METAMORPHOSIS
Menopause as Initiation
Let’s be real.
A lot of things are changing.
Your body, the way you think, how you feel about yourself, your life, the people in it.
Not to mention who you are in the midst of it all.
Maybe there’s a quiet voice that suddenly won’t be silenced.
Perhaps you’re exhausted from carrying all that has been.
And now, because of that, you’re unwilling to keep tolerating it.
What I know is: There’s a reason you’re here.
And no, it’s not because you’re in a decline or because you’re suddenly dysfunctional. Or going a bit bonkers. (Even though it can feel that way.)
What’s even more radical, is you don’t need to fix yourself or what you’re experiencing.
Truth is, what you're experiencing isn't random, or even just biological.
There’s a deeper pattern unfolding beneath all of it.
A threshold you’re crossing.
An initiation.
It’s a profound reorientation into the next phase of your life.
Yep! Because white-knuckling your way through midlife shouldn’t be the plan.
It comes from discovering you’re not alone.
That there are other women who understand. Who just get it…
And the relief in finally not having to explain yourself.
Of course you would, love
I’m going to say it again for those in the back:
There’s nothing wrong with you.
And you’re not the only one experiencing this.
Yes, you might be sitting awake at 3am with your head in the freezer.
Sure, you could be running around looking 20mins for the readers sitting right on top of your pretty little head.
Maybe you’re even getting a little snippy with the best of them and wondering where it’s coming from.
But: There’s nothing wrong with you.
Women across the globe–in fact, millions of us–are asking the same questions:
What’s happening to me?
Why does it feel like my life doesn’t fit me anymore?
Who the holy hell am I now?
Why does everything feel so bloody different?
Why this feels so damn hard:
It’s not just the hot flashes or night sweats
We’re taught that peri/menopause is biological.
That it’s all about hormones. The intolerance, the forgetfulness, the bloatedness, the lack of sleep and even the night sweats or lower libido that happens to some of us are all explained by this.
Yet, underneath this, it’s as if something else–a deeper wisdom or knowing within–wants to tell another story.
And it’s one that’s harder to hear since the modern version is so incredibly loud.
Your body is signaling you to become more honest with yourself.
When you finally say ‘no’ and mean it, isn’t selfish … you’re refusing to continue abandoning yourself.
The truth is: You’re remembering what it was like before you were the young girl who learned to make herself smaller, just so she could fit in.
Your body is radically showing you how you don’t have to care for everyone else first.
Midlife is an initiation…
And there are steps into the unknown you must take.
But for so very long, we haven’t been told this. We’ve been floundering, trying to figure it all out, feeling isolated, alone.
When peri/menopause is reframed as an initiatory journey, you understand you must cross thresholds into the unknown, trusting each wobbly step of the way … even whilst fumbling around in the dark.
At each step (gateway), you release something that no longer fits your life … something you’ve now outgrown.
What they don’t tell you is that you’re in an active growth stage that is often extremely uncomfortable, disorienting, and sometimes painful.
These are the tell-tale signs of rites of passages, love.
To know it’s a rite of passage is to know that absolutely everything changes…
…The way you see yourself, others, where you’ve been, and where you’re going.
You’re reorienting your life, building it around your actual truth and this has a quality that the previous one—however full it appeared—simply does not.
I spent eleven years walking this passage myself and searching for a map–a way to navigate this unknown passage–that didn't seem to exist.
So, I built one.
— Elayne Kalila
Let me introduce you…
…To the woman you were never introduced to. Are you ready?
You know about the three primary, traditional feminine archetypes:
Maiden. Mother. Crone.
You remember your youth, perhaps you’ve mothered … and now in your late 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s … you’re supposed to be placed directly into the Crone category.
Yet, you’re not quite the elder.
Something has been missing in our culture: The woman in the middle; the midlife woman.
Where is the woman who has lived enough life to know herself?
The woman beginning to question everything she created?
Whose body and priorities are changing?
She isn’t the Maiden. Or Mother. And she’s not yet the Crone.
Who is she?
Well, she really wants to meet you...
She is the missing fourth face of the feminine.
Maiden. Mother. Maven. Crone.
Oh, this woman. This brave, daring woman is no longer being the one that society told her she had to be.
She’s starting to live life on her terms.
She’s becoming who she truly is.
And since you’re standing in the peri/menopausal passage,The Midlife Maven isn’t waiting somewhere in the future.
She is being born through the life you’re living right now.
Would you like to get to know her better?
7
The
gateways
of initiation
Throughout the 9-month journey, you’ll discover why menopause is often called the second great hormonal threshold … and how the young girl who first crossed into womanhood may still have wisdom waiting for you.
Each gateway has an archetypal guide that you’ll “meet” to hold you through that passage.
