With every step, growing nearer.
Rising into realness.
She is. She is. She is.
With each breath, growing closer.
Murmuring into life.
She is. She is. She is.
Deepest shadows, becoming clearer.
Crackling in the night.
She is. She is. She is.
The end, and the beginning.
Rattling and unsettling.
I am. I am. I am.
This episode explores the wisdom and power of the Crone archetype, embracing aging, and finding beauty in life’s transitions. The podcast delves into mythology, personal growth, and the journey of self-discovery, centering The Crone as a guide as we navigate the path of becoming a wild and wise older woman.
Christen and I discuss various aspects of The Crone, circling around three figures: Demeter, Baubo, and Hecuba. Demeter’s identity crisis when Persephone was abducted by Hades, and how the humble Baubo helped her get her joy back. Then we talk about the tragic Hecuba, who asks us “what are we willing to sacrifice for?” We’ve done full episodes on Demeter and Hecuba if you want to go deeper.
At The Crone’s Crossroads
For the past several months, I’ve been abiding at a crossroads. Personally, this has been the time when I’ve been at the threshold of what I call The Third Act. It’s time for me to venture into this new stage of life. Not yet a Crone, but that is certainly my desired destination. To grow into a wild and wise older woman. To arrive at the end of my life knowing that I lived with purpose and passion. That I took good care of myself and those I care about. That I created a beautiful life, full of magic and wonder. That I had lived in service to the divine feminine, in all her glorious forms. Witches, hags, goddesses. They are the lifeblood of my soul. I love their magic and mystery. From Hekate’s ancient suppers to Baba Yaga’s chicken leg hut. Roman witches that tormented heroes. Cerridwen’s cauldron of inspiration. The Morrigan’s shapeshifting. All these stories are as so dear to me.
I’ve been mulling over all of this while on a quest to discover the mysteries of The Crone through stories told about her, from mythology to contemporary renderings. Back in August 2024, my wonderful editor, Judika Illes, unexpectedly called me right after I’d had the vision for a book about The Crone. She loved the idea. So did my publisher. A book was born. Since then, I’ve been quietly working on it. More accurately The Crone has been working on me.
Wild Older Woman At The Edge
The Crone is a complex archetype. She is hag, goddess, witch. Always the woman at the edge, whether the crossroads or deep in the forest. Connected to the natural world, she is a spirit of the land, sea, and sky. From countless folktales to modern media, she is unsettling in so many ways. A reminder that death is always nearby, she evokes the natural cycle I am part of. To know death is to embrace life, with all it’s challenges and triumphs. Always associated with animals, she teaches that instinct and intuition are to be trusted. That the world is already enchanted. It’s my task to pay attention to it. Cycles, transformation, magic, mystery. These are The Keys of The Crone.
I got started with The Crone over twenty years ago when I went to a friend’s “croning,” ceremony. At the time I was quite miffed that merely reaching menopause resulted in becoming a crone. I remember thinking that a fifty year old woman is hardly old enough to enter cronedom. I wasn’t yet forty at the time, but it seemed outrageous to me that this arbitrary marker of menopause was selling women short.
Reimagining The Crone
The idea that menopause equals cronehood gained popularity, at least in the pagan circles I travelled in, back in the nineties. Looking at the history of why this became thus, I discovered a host of books dedicated to the Maiden, Mother, Crone model of women’s lives, and applied to The Triple Goddess. This wasn’t an ancient idea, but came out of the modern paganism movement of the twentieth century. Yes, crones have always existed in folklore and more, but the notion that menopause meant we magically became them, is thoroughly modern.
It didn’t seem right to me, at all. To me, The Crone is a spirit of wild wisdom. Something my body stops doing - menstruating - hardly seemed adequate for instilling me with her character.
That experience brought The Crone to me. She’s never been far from me since. As a devotee of Hekate, I’ve honestly been irked when people view her purely as one. Of course, she has big crone energy, with her association to helping souls to the other side, abiding at crossroads, and, generally, being a font of wild wisdom. Yet the ancients didn’t see her that way, and I didn’t, either. Still, The Crone persisted. Taking up space in my psyche, rattling her bones and whispering that my time would come.
Should you be wondering if this means I am breaking up with Hekate. Not at all. I’m evolving, and I hope you’re interested in where The Crone takes me.
Let me know in the comments if The Crone is calling you, and your thoughts on this new episode.
You can watch this episode on YouTube and wherever podcasts are found.
Key words: Crone archetype, aging, mythology, personal growth, self-discovery, Demeter, Baubo, Hecuba.
