The Charge of the Crone
By Jim Garrison
Originally published in Llewellyn’s 1998 Magical Almanac
(This particular invocation seems to keep cropping up all over the internet...sometimes wrongfully attributed to the wrong author, or not attributed at all. I offer it here, once more, in order to set the record straight. By all means please do feel free to use this invocation, if you'd like to do so--we'd be honored. All we've ever asked is to have credit given where credit is due. Honor and respect are deeply held values within most forms of Paganism, showing some respect for the things one claims to be honoring should come naturally, flowing from one's actions which are in accord with their beliefs... )
By Jim Garrison
Originally published in Llewellyn’s 1998 Magical Almanac
(This particular invocation seems to keep cropping up all over the internet...sometimes wrongfully attributed to the wrong author, or not attributed at all. I offer it here, once more, in order to set the record straight. By all means please do feel free to use this invocation, if you'd like to do so--we'd be honored. All we've ever asked is to have credit given where credit is due. Honor and respect are deeply held values within most forms of Paganism, showing some respect for the things one claims to be honoring should come naturally, flowing from one's actions which are in accord with their beliefs... )
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Hear the words of the Dark Goddess who stands within the crossroads, whose torch illuminates the Underworld:
I am the Queen of Magic and the dark of the Moon, hidden in the deepest night.
I am the mystery of the Otherworld and the fear that coils about your heart in the time of your trials.
I am the soul of nature that gives form to the universe; it is I who await you at the end of the spiral dance.
Most ancient among gods and mortals, let my worship be within the heart that has truly tasted life, for behold all acts of magic and art are my pleasure and my greatest ritual is love itself. Therefore let there be beauty in your strength, compassion in your wrath, power in your humility, and discipline balanced through mirth and reverence.
You who seek to remove my veil and behold my true face, know that all your questing and efforts are for nothing, and all your lust and desires shall avail you not at all.
For unless you know my mystery, look wherever you will, it will elude you, for it is within you and nowhere else.
For behold, I have ever been with you, from the very beginning, the comforting hand that nurtured you in the dawn of life, and the loving embrace that awaits you at the end of each life, for I am that which is attained at the end of the dance, and I am the womb of new beginnings, as yet unimagined and unknown.
---
By all means use it in good health, should that be your will. All we've ever asked was for people to give credit where credit was due. That's not too much to ask. If something has value to you, if you respect it and wish to honor it, then act with honor and respect. It's that simple.
Dark Night of the Soul
"Dark night of the soul" sounds like a threatening and much to be avoided experience. Yet perhaps a quarter of the seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through the dark night. In fact, they may pass through several until they experience the profound joy of their true nature.
Many seekers would encourage the dark night experience if they knew what it was. However, to one engaged in the dark night, suffering seems unending.
The dark night occurs after considerable advancement toward higher consciousness. Indeed, the dark night usually occurs like an initiation before one of these special seekers is admitted into regular relationship with higher consciousness. The dark night also occurs to those who do not seek relationship but immersion or unity in the higher consciousness. While the term dark night of the soul is used broadly, its general meaning — in the field of higher consciousness — is a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope. In the dark night you feel profoundly alone
Many seekers would encourage the dark night experience if they knew what it was. However, to one engaged in the dark night, suffering seems unending.
The dark night occurs after considerable advancement toward higher consciousness. Indeed, the dark night usually occurs like an initiation before one of these special seekers is admitted into regular relationship with higher consciousness. The dark night also occurs to those who do not seek relationship but immersion or unity in the higher consciousness. While the term dark night of the soul is used broadly, its general meaning — in the field of higher consciousness — is a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope. In the dark night you feel profoundly alone
This is a journey we all take in one way or another, for it is part of life
Life is not just about the outer world but inner world of spirit, of the unseen.
There are some truths, lessons we will not know till we enter in to the darkness.
There somethings the light can not teach you.
