The Day of the Crone November 13th

This day is the most powerful day of the year for women who have entered their Crone years.  What I'm about to write might not be true for others but I have always been truthful in the information I have written here at Owl's Rest, so I will recount the experience as it actually happened to me.

As with most things in magic things happen at their own time.  To say I had no desire to be old enough to be considered at Crone at 49 would be an understatement.  After all, except for a few aches and pains (which I've lived with all my life having gotten arthritis at 2) I feel as young as ever. 

On November 13th of my 49th year the urge to work a ritual of some sort seemed to over power me.  I checked the calendar and it didn't seem a day of particular power but I've long ago stopped fighting the power when it chooses to rise. 

My usual approach to handling this energy is to simply follow the thoughts that pop up in my head.  That this was a night to visit Dub (the land of the north wind) was strong.  That this was a night to but away problems that had bothered me for years was strong (though I was troubled by the fact that it was a waxing moon - I've learned to trust the hidden guidance more than my own conceptions).  Since it was 42 days after my birthday and since I hadn't yet done my annual solar return chart I decided to start with that to see if there was a clue.  Scorpio was rising by 47 seconds.  Scorpio, the witches sign, was rising - this seemed like a pretty strong message - still didn't know what to do with it, so I moved on to see what stone and what flower held power on this night - A sapphire that was so dark that it was black popped into my head and wouldn't leave - again the symbolism of dark, of night.  I next pulled out my deck of flower cards and looked through them for a moment - one card had a black panther and a snake surrounding an aster.  Wasn't sure about the aster but I knew the black panther was the last piece of the puzzle.

What came to me next was that it was time to journey to Dub, to talk to the Ladies at the back of the North wind.  I had journeyed to them in the past and had no reason to think that I would find myself blindfolded, bound and held in a place of stasis which is of course what happened.  In our modern day world we forget that most initiation rituals are trials,  Trials that force us to confront our fears, our secrets and in some cases our future.  Since no one else's initiation will ever be the same as mine recounting it is meaningless, but I can share the learning that I received as a result of it.

According to the Ladies, there are powers and knowledge that are most appropriately gained only after a certain age.  That for those destined to wear the black, initiation can be done during the betwixt and between year which 49 happens to be according our current standards, and November 13th is the most powerful day of the year for doing the initiation, since it is the day of darkness. 

I have to say that the feet on the ground, left brain, rational part of me is still amazed when this stuff comes up all on its own accord and works itself out according to its own rules and its own logic with no by your leave from me.  So what does it mean to be a novice crone so far?  At 49 novice sounds good - being a full fledged crone would be a little depressing right at the moment .  I've also been given a new companion Draighean (a black panther), I have no idea if she's just here for the year or if she'll stay longer but time will tell.

2004

I've found that there is another rite of passage along the way to full Croneship and that is the death of one's own mother.  Many years ago my roommate said that she knew her father would never really be his own man until his father died.  What seems to happen for a woman when her mother dies is that the role of daughter disappears.  Even if the father is still alive the eldest daughter is now matriarch.