Maybe I’m the wrong age, maybe the author and I are too many generations separated, maybe our realities and understanding of the universe is too different, but this book did not work for me. I’m honestly amazed that someone who speaks out against the patriarchy and who values women’s spaces and who sees how truly marginalized women are cannot see the how her perceived threat - by THE most marginalized segment of society - mirrors the way men under patriarchy are threatened by the women they oppress. THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW BOOK BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING IF WOMEN ROSE ROOTED , EMPOWERING WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE. Mary will lead a class on the Ancient Irish Keen focusing on its history and context as well as sharing examples.

As well as writing five books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling If Women Rose Rooted and her latest, Hagitude, her writing has appeared in anthologies, collections and in several international media outlets – among them the Guardian, the Irish Times, and the Scotsman. Her books have been translated into several languages, and she has been interviewed by the BBC, US public radio and other broadcasters on her areas of expertise. Her awards include the Roger Deakin Award, and a Creative Scotland Writer’s Award. Her next book, Wise Women: Myths and folklore in celebration of older women will be published by Virago in 2024. Hagitude unearths the stories of the little-known but powerful elder women in European myth and folklore, inspiring readers to imagine that the last decades of our lives might be the most dynamic of all. This moving and uplifting book will inspire a new generation of female elders: women who have reclaimed their Inner Hag, matured into their own unique brand of hagitude and who are ready to pass down their deep feminine wisdom for the benefit of the wider Earth community. It is heartening to read a progressive view of the women’s movement and one that links with care for the Earth and all living beings. This book is very well recommended.’ GREENSPIRIT MAGAZINE

Heather Munro Pierce

Heather will offer an experiential workshop on dance movement medicine for the embodied elder. All movement at your own pace and interpretation. Hagitude is already becoming a beloved cult classic, as a myth-infused manifesto for the possibilities for life from middle age onwards.’ A beautiful, intelligent and unusual book … I’m hoping this book will become the anthem of our generation, encouraging all women to surrender to the earth’s intelligence and rise up, rooted, like trees.’ Kate Forsyth, author of ‘Bitter Greens’, T’he Wild Girl’, and ‘The Beast’s Garden’

Stella Duffy is completing a doctorate training in Existential Psychotherapy and her research is in the embodied experience of postmenopause. As well as her private psychotherapy practice, Stella has worked in NHS cancer psychological support, hospice bereavement support, and is currently working with a low-cost community mental health service. Alongside her therapy work, Stella is an award-winning writer of seventeen novels, over seventy short stories and fifteen plays and worked in theatre for over thirty-five years as an actor, director, facilitator and improvisor. She was awarded the OBE for services to the Arts in 2016 and has been active in equalities and inclusion work in arts and LGBTQ+ communities for many decades. She is also a yoga teacher, leading regular workshops in yoga for writing. Today, Mary teaches classes in Gaelic song and its surrounding culture, mostly online. She specialises in The Keen (Irish Funeral Lament) and Fairy Song. She holds certificates in Vocal and General Education, Shamanic Studies and Sound Therapy. She also has an MA in Chant and Ritual Song and a PhD in Traditional Irish Song Studies, which she began at the age of 60. She is currently working on a book about the Irish Keen.For women who feel separated from their true feminine self, this is a rallying cry to rediscover those ancient roots and be part of the life force again .’ cygnus review A wonderfully inspiring rallying cry, an eloquent and engaging offering of a world of hope and possibilities to all the women about to enter or who are already in, the second half of life.’ I was all set to recommend this. The early chapters where the author discusses elder archetypes, reclaiming the wise woman archetype and no longer accepting the modern patriarchal attempts to invalidate and dehumanize women past child bearing years, especially those women who never gave birth to children, were great. They were interesting and empowering, although it does help to be a Jungian scholar for a good portion of her text (I am not). Truly disappointing due almost entirely from my expectations. I really thought it was about women archetypes, myths and legacies of certain older women and their influences on our soc-economic landscapes. This is only sprinkled.