I know poems and new wisdom and new things have been birthed in me out of the darkest points in my journey
I have grown yes through the tears, through the unknown I know
An article I found
Spiritual Endeavor: Dark Night of the Soul – 1By Brian Alger on 03/17/2011
Darkness means an absence or deficiency of light. From a spiritual perspective, darkness creates an intuitive space in which the fragility of our beliefs about the meaning and purpose of our lives becomes uncomfortably apparent. To enter into a spiritual darkness is to begin an excruciating journey into of the essence of our own impermanence. A dark night is not an absence of spirit; it is a pervasive and unavoidable calling into the realm of the soul. The dark night of the soul is a spiritual endeavour that places us firmly in the midst of our own inadequacies and frailties. It is a spiritual point of no return.
Darkness is a vast interior landscape of loneliness and abandonment. Our guide and most trusted advisor throughout a dark night of the soul is Solitude. Even in the midst of our loved ones and friends we persist in feeling desperately alone. Darkness invokes extreme contrasts between solitude and belonging, and in doing so invokes a suffering that defines our presence in the world. It is this pervasive sense of abandonment in the midst of belonging that is, for me, the essence of the dark night of the soul. A dark night amputates our existing sense of identity as if removing a mask we forget we were wearing. The soul poignantly whispers to us that we can no longer be who we were and we do not yet know who we will be. A dark night of the soul is not merely an identity crisis, it is the sudden absence of identity and an absolute loss of self. A dark night of the soul is the medium in which we learn about our own suffering, and to learn about suffering is to pursue the essence of presence.
The Spirituality of Modern Society: We live in a world in which the quality and capacity our minds seem to be steadily deteriorating. Anxiety is now a lifestyle. Distraction is a default thinking style. New age hope and promise is largely nonsense masquerading as insight. In our world, knowledge building does not serve to clarify; it fosters increasingly deeper levels of confusion and contradiction. The bland and arid surface of information overwhelms the higher ground of comprehension and understanding. Expertism’s incestuous relationship with business increasingly manufactures victims for its wares. We invent problems that don’t exist so that we can market and sell solutions to these imaginary problems. The acceleration and pervasiveness of human interaction erodes our powers of discernment and concentration; we obsessively communicate more and more yet have increasingly little to give. We have seduced ourselves into believing that this vast frenzied state of inertia we call progress actually matters. We are destroying ourselves and the very planet that is our only source of life.
Spirituality in the modern world has become a commodity. One of the most reprehensible aspects of human existence is our obsessive need to commodify seemingly everything we come into contact with. Spirituality has fallen victim as we see a plethora of new age buffs selling their wares under the pleasant and comforting guise of guru-ship. Our education, under the design of the prerequisite, has conditioned us to behave as if we were intellectual lemmings. Spirituality is a uniquely individual artistic endeavour in which we seek to discover how we can connect, interact, and preserve the essence of life and existence. The way to reclaim ourselves is only found through the way of the artist; to take back the artistry of living is to embrace spirituality.
The Artistry of the Dark Night: The dark night of the soul is an experience that permeates many religious, spiritual and artistic traditions throughout the world. It is commonly associated with mystics, or those people that dedicate their lives to the pursuit of higher levels of consciousness. However, the experience of the dark night is familiar to us all in various ways and means. Each of us experiences the dark night in a unique way, however, the underlying current is relentlessly concentrated on the solitary quest for meaning and purpose in the midst of the destruction of our present beliefs.
On a dark night,Inflamed by love-longing–O exquisite risk!–Undetected I slipped away.My house, at last, grown still.- St. John of the Cross in Dark Night of the Soul
All creativity embraces destruction. Destruction is not the opposite of creativity; destruction is an aspect of and companion to creativity. The human soul is a potent creative and therefore destructive force, one that can with a mere whisper bring us to our knees begging for relief. But the destruction of belief is necessary and though our suffering may take us to our most extreme limits of resilience, the soul is creating space for gestation and bringing forth.
There is no meaningful creativity without destroying the things that serve to confine us.
In a dark night we experience the destruction of that which is familiar and brings us comfort, of that which gives a reason to do the things that we do. Once removed we go through the motions of life with a overwhelming feeling of paralysis, of being unable to move through life even though we sense it moving all around us.