At the end, you’ll meet the Midlife Maven. She is a title or honour offered once this rite of passage is complete.
Gateway
Reckoning
Release
Unknown
Self-Devotion
Body Love
Self-Expression
Embodied Wisdom
Supporting Archetype
Red Maven
High Priestess
Death Maiden
Rosa Mystica
Ecstatic Alchemist
Divine Sophia
Sovereign Queen
This is not your mama’s menopause course
No, darling. It’s not.
Most menopause programs help you manage symptoms–which can be great. Helpful, even.
But Metamorphosis is different:
This is a sanctuary where you don’t have to fix or figure yourself out.
You simply get to be held in one of the most profound passages of your life.
We don’t rush initiation.
You don’t have to understand everything that’s happening, love.
And you will be with other women who get it.
Here, you receive a space where you can safely surrender into the unknown, trusting that what’s unfolding has its own wisdom and timing. (Ahhhh, sigh of relief)
Your hormones aren’t the only thing changing.
Your identity, desires, relationships, voice, life are all changing, too.
This passage is psychological, biological, emotional, spiritual, and relational. All at once.
We’re curious about what’s returning.
What’s emergent.
Like the truth of who you are now.
Your creative voice.
Your fullest expression.
The liberatory love that lives within you.
We’re exploring the entire arc of womanhood … and this is a sanctuary for who you are becoming.
What wants to be born through you now?
There’s something that most people don’t talk about that happens during peri/menopause: The gift of starting to speak what you mean without filtering.
Because there’s something underneath, driving it.
There’s a powerful emergence of expression. To speak your voice, to discover and actually live your purpose outside all of the roles and responsibilities that you’ve had to hold up until this point.
And when those start to shift, change–and even sometimes fall away–a new space is open for creativity.
So, what wants to emerge?
What happens when you
finally
don’t have to explain yourself…
I’m going to tell you a secret.
OK, maybe it’s not a secret.
But for so many women, the absolutely most unexpected part of containers and journeys together isn’t the actual teachings (as amazing as those may be, thank you very much).
It’s the women.
Something happens–something magical,
even–when you realise you’re not the only one.
There’s this moment when someone speaks, and you find yourself nodding before they’ve even finished the sentence.
Ahhh, and then that ‘thank the goddess’ feeling you get when you finally don’t have to explain why you’re exhausted or were up Googling menopause symptoms at 3am!
You meet women who become soul friends. Kindred ones. Those you feel as if you’ve walked other lifetimes with.
As if you could say, “Oh … there you are!”
All these wonderful women, finally discovering, just as you are, that there’s not a bloody thing wrong with them.
This isn’t a rite of passage to do solo.
This is a container, a circle of women remembering themselves: Together.
YES.
Let’s go meet them!
What exactly is
Metamorphosis?
Well, I’ll tell you what it’s not.
It’s not a course. Or a program.
Sure, there’s a course or program inside this container.
But Metamorphosis is a choice to enter a 9-month rite of passage.
And it’s specifically for women crossing the midlife threshold.
You finally get to be held … instead of doing all the holding.
You’ll spiral through a group mentorship–a journey of seven gateways–meeting seven archetypal guides along each one.
By the end of the passage, you will have sat at the feet of all seven, and discovered that the lineage behind them runs deeper than you dreamt possible…
Each gateway carries a power that has been, in most women, dormant or disowned.
There are 9 modules. Inside each one, you’ll receive meditations, journeys, practices, rituals, and a specific transformation that you’re being invited to embody.
Each step along the way, you’ll be deeply cared for, mentored, and witnessed by other women who get it …
women who are on the same journey as you.
The Menopause Monologue
So, you’ve heard of The Vagina Monologues…
But have you heard of the Menopause Monologues?
No?
Well, darling, that’s because we’re creating them. Together.
Yes, you heard that right.
Before your heart beats out of your chest out of fear and dread–or absolute excitement–let me break it down for you.
Throughout the nine months, you’ll be gathering pieces of your story: Your reckonings, what you’ve released, the descents into the unknown … not to mention moments that changed everything for you … and the wisdom.
Slowly, month by month, you’ll begin weaving these threads together into something extraordinary…
Your Menopause Monologue: A sacred declaration of the journey you’ve walked and the woman you’ve become.
You absolutely don’t need to be a writer.
You don’t need to be a speaker.
You simply need to be willing to tell the truth.
And that’s because something extraordinary happens when you finally hear your life spoken aloud with clarity, compassion, and meaning.
When this is witnessed by other women who truly understand and have walked beside you, it is even more powerful. Because these are the women who can look you in the eye and say:
“I see you.”
At the completion of Metamorphosis, you’ll share your Menopause Monologue during our Rite of Passage—either virtually or in person, depending on the path you’ve chosen.
