A wise person told me that books were my way out…. that books could take me to the high seas, to fly in the sky, to cook better, to sew, to learn about myself. I was a teen looking to find out who I really was just as most teens do and like so many teens I was not happy with my home situation. The wise person who told me “books were my way out” was the librarian at my high school. I will call her Mrs. B. Mrs. B talked me into working in the library in 11th grade and that is when the world opened up to me!

Dr. Phil tells us that there are pivotal people in our life that help mold us into the individuals we are today. Well, I have to say that the librarian was just that person for me. As I said earlier, I did not like my home situation and I was determined to change things so I could have more control in my life. Mrs. B was very subtle at first by suggesting a book I might find interesting, or giving me books to shelf in the self-help isle. Oh she was a wise person indeed and I must say a bit sneaky too.

After I read a book she had suggested to me, she would ask how I liked it. I would give the usual answer, “It was okay”. Then she started doing her magic. She asked questions: Did I find anything in the book that reminded me of me? Did I find anything that caught my attention? Yes, she spun her spell well. I started picking out my own books that took me to exotic places all over the world. I also found that books filled with ‘success stories’ were the ones that captivated me the most. People who started with nothing and later ended up “forever happy”. They never gave up hope and did whatever it took to achieve their dreams. Now that is the key that opened the doors and that is the key I wanted.

One Wednesday afternoon, I was putting books back onto the shelves that people had brought back to the library. I always read the titles and sometimes even read the small introduction to the book. Books had become such a huge part of my life now. Anyway, one book caught my attention and so I started thumbing through the book. Oh my gosh! Was this for real? The book I found so interesting was Witchcraft Today by Gerald B. Gardner. It was an eye opening experience for sure. Remember when I said I was not happy with my life and I wanted more control? Well, this book stated:

“Witches are taught and believe that the power resides within their bodies which they can release in various ways, the simplest being dancing round in a circle, singing or shouting, to induce a frenzy; this power they believe exudes from their bodies, clothes impending its release. In dealing with such matters it is, of course, difficult to say how much is real ad how much imagination”. — (Witchcraft Today by Gerald B. Gardner; page 20)

Could this be true? Could I hold such controlling power within me? How do I find this power? I knew right then and there that I needed to read this book. I wanted to learn more on this thing Gardner called witchcraft.

One day, I ask Mrs. B if she believed in God and did she go to church. She smiled that ‘knowing smile’ that she so often did and asked why that was of interest to me. I continued to tell her that I had so many questions about God and religion and witchcraft. “Witchcraft, now that is a thought-provoking topic,” she said. She then asked me why I found this book so interesting. She explained that witchcraft was not well understood and brought fear to many people via the mere mention of its name. She continued to tell me that people are very cruel to those who have the nerve to follow the beat of their own drum.

She was a wise one and did not discourage me from exploring what my heart wanted me to explore. She cautioned me to be careful who I shared what I learned with and reassured me that I could come to her with any question or concerns I had while on a journey to learn about witchcraft. And so my journey began!

As my 11th grade was coming to an end and summer was just around the corner, I felt a sadness that I would not be able to get to the library as often as I did while in school. Mrs. B could see the change in my behavior and ask what was bothering me. I told her that I wanted to continue to learn about witchcraft and was afraid that I would not be able to get books during the summer months.

She gave me a huge hug and said, “I was going to wait until your last day to give you this gift, but I see that it is the right time right now”. She gave me a box wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper with a note on the top saying, “Enjoy your summer, Love Mrs. B”. I opened up the box and there were two items wrapped in tissue paper. As I removed the tissue paper my heart began to beat faster as I held two books: The Meaning of Witchcraft by Gerald Gardner, and Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks. I was thrilled to have new books to read over the summer.

Over the years, I have pursued scholastic education in the healthcare arena and received two degrees, one in nursing and one in healthcare administration. I still follow the Pagan path, and I still am a lover of books. Right now I am participating in the Pagan Reading Challenge for 2012.