When Our Interior World Fails: When our interior world begins to fail and a sense of desolation begins to overwhelm our experience, society is quick to provide the label of depression. Of course, depression as a disease is virulent and does infect our thought patterns, emotional states, and biological functioning. To relieve ourselves from depression we often seek to change our thought processes and/or use chemical intervention to relieve the symptoms. A dark night of the soul may invite depression, however, it is something far more expansive and primal. There is no pharmaceutical relief from the sense of desolation brought on by the dark night. The calling of the soul cannot be medicated. Nor can we merely “think” our way out of the dark night as if it were some kind of exercise in cognitive therapy.
He [God] leads them into the dark night. Here is where he weans them from the breasts of personal pleasure, through pure aridity and inner darkness. He removes all the gratuities and childish attachments and helps them acquire the virtues by very different means.- – St. John of the Cross in Dark Night of the Soul
Sometimes the solution to that which causes us the most intense levels of suffering lies within the realm of contemplation, or the long and careful observation of our experience. Suffering is something we tend to avoid; we fear pain. Although pain and suffering are unpleasant, there are situations and circumstances in life in which they are not only necessary but essential. Within the spiritual realm of the dark night of the soul our contemplation must attempt to allow, accept and embrace the suffering and pain that calls to us from the midst of our soul.
We have anesthetized ourselves to spirituality. Religion has become more of a question mark, perhaps even more of a roadblock, than a sanctuary for the contemplation of belief. Merely adopting a particular set of beliefs that have been defined by other people, whether they be religious or spiritual in origin, will not prevent a dark night of the soul from visiting. In essence, a dark night kidnaps us from the false security of our beliefs, traditions, and faith. It is the mercurial space in which we cannot find our identity, our purpose, or meaning. In a sense, a dark night is a physical, mental and spiritual abyss in which questions such as, “Why am I here?” find no solace. A dark night is the place of utter solitude and loneliness – there is no relief other than to journey through it.
Demons of Our Own Conjuring: Perhaps this kind of description sounds excessive. Is there not enough meaning and value in our ordinary lives to pursue? Is it not enough to educate ourselves, raise families, contribute to society, and retire well without adding in the angst generated by the soul? Isn’t religion enough – just choose one to believe in, follow its assumptions blindly, and all will work out in the end? Is there really an internal world,a spiritual terrain, that we must traverse in order to relieve our burden and reach a calmer place? Is the angst of the soul really a delusion in itself, a source of suffering that we have in fact manufactured for ourselves in the pursuit of false assumptions and beliefs? Have we fallen victim to our imagination and false religious notions? Moreover, why willingly fall into what is described as an abyss of suffering, dislocation, and desolation?
Sometimes we see what’s not there. We see demons of our own conjuring.- The Devil’s Mistress
The problem is that our imagination is just as real as something we suppose to be real “out there.” If we are seeing something, then it is there. And perhaps demons have always been of our own conjuring, and our interior world of the spirit is where they reside. There is nothing “out there” that isn’t “in here;” in this sense, demons can only be of our own conjuring. To ignore the messages that seem to originate in that untraceable location we call our intuition, is to ignore our higher and more artistic sensibilities. We should be more willing to inhabit those places of our being that lie beyond immediate sensory perception and spaces that do not conform to our collective compendium of knowledge and belief. And are we so confined in our presence that we deny the possibly of other modes of perception and comprehension?
A dark night of the soul is an artistic journey into that which may destroy us, but also that which may serve to renew us. We are placed within a learning environment that serves as a medium of transformation, but in which we are utterly lost, alone, and riddled with anxiety. Once inside a dark night, they is no way or means to reverse our way out of it, to return to that which was. In this sense, a dark night of the soul is a threshold into a primal form of suffering in which our mentors and companions are loneliness, solitude, despair, confinement, disillusionment, isolation, uncertainty, angst, fear, panic, and desolation. And there is no promise or guarantee within a dark night, that is to say, there is no certainty that we will ever emerge from it in this life.
A dark night embraces the essence of art, artistry, and creativity. By this I mean that a dark night is deeply authentic in nature and our journey through it draws upon every spiritual, intuitive, intellectual, and emotional resource we have available to us. This is not to say that a dark night is a prerequisite for art, but it is a compelling example of artistry that is authentic, pure and true.
