My Journey’s My Own

Love Your Inner Crone

A Devotional

Crone: noun: an ugly old woman

I feel this definition to my very core. And I embrace her and her flaws. Crows feet, wrinkles, bunions, aching knees that tell you rain’s coming, eyes going bad, hearing going, getting forgetful, starting to shrink, hot flashes, not to mention the gray hair.  However, I feel I’m aging gracefully as well.

The wise old woman of the tribe used to be revered. She was the one whom you would consult when times were hard, the one you would send your young to for advice and teaching, now the world is terrified to age, women in particular. 

Why?

Because as a world we no longer take care of those who earned the right to be revered, honored, and cherished. Those that raised the young, worked hard, and aged beautifully. They are pushed to the side, ignored and hidden. Placed in homes to be cared for by others. Visited a few times a year, if ever. Rare are the multi-generational homes where the youth learn how to make bread from their grandmother. Time has become more precious, along with money and “stuff” than our own people.

Through the ages the crone has been seen in so many different lights. A teacher, a shaman, a healer, a midwife, the grandmother, the beggar, she’s even been called a witch and persecuted, simply due to her knowledge of the natural world around her or her choice to be reclusive. 

Thankfully we live now, in the 21st century where we don’t have to worry about townspeople with pitchforks coming for us at night. Go ahead and dance naked around the bonfire ladies, just make sure the neighbors have their blinds closed first.

We should be able to embrace our age and welcome it like a friend. Embrace the small wrinkles at the edge of our eyes because we earned them with our laughter and tears. Loose skin around our middle because we had babies, sagging breasts because we fed those babies, achy joints because we lived a life and ran up and down soccer fields, carpal tunnel from making endless sandwiches and typing so many book reports, and then there’s the hair. 

Embrace your life and the body that’s lived it.

Call her a crone, an old broad, a witch, a hag, a cougar, or a goddess. Either way, you’ve earned it. And she’s beautiful in every way. She’s earned each and every beautiful flaw and wears it like a badge of honor. She’s aged gracefully and fiercely and she is to be revered.

Actions/Questions

What is the one stage of the aging process you really want to embrace?

If possible, call your mother or grandmother right now. She wants to hear from you. 

Be an example for your own daughter and try not to hyperfocus on those aging signs that she herself may experience. Show her how to age beautifully. Be her blueprint. 

Verses

 “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life” Proverbs 16:31

“Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.” Psalm 71:9

“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” Deuteronomy 5:16