To this day, I have wonderful memories of working in the library with Mrs. B and having a mentor who did not discourage me from having the guts to following the beat of my own drum. This wise person was right when she told me that books were my way out. Books could take me to the high seas; allow me to fly in the sky, to cook better, to sew, and to learn more about myself. I also found that the power I was looking for, just as Gardner said, was ‘within me’. I am now a mentor myself, one who will not discourage others from having the courage to follow the beat of their own drum. I am a wise Pagan who will be forever grateful to Mrs. B.

 About Etain Butterfly: I am a proud CRONE, I have done much in my life and still plan on doing more. I have 2 beautiful adult children (a male and a female) and 2 beautiful vivacious grandchildren. I have been in healthcare for over 35+ years – retired from a large medical center and now enjoy working in a small surgical center. I dabble at writing, love designing and crafting, quilting and painting. I love networking with other Pagan/Wiccan minded individuals – learning what they have to offer. I am Head Minister and President of Sacred Birch Society, a legally incorporated Pagan/Wiccan group centered in Mid-Michigan. My favorite quote: “Life is not about waiting for the rain to stop, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

I work in an outpatient surgery center and I must share a story about a lively 92 year old Crone that came in for cataract surgery. As I was interviewing her I noticed she was really tan so I ask if she had been on vacation and she said with a gleam in her eyes, “Why yes, I just got back from visiting my son and his wife in Florida.” I ask if she had a nice time and she chuckled and said, “Not really, I thought they were boring. All they wanted to do was watch TV.” I asked her what she would have liked to do and she answered, “Go para-sailing on the beach, do some snorkeling to view the beautiful fish in the ocean, and to go horseback riding”. Wow, what an amazing energetic view on what a vacation should be. She was so full of positive energy and love of life. I couldn’t help thinking… “I want to be like that when I am her age”. She was a ‘Crone – Inspiration’ and a joy to listen to. When it was my break time I sat with her in recovery room and listened to her views on life and the importance of keeping active.

When I look into the mirror I see some wrinkles representing the aging process. My step isn’t like it was in my 20s; however some say it is hard to keep up with my pace. I don’t dwell on the changes happening to my body. I embrace the gift of living and all that the God and Goddess have allowed me to experience. I don’t sit home watching TV – I am out adding new experiences to my long list of things to do. Right now I am concentrating on Poi, and learning a new Tarot deck, and being a Crone mentor for the maidens and mothers that are all around me.

I am Crone and I am a proud Crone. I have been on a journey of self-discovery for many, many years. I have learned many things as I have traveled on my true path of life. I have made mistakes; learned by those mistakes and moved on. I have learned to be more kind, show more compassion, learn to listen more and speak less. I have learned to share my life’s experiences. I am a Crone, I am a wise Crone, and most importantly I am a Happy Crone.

I wrote this poem to express what being a Crone means to me…….

I am Crone
by Etain©

I am Crone
I have learned to Know
I have wisdom to share and show
I am Crone
I have learned to Will
Manifest for goodwill
I am Crone
I have learned to Dare
It’s energizing I do declare
I am Crone
I have learned to Keep Silent
My happiness is reliant

About Etain Butterfly: I am a proud CRONE, I have done much in my life and still plan on doing more. I have 2 beautiful adult children (a male and a female) and 2 beautiful vivacious grandchildren. I have been in healthcare for over 35+ years – retired from a large medical center and now enjoy working in a small surgical center. I dabble at writing, love designing and crafting, quilting and painting. I love networking with other Pagan/Wiccan minded individuals – learning what they have to offer. I am Head Minister and President of Sacred Birch Society, a legally incorporated Pagan/Wiccan group centered in Mid-Michigan. My favorite quote: “Life is not about waiting for the rain to stop, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Hello Crone and Sage readers!

I have been attending Circle with Spheres Of Light for some time now and I feel a bit more confident about sharing part of my life experiences with like minded people.