Darkness is a vast interior landscape of loneliness and abandonment. Our guide and most trusted advisor throughout a dark night of the soul is Solitude. Even in the midst of our loved ones and friends we persist in feeling desperately alone. Darkness invokes extreme contrasts between solitude and belonging, and in doing so invokes a suffering that defines our presence in the world. It is this pervasive sense of abandonment in the midst of belonging that is, for me, the essence of the dark night of the soul. A dark night amputates our existing sense of identity as if removing a mask we forget we were wearing. The soul poignantly whispers to us that we can no longer be who we were and we do not yet know who we will be. A dark night of the soul is not merely an identity crisis, it is the sudden absence of identity and an absolute loss of self. A dark night of the soul is the medium in which we learn about our own suffering, and to learn about suffering is to pursue the essence of presence.
The Spirituality of Modern Society: We live in a world in which the quality and capacity our minds seem to be steadily deteriorating. Anxiety is now a lifestyle. Distraction is a default thinking style. New age hope and promise is largely nonsense masquerading as insight. In our world, knowledge building does not serve to clarify; it fosters increasingly deeper levels of confusion and contradiction. The bland and arid surface of information overwhelms the higher ground of comprehension and understanding. Expertism’s incestuous relationship with business increasingly manufactures victims for its wares. We invent problems that don’t exist so that we can market and sell solutions to these imaginary problems. The acceleration and pervasiveness of human interaction erodes our powers of discernment and concentration; we obsessively communicate more and more yet have increasingly little to give. We have seduced ourselves into believing that this vast frenzied state of inertia we call progress actually matters. We are destroying ourselves and the very planet that is our only source of life.
Spirituality in the modern world has become a commodity. One of the most reprehensible aspects of human existence is our obsessive need to commodify seemingly everything we come into contact with. Spirituality has fallen victim as we see a plethora of new age buffs selling their wares under the pleasant and comforting guise of guru-ship. Our education, under the design of the prerequisite, has conditioned us to behave as if we were intellectual lemmings. Spirituality is a uniquely individual artistic endeavour in which we seek to discover how we can connect, interact, and preserve the essence of life and existence. The way to reclaim ourselves is only found through the way of the artist; to take back the artistry of living is to embrace spirituality.
The Artistry of the Dark Night: The dark night of the soul is an experience that permeates many religious, spiritual and artistic traditions throughout the world. It is commonly associated with mystics, or those people that dedicate their lives to the pursuit of higher levels of consciousness. However, the experience of the dark night is familiar to us all in various ways and means. Each of us experiences the dark night in a unique way, however, the underlying current is relentlessly concentrated on the solitary quest for meaning and purpose in the midst of the destruction of our present beliefs.
On a dark night,Inflamed by love-longing–O exquisite risk!–Undetected I slipped away.My house, at last, grown still.- St. John of the Cross in Dark Night of the Soul
All creativity embraces destruction. Destruction is not the opposite of creativity; destruction is an aspect of and companion to creativity. The human soul is a potent creative and therefore destructive force, one that can with a mere whisper bring us to our knees begging for relief. But the destruction of belief is necessary and though our suffering may take us to our most extreme limits of resilience, the soul is creating space for gestation and bringing forth.
There is no meaningful creativity without destroying the things that serve to confine us.
In a dark night we experience the destruction of that which is familiar and brings us comfort, of that which gives a reason to do the things that we do. Once removed we go through the motions of life with a overwhelming feeling of paralysis, of being unable to move through life even though we sense it moving all around us.
When Our Interior World Fails: When our interior world begins to fail and a sense of desolation begins to overwhelm our experience, society is quick to provide the label of depression. Of course, depression as a disease is virulent and does infect our thought patterns, emotional states, and biological functioning. To relieve ourselves from depression we often seek to change our thought processes and/or use chemical intervention to relieve the symptoms. A dark night of the soul may invite depression, however, it is something far more expansive and primal. There is no pharmaceutical relief from the sense of desolation brought on by the dark night. The calling of the soul cannot be medicated. Nor can we merely “think” our way out of the dark night as if it were some kind of exercise in cognitive therapy.
