Croneness = Crone finesse (A survey)

[Jeanne]

I don't know what wild hair moved me to start a group called Crone to the Bone
...but that's how I'd been feeling.
...it was like my inner radical punk, vegan grandmother came out.
I wanted to be part of a group with an in-your-face, primitive name... not a neatly starched apron-wearing, apple pie baking crone name. (actually, lets keep the apple pie);

...I wanted to talk to other women of maturity who were knee-deep in real life
...family, career, relationships, businesses, property, stress... stuff
...who'd rather stay home and talk via their computer. Women different than many we see everyday.
...yet, one and the same.
...so much smarts, humor, wisdom and grace... expressed in gently chosen words, reassuring phrases and supportive, smart-ass expressions of truth
...and amazing stories of determined existence and bouncing back.

Cyber-grandmas...

I have a few questions about crones...
Please, tell me what you really think... and it will inform my questions...
and who knows, maybe even be an answer?

Answer any or all questions that move you to express.
If you want to speak anonymously, please send me an email.
I understand that cronehood, aging and its necessary adjustments are sensitive subjects...

I am interested in hearing from you.


1.What image does the word ‘crone’ conjure up in your mind?

2.What moved you to join an online crone group? (if you did...)

3.What possibilities do you see for global online crone communities – a concept unheard of until only a few years ago?

4.Describe your personal experience with:

a.the comedy of crone,

b.the tragedy of crone.

[Jeanne]

Thank-you Annie, for sharing that great dream with us. I thought that if I would have had a dream like that, I wouldn't have had so many death fears. I'd have thought... not to fear... I will be an old woman before I die.

Instead... I lived like every day was my last.

Please know I'm amongst the ones who talk to cats, hear birds, hug trees. Sometimes I sit on my patio, knowing I have much to do - and just listen to the birds and bees and watch the flowers and trees... and I'm content in the moment.


Annie said:

Hi Jeanne, tonight I will answer # 1 as I feel compelled to tell you that the image of a crone came to me one night as I was trying to sleep. I'm 52 now & this was when I was around my late 30's....anyway out of nowhere this image of a bent old woman with wild hair sitting in a cave came to me. I asked her who she was. She replied with "I am a part of you". I was rather in awe & being so long ago I will tell as best as I can remember. I asked her what part of me was she. She replied " I am the the ancient, wise being that you are. You are far more powerful than you know & I am here to protect you & remind you of your inner courage & strength. I am your friend. Not to be feared but to remind you of your long held wisdom. It felt really good & I thanked her. Now I'm going to read other's replys on this as it's very interesting. That's for a new ball rolling Oh Great & Good fearless leader. later, Annie

I needed to add that I saw this in my minds eye.....not in my room. Hav'nt reached that level of spiritual advancement yet. Or insanity?! Question #2 I was moved to join because it had a unique name & I saw Melanies pic w/the smiling orbs & cigarette & thought wow this looks like it might be fun. #3 I really don't have a clue except it would be nice to have some like minded real live people to talk with. I think people are lonely for this since the techno age came along. #4 Being a clown at a very young age I would entertain my family w/my unique albeit strange sense of humor. Still have it but not many places at the moment to express it. I love genuinely funny people. Tragedy is I've lost my whole family due to death or betrayal. Never had children which I don't see as a tragedy. So I tutor children as there energy is great for a compassionate, caring person.. the wise crone likes this & as Marion I too love talking to my cat, hearing birds, hugging trees. I'm wafflling again. Stop.

[Jeanne]

Amen, sister AW!

"The channel that is opened, with online communities such as this, ...serves the purpose of sisterhood, camaraderie, wisdom sharing, or energy building- Online communities, I believe, can be the bridges---between us all."

The last time I did a sisters gathering of Christmas quilt-making devolving into wine tasting, wine slurping and then wine staining was... well, I guess I forgot... but, it was fun. You'd a had to been there.

