Lessons from the Crone.
Completed over Samhain 2023, the Crone lives deep in the forest and embodies the energies of the darker half of the year. She is an edge walker, moving through the liminal with strength and wisdom. She travels the path between the worlds with ease and guides us as we journey into the underworld. The Crone archetype encourages us to face our fears and release what no longer serves. Like Hekate, she is the keeper of the keys who guides us into the unknown. She lights the way as we walk into the dark to embrace our shadow - and offers us a seat by her hearth on the darkest nights of winter.
This Crone spirit doll has already taught me so much. I have no doubt she holds many lessons for me still.
I began her in early October, finishing her over the Samhain portal when the veil was thin. I could feel the grandmothers in my lineage with me as I worked. Crone energy is very close to my heart and it was an honor and a joy to bring this doll out from the ether.
When she was completed, I took her outside to take a few photographs, choosing a spot on a bridge over a small mountain creek. As I held her to take the final photo, she fell out of my hand and tumbled into the water. I panicked. Certain that she was ruined, I rushed to gather her up, chiding myself for not holding her tighter.
As I sat squeezing the water out of her body, I noticed that although she had landed face-down in the creek, her face had managed to stay mostly dry. Her hair and the base of her body had taken most of the water - and because she was felted so tightly there, she was in little danger of losing shape. In fact, except for being quite wet, she seemed to have returned from her dip in the creek looking very much the same as before she went in. I felt instantly relieved.
Over the next few days, as she continued to dry, I noticed that her hair had developed the slightest hint of a curl. This tiny change caused a deep shift in the doll. As I looked at her, I saw that she had taken on a different energy - a sort of untamed fierceness that she hadn’t had before. It became clear to me that what I had initially thought to be a disaster was, in fact, necessary. It was as if she knew she needed the medicine of a cold water dip to bring her true spirit forward and allow it to shine.
And so I discovered my first lesson from this Wise Woman of the Forest. She asks, “How can you expand and adjust your vision away from what ‘should’ be to ‘what is possible?’ How can you open yourself to see - not what you’ve been trained to see, but what is truly here?” She asks me to release preconceived ideas of what is “right” and to be open to the magic that is inherent in all things. The task, she reminds me, is not to view anything as “good” or “bad”, but to be willing to unearth the treasures that lay hidden in the soil.
What happens when we get curious about a situation rather than judgemental? What potential growth is hidden from our eyes because of the blinders we wear? How can we open more fully to this medicine? What I saw as a disaster - my doll falling into the creek - was just what she needed. The Crone reminds me to lean into trust and let Spirit guide me deeper in this work.
The Wise Old Woman encourages us to trust our knowing and align our actions with our Intuition. In doing so, we deepen our connection to Spirit and open ourselves up so that we can experience the fullness of this life. We’re able to release what is no longer in alignment and draw in that which feeds us, nourishing our roots with the wisdom of our ancestors.
“It’s not about being perfect,” she says. “It’s about finding your truth - and recognizing when old ideas are holding you back. It’s about learning to trust your inner vision. Listen to the wisdom of your Ancestors. You must be brave enough to try new things and make mistakes. You must be willing to release what you’ve outgrown. Those old stories you’ve been telling yourself about what you can accomplish? Toss them on the compost heap. They’ll insist that you hide yourself away. And you, my dear, are ready to spread your wings and fly.”
These are some of the many aspects of the Crone’s wisdom that I am embracing more fully in 2024.
The Crone’s apron is made of hand-dyed recycled wool fabric and decorated with small beads, bells, and a key. Her Hawthorn staff is decorated with wool, cotton thread, and a howlite skull bead.
Her medicine bundle holds mugwort, rose, yarrow, hawthorn berries, milk thistle seeds, and a salmon bone.
{Each spirit doll is needle-felted by hand over many hours, with love and intention.}