This is a profound opportunity to declare, to mark the occasion that you have crossed the final threshold in this rite of passage.
If your story wants to go further…
There’s also an opportunity, should your heart desire, to be an author and contribute your Menopause Monologue to a collective anthology called Mid-life.
Writing for an anthology is a powerful way to share your voice, expand your reach, and be part of a sacred collective of women answering the call to speak truth.
This becomes a living record of women crossing the threshold consciously. A book of stories and wisdom, it is truly a testimony of women who chose not to walk this rite of passage alone.
Participation is entirely optional and there is an investment. (Scroll down for more details.)
For women in the Sovereign Sanctum, this is included.
You can publish under your name, anonymously, or under a pseudonym.
What matters not is being published or even the publication itself. Instead, it’s preserving your voice and story.
The Journey
The rite of passage opens Wednesday, August 19, 2026, and closes Wednesday, April 28, 2027.
We meet Wednesdays at 12pm PT. Except where noted. All live sessions are recorded.
THE MONTHLY RHYTHM
Week 1
Main Temple. Held by Elayne. The teaching transmission of the Gateway. (90mins, live)
Week 2
Sister Circle. Held by your mentor in a small, intimate circle where the work lands in the body and the field. (90mins, live)
Week 3
Deepening Week. No class. Space for practice, journaling, dreaming, integration.
Week 4
Midlife Maven Council. Held by Elayne & mentors. Bring the module to a close in a ceremonial space with embodied ritual/practices.
I know that as we enter this time of our lives, we feel as if we don’t have a lot of time. This is often part of the initiation. It is the very work of the rite of passage–to learn to take back the time that has been flowing outward toward everyone and everything else–and return to yourself.
Your willingness to commit this time is part of the rite.
Your Modules
Every module follows the same structure and rhythm, so your body can settle into the journey.
While each gateway explores a different threshold of the peri/menopausal passage, you’ll be held by a consistent structure that supports reflection, embodiment, and integration.
Each month includes:
- Live teaching gathering (Temple with Elayne Kalila)
- Live Sister Circle: an intimate group conversation to deepen the journey in community (with your mentor; if you choose the deeper or sovereign sanctum, Elayne Kalila will be your mentor)
- Live Midlife Maven Council: a gathering with Elayne Kalila hosting with the mentors where you complete the module with embodied ritual.
- Journal & dreamwork prompts
- Guided meditations
- Sacred rituals & embodied practices
- Dedicated body section to help you understand & tend to what is unfolding physically
- Menopause Monologue prompts & inspiration
MODULE 1 - ORIENTATION: THE MIDLIFE MAVEN
Meet the Midlife Maven–the woman our culture forgot to name–and begin to understand why this threshold may be asking more of you than symptom management.
You'll explore:
- The Sacred Rose & 7 Gateways of the journey
- The Puberty Mirror & the younger self who may still have wisdom waiting for you
- A new understanding of peri/menopause as initiation rather than decline
MODULE 2 - THE RECKONING
This is where you start seeing things, recognizing things … like all that you’ve been tolerating, carrying, minimizing, or quietly overriding become impossible to ignore.
You’ll begin understanding why this threshold can feel so confronting, and why what seems problematic, may actually be guiding you.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to see that the very thing you’ve been trying to fix, might just be pointing you home to yourself.
You'll explore:
- The places you’ve been abandoning yourself in order to keep the peace, meet expectations, or hold everything together
- The ancestral patterns, inherited stories, and mother-line influences that may still be shaping your choices today
- What is happening in your body and nervous system as the “truth-telling” intelligence of this passage comes online
- A new relationship with your body’s wisdom, your blood, and the deeper guidance emerging through this threshold
- How to recognize the difference between breakdown & reckoning—and why they are not the same thing
MODULE 3 - RELEASE
Now that you’ve begun to see clearly, something starts to loosen.
Roles you’ve outgrown, expectations you’ve been carrying, and even the agreements you’ve made with yourself about who you need to be.
This gateway is not about blowing up your life, love. Instead, you’ll release what is no longer true.
You’ll begin cultivating a deeper trust in your inner knowing and create space for what is trying to emerge.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to feel what becomes possible when your energy is no longer spent maintaining a life that no longer fits.
You'll explore:
- The roles, responsibilities, and patterns that may have quietly outlived their purpose
- The difference between obligation & devotion—and how to recognize what is truly yours to carry
- A deeper relationship with your inner knowing, wisdom, and truth
- Practices to help you release one expectation, one performance, and one old agreement at a time
- The grief, relief, and unexpected freedom that often arise when you stop holding everything together
MODULE 4 - THE UNKNOWN
OK, so the old ways that your life made sense aren’t working out quite the same, but you still don’t know what’s coming next. This can feel like standing between worlds.
Not who you were …and not yet who you’re becoming.
