Becoming Your Own Myth: Rewriting Womanhood in the Second Half of Life.
Vrouw aanschouwt haar eigen schaduw, Jan Luyken, 1687 [Rijksmuseum]
There comes a moment in many women’s lives—quiet or cataclysmic—when the stories we’ve told or been told no longer fit. Roles we played with devotion begin to fray. The pace we’ve kept becomes unsustainable. And the questions we once ignored now rise with urgency: Who am I, really, when I am no longer who I’ve been?
This is not a breakdown. It is the beginning of myth-making.
A Journey Through Shadow Work, Individuation, & Creative Awakening.
In depth psychotherapy, particularly through a Jungian and feminist lens, the (Peri)Menopause(Post)™ transition is not viewed as a slow fade into irrelevance, but rather as a sacred threshold. A place where the shadow is ready to be met. A time when the soul demands more than endurance—it seeks expression, embodiment, and truth.
This stage of life asks us not just to reflect, but to rewrite. To integrate the anger we were told was “too much;” the longing we buried beneath caregiving;, the brilliance we dimmed for approval. Women in middle life are invited to reclaim what patriarchy and culture left out of the frame: Inner authority, creative fire, embodied sensuality, spiritual power.
To become one’s own myth is not to escape reality—it is to shape it from the inside out. It is to name yourself, choose your symbols, walk with the goddesses who speak your language. Whether it is the Crone who guides your descent, the Maiden who awakens your senses, or the Mother you are learning to be for yourself—these archetypes are not fantasies, but inner companions with ancient wisdom.
This is the task of the second half of life: Not to disappear, but to emerge. Not to hold onto a fading script, but to write a new story—one authored from the marrow of your own becoming.
Venus, Henri van der Stok (signed by artist), 1880 - 1932 [Rijksmuseum]
Key Elements of Authoring Your Personal Myth.
Integration of the Shadow.
Depth psychotherapy provides a safe space for women to explore and integrate parts of themselves that have been repressed or denied—anger, grief, longing, ambition—allowing a fuller, more authentic self to emerge during this powerful life transition.
Reclaiming the Inner Voice.
Jungian work helps women reconnect with their inner authority and intuition, countering societal messages that diminish their value after midlife. Listening to the Self, rather than external expectations, becomes the guiding principle.
Midlife Individuation.
(Peri)Menopause(Post)™ is a natural threshold for individuation—the lifelong process of becoming who one truly is. Depth therapy supports women in shedding old roles and identities that no longer fit, and fosters the emergence of a deeper, more sovereign sense of self.
Archetypal Understanding.
Women can work with powerful archetypes—such as the Crone, the Wise Woman, the Mother, the Alchemist—to find symbolic meaning in their changing bodies and lives, recognizing that they are part of an ancient, universal pattern of transformation.
Embracing Life’s Rhythms.
Rather than viewing aging as decline, depth psychotherapy reframes it as a sacred cycle of death and rebirth, helping women honor the natural rhythms of growth, letting go, and renewal in their personal and collective lives.
Healing the Mother Complex.
Many women confront unresolved wounds with their own mothers during (Peri)Menopause(Post)™. Depth work allows for the exploration and healing of the Mother Complex, freeing them to mother themselves with compassion and strength.
Deepening Spirituality and Meaning.
This stage often awakens existential and spiritual questions. Jungian therapy honors this call to soul by encouraging dreamwork, active imagination, and symbolic exploration, helping women craft a life of deeper purpose and inner connection.
Acceptance of Mortality.
Through facing the reality of aging and mortality, depth psychotherapy invites women to make peace with impermanence, leading to a more vibrant, conscious engagement with life.
Recovery of Creativity.
By loosening the grip of the persona (the social mask), women often rediscover dormant creative energies. Depth work nurtures these creative impulses, allowing for new forms of expression and contribution to emerge.
Cultivating Inner Wisdom.
Ultimately, Jungian psychotherapy supports the maturation of the Wise Woman archetype within, encouraging women to trust the accumulated wisdom of their lived experience and to embody it with confidence and grace.
Celebrate Embodied Sensuality.
(Peri)Menopause(Post)™ invites a woman to reconnect with her body’s wisdom, releasing old scripts about sexuality tied to youth or fertility. Through depth work, she can reclaim sensuality as an expression of vitality, intimacy, and self-love—no longer defined by external expectations but by her own inner fire. This phase offers the opportunity to celebrate touch, desire, and connection in new, expansive, and deeply authentic ways.
What’s Your Mythological Self?
In this rewriting, there is no final draft—only a deeper unfolding. (Peri)Menopause(Post)™ is not a detour from life, but the heart of it: a wild, wise, and necessary chapter where meaning is not given, but made. To become your own myth is to live with intention, to root into your own truth, and to walk forward not as the woman you were expected to be, but as the one you are now ready to become. This is not the end of your story. It is the sacred beginning of your most sovereign one yet.
If you’re standing at the threshold and feel the call to rewrite your story, I invite you to connect. I offer a free 30-minute consultation to explore how depth psychotherapy can support you in this season of transformation. You don’t have to walk this path alone—and you don’t have to fit into anyone else’s story. Let’s begin the work of becoming your own myth.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Lisa A. Rainwater, PhD, MA (couns), LCMHC, CCMHC, CCTP, CT is the owner of Rainwater Counseling in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she provides depth psychotherapy and relational attachment and grief counseling to individuals and couples. She earned a master’s in German Studies from the University of Oregon; a master’s in Counseling from Wake Forest University; and a doctorate in German and Scandinavian Studies (folklore) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lisa holds certification in Jungian and Post-Jungian Clinical Concepts and engages in ongoing coursework from the Centre of Applied Jungian Studies. She is a Certified Dialogue Therapist for Couples — a psychoanalytic and mindfulness-based couples modality. Lisa is a Certified Thanatologist in Death, Dying, and Bereavement through the Association of Death Education and Counseling and has trained at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition in Grief Therapy as Meaning Reconstruction. Currently, she is enrolled in Finding Ourselves in Fairytales: A Narrative Psychological Approach—an 8-month Graduate Certificate program through Pacifica Graduate Institute.
She is licensed to practice in North Carolina, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
