THE CRONE
The crone both fascinates and repels, like a horror movie that we know will scare us out of a full night’s sleep but still feel compelled to watch. The crone is our Halloween witch who rides her broomstick across the face of the autumn moon, she is the faery tale hag who lures children and young women to their doom with sweets,108 and she is the woman on the street who is shunned and pushed aside simply because she is old and perceived as useless. But the crone is also our grandmother, our teacher, and our ultimate fate. We shall become her as we age, and we shall return to her when life on earth has run its course. Unfortunately, humans have always feared death; therefore, the crone becomes a constant reminder of that which we hold in dread and yet cannot avoid. This death image is further seen in the cessation of her “power times,” or her menstrual cycles. Rather than shedding this blood of life, she retains it within herself, keeping the power locked inside her.
All too many books on Wiccan/Pagan practice still advise that it is best to leave this dark side of the Goddess alone, to restrict our explorations of divinity to the more comfortable virgin and mother aspects. Fortunately, this seems to be a slowly changing trend. To our own detriment, we shun the crone. To ignore her is to ignore a vital part of ourselves, and this cuts us off from some of the greatest spiritual knowledge available. As women it is especially important that we integrate the crone into our practices and recognize her within our, selves. Only by doing this can we be completely whole and open to the greater mysteries of women’s spirituality. We must come face to face with her to know that important shadow self that is a part of us all.109 When we achieve this knowledge, we can integrate all aspects of our being into one total whole, ness. The resulting personal power is very strong.
The Celtic crone is a particularly strong archetype. Whereas the virgin contains most of the sovereign power and the mother most of the healing power, the crone contains the magickal or transformative power. As can be expected, there is some overlap between mother and crone imagery. This is especially seen in the crone’s surprisingly sexual aspects. As a devourer of life, she is a Goddess to whom sacrifices are made. This image has caused a great deal of fear of her, especially among men.
This connection is made clearer through one of the symbols of the crone, the spinning wheel, an archetypal representation of her spinning the thread of life and clipping it at life’s end. The distaff of the wheel, the spool on which the completed yam is wound, was seen as a feminine magickal tool of great power. In the Teutonic traditions, there is even a festival honoring the distaff and its life and death imagery. One old Irish superstition says that one must never hit a male animal with a distaff or it will be rendered impotent.
Sexual sacrifice is another important part of Celtic spirituality, and is related strongly to Celtic annual fertility cycles (see Chapter 12) and to the devouring Goddess. The SheilanGig who opens her yawning vulva to us is one such image of a devourer with a sexual nature, consuming with her vagina rather than her mouth. In Latin this sexually devouring aspect was known as vagina dentata, meaning the “vagina with teeth.”
When I was in high school, a particularly crude joke began circulating about a country boy whose mother warned him about the dangers of the “vagina with teeth” when he went off to the big city to live. Eventually the boy married, but on his wedding night refused to have sex with his bride because of what his mother had told him. The bride spread wide her legs to show her new husband that she was not hiding anything between them. The young man’s eyes grew wide with fear and he said, “You can’t fool me. With lips like that, there’s got to be teeth!”
In many cultures around the world this devourer image was so greatly feared that the mouths of human women were deemed ugly and were required to be covered. Islamic and Chinese cultures provide two such examples. In Islam, women are required to keep the lower half of their faces covered when in public, and Chinese women were once trained to lower their heads when they spoke and to cover their mouths when they laughed. There was also a prevalent belief in Europe that the reason women generally outlived men was that the old women were able to suck the life force from men to extend their own lives.110
Fear of having their life essence drained away by a woman, especially by an old woman, gave rise to a belief that a magickal object known as an aiguillette, a small noose-like piece of rope used in binding spells, was employed to take away male sexual potency. Though it is a interesting theory, no one ever has adequately explained why a woman would be motivated to do this.