You’ll learn how to navigate uncertainty without needing immediate answers, and discover why this threshold asks for trust – not control.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to understand that the unknown is not something to fear.
Hint: It’s often where the next version of your life is quietly waiting for you.
You'll explore:
- The fears, griefs, truths, and unresolved experiences that may be asking for your attention at this stage of life
- How to move through uncertainty without rushing to fix, solve, or prematurely resolve what is unfolding
- The difference between being lost & being in transition
- Practices for meeting yourself with greater compassion, honesty, and courage during periods of change
- A deeper relationship with the stillness, wisdom, and inner strength that emerge when you stop running from the unknown
MODULE 5 - SELF DEVOTION
This is the turning point. You’ve been in the descent, and now something new begins to shine through. This isn’t self-improvement or self-care: It’s self-devotion.
After years of tending to everyone else, this gateway invites you to place yourself back at the centre of your life … not from selfishness, but from love.
You’ll explore what it means to become devoted to your well-being, truth, desires, and becoming.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to understand that self-devotion isn’t something you earn. It ‘s something you remember.
You'll explore:
- The difference between self-care & true self-devotion
- The patterns of over-giving, over-functioning, and self-abandonment that may have shaped your life
- Practices that help you rebuild trust, tenderness, and reverence toward yourself
- A deeper relationship with your heart, your needs, and the wisdom of your own desires
- What becomes possible when you stop waiting for permission and begin choosing yourself from the inside
MODULE 6 - BODY LOVE
Welcome to your homecoming, darling.
I know: for many women, the relationship with the body became complicated long ago. Maybe even at puberty. Or motherhood. Perhaps through years of criticism, comparison, performance, or simply learning to treat her as something to manage rather than something to trust and be in relationship with.
This is about coming home to the body you have today, not the one at 20 … and not the one our culture insists you “should” have.
You’ll begin to reclaim your body as an ally, a source of wisdom, and a living expression of your life force.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to experience your body not as a problem to solve, but as a companion guiding you home to yourself.
You'll explore:
- What your changing body may be asking for at this threshold of life
- The patterns of criticism, disconnection, and self-abandonment that can begin to soften when we learn to listen
- Practices for rebuilding trust, tenderness, and connection with your body
- The reclamation of sensuality, pleasure, and aliveness as your birthright—not as performance, but as presence
- A new understanding of beauty, vitality, and embodiment beyond the expectations of youth
MODULE 7 - SELF EXPRESSION
And, your voice returns. Oh, no. Not that polite, edited, nice voice. Not the edited version that learned to stay quiet, stay agreeable, or small. Nope! Your voice.
The one that has been gathering strength throughout the entire journey.
You’ll explore what it means to stand more fully in your truth, authority, and unique expression in the world.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to discover what becomes possible when your voice no longer asks permission to exist.
You'll explore:
- The stories, truths, and wisdom that are ready to be spoken after years of silence, softening, or self-censorship
- What it means to embody your authority without needing to control, convince, or perform
- The ancestral patterns of silencing and self-abandonment that may still shape how you express yourself
- Practices for speaking with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity
- The beginnings of your Menopause Monologue—a personal expression of the journey you’ve been walking and the woman you are becoming
MODULE 8 - EMBODIED WISDOM
And so you’ve arrived. Everything you’ve reclaimed now begins to settle and integrate into lived experience … as wisdom.
You’ll reflect on the path you’ve walked and begin to recognize the woman who has emerged through it.
The woman who no longer needs to become herself.
The woman who is herself.
By the end of this gateway, you’ll begin to understand that wisdom is not something you acquire.
Or even earn. It’s what you embody. What you actually live: The Midlife Maven.
You'll explore:
- The integration of everything you’ve reclaimed throughout the journey—from self-trust and devotion to sovereignty, voice, and embodied wisdom
- What it means to live from your own knowing rather than seeking answers outside yourself
- The practice of recognizing and honoring the woman you have become
- The completion of your Menopause Monologue and the deeper story it reveals about your life
- A new relationship with uncertainty, change, and the ongoing unfolding of your path
MODULE 9 - THE RITE OF PASSAGE
Every rite of passage has a moment when the journey becomes visible. You see the end and where you are now … because you’ve fully crossed over. Not finished.
Over the course of 9 months, you will have walked 7 Gateways, reclaimed forgotten parts of yourself, and gathered the wisdom of your own experience.
And now, your journey is witnessed in a sacred ceremony to mark your crossing into the Midlife Maven.
You’ll speak your Menopause Monologue … a personal declaration of what you’ve lived, learned, released, reclaimed, and become.
This isn’t a performance, love, but a way to be fully seen in all of who you are as you finally tell the truth of your life.
