Witches Haven

The Crone

Does any other word inspire more fear and aversion than that evoked by the word "Crone"?

The Crone is viewed as a hag - undesirable, old, wrinkled and bent. The post-menopausal woman - no longer relevant in the grand scheme of things. This is particularly true of the North American culture.

Instead of embracing this stage - instead of acknowledging the wonders life has taught us through our years of experience, we are being convinced that somehow being youthful, naive, without life's harvest is more desirable?

The lines on our faces represent so many things - joys, sorrows, battles won and battles lost - why would we want to eradicate them? They are part of who we are, what we have become through the grace of the Deities and our faith.

Our lessons have been hard-learned. The amazing highs and sorrowful lows; the ascension of heights and the long, hard falls. The life experience is worth so much more than gold.

Why would anyone want to deny these aspects of life, growth and maturity?

My Crone is a formidable woman. She gives me the much needed kick in my butt whenever I start to stagnate or become a little too full of what is earthly and material. She does not permit the mistakes made from inexperience or youth. If the Crone is in your life - you had better be worthy of Her.

I don't visualize the Crone as some helpless old hag, bent from life, rather, I see her as a bright beacon for me to follow on my own road into Cronehood.

She stands tall, She speaks tall - She is an ever present force in my life. She won't let me fade and disappear. Whenever I get tired....She fills me with Her energy and allows me to move forward.

Cronehood does not mean sitting on our laurels and accepting accolades for our experience and wisdom. Far from it - our learning is far from over.

This is where the Crone comes in. She will lead where we need to go, but won't provide a map. That part is up to us.

If I had to imagine a Warrior Queen - I think this imagery would be the same as my imagery for the Crone . She is at our side - fighting with us, when necessary. She will supports us if the battle is a hard one and will never allow us to give up. She will not fight the good fight in our stead, that is our responsibility as Crones. We can no longer make excuses,
that isn't permitted.

Gone are the house dress clad grandmothers of modern, popular myth. Few of us bake cherry pies. We obviously don't do the church social thing.
We simply don't have time; we are out there, living life.

We can't afford to believe that we may sit back and allow youth to take over. We can't afford to fall for the popular myth of Youth is King or
Queen.

Work, play and do them both hard. Enjoy your life.

We may now relish the freedom of no longer being responsible for our entire families. You have set your children out on a road - how and where they take their wondrous journey is now up to them.

You must be there if they falter and need a helping hand but you are no longer responsible for their actions. Anything they say and do will become part of their own experience - the lines that appear on their faces will be their badges of honour or dishonour.

Being a Crone is not being old - it is an achievement. A high honour, a banner to be worn with pride and dignity. Let the Maidens and the Mothers have their time - we have had ours and now we move on to a new and incredibly exhilarating phase of life.

Let Hollywood have its plastic existence - let them spend their money on ridiculous surgeries. No one - not even the rich and famous can stop the sands of time. The Crone will have Her way.

You can accept it with dignity or you can shame yourself by desperately holding on to "Glory Days" of youth...long gone. It matters not....the sands of time - like the Crone - are unstoppable forces.

My Crone - is my adversary, my companion and my ever present Teacher in all things. She has shown me the grace to which I can aspire as a Crone. She has shown me, that this is my decision - accept who I am - love myself and all that I have learned through the Maiden and Mother phases.

Or?

Fade away. I choose the former.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Canada License.

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