Crone and Loving It

by Samantha
(New Orleans, LA, USA)

Crone used to be a word associated with old women, hags, witches, people on broomsticks and the washed-up, useless women in society, usually the unmarried ones.

Thanks to a few enlightened writers, speakers, and women in the forefront in American society and beyond, a crone is becoming someone to admire, a status to be envied. Post-menopausal life is not so bad after all.

With our youth-focused culture, women's wrinkles and sags were something to dread and many women succumb to surgeries, products, and special methods to rid themselves of these "horrors".

Years ago I attended a seminar on Native American culture. The speaker was a Native American with long white hair, wrinkles and sags. She spoke of the wisdom and beauty of aging, particularly in women, and of the honor that many cultures accord to women in their last stage of life. At the end, she invited all the women with white hair to come up to the stage to celebrate with her. I was 35 and prematurely gray, definitely one of the youngest, if not the youngest woman who walked up. It was a defining moment for me.

Now, at 67, I love my status as a single woman crone. My strong intuition is my guide in decision-making situations and in meeting new people. I value my health, family, friends, work and the different communities to which I give my time. It does not matter what other people think of me as long as I know that I am operating from a base of strong values and ethics. I love the quiet time when I can meditate, garden, read, play games on the computer. I have found a voice singing in a choir.

And, I've decided, if and when I retire, I will go to the arts markets that abound in my city and put up a table, two chairs and a sign offering free hugs and advice.