By the end of this rite, you won’t simply understand the Midlife Maven. You will know her as yourself. And you will have been witnessed by women who walked beside you every step of the way.
You'll explore:
- Guided support to shape your Menopause Monologue throughout the journey
- A sacred witnessing ceremony held in community
- The Blessing of the Midlife Maven
- Rituals of recognition, completion, and celebration
- A powerful transition from initiation into embodied living
- The opportunity to contribute your Monologue to a collective anthology of women’s voices and stories
You finally get to be held–instead of doing all the holding.
Here’s everything that’s waiting to hold you…
Gatherings & Guidance
- 9 Main Temples held by Elayne
- 9 Sister Circles in small held groups, facilitated by your mentor (if you’re in the Deeper or Sovereign Sanctums, then Elayne is your mentor)
- 9 Midlife Maven Councils hosted by Elayne and the mentors
- 27 live classes across 9 months
Practices & Teachings
- 2 meditations per module (one biologically grounded, one spiritually attuned)
- Embodied practices & sacred rituals at every gateway
- Dream & journal prompts for the deeper work
- Prompts & inspiration to write your Menopause Monologue
- The full live recording library, yours to keep
Your Personal Journey
- A guided journey across all 7 gateways of initiation
- Creation of your Menopause Monologue–a sacred declaration of your journey of womanhood and the journey you have walked (if you choose Deeper or Sovereign Sanctums, you will perform this monologue during the live rite of passage retreat)
- Authorship opportunity in the anthology, “Mid-life” (Included in Sovereign Sanctum, otherwise offered at a $1k discounted investment)
- A 2-week sacred rest from December 23-January 5
- Initiation Ceremony to witness you becoming the Midlife Maven
The Rite of Passage
- An optional 3-day in-person Rite of Passage retreat, April 2-4, 2027 at Elayne’s home in Northern California (included in Deeper and Sovereign Sanctums)
- Live witnessing of the Menopause Monologues
- The Crowning, Blessing, and Going Forth
- The embodied crossing into the Midlife Maven
Of course, not! We’ll do it together.
You won’t be the same…
and you’ll be more than OK with it…
We’ve been sold a ridiculous story that we’ve bought into. That peri/menopause is the beginning of the end. The slow decline into irrelevance. The time when a woman becomes invisible and past her peak.
That story is an outright lie.
The thing is, when you walk through this passage consciously, you become wildly, inconveniently, magnificently alive.
This aliveness doesn’t have to do with youth. It’s about depth. You’ve been to the bottom of yourself. You know what lives there and have faced yourself in the mirror.
This can be the most powerful time of your entire life.
A time you start to truly trust yourself and stop abandoning yourself.
When you eventually stop bleeding, you end up holding your blood … so that you can rebirth yourself, instead of creating life outside of you.
And when that happens?
Well, the world better bloody watch out!
Because you simply just won’t have time or energy or even the aptitude for any of the nonsense that has been keeping you up at night for years.
It’s as if it dissolves away into a place where now you can see what matters to you at this stage of your life. And shockingly, maybe for the first time ever, this stage includes you!
Hallelujah!
All kinds of things start to happen along this journey...
You finally get to feel like you can just be yourself.
Ahhh, and the juicy part that you never get told…
You can reclaim erotic aliveness after decades of bending to everyone else’s comfort.
I mean full aliveness.
The full-body YES to your own existence!
To take up space.
Hunger for YOUR life.
On YOUR terms.
Why 9 months?
Initiation takes time.
It takes time to deepen, to integrate, to become.
We live in a world that consumes, produces, rushes.
But a rite of passage is not about that.
Even our bodies hold this wisdom.
It takes 9 sacred months to grow a human.
And so, how beautiful it is, that you take 9 months to birth yourself.
Meet Elayne Kalila
I’ve been guiding women through life’s thresholds for over 30 years as a psychotherapist, priestess, ritual guide,ceremonialist and wild midlife maven!
…And for the past 11 years, I’ve been inside the passage, too, walking my own peri/menopausal journey. There’s been the dark night of the soul, the reckonings, grief, revelations … unexpected freedom, and a slow return to myself.
I know this terrain because I have lived it.
Metamorphosis was born from the intersection of three things:
The women I have walked beside.
The lineages and teachings I have devoted my life to studying.
And the path I’ve walked myself.
I’ve found this map, this way to navigate, the hard way.
And frankly, I don’t recommend that approach!
Metamorphosis is something I wish someone had offered me:
A way through, alongside other sisters who just get it.
And I’d be ever so honoured to walk alongside you.
Meet your guides
You’re held by experienced mentors in this rite of passage
You’re held in small circles of women, guided by experienced mentors who are, themselves, Midlife Mavens. They’ve walked this passage and carry the lineage of holding circles. They’ve been trained and trusted to hold deep, intimate work.