The story goes like this:

While travelling around NSW on a caravan trip, I had started to knit a jumper for one of my grandchildren. Well, you wouldn’t guess, I could not understand what the knitting pattern book was trying to tell me to do. Frustration was at its peak so I shoved the knitting in the holder for another day.

Another day came when a caravan pulled in next to us at a caravan park and you would not have guessed, an older women came out of the caravan some time later, knitting. Well, I thought the angels must have been listening! Hopefully this woman was going to be my “knitting angel”.  She was my knitting angel and also a gentle, peaceful person who shared with me the special projects she had produced over her life. This amazing woman’s articles of sewing and knitting were just beautiful. I was awe struck!

How lucky was I? To have met that gentle and talented women, who helped me on my way with my grandchild’s jumper and who shared her time and craft with me.

Just thought I’d share,
Delma

I have found the subject of death is sometimes avoided, even in the Pagan community. I believe this is because of our Western society’s attitude. In the East dying is considered part of the living process. Many years ago I was talking to a friend who had been to Nepal on a walking holiday and she found it interesting that their guide was not afraid of the precipices over which they were travelling. Being a Buddhist he believed he would return. We’ve been taught by Christian thought that there is either heaven or hell, and having not been given enough information, we can’t be sure if we qualify for heaven. So, our society is afraid of death, hence all the elderly folk with no quality of life. As Pagans we believe in a better place, the ‘Summerlands’, as in Wicca, and many other places, depending on our traditions. Many of us believe in reincarnation, and so, have the concept of continuation.

During my training and development as a magician I’ve had spontaneous memories of my past lives, which have been numerous, so I do have the personal belief of reincarnation. I was also given the intuitive knowledge of when I would die, many years ago. When I would mention this to my fellow Pagans, saying that I would choose my own time of death, I would often get told, “You can’t do that, as it is against the rules of the universe”. Interestingly enough, in the old occult literature it is written that an adept will choose their time of death.

While at a workshop in 1992 that was run by my mentor, I mentioned this fact to her and she said something really beautiful to me. “Life is a gift, Andrea, do we give someone a gift and then tell them what to do with it?” She then went on to tell me that she would be there to greet me when I arrived.

In my training I was taught to build a death meditation, before I die, in which one builds a place to go to immediately after they have died. It is a stopping off point before one goes to their ultimate place. Mine is the temple of Isis as per my past life memories. One builds their own place in the astral. An example is a house from one’s memory, then, fill it with the people who you know that have gone before. You can even put your deceased pets in it. Make it as real as possible, visit it often in meditation, making sure you shut the gate/door every time you come back. This is possible because the astral is plastic (flexible), and can be used to build though forms. When you die just go through into your place.

I also have the distant memory of where I go from there. It is a place of complete harmony, as it is very difficult to be in disharmony on the inner levels. I will welcome this with open arms considering the life I’ve had here.

Accepting that I will die relatively soon, I am now free to live each day as it comes. A bit like people, who have had a near death experiences. It puts an interesting slant on life. I have put my house in order, so to speak, with instructions for my next of kin and my friends, including a last rite ritual thanking the elements for the use of them.

I have also helped very ill people to pass over by giving them ‘the licence to depart’ rite, as the one thing that is hardest to combat is the human instinct to survive, no matter what.

For reference I recommend Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki’s ‘New Book of the Dead’.

But
Embrace me wholeheartedly
And you will find
A crone
A mother
A maiden
A child
All full of such beauty.

Bony Old Crone
A-sittin’ alone
A-stirrin’ Her cauldron
And makin’ a moan…..

