Judith Pauly: World's Oldest Living Crone  by Mary Walilko If you saw the way Judith spent her birthday last year, you might not guess it was her 70th. Today, a little more than one year later Judith is sitting in front of a swimming pool in Florida, enjoying the warmth and sunshine. Tomorrow morning she leaves for Boston to facilitate a Woman Within Training Weekend (WWTW), then she is off to Denver to do Soul Connections and then to California for another WWTW weekend. Within a few weeks she will be in South Africa for the first Women Empowering Women (WEW) Weekend presented in that country where 33 South African women are waiting for her to experience the training. Judith does not have time to be a senior citizen in any traditional sense; she is much too busy traveling around the world connecting with women who need her energy and wisdom. What was her life like “before?” Before her WWTW in 1988 . . . before she starting staffing . . . before becoming a WW Leader? Judith replies, “I had a handsome and successful advertising executive husband and three beautiful children and my own lucrative marketing research company. We lived in a large beautiful house in Evanston, a North Shore Chicago suburb. I was head of the PTA, a Docent of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, taught private piano lessons, was an Elder and Youth Music Director at my church, sang in the choir and was involved in politics . . .  I liked my life but the children were in trouble and everything was falling apart”. I asked about her WWTW.  "Char Tosi was there. The weekends were not as formally structured back then with fewer rules. I remember reading the guidelines and they said: Don't hit anyone." Judith mentions that she is no longer a Weekend Leader: “I was a WW Crone but left because I did not want to spend my time on protocol. My passion is facilitating.”  I ask her if she likes to break the rules: “It’s been said about me that I like to break the rules.  . . sometimes I resist the rules when they don't make sense. I have been told I have a Cloud of Energy that follows me (lots of stuff happening) around me. I really come into my power, though, when I allow myself to become an open channel." On the carpet: "It works when I become a channel for the Divine/Source. I believe we are not alone, but my ego needs to get out of the way, I must stay authentic, taking risks, following my bliss. Someone recently said to me,  "Judith, you make connections with absolutely everyone." Has she always been highly intuitive? Judith says she was told she was "wise" when she was a child. She loves working with people, creating connections.  What is the joy in her life?  “Being in connection with my Source and with other women. Oh, and very close to that are my two grandsons.” What Judith wants us to know about her: She says she still has an awful lot to learn. Being part of the Diversity Committee is a chance to go deeper into connections.  She likes to be the Outrageous Crone, calling herself, "The world's oldest living crone" or wearing t-shirts with sayings like, "Older Than Dirt." Her greatest stretch? Follow-though with what she has to do, with all that she wants to do, especially paperwork. She creates entire Workshops but loses things.  Wisely, she is in the process of hiring two assistants to keep her straight. Her biggest shadow? Feelings of inadequacy, that she is not doing it right, never knows if it is good enough, asking those around her if it was okay (after a presentation). What does she want to say to other women? “What women need is a commitment to bring peace into the world, need to be in connection with the feminine warrior energy. Each women must learn to love and forgive herself and find her beautiful, shining soul, has to open herself to create change. In her personal life, Judith is divorced, the mother of three and grandmother to two little boys, Dryver and Stryde as well as surrogate grandma, mom and aunt to many. She has a place in her sister’s home in Florida as well as rooms reserved for her in several other homes around the country, including two in Chicago, one in Denver and Houston, as well as one in London.  She loves to play board games and card games. She knits. Judith knitted Affirmation Scarves to raise money for the first South African WWTW last year, placing blessing energy into each of the scarves. I ask her what her kids think of their mother’s life today. “My son Jim is in awe of me as I am of him. My younger daughter Molly worries about my Gypsy lifestyle, and my older daughter Abby and I are on a journey together. The one thing she says she misses from her old life is "not having everything in one place." Judith does not like living in Florida yet: "Not enough happenin'. But this could be because I have not integrated into the community or made many connections.” Judith enjoyed her life before and still does many of the same thing she used to do: such as, coming to Chicago in December "to spend time with family and going to the annual Music of the Baroque Concert as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert.  I also try to get to Gino's Pizza." I ask her what she will do when she retires: “I would to like to have a healing center: a beautiful place in nature, with workshops, alternative medicine, yoga, all the healing arts.” I can sense this will become a reality for Judith. What did Judith do on her 70th birthday? She celebrated her birthday by riding a half-dozen roller coasters at Six Flags Great America. Judith Pauly (1988, Delavan, WI) JKPSOUL@aol.com 312.952.7896 The workshops Judith has created or co-created include, "From Princess to Queen," for girls ages 13 – 17, (inspired by MKP's Boys to Men weekend); "Finding Mother Peace" for women who want to work on mother issues; "Shame Busters," a one-day workshop for men and women; "Unleashing the Power of Your Soul;" and her one-on-one "Soul Connection" process. She is currently working on her book which she is determined to finish by her next birthday.

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