If you choose Deeper or Sovereign Sanctums, I (Elayne Kalila) will be your mentor.
Chloe Fielding-Smith
Chloe is a Mystic who has been ‘consciously’ devoted to walking the Way of Love for the past 10 years. She is dedicated to continually deepening her Priestess skill set, and sharing her gifts with those around her.
Sarah Devereux
Sarah is an ordained Priestess, psychotherapist, and bard extraordinaire. She has been travelling the path of the Midlife Maven for years & is a guide for women on the threshold of change.
Katrina Young
body, and spirit.
Suzi Zorbist
wisdom keeper devoted to guiding women through the sacred
thresholds of becoming.
Dianne Chalifour
You’ll gather once a month for nine months, for a smaller, more intimate space … which is perfect for questions too tender for the larger group.
Your mentor will see you, know you, and hold you … and your smaller circle become very close to one another.
Choose the way you want to be held
…Same rite of passage: 3 levels of depth
The difference is the level of intimacy, mentorship, and witnessing you desire.
Sanctuary:
Online
The complete nine-month journey for women who feel called to walk the full initiation from wherever they are in the world.
Includes all teachings, rituals, meditations, Sister Circles, Integration Councils, and the virtual Rite of Passage. Your Menopause Monologue is performed in a virtual closing ceremony.
This tier is complete in itself. You do not receive a lesser initiation here. You receive the whole journey.
Anthology participation is offered at a discount. The full investment is $2,222. You will receive it for $1,222 (a thousand dollar gift to you) if you wish to contribute your voice to the collective record of this work. The book becomes a continuation of the rite into the world.
Deeper Sanctum:
Online + In-Person Retreat
For women who feel called to gather in person for the final crossing. This includes everything in the Sanctuary, plus a 3-day Rite of Passage Retreat April 2-4, 2027 in Nevada City, California (at Elayne’s home temple).
Your mentor for each Sister Circle is Elayne Kalila. So you get to be close to her and connect on a much more intimate level, receiving her personal wisdom and guidance.
This is where the Menopause Monologues are spoken and performed in sacred witness. And where you have the special opportunity to gather in person with the women you’ve been walking together with for the past 9 months, to mark what has changed, together.
Anthology participation is offered at a discount. The full investment is $2,222. You will receive it for $1,222 (a thousand dollar gift to you) if you wish to contribute your voice to the collective record of this work. The book becomes a continuation of the rite into the world.
Sovereign Sanctum:
Online + Retreat + 1:1 Mentoring
For women who feel called into the deepest level of mentorship and support. This includes everything in Deeper Sanctum, plus private mentoring with Elayne for 9 months. This is where Elayne walks beside you not only in the temple and the circle, but in private session, holding the specific shape of your particular crossing.
It’s also the beginning of a longer relationship with the work.
For some women, this journey isn’t just about initiation … they want to become part of a lineage.
Sovereign Sanctum is for those who feel called to the longer arc of this work: a deeper relationship with the teachings, community, and women who will walk this path after them.
That’s because many women in this tier will go on to mentor, guide, and help shape future generations of Midlife Mavens…
Applications are limited to ensure each woman receives the depth of attention this tier is designed to provide.
- Private 1:1 mentoring sessions with Elayne Kalila across the nine months: a total of 18 Personal 1:1 mentoring sessions 60 mins each
(bi weekly) - Private monologue coaching, tailored to your voice and the specific shape of your monologue
- Voice or text access between sessions via WhatsApp – think of having Kalila in your back pocket for the whole 9 months.
- Featured placement in the anthology, with editorial collaboration with Elayne Kalila directly on your monologue’s preparation for publication
- Metamorphosis style makeover, which includes coming in a day early for the retreat (Elayne will do your colours and go on a shopping spree)
The Rite of Passage 3-Day Retreat
The crowning retreat unfolds across three days and is held in Nevada City, California, at Elayne’s home temple.
This is a rare and precious opportunity to finally be in person with the beloved women whom you’ve been walking beside across the 9 month journey. Together, you’ll witness one another. It will feel like a reunion.
When you choose the Deeper or Sovereign Sanctum, then the retreat is included.
We Open the Temple
You arrive at Elayne Kalila’s home temple. We open our Metamorphosis temple time together and create sacred space to honour all that we’ve travelled over the past nine months. We light the fire of arrival. We lay down what has been released, and gather up what is to be reclaimed. This first day is a reunion. It’s the long exhale of being met, face to face, in a room that knows what you have come through.
You have crossed every threshold. Now you step through the last one in the flesh.
Day 2 | April 3
The Menopause Monologues
The last of the monologues are spoken and witnessed in the morning, completing the circle of voices. Then, we move into the Final Rite of Passage. This is the Crowning. The Midlife Maven within you is named, blessed, and welcomed across the threshold, as the woman you have become. We close the temple together, and you walk back into your life carrying the beauty of what is now your embodied wisdom.
