What is crone energy?

The Crone Stage of life, more than any other, is a time of giving back to society the cumulative wisdom of the years. ... It is often Crone energy that leads to changes being made in society. As the Crone woman moves further into her life path she feels the urge to teach others and to cultivate her passions. sometimes portrayed as a tired old hag, who is neither beautiful nor strong of body, and her responsibilities have long ago grown out of her immediate grasp, but she is powerful nonetheless because of the wisdom bought through many years of life. She stirs her cauldron, and she knows things.

Crone, hag, and witch once were positive words for old women. Crone comes from crown, indicating wisdom emanating from the head; hag comes from hagio meaning holy; and witch comes from wit meaning wise. Crones, hags, and witches frequently were leaders, midwives and healers in their communities. The meanings of these three words, however, were distorted and eventually reversed during the 300 years of the Inquisition when the male-dominated church wanted to eliminate women holding positions of power. Women identified as witches, who were often older women, i.e. crones and hags, were tortured and burned, and the words witch, crone, and hag took on the negative connotations that continue in our language.

The Crone is the Queen of the Night, and is associated with night and darkness; the waning moon and especially the dark moon; the unconscious realm; the female shadow and shadow work; deep, dark colors and especially black; menopause and the aging process; death and decline; the underworld realm; the end of cycles; wisdom and power; healing and transformation; the widdershins spiral; banishing and devoking; Samhain and the Winter Solstice; Winter; the direction North; spiders and webs; the elderly and the outcast; cauldrons of transformation and regeneration; old seed pods; dormancy and retreat; hibernation; eyes and especially the Third Eye; Owls; Vultures and flesh-eating birds; black birds and especially ravens and crows; times of transition, such as dusk, dawn, and midnight; divination, prophesy, and especially scrying.

There is a re-emergence of the Crone into our consciousness, when we are tapping into the ancient crone’s attributes of wisdom, compassion, transformation, healing laughter, and bawdiness. The ancient crone archetype strengthens our belief and confidence in age-accumulated knowledge, insights and intuitions enabling women to stand up for their rights. With a healthy inner Crone, an adult woman finds her ability to unflinchingly speak truth to power. Though it may be painful to be on the receiving end, her intention is to do no harm. She is both fierce and compassionate.

She brings the capacity to be with chaos and uncertainty, to be able to perceive that best next step in the unfolding of what is trying to emerge. The Crone doesn’t need to know more. The Crone archetype lives in the meeting place of knowing and Mystery. Synchronicities and dreams are a normal and natural communication tool. The Crone enables us to become more spiritually awake and in tune with the sacredness of all existence. She is the WAY SHOWer – guide between the realms – embracing dark and light. The Crone allows us to have an open heart and to be with heartbreak—our own suffering and the suffering of others. She brings the strength and discernment to know what must die and pass away, even if it is an idea or a business. The Crone may even catalyze a major breakdown in your life, if that is what is required to help you move forward on your journey. She helps us to recognize death as a necessary and sacred part of life, not the enemy of it. Being completely with what is – open to the Mystery… She uses the language of Ritual to connect the unseen with the seen. Knows the power of Silence – knows how to act from this place of a deep Stillness… partnered with the mystery waiting for all the pieces to arrive before stepping forward. And because of that, the Crone guides us to hold a space for something new and more effective to emerge from the ashes of the old.

Known by many Names

*HEKATE: a very ancient pre-Greek goddess of the dark moon, She may have been a form of the earlier Egyptian Heket, and assimilated into the Greek pantheon as Hecate. She is the goddess of the Crossroads, and presides over the underworld, magick and ritual, prophecy, and childbirth (as protector). Originally seen as a threefold goddess, she was later demonized by early patriarchal religion as the Queen of the Witches, and an ugly old hag. Demetra George, in Mysteries of the Dark Moon, describes Hekate as "every woman's potential as witch, seer, medium, healer . . ." (page 143).

*CERRIDWEN: Cerridwen is a Welsh crone, best known for her cauldron of regeneration, transformation, and inspiration. She rules over death, but over rebirth as well. Cerridwen was also a Triple Goddess; in her crone aspect, she is seen as a "white, corpse-eating Sow representing the moon." (Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encylopedia of Myths and Secrets).

*KALI: the Indian goddess of death, destruction, and transformation. Kali is rather fearsome and terrifying, but She also has Her nurturing aspect as well. We might think of her as destroying what needs to be destroyed so that something new can take its place. Kali is often shown wearing red, and is strongly associated with blood, representing both life and death. (A more detailed discussion of Kali can be found in Barbara G. Walker's The Women's Encylopedia of Myths and Secrets).

*The MORRIGAN: Ancient Irish trinity of war and death goddesses, strongly associated with magic and the battlefield. Most commonly associated with the image of the crow or raven. The Crone aspect of the Morrigan is Macha, sometimes called "Mother Death." (Patricia Monaghan, The New Book of Goddessess & Heroines, and Barbara G. Walker, The Women's Encylopedia of Myths and Secrets).

*CAILLECH: The Winter Hag of Scotland and Ireland. In her mythology, she is often portrayed as deceptively strong and outliving many husbands. She is sometimes associated with disease. (Walker, The Women's Encylopedia of Myths and Secrets).