When I scheduled this forthcoming webinar, ‘Eldering in a Time of Collapse’ in early December 2024, although I knew that the writing was on the wall, I had not anticipated that by March 2025 it would be so clear! As I wrote in my Substack essay, ‘Let’s Flood the Zone with Love‘ in February 2025:
Right now, we are seeing the ugly rise of lovelessness writ large in the Western world—a grandstand view of meanness, selfishness, pettiness, spite, cruelty, injustice and unkindness. It’s nothing new, it’s always been there—in fact the whole shitty project of Western Imperialism and industrial modernity is built upon this swamp. And it’s not news at all to those of the Global Majority—it’s just that it’s now becoming visible to those of us who, until recently, have had the privilege of choosing not to see it. But the gloves (and blinkers) are off, and the shadow of modernity walks in daylight now.
As ‘business as usual’ for industrial modernity dissolves, many of us are seeking wisdom to guide us. For me, those nomo (not-mother) elders who have been around the block and have had their dreams dashed and their hearts broken many times before are those I look to learn from. And to emulate. Both in terms of how to ride the winds of change, as well as how to take care of ourselves and each other as we do so. Because we can all become Good Ancestors, regardless of whether we have children or not.
REGISTER FREE HERE TO ATTEND LIVE AND/OR RECEIVE THE RECORDING.
This is a free public event. Whatever your age, reproductive identity, gender expression, or other identity, you are very welcome. As it is a webinar, neither your name nor voice will be on the screen—only those of the panellists. The live chat will be moderated. The video recording of the event (but not the chat) will be sent out 24 hours after the event to all who register.
My NomoCrone (nomo = not-mother + crone is not an insult!) panellists will include (in alphabetic order):
CHAT MODERATOR: RUTH BERKOWITZ (USA) is in her mid-fifties and is a Holistic Well-being Coach for childless-not-by- choice people and an Insight Meditation Teacher. With support and time, she has found new perspectives and new directions to belonging and purpose and guides other involuntarily childless women and men in navigating grief, finding acceptance, and looking to what’s next. She holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis in Spiritual Psychology. Ruth has facilitated groups and counselled individuals coping with many of life’s challenges. Leading a Caregivers Support Group in her local community, and coaching childless caregivers of parents online has brought additional richness and depth to her work. Within the Childless Collective online community (formerly the Gateway Women online community), Ruth hosts its Mispacha group (for childless Jewish women). https://yourlemonadelife.com/
DR STELLA DUFFY OBE (UK/NZ) is in her early 60s. She grew up in Aotearoa/New Zealand and has lived in the UK since her early 20s. She is an existential psychotherapist and also teaches psychotherapy theory and practice, as well as an award-winning writer of seventeen novels, over seventy short stories, and fifteen plays. Her doctoral research was in the embodied experience of postmenopause, and she is currently rewriting her thesis for mass-market publication with Virago, entitled Being The Change – it’s a guide to embracing our creative postmenopause. Stella is also a yoga teacher who teaches yoga for writers. She and her wife are childless due to cancer treatment and subsequent failed IVF. http://stelladuffy.blog
ELIZABETH GRAMBSCH (USA) is in her late 50’s. A musician, performance coach and licensed Gateway Women workshop facilitator, she lives with her husband near Minneapolis, USA; they are childless due to health-related issues and after multiple miscarriages. Elizabeth has shared Germanic and Obijwe heritage which deeply informs her approach to ancestral healing and reintegration after trauma. elizabethgrambsch.com
MARIA HILL (US) is in her 70s. She is a World Childless Week Ambassador and a long-time member of the Gateway Women/Childless Collective online community. She is the founder of Sensitive Evolution and the author of The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World. She is a writer, coach, healer, and transformative thinker illuminating the connection between culture, identity and the self. She can be found on her Substack, A Different Dream, where she discusses the current cultural shift from hierarchical to egalitarian systems. https://mariahill.substack.com/
