Considering Cronedom

Silly really that four and a half years after starting this blog, I still feel the need to embrace the Crone phase in a ritual. Surely all this writing has been enough to show that I am a cantankerous old witch with woo-woo interests and bizarre beliefs.

Clearly not.

The ceremony thing is about ten days away and I have arranged nearly everything. In terms of the practicalities, I know where to go and when. I have invited my brother and sister-in-law to celebrate with me, and so booked a restaurant. I have a "gift" for the place (acorns, loads of them, collected over the past weeks, some from Austria). I have a crown woven of honeysuckle and oak as well as a special silver-plated oak leaf to attach to it. I have two pebbles to "carry" my intentions for what I am leaving and what I am claiming. I will be renouncing a pendant shaped like a spear, and donning a silver-plated acorn.

That's all fine.

Now for the words and thoughts.

I need to be ready to ask other beings to witness this. So, I will say something like, "Be with me my kin, my fellow-earth-beings. The winged, the four legged, the feathered, furred and scaled, the creeping, the crawling, the sliding, the swimming and the flying, the rooted and the earthy, the stony, the airy, they fiery and the flowing. Be with me.' Or just the first sentence, I expect.

I share a teaching. Maybe, 'Now I live the interconnected life, or try to do so. Now I see that all is sacred. Now I practice attentive love.'

Then I offer appreciation. 'As well as the guidance from the Standing People, I offer my appreciation to Gay, to Harriet, to Nina, and to Ally.'

What am I letting go? I think it's the permanent search for a single mission, a goal outside of myself, and a guru to follow, with certainty and in the quest for some fixed understanding. I am letting go of the fear of being myself and the doubts that weigh me down.

What am I claiming? I think it's the determination to follow a deep and inner-led path, from golden moment to golden moment, via all the pains and vicissitudes along the way. It is an authentic path, an organic path, a path that leads through the unknown and the hollow places rather than following the light. By this, I don’t mean that there is a “truth within” – no, instead, my Oak guide Kairos suggests that by following my feelings, love and curiosity, and regarding the world with clear attention, I will see the reality of the world in its wonder and what I am to do will be clear… that is the path to wisdom.

I accept that I am facing becoming elder, living with death as companion and advisor.

Oh, and I need a reading. Yes. Right. A reading.

Oh... Maybe this...

On the day when the tides flood in,

dark and daring,

sweeping the soil from around your roots,

May the earth's hold on you be strong -

so you stand, firm and fair.

And, when the heat draws like flame

every drop from the land,

May a secret spring under your stem

support

your green and glorious vitality.

When winds wildly roar

like tigers preparing to pounce -

the only voice that can countermand creation -

May there be bend enough in your branches

that you can ride the blast like surf

May the sweet songs of birds

always serenade you.

May the insects find homes

in your generous frame.

May the moss deck your limbs

as fine silks cloak a queen.

May the death that comes,

as it inevitably will,

be a gift to a blessed future.

And so may you be

the being you already are:

great and wise and giving.