He [God] leads them into the dark night. Here is where he weans them from the breasts of personal pleasure, through pure aridity and inner darkness. He removes all the gratuities and childish attachments and helps them acquire the virtues by very different means.- – St. John of the Cross in Dark Night of the Soul
Sometimes the solution to that which causes us the most intense levels of suffering lies within the realm of contemplation, or the long and careful observation of our experience. Suffering is something we tend to avoid; we fear pain. Although pain and suffering are unpleasant, there are situations and circumstances in life in which they are not only necessary but essential. Within the spiritual realm of the dark night of the soul our contemplation must attempt to allow, accept and embrace the suffering and pain that calls to us from the midst of our soul.
We have anesthetized ourselves to spirituality. Religion has become more of a question mark, perhaps even more of a roadblock, than a sanctuary for the contemplation of belief. Merely adopting a particular set of beliefs that have been defined by other people, whether they be religious or spiritual in origin, will not prevent a dark night of the soul from visiting. In essence, a dark night kidnaps us from the false security of our beliefs, traditions, and faith. It is the mercurial space in which we cannot find our identity, our purpose, or meaning. In a sense, a dark night is a physical, mental and spiritual abyss in which questions such as, “Why am I here?” find no solace. A dark night is the place of utter solitude and loneliness – there is no relief other than to journey through it.
Demons of Our Own Conjuring: Perhaps this kind of description sounds excessive. Is there not enough meaning and value in our ordinary lives to pursue? Is it not enough to educate ourselves, raise families, contribute to society, and retire well without adding in the angst generated by the soul? Isn’t religion enough – just choose one to believe in, follow its assumptions blindly, and all will work out in the end? Is there really an internal world,a spiritual terrain, that we must traverse in order to relieve our burden and reach a calmer place? Is the angst of the soul really a delusion in itself, a source of suffering that we have in fact manufactured for ourselves in the pursuit of false assumptions and beliefs? Have we fallen victim to our imagination and false religious notions? Moreover, why willingly fall into what is described as an abyss of suffering, dislocation, and desolation?
Sometimes we see what’s not there. We see demons of our own conjuring.- The Devil’s Mistress
The problem is that our imagination is just as real as something we suppose to be real “out there.” If we are seeing something, then it is there. And perhaps demons have always been of our own conjuring, and our interior world of the spirit is where they reside. There is nothing “out there” that isn’t “in here;” in this sense, demons can only be of our own conjuring. To ignore the messages that seem to originate in that untraceable location we call our intuition, is to ignore our higher and more artistic sensibilities. We should be more willing to inhabit those places of our being that lie beyond immediate sensory perception and spaces that do not conform to our collective compendium of knowledge and belief. And are we so confined in our presence that we deny the possibly of other modes of perception and comprehension?
A dark night of the soul is an artistic journey into that which may destroy us, but also that which may serve to renew us. We are placed within a learning environment that serves as a medium of transformation, but in which we are utterly lost, alone, and riddled with anxiety. Once inside a dark night, they is no way or means to reverse our way out of it, to return to that which was. In this sense, a dark night of the soul is a threshold into a primal form of suffering in which our mentors and companions are loneliness, solitude, despair, confinement, disillusionment, isolation, uncertainty, angst, fear, panic, and desolation. And there is no promise or guarantee within a dark night, that is to say, there is no certainty that we will ever emerge from it in this life.
A dark night embraces the essence of art, artistry, and creativity. By this I mean that a dark night is deeply authentic in nature and our journey through it draws upon every spiritual, intuitive, intellectual, and emotional resource we have available to us. This is not to say that a dark night is a prerequisite for art, but it is a compelling example of artistry that is authentic, pure and true.
The Crone: Wisdom
The old hag at her cauldron is perhaps the most enduring image of the Wise Woman and a remnant of a time when women were the healers of their communities. They were shamans, witches, midwifes, medicine women, and priestesses of the Goddess.
The Crone is a symbol of inherent wisdom that comes from experience. She has lived through love, sorrow, hope, and fear, coming out of it all a wise and confident spirit. Through these experiences she has learned the secrets of life and death and of the mysteries beyond this world. She has tasted death itself and watched those she loved make the journey before her. It is through her mourning that she faces death, grows to understand it, and becomes the gatekeeper between worlds.