MUTIMA IMANI (Turtle Island / USA) is a social justice visionary, reverend, master trainer and facilitator working to heal the heart of humanity by providing 21st-century tools for personal/professional development and transformation. As a global diversity specialist, she is highly skilled at bringing diverse groups together to practice heart-centeredness, resolve conflicts, transmute old wounds and establish new relationships where all are seen and honored. Imani works with people conducting Civic Leadership Training and Restorative Justice Circles. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Phenomenology. Imani is passionate about how all things work together and what humans can learn from the natural world. She is a trainer for the Work that Reconnects International Facilitation Development Program called the Spiral Journey, which is based on the root teachings of Joanna Macy. Queen Rev. Mutima Imani is inspired to call forth the highest intention and innate wisdom in people for a more loving world. https://mutimaimani.com/
SUZAN MUIR (AUS) is in her late-fifties and experienced a powerful and intentional rite of passage in her early fifties to become a young elder; she subsequently identifies as Earth, Listening and Speaking with Clarity and Being – a Young Elder Leading Powerfully with Her Heart. Her passion for the fascinating complexity of self-generated food and energy systems has fueled her lifelong vocation of weaving sustainable connections between humans, plants, animals, soil and sustenance. She is also passionate about working with women at all stages of their lives to deepen their connection to their authentic and powerful inner selves and to the natural world through nature-based programs. The grief of living her life without children and the forest surrounding her home have been her greatest teachers. In 2023, Suzan spent 63 days alone, during winter, in the New Zealand wilderness, hunting and foraging, living under a small tarpaulin. She documented this experience and a very small part of it can be seen on ‘Alone Australia Season 2’ on SBS On Demand and the History Channel. grampiansnatureprogr
EMMA PALMER (UK) is in her mid-fifties and is the author of the book, ‘Other than Mother’, exploring the parenthood decision-making process from many facets, including ecopsychological ones. It was nominated for a 2016 Population Institute Global Media Award. Emma was named Childfree Person of the Year in 2018 and is enthusiastic about building bridges between the childless and childfree in the face of ongoing pronatalism. She lives with her partner in Bristol, England, and works as a psychotherapist, facilitator, and ecopsychologist. She’s written four other books and is working on her fifth, for, and with her ancestors. She’s been practicing Buddhism in an earth-honouring way since her early 20s, and loves the meeting place of centuries-old animistic contemplation and 21st-century action. www.kamalamani.co.uk
SARAH ROBERTS (AUS) is in her mid-fifties and is the founder of The Empty Cradle, which offers support to childless-not-by-choice women to grieve losses, navigate complex thoughts and feelings, feel more confident in social spaces and workplaces and move forward with confidence in their futures. She co-leads the Gateway Women Reignite Weekend program in Australia and New Zealand. Sarah and her husband live in an outer-suburban acreage of Brisbane and are part of a local community of intention, including supporting each other through ageing and death. This has emerged from long-term native ecosystem regeneration work and Sarah’s background and interest in social activism and permaculture, along with her counselling and community work skill sets. https://theemptycradle.com/
VICKI ROBIN (US) is in her late 70s and is a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker. She is coauthor with Joe Dominguez of the international best-seller and classic, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Viking Penguin, 1992, 1998, 2008, 2018), and author of Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; Lessons from a 10-mile diet (Viking/Penguin 2014). She is co-founder of Conversation Cafes and of the 10-Day Local Food Challenge, and hosts the podcast/YouTube interview series, What Could Possibly Go Right?, inviting cultural scouts to shine a light on what’s emerging as the pandemic, climate, the economy and polarization unravel the old normal. A non-mother, currently, she’s exploring ‘the unmapped territory from older to elder’ on her Substack Coming of Aging. Vicki serves on the Board of the Post Carbon Institute and lives by herself on Whidbey Island in Washington State, USA. https://vickirobin.com/
DONNA WARD (AUS) is 70, a writer, editor, publisher and former psychotherapist from Western Australia who now lives in Melbourne. She is the author of a 2020 memoir, She I Dare Not Name: A Spinster’s Meditations on Life, (Allen & Unwin), a global authority and thought leader on singlehood, and CEO of a new Australian organisation, Singlehood Australia www.
Find out more about Jody’s Gateway Elderwomen project here. Read Jody’s FREE essays on her Bestselling Substack ‘Gateway Elderwomen’ here. Join Jody’s ‘Childless Elderwomen’ subgroup (hosted by the Childless Collective) here. Join the Gateway Women newsletter so you don’t miss notice of the the next Fireside Wisdom call here.