[Marian]

Jeanne you have a gift - touch a button & we respond - Violette helps, of course, just by being here - & Kathleen, welcome - your genetic code is awesome. The thing about talking to cats isn't as silly as it sounds. All the crones of fairyland (& the Reformation, blast them) were huge fans of cats & vice versa. Without a familiar, we were not proper witches... but I believe the 'myth' was only propagated out of fear: fear that a woman, as she ages and matures & comes into her own being, sets aside the chores, the forever fixing when things get broken and becomes a 'creator' in her own right. It's what we've been waiting for, isn't it? The time & space to allow our dreams & imagination & creative spark to flow.
As young women we have to have babies - our own or other people's; we have to fix, clean, be there for consolation; give of ourselves to others. But as time allows, we begin to see an opening where we can just BE. And in being our (authentic) self, there comes a magic, a flow, an ability to allow creation to happen. I may not be putting this in just the right way, but there is a feeling to this new being with oneself that feels absolutely in right timing.
Oh, yes, and cats (birds, trees, sweet peas, petunias, even zucchini flowers) nod and bend & agree with us because they know we're on the right track. That's the part that frightened the male-dominant society of the last 6,000 years: we were right because we were being authentic. And having animal & plant kingdom in agreement probably does look frightening if you aren't that way inclined yourself.
Sorry, we all get carried away on this subject, Jeanne, because in opening the floodgates you've let all us 'wired' oldies in who have had time to muse, to put in perspective and now we want to share.
Agree on its being the way forward: socializing on ning - yeah - what we've all in our solitude(s) been waiting for... bless you x M

Jeanne said:

Amen, sister AW!
"The channel that is opened, with online communities such as this, ...serves the purpose of sisterhood, camaraderie, wisdom sharing, or energy building- Online communities, I believe, can be the bridges---between us all." The last time I did a sisters gathering of Christmas quilt-making devolving into wine tasting, wine slurping and then wine staining was... well, I guess I forgot... but, it was fun. You'd a had to been there.

[Jeanne]

Marian... you are queen of the day! I love, love, love that you said "fear that a woman, as she ages and matures; comes into her own being, sets aside the chores, the forever fixing when things get broken and becomes a 'creator' in her own right."

I have become so comfortable with my mess... having always been the "a place for everything, and everything in its place" person... I've been wondering what in the heck is wrong with me. Why don't I fret about the continual imperfection of everything? Why have I become content with cobwebs?

I am so glad to be part of "us 'wired' oldies in who have had time to muse, to put in perspective and now we want to share... - what we've all in our solitude(s) been waiting for.

[Melanie Worman]

1. The word Crone meant Witch to me and Collins English Dictionary confirms: "a witchlike old woman". The witch is a powerful symbol. She was the wise woman of the village (European) facilitating both birth and death, a midwife, a nurse and an undertaker. She was an herbalist and an agony aunt, dishing out potions for illness and advice for the lovelorn and lost. The patriarchal system was threatened by her all encompassing power and so began the witchhunts.

As a point of interest the witchcraft laws (whereby a woman could be arrested and imprisoned for carrying out the above mentioned duties) were only repealed in the UK in 1953. In fact, a woman named Helen Duncan was imprisoned under these laws during the second world war (1939-45) for making psychic contact with dead British sailors whose ship had been sunk by the Germans. For propaganda reasons the British government were denying that the ship had been sunk and Helen Duncan was a thorn in their side so they used the laws to silence her!

So for me the word Crone conjures up an image of a powerful, older woman, well versed in the ways of life and death and everything inbetween and sideways.

2. My heart missed a beat when I found Crone to the Bone - oh my God, an online group tailor-made for me. And the picture that Jeanne chose was PERFECT.

3. I've already started infiltrating other online communities with Crone power. I have friendships with a number of younger women, as well as my daughter and her friends, so I'm not adverse to posting a little advice or a relevant video. Global online Crone communities ARE the future, although each and every one of us must ensure that our own baggage has been/is being dealt with. We can't dish out wisdom to others if we haven't dealt with our own 'stuff'.

4. For me, the tragedy of Crone is only historic due to the rise of the Divine Feminine. I have 'memories' of being burnt as a witch and being staked out on a mountain as birdfood, but the tragedy of these events have been healed by the many wonderous Crone healers who have come to my aid.

The comedy of Crone is another matter. In the last village where I lived, some of the locals started calling me a witch, possibly because I have long hair (really, women of your age should have short hair and a blue rinse!) and possibly because one of my cats, who happens to be black, would walk with me around the village. One day a group of youths and men (yes, adult men can behave in this way) shouted out to me "Where's your broomstick?" Firstly I explained that the correct name for a witches' broomstick was a besom, and secondly that their information was way out of date - "these days we ride Dysons" (translantic translation: a modern vacuum cleaner). They appreciated my sense of humour and spoke to me in a friendly manner after that. I even put a card in the window of my witches cottage which read 'Neighbourhood Witch' (a play on words of a British organisation Neighbourhood Watch).

The comedy of Crone is essential to me and I shall go to my grave laughing.

[Jeanne]

Melanie, I anoint you as our official crone scholar... that was an interesting lesson from old England. 1953... yikes. I had no idea the crone stigma was so potent, so recently.

