Who is the Crone?
Most simply, the one who wears the crown… the one who owns her sovereignty…
The Crone represents
the power, passion, and purpose of ancient female wisdom…
the crowning triple phase of the ancient Triple Goddess: Maiden/Mother/Crone.
Joyous, outrageous, real, and at ease, living from the inside out, she celebrates the Mystery.
The Crone’s title was related to the word crown and she represented the power of the ancient tribal matriarch who made the moral and legal decisions for her subjects and descendants.
It was the medieval metamorphosis of the wise woman into the witch that changed the word Crone from a compliment to an insult and established the stereotype of malevolent old womanhood that continues to haunt elder women today.
— Barbara Walker, The Crone (Women of Age, Wisdom and Power)
image credit: Stephanie Lostimolo
Who wears the crown?
one who gives herself authority over her queendom;
one who gives herself permission to choose what is most beneficial for herself and her constituents;
one who embodies both feminine and masculine qualities: of grace, beauty, flow, chaos, collaboration and receptivity, and of structure, form, security, safety, action, and focus.
She uses these attributes to support, benefit, guide and bless herself and her queendom.
“Clarissa Pinkola Estes suggests that the word crone may derive from the word crown (or, la corona). While a crown is known as a circlet that goes around the head and establishes one’s authority as a leader, ‘before this understanding, the crown, la corona, was understood to mean the halo of light around a person’s body. La corona was considered to shine more brightly when a person was clear, filled with love and justice.’ Thus, Estes suggests, the Crone is one who reflects this enhanced degree of clarity and in/sight.” -wikipedia
image credit: Linda Apple Art
How does one claim the crone?
by sacred right, by inheritance, by bloodline,
by declaration, by proclamation,
by rite of passage... witnessed by those in/of her queendom; witnessed by the sisterhood; witnessed by mother earth, herself.
by creating her own rituals for transformation & transmutation of her life experiences.
We will embody our crone-ship
using intuitive movement and the power of body-mind imaginings,
we will reclaim our right to the throne;
we will adorn ourselves with the symbols of our authority;
we will celebrate one another as leaders of our own lives, as crones of our communities.
image credit: Susan Seddon Boulet
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
