Croning is a celebration of a woman’s transition into the third stage of life, honoring her wisdom and role as a guide in the community. The ceremony originated in Wiccan religions but is now practiced by women of various faiths. The ceremony can be simple or elaborate, with singing, drumming, and feasting. The crone is a common figure in literature and represents the wisdom of older women. Croning allows women to reaffirm their importance and challenge cultural attitudes towards aging.
Croning is a celebratory rite of passage, once more common in Wiccan religions, that commemorates a woman’s passage into the third stage of her life, usually when she is postmenopausal. Instead of desperately trying to hide her age, a woman attending a coronation ceremony celebrates her age, the wisdom she has acquired, and the transition from being the creator of life as a mother, to being a guide and a respected member of her community. While this ceremony was first practiced in Wicca and resembles some ceremonies of earlier native religions, it is now popular for women of many different religious faiths to have such a ceremony. Traditional religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam may not be involved in the ceremonies, but references to biblical text may celebrate the story of the hag and the passage of a woman.
In the Wiccan ceremony, a circle of women tend to celebrate the enthronement of a new person, inviting spirits to be present while a woman is honored. They usually follow the talks of the woman’s friends recounting how she has shown wisdom and sharing special moments from her life so far. Singing, singing or drumming can be part of the ceremony. When the ceremony is over, the summoned spirits are asked to leave and the feast begins, with celebration through food, drink and music.
Women of other religious backgrounds may have very simple or quite elaborate coronation parties. All focus on the importance of the wise woman in the culture and can be timed to coincide with a significant birth date, such as a 50th birthday. Both men and women can be present, and the coronation ceremony can be elaborate, with a woman passing through arches, climbing into a chair, or receiving the prayers and good wishes of the other old women. Again, people can be called upon to share their memories of the “old lady” and how she reached out to the “old lady” through wisdom.
Other ceremonies are quite simple. A woman, with few friends, might throw a croning party where she is welcomed into the fold of her wise friends and where they share their good wishes for her future. The attitude expressed in croning is often quite the opposite of the American “Hollywood” attitude that women need to hide or deny their age. Instead it specifically welcomes the special gifts that a woman of a certain age has attained through life experience.
The old woman in the literature is mentioned with great frequency. Virtually no hero or heroine makes it through a hero’s journey without meeting the crone, who often works as a guide or challenge to the hero. Overcoming the old woman, or accepting her help, usually advances a hero in her journey and, in Jungian or Campbell terms, furthers his process of individuation to become a whole and psychologically healthy self.
Such literature is a reflection of the essential wisdom and importance of older women, who sadly may be marginalized in especially American culture. Croning allows women to reaffirm and acknowledge their importance. She may perhaps be the key to helping realign ideas about the older woman’s valuable role in modern society.
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