old Woman stories in a mythic past because I can dispense with modern distractions, but you can choose otherwise if that suits you.

The Old Woman lives within each of us, and she is the Wise Voice we can hear when we stop and become quiet and give her a chance to give us the wise answer. Her wise voice whispered these stories to me, in answer to my own questions. These are the tales that soothed my confusion and my heartache. Maybe they will do the same for you.

Then again, maybe your heart needs to hear a different story. These few stories are, after all, only a beginning, like a small bouquet of flowers which I am offering to you in friendship. I know that out there, in your life, there is a whole field of wildflower stories waiting to be picked. Only you can possibly pick them, and we are all hoping you will. We are counting on you to write them down for yourself and for us. They will heal your life just like these stories healed mine, and we look forward to a time when you offer us your story that will help to heal some of us too. At the end of this book I will give you the practical details of how we are doing this, but for now just let the idea rest in your mind.

This is not a Hero’s journey in the way that it has been defined in recent times. The Hero finds a single noble and compelling goal, and then goes on a battle-filled quest to reach that goal until, in triumph, he conquers it. In my experience very little in our real lives actually works that way. We might, for instance, set out with a goal of creating a perfect family, with a prince charming husband and two healthy and adorable children. Despite all our good planning and hoping, it might not work out that way. The husband might not materialize at all, or arrive in good time only to leave you broke and brokenhearted later. The children might not come as planned, or come easily but with their own great physical challenges. The Hero would think that his great noble plan had failed, but a wise heroine looks at her life differently. She consults with the Wise Woman inside, chooses to grow in wisdom, and realizes that her real journey has just begun. The Wise Woman knows that our ideal scenarios and bold plans will need frequent adjustments and need the acceptance and inclusion of the realities as they present themselves. The Wise Woman in our stories lives with passion and insight in the moment, creating in each challenging situation a solution which will support her, and all those affected, in the highest possible way.

The world does not change until we change, and we don’t change until we make a new decision. It is from our wisdom that we can make creative, healing, and empowering new decisions. It is in wisdom that we find the right time and place for our firmness and resolve, and at other times the moment to give of our softness and yielding. It is in wisdom that we find the courage not to hurt either ourselves or the others around us. It is in wisdom that we find a way to take such good care of ourselves that we can, if we so choose, help others from our own abundance and overflow, and not be drained by our giving. It is in wisdom that we see how we can choose to take all our adventures and circumstances as chances to grow, to heal, and to love. It is in wisdom that we discern what is profound and important, and what we can easily release. It is in wisdom that we find and commit to our spiritual path. We will always find our forgiveness and our gratitude on the path of wisdom because without them the heart grows bitter and cold.

The Old Woman picks herself up, again and again, and goes on to the next adventure. Even when she completes an enormous task, there is rarely a parade to celebrate her. She does not mind and simply gets up the next morning knowing there is still some more work to do. As long as we have breath, there is work to do.

Use her as your inspiration, pick yourself up, and think of your own tale.

She is waiting to tell it to you. We are waiting to hear it.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

2008

Chapter 1

The Old Woman Leaves

T he Old Woman was walking through the woods gathering plants for eating, for dyeing her fabrics, and for the healing salves and teas she prepared. Her mind was completely focused on the task at hand, searching for the best ingredients, and she didn’t pay much attention to the passing of time. Today she was looking for rosemary, scallions, chamomile, mint, and lovage, and her basket was getting full. It was not until late in the afternoon that her stomach growled and she noticed she had not eaten her midday meal. She found an open space in the woods, and sat down.

She took out the dense dark bread and goat cheese she had taken with her for her nourishment and began to eat. She sat in the sun basking in its warmth, happily thinking about all the glorious plants she had been able to gather. She was filled with a sense of wonder and gratitude for the abundant gifts that grew in the wild. Though she intended to close her eyes for only a moment to enjoy the warmth of the sun on her face and lift her heart in a prayer of thanks, she quickly sank into a deep sleep.

In her dream she found herself in an open meadow, in the midst of a riot of wildflowers in full bloom. The colors were unusually vivid and seemed to dance off the petals. It was mesmerizing, and she happily started to gather a bouquet to bring home, but every time she picked a flower, it wilted in her hands. The Old Woman, through long years of practice, had the skill to recognize that she was in a dream, and some still-conscious part of her took over and started asking the flowers what their message was. Suddenly a bright white bird appeared in the sky and, after flying seven tight circles around her head, landed on her shoulder. She knew this to be an old dream friend, and she repeated the question. The answer came to her softly but clearly: it whispered, It is time for you to move on. You have been in one place too long, and you must go and travel.

She wanted to ask the bird more questions, but it took off and when she looked around, she could see that she was standing in a rocky desert place.

A deep sadness came over her. She was well-known in her small town as a respected healer, a trusted friend, and a beloved part of her small community. Her health was good, her work kept her well-provided for, and she had been planning to live out her life in her comfortable house, productively and in peace. She could feel herself rising to consciousness, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The day suddenly didn’t feel as sweet anymore. The sun was setting into the clouds, and no pretty sunset was going to close off the day. A cold, damp chill was starting to settle over the woods, and she gathered up her herbs, pulled her shawl tightly around her shoulders, and walked back to her home.

The dream was worrisome to her. Her experience had taught her not to ignore these messages, but the idea of leaving the comfort and security of her house and garden and her sweet community of friends was abhorrent to her. What was