Day 3 | April 4
The Final Rite of Passage
This is the day your voice takes its place at the centre of the circle. Across the journey, you’ve been writing your Menopause Monologue, your sacred story of loss, reckoning, and rebirth. Today, you finally speak it aloud. One by one, we perform our monologues and hold each other in sacred witness throughout the day. We will offer deep listening to consecrate each story, handing each woman back to herself, larger than before.
You arrive at Elayne Kalila’s home temple. We open our Metamorphosis temple time together and create sacred space to honour all that we’ve travelled over the past nine months. We light the fire of arrival. We lay down what has been released, and gather up what is to be reclaimed. This first day is a reunion. It’s the long exhale of being met, face to face, in a room that knows what you have come through.
You have crossed every threshold. Now you step through the last one in the flesh.
This is the day your voice takes its place at the centre of the circle. Across the journey, you’ve been writing your Menopause Monologue, your sacred story of loss, reckoning, and rebirth. Today, you finally speak it aloud. One by one, we perform our monologues and hold each other in sacred witness throughout the day. We will offer deep listening to consecrate each story, handing each woman back to herself, larger than before.
Nevada City, California at Elayne Kalila’s temple home
Lunch will be provided on each of the days. Our chef, Susan, will create beautiful organic meals that will leave you feeling deeply nourished and cared for.
You’re not investing in 9 months
You’re investing in the next 30 years of your life
This is the initiation of self-devotion, where you choose, in these 9 months, an investment into the woman who will love, create, speak, discern, work, and lead from an entirely different place than where she is now.
This is the crossing into who you are becoming–the Midlife Maven–and there’s no going back.
Real talk: this isn’t inexpensive. There’s immense depth, holding, lineage, mentors and mentorship, and a rite of passage which all has real cost.
Yet, payment plans are available.
And a small number of partial scholarships are reserved for women whose circumstances require additional support and feel the call to step through this initiatory threshold.
SANCTUARY
ONLINE JOURNEY
Early Enrollment
$2,797
or 9 payments of
$297
After July 18
$3,997
$300 DEPOSIT & APPROVED
APPLICATION SECURES YOUR PLACE
DEEPER SANCTUM
ONLINE JOURNEY +
IN-PERSON CALIFORNIA RETREAT
Early Enrollment
$9,491
or 9 payments of
$999
After July 18
$11, 997
$500 DEPOSIT & APPROVED APPLICATION SECURES YOUR PLACE
SOVEREIGN SANCTUM
ONLINE JOURNEY + IN-PERSON RETREAT + AUTHORSHIP IN AN ANTHOLOGY + 1:1 MENTORSHIP
Premium offering Limited space.
Private, personalized mentorship with
Elayne Kalila
BY APPLICATION & PERSONAL CONVERSATION WITH ELAYNE
Not sure which sanctuary is yours?
Apply anyway.
We’ll help you discern which path best supports your journey.
You might be called here if…
- Your body is changing & you sense something deeper is happening than hormones alone can explain.
- You can no longer ignore what isn’t working, what isn’t true, or what no longer fits.
- You feel caught between who you were and who you are becoming.
- You’ve been navigating this passage alone & long for guidance, witnessing, and sisterhood.
- Your doctor may call you peri-menopausal, menopausal, or post-menopausal–but your soul knows the journey isn’t finished.
- You’re less interested in fixing yourself and more interested in understanding what this threshold is asking of you.
- Something inside you is quietly whispering, “There’s more.”
This may not be your time if…
- You’re looking primarily for symptom management, medical advice, or a hormonal protocol.
- You want quick answers rather than a deeper relationship with the questions this passage is bringing forward.
- You feel no curiosity about the inner, emotional, spiritual, or archetypal dimensions of this transition.
- You know, without hesitation, that this threshold is complete for you and there is nothing here calling your attention.
- You aren’t willing to slow down, listen, and meet what is asking to emerge.
And if you're reading this wondering whether you're the woman I'm speaking to …
you probably already know.
Your body will recognize the invitation probably long before your mind catches up.
(Isn’t that clever!)
Question is: Are you going to trust it?
HONESTLY?
Got questions?
We have the answers!
What if I am still bleeding?
You’re absolutely welcome. Perimenopause begins long before your cycle ends.
What if my doctor says I am already post-menopausal?
Welcome in! The rite is not bound by the medical marker. The deeper question is whether you have arrived as the Midlife Maven you are becoming. If the answer is not yet, the work is for you.
What if I have never been in a women's circle before?
We’d love to have you! The circles are guided by experienced mentors and the architecture of the programme makes the depth available without requiring prior experience. What is asked of you is honesty and presence, not expertise.