The path of the Goddess Hecate is a path of the heart. She is Hecate the maiden, Hecate the mother and Hecate the crone. She is a triple goddess in her own right. Unlike the detached meditations of the East, or the sedate Sunday prayer meetings of the church, witchcraft ceremony is passionate. The more deeply we feel about the Goddess when we pray to Her, the more moved we are by the liturgy, the more powerful the experience. There is a place of truth and love that reaches the heart. Devotion is a supremely personal matter, found by each of us in our own hearts. The more you learn about the Goddess, the firmer your faith will become. Learning to see the Goddess in all things is part of it, too. See Her when you slice an apple across, sit under a tree, or watch a moonrise. See Her when you perform simple tasks, such as sweeping, and recall the symbolism of brooms. A Goddess view of cooking turns a pot into a cauldron of transformation, gardening into goddesshood, singing into sorcery.

"Samhain Goddess: The Crone" - original artwork by Angela Barnett ~ http://angelabarnett.redbubble.com

Connecting with the moon is one of the essentials of witchcraft. In learning to keep time with Her cycles, we can free ourselves from much of the structure of patriarchy. For women, the moon is especially connected to our blood, and so links us to all the mysteries of birth, life and death. The moon connects us with the trees and their stories and uses, as each of Her cycles is named for one of these living kinfolk of the earth. In a society based on solar concepts and imagery, Luna is especially helping in attuning us to the dark side and the many qualities associated with the deep self.

The Crone is the third and final aspect of the three-fold Goddess. She is the dark moon, the wintertime, old age and knower of mysteries. The Crone time brings the harvest of experience, when we reap the accumulated benefits of all that we have learned. The Crone is a teacher or wise one, sometimes called the “wayshower” as she shines the light of wisdom for all to see. She brings patience.

In myth and legend, the Crone is often seen with her great black cauldron stirring up brews for magical transformation or bringing the dead back to life.

She is the fairy godmother who has just what we need to overcome the obstacles in our paths. She is the old woman of the woods, who lives alone in a humble cottage and can teach many secrets.

To admit the Crone is to admit the dark side of ourselves which is like the dark side of the moon — the Crone’s moon.

The Crone’s moon is hidden, and cannot be seen shining in the heavens. It is significant that astronomers and astrologers call Her the New Moon, thereby effectively ignoring the presence of the Crone. Some witches feel that we should return the word New Moon which would be the first sliver of the moon in the sky to the Maiden goddess, which is Her proper place, and reinstate the Old Moon (Dark Moon) as the Crone’s. We can therefore count our moon cycles from the first appearance of the slender waxing crescent, that very first sliver, and acknowledge the darkening end as the time of the Crone. To acknowledge this time is to allow for the natural cycles of our being as we move through the ups and downs of living. This is a far healthier way of life where each of our phases is embraced and loved.

The association of loneliness with old age is a common one. A wise crone understands the power that can be attained in solitude. She knows that all oneness is the true meaning of being alone and is actually what the word “alone” is made of. There is a point reached in solitude when we no longer feel isolated because we have found our connection to all beings in the universe. Some witches, when the moon is waning, feel the moon’s power pulling them into solitude, beckoning them to working more within themselves. The Crone teaches us to withdraw from the world during the waning moon to find peace and sustenance for our return journey into the struggles of living. The dark moon of the self is a period of withdrawal from the everyday world. It offers an opportunity to commune with ourselves and tap the creative potential therein. To return to this way of life necessitates leaving the “rat race” approach and validating slowness, inwardness and being here and now.

Solitude is one of the doorways to the deep self. It is especially useful for the cultivation of our powers of concentration. Most witches, as we begin to grow in our magical abilities, find that we seek solitude more and more, as it enables us to focus intensely on the objectives of our spells, rituals and doing more work within ourselves without distractions.

The Crone understands the power of silence. Many spiritual journeys include a period of silence, or teach its discipline. Some adepts take permanent vows of silence, for it opens up energies on the psychic level. Silence is the last step of magic, necessary during the gestation or formation period of our spell’s workings for preservation and protection.

It is essential that we practice silence in our meditation and rituals, for it opens the door to universal consciousness.

The Crone is the knower of mysteries, secrets of existence, or hidden things. She presides in the dream worlds, guiding us through the unconscious labyrinths of our deep minds. She teaches us the symbolism of our dreams and helps us to understand and shape them to our choosing.