The wisdom of the Crone comes only after learning the lessons of non-judgment and compassion. Through these lessons the Crone becomes the balancing scales between light and dark and between life and death. She is selfless, yet she loves herself. She is kind, yet she knows when to be harsh. She is free, she is compassionate, and she is wise. Only the Crone can complete the journey to the Otherworld and birth the Child of Completion.
The Crone is full of power. Her body is no longer fertile, but her mind is sharp and able. She no longer bleeds, keeping her power within her and owning it without shame or fear.
She is often seen as a healer, working in tune with Nature to cure ailments and guide those ready to leave or enter this world. She is the elder priestess of the Goddess; the Grandmother whose words are few yet priceless in their wisdom.
In myth the Crone is often seen as something to be feared. She is a representation of death and its mysteries. Things that are unknown are always feared, thus we work to know the Crone; to understand her wisdom and beckon her to impart the mysteries upon us. We surrender our fear and ignorance to the Crone and let her strike these overpowering influences down as a stalk of wheat with her shining sickle.
As with all aspects of the Goddess the Crone is not only found within the aged. She is in all beings at all times. She can be present in men and women, young and old; though age may very likely come before her lessons are fully realized.
The Crone is a cleansing force that sweeps through the world carrying away those whose time to live is done to make room for new life. She is associated with the element of water and the direction of west – land of the dead. She is the necessary force of destruction like the force of a wave on the shore; ripping away the beach and returning it to the sea from which it came.
She is the reaper, the comforter, the mysterious old woman who possesses the knowledge of all worlds. The next time a thunderstorm passes overhead take a moment to listen to the voice of the Crone. Feel the tears of joy and mourning fall upon your head and take the first steps to understand her mysteries.
Affirmation of the Crone
Use this affirmation daily to seek the wisdom of the Crone within yourself.
Ancient Crone,
You are the source of eternal knowledge
That leads to the completion of the spirit.
Let my soul seek your lessons,
And strive to understand your mysteries.
I will not fear the darkness
For I know you wait for me within it.
A Journey with the Crone
Prepare yourself as you have for the other journeys. Light incense or play soft music if this is helpful to you.
You begin, as always, on that familiar path. Look up through the now thinning branches of the trees into the night sky. The waning moon hangs overhead, it’s sickle shape bright and surrounded by millions of stars.
It is hard to see anything along the path. Shadows take up much of the spaces where flowers once grew. If you look hard enough you may see a healing plant or two tucked in along the path. Take your time and explore a little. You are not afraid.
Animals of the night move in the forest around you. An owl can be heard in the distance asking her eternal question. She wants to know who you are. Can you tell her or are you unsure of yourself?
As you walk up to the gate you see that it is now covered with dying vines, dried up and withered. Leave the baggage of your mundane life on the ground and push it open to approach the cottage.
You can see smoke rippling out of the chimney and the windows are glowing with a welcoming light. Walk to the door and enter.
Bent over the hearth is an old woman wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled up over her grey hair. When you enter she turns to you, pays you half a glance, and silently gestures for you to sit by the fire. She has been expecting you.
You watch her work in her cauldron, grabbing bundles of herbs from the mantle to add to her brew. After a moment she takes a seat beside you and pulls her hood down to expose her time weathered face.
She turns to you and in her hand is a cup of the brew she has been tending. She offers it to you and says:
“I am the grandmother of mysteries. You have come to this place seeking wisdom. Drink from this cup and learn all that you need to know at this time.”
You take the hot cup and drink deeply from it. What knowledge comes into your mind as the bittersweet liquid passes over your lips? Is anything foggy? Are there things that are not clear to you still?
Speak with the Crone for a time. Spend time with her and learn from her timeless experience.
When you are ready to leave embrace your grandmother and return to the gate. Take only what you need before returning down the path and allowing your consciousness to surface slowly.
Embracing the Crone Ritual
You will need a dark or silver colored bowl of water, your favorite incense, and a candle. Get everything prepared and find a quiet place to sit alone.