Will I have direct access to Elayne?
Yes. Elayne personally leads the main Temple Gatherings (teachings) and key ceremonial moments throughout the journey.
All women in Metamorphosis will learn directly from her and be held within the field she creates.
Your level of direct access will vary by tier:
- Sanctuary includes all core teachings, ceremonies, and community experiences led by Elayne.
- Deeper Sanctum includes the full online journey + in-person retreat + deeper connection and support because she will be your sister circle mentor (which includes coaching on your Menopause Monologue).
- Sovereign Sanctum includes private 1:1 mentoring sessions with Elayne throughout the nine-month passage, along with editorial support for your Menopause Monologue and anthology contribution. You’ll also receive everything in the Deeper Sanctum.
The full details of each tier can be found in the Investment section above.
Is there a refund?
Your satisfaction with this course is our highest priority … AND we highly encourage you to enter into a deep meditation about whether you’re called to this path at this time.
If you don’t absolutely LOVE Metamorphosis, or don’t feel that it meets your needs, please let us know BEFORE September 8, 2026 and you’ll receive a full refund of monies paid MINUS the $300 or $500 admin fee.
After this cut-off date, if for any reason you choose not to complete the year, you will be responsible for paying the full amount agreed upon when registering.
What if I have never written or performed anything before? (Menopause Monologue freaks me out!)
The Menopause Monologue is not a performance test. It’s a sacred declaration, written in your voice, in whatever form it comes to you. I will guide you through every step, drawing on my background in theatre and sacred performance. Many women who have never written publicly find this work to be the place where their voice finally comes through.
What if I don't know where I am on the journey?
You don’t need to know. Many women are unsure. The first part of the journey helps you locate yourself and understand where you are within the passage.
What if I’m not sure I’m ready?
You might not feel completely ready and that’s totally ok. You don’t have to be certain. In many ways, learning to trust yourself amidst uncertainty is part of the journey.
People come because something inside them knows it’s time.
If you’ve read this far and feel both curiosity and nervousness, you’re in very good company.
How much time will this ask of me each week?
Roughly 6-8 hours a month in formal class and circle time, plus practice and journaling woven through your days.
What if life gets in the way?
You can listen to the recording within the week. The Sister Circles are the one space where live presence matters most, because the field is built between specific women. If you miss your Sister Circle, your mentor will help you integrate what came through.
The full library is yours to keep. The architecture of the nine months stays with you for the rest of your life.
What if I am in active grief, or in the middle of a hard season of life?
This work is designed to hold what is real. The Death Maiden gateway, the underworld, the descent; these are precisely the territories the programme is built to walk with you through. If your body is calling you here, that is the answer.
Can I do this alongside HRT or other medical care for menopause?
Yes. Metamorphosis complements medical support and is not a replacement for it.
Is this work religious?
This is not denominational/religious work. We’ll explore certain facets of Mary Magdalene as an archetype and spiritual presence within this work. She is open to women of every spiritual orientation, including those with no formal religious tradition. And it does not lean only into Christianity. What is asked of you is willingness to engage with the mythic and archetypal layer of this passage. No specific belief is required.
Step into Metamorphosis
Sanctuary · Online
Deeper Sanctum · Online + Retreat
Sovereign Sanctum · Online + Retreat + 1:1
You’re invited to step into the unknown and surrender, so you can be held.
To let go, to breathe, and trust that you are not alone.
It is time to be held in the embrace of other women, instead of tirelessly holding.
It is time to come home to who you really are.
WELL THEN...
It’s going to be a beautiful journey.
A Note on the Nature of This Work
Metamorphosis is a sacred initiation and rite of passage. Not medical care, psychological treatment, or therapy.
This programme does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any physical or psychological condition, including the symptoms of perimenopause or menopause. The teachings, meditations, practices, and rituals are offered as spiritual, somatic, and creative support for women walking this passage. They are not a substitute for medical or mental health care.
If you are experiencing significant physical symptoms like hormonal disruption, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular changes, severe fatigue, or anything else asking for clinical attention, please work alongside a qualified medical practitioner who specialises in menopause care.
If you are experiencing significant psychological or emotional distress (e.g. severe anxiety or depression, suicidal thoughts, unresolved trauma surfacing in disorienting ways, or any state in which your daily functioning is being affected), please work alongside a qualified mental health practitioner.
Within the programme, Elayne shares information drawn from research, clinical literature, traditional wisdom, and her training in depth psychology and the sacred feminine lineages. This information is offered as education, perspective, and suggestion. She is not personalised medical or psychological advice.
This work walks alongside the care of qualified practitioners. She does not replace them.
If you are uncertain whether this work is appropriate for you given your current physical or mental health circumstances, please speak with your medical and mental health providers before enrolling.