Crone…. By Antiga

Crone calls the darkness
and then she takes you there
shows you where you can dare
To be free
To feel what you cannot see
To be what you’ve been told
You cannot be
Weird wild womoon – cunning cunt
cutting away what nurtures you not
undoing the knot
unraveling, untying, unleashing, female fury

The Crone
ha
ha
ha
ha
is not always kind
The Crone can drive you out of your mind
The Crone can unwind your sanity
Crone weighs it all in the scale of Maat
Crone tells you what to cut away
Crone will have her say

Crone calls the dying
and sends them flying
far into the unknown
to rest their weary bones

Crone creeps up on you
scares you half to death
Crone waits for your breath
to disappear
Then she takes you with her
into the darkness

that is your own

The Archetypal Crone

Croning = “Crowning” or “Crow-ing”. 🙂

The wind whips in and brings us the winter, shaking off the few remaining dried leaves. They fall and then gather in a whipporwill, spinning in a tiny cyclone, and then crawl along the ground where they find rest. The wind whistles around a tree where the crow is perched, calling. It whips around a fire where She sits, hunched – over the steaming pot, hands curled, long white hair blowing all about her. She chants and adds her cultivated plants to the brew. The smell, raised up by the blows, brings a mouse closer. The wind whistles. The crow caws and She chants. She is the third eye, She is the death grip of winter, She is the breath of life, She is the all-seeing, She is the healer, She is the wise woman, She cuts the cord, She is the third direction and She is all three at once. She is our grandmother. She is the Crone.
We all know this image, the powerful conjurer. The wise old woman who could look into you, right through you, penetrating your entire being, as if she knew everything about you, all your secrets. Over time, this image has come to be viewed upon with loathing, disdain, hate, malice and regret. It is the weakening of this image into a negative concept that has come to weaken women. As our entire lives are now spent fighting aging we have forgotten to recognize the beauty in this phase of our lives. Anti-aging skin care products, botox, cellulite removal and plastic surgery, all methods to fight aging. We fight it, holding onto our youth as being the most enjoyable, the most sacred. We live in a world which does not accept the beauty and grace in aging.

But long ago, this image of the old lady working magick in the Winter, this was embraced by community. This was not seen as a threat but as a fundamental and necessary part of cultures worldwide. This old woman time was seen as THE most powerful and sacred of a woman’s journey and was coveted in many cultures. Those needing great assistance sought out the Crone. Grandmother was always viewed as the person who taught us the most and loved us endlessly. The shaman was the traditional archetypal White Witch, elder, Wise Woman, Sage.

We are here to invoke the honor of the Crone. We join in with those before us who have also tried to reincarnate the Crone as a positive entity in our lives, to embrace aging as a powerful magick and begin using these gifts gained from our wisdom.

With one week until the Croning ceremony, I am brimming with the anticipation of this awesome rite of passage for the two initiates whom have requested this honoring.

Blessed BE!

F’delm

Welcome Dear Ones!

As a woman reaching middle age, I am all too aware of the extremely shallow materialistic conveyance of false perfection and youthfulness that us women are expected to eek and imbue at all times, until, at some point, we fall off of the known planet, hiding away in our ugliness and lack of usefulness. Aging is a process that is no longer respected nor accepted as a beautiful phase of our lives, rather as a hideous, undesired outcome, a loss, a prelude to death and something most people fear with disdain.

Two “older” lady friends of mine, now completing menopause and desiring to embrace their third stage of life, have asked me to do a Croning Ceremony for them, to honor this transition as an accepted and profound part of life in which they take deep pride and gratitude in attaining. As I am younger than both of them and feel they are both wiser than I, I have, as a side effect, been giving my own life process a bit of contemplation.

I have decided to create this blog as a way to address the “issues” of aging, for women, and how we can transform this process from being an “issue” into a transformation, where we embrace the Wisdom we have earned from our years on Earth, and now use that wisdom to embrace the third great aspect of our lives. It is a time when we cultivate all of our life’s workings into the now in a powerful and potent way we have never before been able to do. Without worry of appearances and no longer raising our children, the freedom in embracing the Crone is truly felt. Like the Old lady Dame Gothel, all know as the witch who kept Rapunzel locked in a tower until puberty: She who was barren had the most fantastic garden! All fertility is seen and sensed in the Crones outer world. (Thanks to Ruth Gardner,  Celebrating the Crone.

In this blog I will share quips and quotes, histories and ceremonies for all to learn from and join in. I encourage you to join in and share your experiences. Like a fireside story, each of us unique individuals has goodness to share. I invite you to tell your stories by this fireside, and delight in the Power of the Crone!