This ritual should be done as closely as possible to the last quarter—the waning moon.
Invite the Crone in your own words. You may choose to use a specific Crone Goddess if you like or simply call on the Crone aspect of the Great Goddess.
Now might be a good time to use the Crone meditation you read earlier. Either way, quiet your mind and ground yourself in whatever way works for you.
Recite the following words:
Ancient Crone, allow me to find wisdom within myself and to always remember that your lessons are within me waiting to be revealed. May I strive to understand all that is light and dark without fear.
The bowl of water represents a portal between this world and the Otherworld. When you are ready, relax the focus of your eyes and gaze into the surface of the water. Stare at it as long as you can allowing yourself to “daydream” into the water.
Make note of shapes, letters, images, etc. that you see on the surface of the water. Later you may want to do some research and soul searching to find out what these things mean.
When you are done scrying thank the Crone in your own words and drip some of the water over your hands and face. Pay special attention to the area of your third eye—on your forehead between your eyes.
The ritual is ended here. You may choose to go outside and gaze at the waning moon and be with the Crone.
Prayers and Chants of the Crone
I.
Ancient Crone,
Cleansing waters of wisdom,
I embrace you within myself,
And dance with you ‘round the well.
Let me be a seeker of knowledge,
And courageous in the face of darkness.
My heart sings your melody
And my spirit is forever whole.
II.
Cerridwyn of the Cauldron,
Timeless Grandmother,
Shape shifting Queen of mysteries,
Let your wisdom surround me and be within me.
Reap away my fear and ignorance.
Lady Crone, bless me with your gifts.
III.
Lady of Autumn,
Fading blossom of Samhain,
I am your heart’s drummer
And forever your student.
IV.
The Crone awakens within me.
Now and always I seek wisdom.
the crone: part of the book of tridea by ps.
grian debandia of circle of the green
Author of this is post is Witchery
The old hag at her cauldron is perhaps the most enduring image of the Wise Woman and a remnant of a time when women were the healers of their communities. They were shamans, witches, midwifes, medicine women, and priestesses of the Goddess.
The Crone is a symbol of inherent wisdom that comes from experience. She has lived through love, sorrow, hope, and fear, coming out of it all a wise and confident spirit. Through these experiences she has learned the secrets of life and death and of the mysteries beyond this world. She has tasted death itself and watched those she loved make the journey before her. It is through her mourning that she faces death, grows to understand it, and becomes the gatekeeper between worlds.
The wisdom of the Crone comes only after learning the lessons of non-judgment and compassion. Through these lessons the Crone becomes the balancing scales between light and dark and between life and death. She is selfless, yet she loves herself. She is kind, yet she knows when to be harsh. She is free, she is compassionate, and she is wise. Only the Crone can complete the journey to the Otherworld and birth the Child of Completion.
The Crone is full of power. Her body is no longer fertile, but her mind is sharp and able. She no longer bleeds, keeping her power within her and owning it without shame or fear.
She is often seen as a healer, working in tune with Nature to cure ailments and guide those ready to leave or enter this world. She is the elder priestess of the Goddess; the Grandmother whose words are few yet priceless in their wisdom.
In myth the Crone is often seen as something to be feared. She is a representation of death and its mysteries. Things that are unknown are always feared, thus we work to know the Crone; to understand her wisdom and beckon her to impart the mysteries upon us. We surrender our fear and ignorance to the Crone and let her strike these overpowering influences down as a stalk of wheat with her shining sickle.
As with all aspects of the Goddess the Crone is not only found within the aged. She is in all beings at all times. She can be present in men and women, young and old; though age may very likely come before her lessons are fully realized.
The Crone is a cleansing force that sweeps through the world carrying away those whose time to live is done to make room for new life. She is associated with the element of water and the direction of west – land of the dead. She is the necessary force of destruction like the force of a wave on the shore; ripping away the beach and returning it to the sea from which it came.
She is the reaper, the comforter, the mysterious old woman who possesses the knowledge of all worlds. The next time a thunderstorm passes overhead take a moment to listen to the voice of the Crone. Feel the tears of joy and mourning fall upon your head and take the first steps to understand her mysteries.
