Another Ritual to Celebrate the Crone
In my last post about Croning, I explained the importance of demarking this important life transition with ritual. (Go back and read that to catch up. Done? Great, welcome back.) This week, I offer a ritual to help welcome the aging pagan or witch into the tribe of the crone with a celebration of the crones before us. After all, we must be fully appreciative of the splendid company we’ll be keeping as crones.
One of the things I love about paganism is that it offers me such a wide array of ways to live out the divine feminine. Cultures across time and throughout the world have provided endless goddesses and feminine archetypes for our worship, devotion, dedication, and learning. In almost all of these cultures, the crone goddess plays a prominent role.
Some well known crone goddesses include: Baba Yaga, Baubo, Cailleach, Edda, Grandmother Spider, Hecate, Hel, Sheila na Gig, and Uzume. But there are many, many, MANY more.
Unfortunately, in many cultures the goddess has given way to a monotheistic god. With the devaluation and elimination of the goddess, respect for woman (particularly older women) often follows. And yet our societal and personal histories abound with commendable crones.
Although many of our honored crones started their careers and general awesomeness earlier in their lives, the crones we fondly remember continued their work well into their later years. I’m thinking of examples such as: Emmeline Pankhurst, Harriet Tubman, Yaa Asantewaa, Susan B. Anthony, Indira Ghandi, Grace Hopper, Sandra Day O’Connor, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Mother Theresa, Wangari Maathai, Catherine de’Medici, Zora Neale Hurston, and Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
In this ritual, we will remember these oft-forgotten heroines. And we will remind ourselves that whatever our age and however visible our acts of wonder, we are part of their ranks.
Once again, prepare the circle with cleansing, circle casting, invocation, evocation, revocation or whatever other ritual opening components help you enter sacred space. Then join me for the ritual meat.
Act Two: A Rite to Celebrate the Crones Before Us
Setup: Before the ritual, ask participants to identify a crone, living or past, that they want to honor with this ritual. They may wish to bring a picture or other representation of their chosen crone.
The altar may be decorated simply with a small bouquet and the representations brought by the participants. Also have a basket of small stones or pebbles available.
Sing: “Song to Grandmothers” by Lisa Thiel
Share the story of Themis and the stones, either by reading my version or telling your own.
Deucalion and Pyrrha repeople the earth
Themis is not usually considered a Crone Goddess, but she is ancient. Themis is a Titaness, a goddess older even than the Olympians. She is the personification of fairness, divine law, and justice. As the goddess of assemblies, no official gathering of the Olympians could begin without Themis calling it to order, kind of like grandmother at family Thanksgiving. She is also associated with the gift of prophesy, which many crones will tell you is just the gift of learning to pay attention.
Our goddess Themis was always kind to humans. After Zeus flooded the world to punish humanity for our wickedness, two humans survived. When everyone else was gone and they’d found land again, Deucalion and Pyrrha were so lonely. Themis took pity on them and gave them the cryptic message to throw the bones of their mothers behind them. (Goddesses are enigmatic like that; just try getting a straight answer from a Titan.)
But Deucaloin and Pyrrha were ancient Greeks and not easily thrown off by divine messages. They correctly interpreted that they were to toss stones behind them as they walked. The stones thrown by Deucalion turned into men; the stones Pyrrha threw became a new race of women.
The earth is our mother, and so of course her children come from her bones, the “stones.” Stones have held a sacred place in the spiritual history of humanity for ages—think stone circles and stones of destiny. Stones are the bones of our stories.
Sing: In Our Bones by Alane Brown (from the album Seasons: A Pagan Journey Around the Wheel)
Ritual Activity: Honoring our beloved crones
Activity: Each participant should share stories about the crone they have chosen to honor. They may be historical Crones, Crone Goddesses, or Crones that you love. For each Crone named, add a pebble to the altar.
Chant and Dance: We are an Old People
While chanting, form a circle, holding hands. As you chant, step on your left foot for two beats, then step together with your right foot for two beats. Continue this step, together, step deosil around the circle. As you chant and dance, look in the eyes of each woman and see the wonderful wise crone within.
End the ritual by calling out the names of the honored crones, adding the participants’ names to the list. Do this regardless of whether the woman considers herself a current crone. The crone’s bones are in all of us!
Inspiration for part of this ritual came from Barbara Walker’s “Ceremony of Stones” in Women’s Rituals: A Sourcebook, which I highly, highly recommend!
This post is the second in a series on Crone ceremony. The next installment is here.