This death Goddess aspect embodied by the crone is so strong that we often see her as being more pervasive in myth than she actually is. For example, the Morrigan is a much-talked-about Goddess, repeatedly explored in most texts on Celtic or women’s spirituality, yet she is actually mentioned very few times in actual recorded mythology.111 She is occasionally exaggerated to portray her in ways that emphasize her death aspects. Sometimes she is a Triple Goddess in the traditional sense of virgin, mother, and crone, but she is also portrayed as a triple crone form. This crone triplicity has little basis in mythology but still has become an important part of modern-day oral traditions.
One of the best-known aspects of the Celtic crone is the Cailleach, whose name means “old woman,” and who has become a synonym for the “old hag” Goddess in Gaelic-speaking lands. She is sometimes portrayed as having a blue face, or as an evil faery whose magickal staff freezes to the touch, or as a veiled Goddess who hides her hideousness along with her mysteries.112 To lift her veil is a metaphor for parting the symbolic curtain separating the Otherworld from our own. When we can do that, and successfully travel between the worlds, we have access to the mysteries of the crone. (Also see Chapter 14, “Feminine Celtic Shamanism.”) The triple aspect of the Cailleach is evident from descriptions of her as having a white apron, red teeth, and black clothing.113 The red teeth in this case are as much as indication of her devourer nature-as in the consumption of blood-as they are, in their color, part of her mother self.
In the old Breize or Brezonek language of Brittany, the crone is known as the Groac’h, another name that means “old woman” but that has taken on evil overtones and is now translated as “Witch.” This is “Witch” in the mistaken sense, as in “a follower of the Christian anti-God Satan” and not as a follower of old European nature religions. The Groac’h appears as the antagonist in numerous Breton folktales, none of them portraying her in a flattering manner.
Attributes and Correspondences of the Crone
When reading through Celtic myths, legends, or folklore, the crone can generally be identified by these clues:
Has Shapeshifting Abilities
Other aspects of the Goddess can shapeshift; so can many Celtic faery women. However, the crone is a master shapeshifter, able to transform herself into animals at will. She is especially fond of becoming a bird. Birds in Celtic mythology represent the transition from life to death and are often used as symbols of movement between the world of the living and that of the dead. The crone can also shapeshift into her virgin form, usually in the spring. One of Ireland’s great mythic books, The Book of Lecan,114 emphasizes this cyclic nature of the Cailleach by telling us that she had seven youthful periods with seven different mates, after which she became a crone again. This connects her with the old cycles of regicide in which old kings had to die so that younger, stronger ones could mate with the Goddess of the land (see Chapter 12).
Depicted as a Devourer or Destroyer
The crone Goddess consumes life. Sometimes she is a war or battle Goddess like the Morrigan, who consumes in the heat of battle. At other times she is shown as physically large, her stomach full of humanity, as in the Welsh myth of Cymedei Cymeinfoll, known as the “big belly of battle.” At still other times she is the Sheila-na-Gig, or a magician like Carman, a County Wexford Goddess, whose magick can destroy anything by thrice chanting a spell over it.
Lives in the Otherworld or Outside an EarthlyTribe
The imagery of the crone’s world is clearly underworldly, concerning the dark aspects of the Otherworld. Due to modem folklore depicting the village wise woman as a crone Witch, she is sometimes seen as living on the fringes of the community, like the famous Witch Biddy Early (see Chapter 13).
Symbolized by Crows or Ravens
As carrion birds, the crow and the raven are strong Celtic symbols of the crone as a devourer. Badb, one of the Morrigan, is often seen as a crow, and in her triple form is often shown as a raven shrieking over the battlefields. Birds in Celtic mythology archetypally represent a transition from life to death,115 and it was one of Badb’s duties to help others make this transition so they could reach the Otherworld.
Takes Humans Into Otherworld Upon Death
Where sometimes a virgin Goddess or faery queen will take a human, usually a male, into the Otherworld for the purpose of mating with him, the crone takes humans into the Otherworld almost exclusively upon their death. The crow and raven imagery best shows this transition.