Affirmation of the Crone
Use this affirmation daily to seek the wisdom of the Crone within yourself.
Ancient Crone,
You are the source of eternal knowledge
That leads to the completion of the spirit.
Let my soul seek your lessons,
And strive to understand your mysteries.
I will not fear the darkness
For I know you wait for me within it.
A Journey with the Crone
Prepare yourself as you have for the other journeys. Light incense or play soft music if this is helpful to you.
You begin, as always, on that familiar path. Look up through the now thinning branches of the trees into the night sky. The waning moon hangs overhead, it’s sickle shape bright and surrounded by millions of stars.
It is hard to see anything along the path. Shadows take up much of the spaces where flowers once grew. If you look hard enough you may see a healing plant or two tucked in along the path. Take your time and explore a little. You are not afraid.
Animals of the night move in the forest around you. An owl can be heard in the distance asking her eternal question. She wants to know who you are. Can you tell her or are you unsure of yourself?
As you walk up to the gate you see that it is now covered with dying vines, dried up and withered. Leave the baggage of your mundane life on the ground and push it open to approach the cottage.
You can see smoke rippling out of the chimney and the windows are glowing with a welcoming light. Walk to the door and enter.
Bent over the hearth is an old woman wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled up over her grey hair. When you enter she turns to you, pays you half a glance, and silently gestures for you to sit by the fire. She has been expecting you.
You watch her work in her cauldron, grabbing bundles of herbs from the mantle to add to her brew. After a moment she takes a seat beside you and pulls her hood down to expose her time weathered face.
She turns to you and in her hand is a cup of the brew she has been tending. She offers it to you and says:
“I am the grandmother of mysteries. You have come to this place seeking wisdom. Drink from this cup and learn all that you need to know at this time.”
You take the hot cup and drink deeply from it. What knowledge comes into your mind as the bittersweet liquid passes over your lips? Is anything foggy? Are there things that are not clear to you still?
Speak with the Crone for a time. Spend time with her and learn from her timeless experience.
When you are ready to leave embrace your grandmother and return to the gate. Take only what you need before returning down the path and allowing your consciousness to surface slowly.
Embracing the Crone Ritual
You will need a dark or silver colored bowl of water, your favorite incense, and a candle. Get everything prepared and find a quiet place to sit alone.
This ritual should be done as closely as possible to the last quarter—the waning moon.
Invite the Crone in your own words. You may choose to use a specific Crone Goddess if you like or simply call on the Crone aspect of the Great Goddess.
Now might be a good time to use the Crone meditation you read earlier. Either way, quiet your mind and ground yourself in whatever way works for you.
Recite the following words:
Ancient Crone, allow me to find wisdom within myself and to always remember that your lessons are within me waiting to be revealed. May I strive to understand all that is light and dark without fear.
The bowl of water represents a portal between this world and the Otherworld. When you are ready, relax the focus of your eyes and gaze into the surface of the water. Stare at it as long as you can allowing yourself to “daydream” into the water.
Make note of shapes, letters, images, etc. that you see on the surface of the water. Later you may want to do some research and soul searching to find out what these things mean.
When you are done scrying thank the Crone in your own words and drip some of the water over your hands and face. Pay special attention to the area of your third eye—on your forehead between your eyes.
The ritual is ended here. You may choose to go outside and gaze at the waning moon and be with the Crone.
Prayers and Chants of the Crone
I.
Ancient Crone,
Cleansing waters of wisdom,
I embrace you within myself,
And dance with you ‘round the well.
Let me be a seeker of knowledge,
And courageous in the face of darkness.
My heart sings your melody
And my spirit is forever whole.
II.
Cerridwyn of the Cauldron,
Timeless Grandmother,
Shape shifting Queen of mysteries,
Let your wisdom surround me and be within me.
Reap away my fear and ignorance.
Lady Crone, bless me with your gifts.
III.
Lady of Autumn,
Fading blossom of Samhain,
I am your heart’s drummer
And forever your student.
IV.
The Crone awakens within me.
Now and always I seek wisdom.
the crone: part of the book of tridea by ps.
grian debandia of circle of the green
Author of this is post is Witchery
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