Crone

The Crone Goddess or dark mother is the last aspect of the Triple Goddess, together with the Mother and the Maiden she represents part of the circle of life.

In today’s society where we worship youth and beauty, this aspect of the Goddess is the most frightening and misunderstood of the three, as she represents our destruction, decay and death. Traditional societies however view death as part of a cycle.
Here, as in nature, the death of Winter is followed by the promise of rebirth in the Spring. Her colour is black and she is associated with the waning or new moon, Autumn and Winter.

In her positive aspect, she is often depicted as a Grandmother, a wise woman, or a midwife. The word Crone is derived from the old word for crown, suggesting the wisdom that emanates from the head like a halo. Her own child baring days are past; she is the wisdom keeper, seer and healer and midwife, whose knowledge is sought out to guide others during life’s hardships and transitions. Unfortunately, in the Middle Ages the church feared these wise women and the esteem with which their communities held them. Many of them were killed during the Inquisition and the wise woman of old was relegated to the Wicked Witch and Hag Archetype of our fairy tales. This is a corruption of the original meanings of the word witch and hag which respectively derived from the word wit, denoting wisdom and hagio meaning holy. Today as more woman live longer and take more prominent roles within society the tide is starting to turn as they start to reclaim their power.

## Referring to a person

In the mundane world, when people use the word crone, they usually envision a shrivelled old woman, bent and wrinkled. It is not a compliment. If you’re a woman and you overhear your blind date referring to you on his cell phone as an old crone, feel free to hit him with your purse. Hard.
But in the Pagan world, the world crone has a completely different meaning. Well, three meanings,actually.

The first meaning is the one that most of us might think of automatically-the crone as the representation of the third embodiment of the triple goddess: maiden, mother, and crone. When the goddess is in her crone guise (such as at Samhain), she has reached the end of the year and the end of a cycle. Wrinkled she may be, but also wise and revered. And as Pagans we know that eventually this phase too will pass, and the goddess will come around again as maiden, young and beautiful.

The word crone is also used to indicate age and honour in the practice of Witchcraft. A crone is a woman who has practised the Craft for many years and has attained much wisdom and experience along the way. To be called a crone in this context really is a compliment, a term of respect and honour. One can look forward to the day when they are called a crone!

Crone can also be an indication of the stage of a woman’s life. Once a witch has hit menopause (or it has hit her), she is no longer considered to be in the mother stage of her life and has moved on to the status of crone.

Despite what you might think, this is not a bad thing.

Remember that it is only in our modern world that “old” has become a bad word. In days gone by, the older generation was more often looked up to and admired for their knowledge and their wisdom.

So if you are a woman of a certain age, enjoy being a crone. Rather than bemoan what you have lost (remember, it will all come along again in your next life), rejoice at when you have gained—wisdom and knowledge and the ability to lord them over the younger generation.