Presides Over War and Battles
Because war brings death, crone Goddesses like the Morrigan are present. Called an evil Witch, faery, or demon, like the Cailleach or Groac’h, the crone is often drawn in less-than-flattering terms. The words evil, old, hag, and ugly are often used to describe her.
Myths Perverted to Inspire Fear
The crone is often cast in a role where she is fearsome, as a war Goddess must be, and this image has been used to scare children into better, socially acceptable behavior. One example of this is Ireland’s Moingfhion, whose name means “white-haired.” Her myth concerns her attempted murder of her stepson. Archetypally, she plays the role of the crone who must kill and then mourn the dying God so that he may be reborn through her. But in modern Ireland, it is a Halloween custom to say prayers to protect one’s self from her wrath, especially if one has children in the house.
Myth Makes Effort to Devalue or Diabolize Her
When it is clear that a myth or folktale has gone to extra lengths to cast one of its female figures in a lesser or demonic role, she is likely a crone being belittled out of fear. An example is the continental crone Goddess Carravogue, who was turned into a snake by a Christian saint for eating a forbidden food, a clear effort at making her a Celtic Eve responsible for the downfall of humanity.
Sometimes Shown As Having an Unpleasant Appearance
The Celtic crone cannot always be identified by her unpleasant appearance, and many Goddesses who fulfill other roles are depicted in less-than-pleasing ways. But if the image is one of hideousness coupled with old age or a devouring nature, then she is usually a crone aspect.
Possesses or Uses a Cauldron
The cauldron archetypally represents rebirth, a function over which the Celtic crone presides. Goddesses such as Cerridwen, Badb, and Cymedei Cymeinfoll are examples of cauldron bearers. In Celtic eschatology, or end of the world beliefs, it is a crone who will cause the end to come by boiling over the cauldron of life, death, and rebirth, engulfing the planet and turning it into a great wasteland.116
Associated with Burial Grounds or Sacred Ruins
Most of these Goddesses have become wicked faeries in modern folklore, though they were probably once crone Goddesses. Many of these now guard various burial cairns in Ireland and Scotland. Cally Berry, a north Irish version of the Cailleach, was said to have created Newgrange Cairn by dropping it into place boulder by boulder.117
Possesses Great Wisdom or the Gift of Prophecy
With age comes wisdom and, consequently, better divination skills, both at, tributes that the crone possesses in abundance. The crone Badb was said to have prophesied the downfall of the Tuatha De Dannan at the hands of the Milesians, and many believe she prophesied the Great Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1849. A Scottish Goddess of prophecy and transcendent knowledge, Corra, appears in the form of a crane. (Note the bird image!) In Wales, Drem, a prophetess in the employ of a Welsh king, had the power to know when someone was planning aggression against her country. Cerridwen and her caul, dron of knowledge also readily come to mind when thinking of wise crones.
Teaches Tough Lessons
This aspect is seen more in the oral tradition and in women’s traditions than in the original myths. Often the crone deals out harsh punishment or teaches hard lessons to her students or those on spiritual quests. This is a form of challenge to the seeker, who must face her deepest fears and uncertainties in order to progress, a concept found in mystery schools around the world, including the Celtic. Some guardian crone Goddesses and some of the women in Arthurian myths, such as Morgan LeFay, fit this image.
Can Control the Weather or Bring On Winter
The crone is also thought to be able to control the weather, and has been viewed as an evil faery because of this, particularly in Scotland, which has a host of weather-controlling faery lore. The Cailleach is one such example.
Because winter is the time of death and hibernation, the season in which life lies dormant awaiting rebirth, it is the season of the crone. Much Celtic folklore links the crone to this season. The already discussed Cailleach of Scotland is a prime example. In the modern folklore that has made her an evil faery, she is the queen of winter. In her gnarled blue hand she carries a staff that can turn anything it touches to ice and bring winter upon the landscape.
Question’s About the Crone for Celtic Women
The following questions may be asked of yourself at any time in your exploration of the crone aspects. Whether you have been involved in Celtic Paganism for a long time, or whether you are just beginning to explore it, the crone has something to teach you.