Perhaps you might tell other crones about CTTB in the other groups you've infiltrated. The more the merrier and the more to share... we are wealthy with wisdom and worldliness... global crones... I wonder if that has ever been before?

Long hair... when I was in my 30's, I decided to let my hair grow long, cuz I figured it was my last hurrah with long hair... that I'd cut it when it became grey, wiry and unruly. Well, wiry and unruly has come and gone... and its still long... and only sprinkled with grey.
While attending the meditation retreats that I go to... I have met a number of older women with long beautiful hair. I've come to appreciate the varying shades and textures that hair goes through while aging. And I find long hair to be more manageable than short hair. ...thats what I'm looking for... ease.

Thank-you Melanie, for sharing your extensive knowledge and generous spirit of crones.

Melanie Worman said:

1. The word Crone meant Witch to me and Collins English Dictionary confirms: "a witchlike old woman". The witch is a powerful symbol. She was the wise woman of the village (European) facilitating both birth and death, a midwife, a nurse and an undertaker. She was an herbalist and an agony aunt, dishing out potions for illness and advice for the lovelorn and lost. The patriarchal system was threatened by her all encompassing power and so began the witchhunts.

As a point of interest the witchcraft laws (whereby a woman could be arrested and imprisoned for carrying out the above mentioned duties) were only repealed in the UK in 1953. In fact, a woman named Helen Duncan was imprisoned under these laws during the second world war (1939-45) for making psychic contact with dead British sailors whose ship had been sunk by the Germans. For propaganda reasons the British government were denying that the ship had been sunk and Helen Duncan was a thorn in their side so they used the laws to silence her!

So for me the word Crone conjures up an image of a powerful, older woman, well versed in the ways of life and death and everything inbetween and sideways.

2. My heart missed a beat when I found Crone to the Bone - oh my God, an online group tailor-made for me. And the picture that Jeanne chose was PERFECT.

3. I've already started infiltrating other online communities with Crone power. I have friendships with a number of younger women, as well as my daughter and her friends, so I'm not adverse to posting a little advice or a relevant video. Global online Crone communities ARE the future, although each and every one of us must ensure that our own baggage has been/is being dealt with. We can't dish out wisdom to others if we haven't dealt with our own 'stuff'.

4. For me, the tragedy of Crone is only historic due to the rise of the Divine Feminine. I have 'memories' of being burnt as a witch and being staked out on a mountain as birdfood, but the tragedy of these events have been healed by the many wonderous Crone healers who have come to my aid.

The comedy of Crone is another matter. In the last village where I lived, some of the locals started calling me a witch, possibly because I have long hair (really, women of your age should have short hair and a blue rinse!) and possibly because one of my cats, who happens to be black, would walk with me around the village. One day a group of youths and men (yes, adult men can behave in this way) shouted out to me "Where's your broomstick?" Firstly I explained that the correct name for a witches' broomstick was a besom, and secondly that their information was way out of date - "these days we ride Dysons" (translantic translation: a modern vacuum cleaner). They appreciated my sense of humour and spoke to me in a friendly manner after that. I even put a card in the window of my witches cottage which read 'Neighbourhood Witch' (a play on words of a British organisation Neighbourhood Watch).

The comedy of Crone is essential to me and I shall go to my grave laughing.

[Marian]

You said earlier - among your reasons for gathering us crones - 'energy building'. I really believe that's another thing we're good at - if for no other reason than that we have all gone thru the phases of self-exploring, (thank you Melanie for mentioning Caroline Myss - isn't she awesome?) and self-acceptance. I am guessing that many here have also been practising the Law of Attraction (Abraham-Hicks) and Joe Dispenza's trigger for 'creating his day'


and so we intentionally change our thinking processes to emphasize the more loving, more uplifting, more joyous option (when we find ourselves dropping into old thought patterns). So - I'm not saying we offer ourselves as a group of energy-lifters (AOAND & Hum.Healiing already have those), but it sure sounds like a brilliant string to our bow, if it should become needed at some future point.
Thank you Jeanne for your sweet response to my bit last night...didn't mean to leave mid-discussion, but by the time you had written, I suddenly realized it was 2 in the a.m. and I had to go to bed. Comes of living in the Old World & tuning in to the rest of you in New World time zones... (Melanie & I are BST).
Bless us all for our new path and whatever we meet upon it.

Jeanne said:

Marian... you are queen of the day! I love, love, love that you said "fear that a woman, as she ages and matures; comes into her own being, sets aside the chores, the forever fixing when things get broken and becomes a 'creator' in her own right."