Lastly, Crones understand endings, and utilize the waning moon for banishing, or spells to rid ourselves of unwanted or stuck energy.

We can become Crones in our uses and understanding of the five elements of creation:

Spirit Crones are conversant on the psychic planes, easily traveling in and out of our bodies, telepathic, clairvoyant, prophetic, divining whether it be Tarot cards, crystal balls, Runes, etc., understanding the cycle of birth, life and death and the rituals thereof, skilled in casting circles for small covens or large, spells, and the uses of dreams.

Air Crones have profundity of thought, quickness of tongue, are adept in poetry, myth and language, the composing of verbal spells, the eloquence of asking aid from forces and elements. Air is to know. The Air Crone is also a Cutting Crone, for our minds are like cutting edges that sort and separate our thoughts. Naming a thing separates it out from the rest of creation. Cutting is also criticism, pruning, saying no, discipline. When we reach the crossroads of our lives, such as the time of passing from child to adult or maiden to mother, we must cut the umbilical cord of our habits on the old path in order to be free to embark upon the new. The cutting Crone is sometimes called Atropo, the third of the three Fates in Greek mythology.

Fire Crones possess understanding of the secrets of fire and energy. They know the ways of conserving, storing and spending energy wisely, using vital forces with care and discrimination, rather than scattering them carelessly and wasting them. Fire is also kundalini, which a wise crone knows how to channel and direct for desired purposes. Fire is will, in which the Crone has achieved mastery. And on its simplest level, fire is our natural source of heat and light, and can be used for magic in many ways. A seasoned witch usually knows how to build and sustain fires, as well as to contain them safely, and extinguish them when necessary.

A Water Crone is no longer a slave to her emotions, nor does she repress or deny them. Water is to dare. She is adept in her relationships with others, knowing enough detachment for an overview, and enough caring for compassion. She knows that her desires are sacred and worthy of cultivation and fulfillment. The Water Crone looks deep into her reflection in underground waters. When the water catches the light of the moon, she is there to find insight and divination.

A Wise Earth Crone knows her body, knows the earth, is adept in health care for herself and others who seek her aid. She is familiar with the seasons and methods of planting and cultivation, herbology, and agriculture. And she is also wise in ways of money, seeing its connection to human love and service and precious human energy. She is sensible, practical and dependable, keeps her promises and understands commitment, knows how to work as well as play.

The idea of “balance” can be misleading for it often implies the adjustment of two opposing entities. For example, the yin/yang symbol of the Orient, the sun/moon dichotomy of the alchemists, the anima/animus theory or the Jungians, the god/goddess universe of the Druids and the tetragrammaton of magicians, in all these systems there is an “attempt” to honor and give equality to both ends of the polarity but do not be deceived. While pretending to create a world supportive of the female, they are still perpetuating the dichotomy, and thus the role stereotypes that oppress us all. This, witches must realize, is the fatal flaw of even more advanced movements such as Neo-Paganism, modern witchcraft and the New Age spiritualities. Liberation can only come by returning to the Goddess.

By ‘Anonymous’

This article has been posted on numerous websites but is listed under  *Anonymous*. Crone and Sage would love to give  credit where it belongs.

Article from http://yeoldewitchesbrewmagazine.presspublisher.us/issue/samhain-2009/article/the-crone-goddess
Image from http://www.redbubble.com/people/angelabarnett/art/1027472-samhain-goddess-the-crone

In the Nag Hammadi texts (which are a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945) Sophia is seen as the lowest expression of the emanation of the light of God. She is considered to have fallen from grace, in so doing creating or helping to create the material world. Although ancient texts state that Sophia had ‘fallen from grace’ this may have been a misrepresentation of the truth considering the negative view of the feminine aspect of divinity, and in actuality she may have simply ‘fallen’ (descended) to the physical plane according to the will of the Divine. It is written that under her are the four material elements — water, darkness, abyss, and chaos.