What ideas and images does the word “crone” conjure up in my mind? What about the words “hag,” “harridan,” “virago,” and “Cailleach”? How do I feel about the crone Goddess?
Do I now, or have I ever, feared the crone? What caused this fear?
How did I end the fear? Or, if it is still an issue, how do I plan to end the fear?
Do I feel the crone has any relevance to my life now? Why or why not? Do I feel a kinship with the crone or am I at odds with her?
Does the crone make me feel jealousy? Unease? Joy? Why?
Am I comfortable with the crone archetype? Why or why not?
How do I imagine the men in my life feel about the crone Goddess?
Does any aspect of their feelings threaten or comfort me?
What do I hope to get out of working with the crone Goddess?
What do I think or expect her to give to me?
What can I offer the crone in return?
What do I not expect the crone to be able to do for me?
Can I easily relate the crone aspect of the Goddess to her other two forms? What crone aspects do I possess or not possess? Which of these would I like to change if I can?
Crone Meditation and Exercise
Set aside a block of time when you can be the crone. This can be a few hours or an entire day. During this time allow your thoughts and outward actions to be those archetypally belonging to the crone. Allow everything you do or plan during this time to be born of the inner wisdom of your crone self. Go through this time fully aware of your inner power, wield it quietly and well, and celebrate your aging processes.
During this period you must be able to interact with at least one other person who is unaware that you are indulging your crone self. If you can interact with more than one person at this time, all the better. This contact will allow you to gauge the reactions of others to your crone aspect.
As soon as possible after this exercise, find some private time to meditate on the qualities of the crone Goddess and how they are and are not manifest within you, regardless of your chronological age. Be sure to write down your impressions in a Book of Shadows or magickal diary for future reference.
Rituals of Wisdom: Celebrating the Crone
We all have flashes of wisdom, times we feel “older than our years” or when mysteries make themselves known to us and, to our delighted astonishment, we fully comprehend them. This is the province of the crone.
Times you may especially want to celebrate, honor, or petition the crone through ritual are:
• When you reach menopause, or are going to a ritual to celebrate someone else’s having reached reached menopause
• Upon a death
• During rituals of passing over (these are rites that memorialize a deceased loved one)
• When doing divinations pertaining to profound change, endings, knowledge, wisdom, death, war, self-confidence, and women’s mysteries
• When mourning the death of the God in autumn
• When the sun is weakening in autumn
• When the waning crescent moon first appears in the night sky
In Celtic crone rituals the featured color is almost always black, though sometimes gray, orange, or brown is seen. You may want to find one of those thick pillar candles that boasts three wicks for use in your ritual. A black one can be used to honor the crone while still acknowledging her other two faces who are present but unseen. Autumn-related libations are best for the crone: fruits (especially apples), wines, berries, pumpkins, and all late-autumn produce.
A variation on the circle appropriate to the crone is to use a half-circle.
Plan your ritual space up against a wall or rocky outcropping. Physically draw it as far as you can, then mentally complete it behind the barrier. This barrier is perfect for representing the “unknown,” an attribute deeply associated with the crone. (See Appendix C for step by step methods for circle castings.)
108. These images can be seen in the faery tale crones of Snow White and Hansel and Gretel.
109. Mynne, Hugh. The Faerie Way (St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn, 1996), 21.
110. Walker, Barbara G. The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1985), 18.
111. Caldecott, Moyra. Women in Celtic Myth (London: Arrow Books, 1988), 138.
112. Matthews, Caitlin. The Elements of the Celtic Tradition (Shaftsbury, Dorset: Element Books, 1989), 21.
113. Monaghan, Patricia. The Book of Goddesses and Heroines (St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn, 1990), 66.
114. Irish Educational Institute. Yellow Book of Lecan, Vol.. 1 (Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1940).
115. Markale, Jean. Women of the Celts (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, Ltd., 1972), 113 and 116.
116. Walker devotes an entire chapter to the cauldron imagery of the crone: Chapter 5, 99–122.
117. Condren, Mary. The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989), 82.