I have become so comfortable with my mess... having always been the "a place for everything, and everything in its place" person... I've been wondering what in the heck is wrong with me. Why don't I fret about the continual imperfection of everything? Why have I become content with cobwebs?

I am so glad to be part of "us 'wired' oldies i

[Jeanne]

Melanie Worman said:As a point of interest the witchcraft laws (whereby a woman could be arrested and imprisoned for carrying out the above mentioned duties) were only repealed in the UK in 1953.


Perhaps a coincidence? ...perhaps not.

Native American population declined until the '50's, Since then natives have increased in numbers.
The matriarchal culture of natives is similar to Wiccan and other nature based theologies.

[Jeanne]

I've heard it said that when we're young, we're a body with spirit and when we're old, we're a spirit with a body.

I believe thats true... and we are thus relieved of the tasks of young adults. And even when we do address tasks, we do it differently... in our hearts and minds.

George Carlin said that he thinks that people don't become interesting until they're 50 - by then they've achieved many of their dreams or they've become a wasted mess of years piled on years... either way... its interesting. Miss you, George.


Marian Youngblood said:

You said earlier - among your reasons for gathering us crones - 'energy building'. I really believe that's another thing we're good at - if for no other reason than that we have all gone thru the phases of self-exploring, and self-acceptance. ...we intentionally change our thinking processes to emphasize the more loving, more uplifting, more joyous option (when we find ourselves dropping into old thought patterns).

[AkashicWreckage]

Annie, I just wanted to say how moved I was reading this. I can see a LOT of love in your impish smile~~~and the Clown Chakra Crone, and a Pixie!
AW

Annie said:

I needed to add that I saw this in my minds eye.....not in my room. Hav'nt reached that level of spiritual advancement yet. Or insanity?! Question #2 I was moved to join because it had a unique name & I saw Melanies pic w/the smiling orbs & cigarette & thought wow this looks like it might be fun. #3 I really don't have a clue except it would be nice to have some like minded real live people to talk with. I think people are lonely for this since the techno age came along. #4 Being a clown at a very young age I would entertain my family w/my unique albeit strange sense of humor. Still have it but not many places at the moment to express it. I love genuinely funny people. Tragedy is I've lost my whole family due to death or betrayal. Never had children which I don't see as a tragedy. So I tutor children as there energy is great for a compassionate, caring person.. the wise crone likes this & as Marion I too love talking to my cat, hearing birds, hugging trees. I'm wafflling again. Stop.

[Ron Alexander]

Someone here, asked me if a man could be a crone? - "an intuitive older woman"? I replied that "no, even though I think we all have everything inside us - yin and yang, anima and animus, male and female - that I have too much of a grumpy old man in me now. Thank goodness, I have lost most of the horny womanizing young man!

When one said that they saw some crone in me, I replied that I was very honored, that meant to me that they saw some unconditional love in me." Thank you, Annie, though the question was by another wonderful woman.
no mistake, ron

[Jeanne]

Gotta say... I love clowns... I think clowning is a high calling... as is comedy and humor in general. Linda Goodman said in metaphysical terms, humor is gold.
One of my favorite clowns who calls Portland home... when he's not on the road is Leapin' Louie Lichtenstein - the Lithuanian Jewish cowboy clown. He is an artist in action! I have hired him on a few occasions to entertain the kids at the sugar free events that I organize for diabetic kids. He unicycles, juggles and tells jokes all while interacting patiently with children.
I know... kinda off topic...



AkashicWreckage said:

Annie, I just wanted to say how moved I was reading this. I can see a LOT of love in your impish smile~~~and the Clown Chakra Crone, and a Pixie!
AW

Annie said:

I needed to add that I saw this in my minds eye.....not in my room. Hav'nt reached that level of spiritual advancement yet. Or insanity?! Question #2 I was moved to join because it had a unique name & I saw Melanies pic w/the smiling orbs & cigarette & thought wow this looks like it might be fun. #3 I really don't have a clue except it would be nice to have some like minded real live people to talk with. I think people are lonely for this since the techno age came along. #4 Being a clown at a very young age I would entertain my family w/my unique albeit strange sense of humor. Still have it but not many places at the moment to express it. I love genuinely funny people. Tragedy is I've lost my whole family due to death or betrayal. Never had children which I don't see as a tragedy. So I tutor children as there energy is great for a compassionate, caring person.. the wise crone likes this & as Marion I too love talking to my cat, hearing birds, hugging trees. I'm wafflling again. Stop.