Despite ancient and contemporary patriarchal beliefs negating her important role in human and spiritual development and relegating her to the form of spirit, Sophia can be found in some form in every era, culture and society. She is the manifestation of the Divine Feminine, she is the Shekina; and attributes of Sophia can been seen in every goddess including: Lilith, Isis, Asherah, Ishtar, Virgin Mary, Eve, Mary Magdalene, Demeter etc.

Sophia represents the wisdom that we find inside ourselves. She is the alchemical process; she is the spark that ignites the eternal flame that awakens your soul. There are many qualities associated with Sophia; righteousness, wisdom, unconditional love, empowerment, knowledge and truth. She is also the Black Goddess, the veiled Sophia who in her varied forms is the primal manifestation of the Divine Feminine. She is the Dark Mother immanent with the power of the unknown.

Back in 2004 I had an empowering and life changing experience with Sophia, her unconditional love and her sense of humanity inspired me to compose a song which is titled Hail Sophia…

Hail Sophia

Hail Sophia

Hail Sophia
Goddess of Wisdom
Goddess of Humanity
Goddess of the Feminine
Hail Black Goddess
Goddess of Freedom
Goddess of Empowerment
Goddess of Reason

She is the breath
She is the wind
Well open your heart
Let her touch your soul
Her eternal spark will cleanse and make you whole

She is the flame
The flame that lives within
Well open your heart and
Let her touch your soul
Her eternal flame will cleanse and make you whole

Copyright © 2004 Janine Donnellan

References:
www.sistersofearthsong.com/SOPHIA/SOPHIA.html
www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/sophia-goddess-wisdom.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom)
holyspirit-shekinah.org/_/gnostic_imagery_of_divine_mother_sophia.htm

“Goddess of the night, the waning moon,
Your time is full of mystery and wonder,
Misty valleys, barren moors and enchanted woodlands
Is where you reside,
Weaving your web of power upon the land,
The wonder of all things is locked within you,
The knowing and sight only time can reveal,
Your smile is that of understanding,
That in the spirit of us all are the seeds of you.”

The goddess of the waning moon, the crone, strikes a chord that resonates deep within all of us. She is a mysterious figure that is revered and sometimes feared.

When you acknowledge the crone she banishes your fear, offering an understanding of what lies beyond our physical existence. She is with us at the end and beside us before the beginning, offering us up to the light of rebirth and releasing us from all that is worn out and old. She relates not only to life, death and rebirth but also to the changing aspects that surround our day to day lives.

One of these aspects is the cycle of the seasons, the ever-turning wheel of the year. The crone represents the still earth full of dormant life just before the spring. Dead leaves and vegetation cover the ground, protecting it from the harsh frosts of winter. This is symbolic of the goddess as crone. At spring time new shoots and buds appear representing new life and growth (the maiden goddess). Flowers blooming and fruit ripening in the summer represents fertility and birth (the mother goddess) and then the dying back of plants returning to the earth, the rotting of leaves, the sinking sap in the trees. This represents the end of the growing cycle and the dormant life awaiting the spark of new growth.

Image from http://roadsofstone.com/2008/02/22/176-ashtead-common-2-a-winters-trail-to-spring/

Crone represents a woman wise, powerful, and holy. The Crone is a teacher, the one who carries the perspective of wholeness as opposed to the personal. She cares about the well-being of the community and its culture. She sees things clearly, is of a spiritual nature, and has an internal beauty.

The woman exploring Crone has developed a sense of her own empowerment and her relational nature. She is developing herself as teacher or guide watching over the lives of individuals and the fabric of the whole. She is keenly aware of all that surrounds her, deeply in touch with her own truth and able to share it for the good of all. While taking seriously her caring for the whole, she has a playful spirit and approaches life in a light-hearted way. The sense of the whole requires balance, internal and external. This last phase of life is a time of integration and acceptance, a time for emergence of a woman secure in herself and at peace with her being.

In the lifeways of our community, a woman in this place develops an outward expression of spirituality and awareness. She is aware of a connection to the earth and to primal spirituality as well, which is expressed in ritual both personal and communal.

Excerpted from “Facilitating the Feminine in the Goodenough Community,” a lifeway paper from A Goodenough Story, A Goodenough Life (1993).

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., in Goddesses in Older Women (Harper Collins, 2001), describes this stage of a woman’s development also as a time when “thoughts turn to death and divinity, or mortality and eternity, or our religious beliefs and personal faith.” … This phase “is when the subject of death invites us to think about the meaning of life.”

Crone is a time of accepting the body’s limitations with compassion, keeping mentally active, encouraging those younger, surrendering ego, and receiving from others. Shadow issues may involve dealing with melancholy or depression and absorption in the aging process. Goddess archetypes that may represent this stage of life are Sophia, White Buffalo Calf Woman, Hecate, and Kali.

She sees in her world many things, many people.
Her grandparents, loving and wise,
teach her more of their ways than they realise;
their love of the Earth,
to plant, to harvest, to give back again,
to keep the cycle turning,
to see the beauty of the sunrise and sunset.
Their own quiet, unspoken spirituality,
always hidden, kept very private.
She sees her father, the strong, quiet, scientific atheist,
and her mother, the emotional, spiritual believer in God.
Differences aside, their love is strong.
Still, something beckons…

As she grows, thoughts and ideas form.
She quietly ponders, wonders, in her solitude.
Why is she so different?
She does not fit into the world of her parents, her brother, or peers.
She feels somehow distant, alienated, alone.
Her mother, newly Croned, has found new faith in Jehovah;
passionately, fervently fresh and fanatical,
dangerous, derisive, divisive.
The Maiden wants no part of it.
The Crone burns the Maiden’s secret treasures
out of fear for her daughter’s soul.
No respect, trust destroyed, childhood ended.
Yet still, something beckons…

The Maiden is now a Mother,
scarred by the past, but matured, complacent.
Her parents still together, father in quiet resignation
with the wife, and the life he now knows.
Their love is still strong.
The new Mother still seeking, yearning, learning,
hungry for knowledge, finds solace in crystals and herbal lore
while teaching her children love, respect and tolerance.
A new freedom of expression is slowly emerging;
a desire to heal the heart, the people and the Earth,
to plant, to harvest, to give back again,
to keep the cycle turning.
And still, something beckons…

Cronehood fast approaches and still the Mother seeks;
forever learning, hungry for knowledge of that which beckons.
Fears of history repeating itself as she realises her goal.
Has she become like her own mother, or has she learned?
She treads softly, quietly,
makes no waves, only ripples under the Moonlight.
She has learned to stay silent, to hide what she now sees.
It is not yet time to reveal new insights.
Fear of rejection, ridicule haunts her dreams.
Slowly confidence builds, to tell her atheist husband
gently, softly, carefully reassuring.
This is not a repeat of history but a lesson learned from it.
Their love is strong.

Cronehood, a heartbeat away,
Her time; not of endings but of new beginnings.
A time to blossom in the Sunlight with insight of that which beckons;
the Goddess, to complement the God, the seen and unseen, dualities in balance.
Yet she has the wisdom to stay silent in the Moonlight as needed.
The realisation that what is, always has been.
To see the many different paths as aspects of the One,
There is no one true path, but many.
A time of forgiveness, understanding and tolerance,
and to nurture those qualities within herself and others.
This is her time, to share with her husband and children
the wisdom of the Goddess; the Maiden, Mother and Crone.
Their love is strong.

Copyright © 2004 Jenny Taylor (Jenwytch)

I wrote this poem a while back, about my life and my journey into Witchcraft and Paganism which coincided with the beginnings of my transition from Mother to Crone …a similar age to when my own mother turned to a different spiritual path. 
~ Jenny