Many Wisewomen around the world will be celebrating the New Year with style and grace. They will be giving 2007 back to the earth, along with any unfinished business, resentments, hurts, anger, or unresolved sadness. If you are a Crone, I encourage you to gather with Maidens and Mothers around you and create a ritual that truly brings peace, comfort, health and prosperity into your life in 2008.
Wisewomen - Crones - will be much sought after in 2008 for our wisdom. No longer will the world worship the Maiden, as the energy of the earth needs the wisdom of the Crone to move forward. The Mother longs for the Crone to stand up, be counted and start sharing the inner wisdom she has, until this point in time, discounted or buried deep within her psyche.
A good way for Crones to start their own internal work is to use "The Work" of Byron Katie. The gentle questioning can help move your intuition into alignment with your physical being. This is important for you to be strong physically, emotionally and spiritually. Even after only doing "the four questions and turn-around" a few times, you will be amazed at the insight and clarity you gain.
A Wisewomen ritual I will be performing this December 31, 2007 in Littleton, Colorado follows. I shower, dress in comfortable clothes, look "my Goddess Self" and then sit down to meditate. I then write down all the things in my life that keep me stuck in old habits, old ideas, and thinking that brings me sadness, pain or hurt. I also draw and collage the things of my life I'd like to let go of. Then I take a new sheet of paper and write down everything I'm grateful for in my life and my intentions for the New Year. This is as important as the negatives. Wisewomen need to balance their energies, and help other women do the same. If we ritualize this act, we make ourselves stronger. There are as many things to be grateful and strong intentions to manifest in my life as old habits, thinking and negatives I'd like to let go of.
I then take a long walk and listen to what Mother Nature has to tell me for that day. I gain much clarity and insight during any walk that then helps me create beauty in my world. Walking in nature and creating go hand-in-hand and I encourage Crones to do this every day. You can create beautiful art, writing, sacred space and peace after giving your body and mind to nature every day through walking outside.
I then come home and prepare a special dish to share with my circle of women that will gather together this evening. I pray over each ingredient, I give thanksgiving for the wonderful nutritious, healthy food that I can create out of the bounty I have been given. I see the food nourishing each woman and know that this magical dish is a gift from Spirit.
I gather with other women, Crones, Mothers and Maidens at a bon fire around 9:00 p.m. We all carry the wood, creating the space for worship and light the fire, bonding ourselves as women and a community. After we have created the Sacred Circle and lit the fire we hold hands and say a prayer of peace, thanksgiving and gratitude for being able to gather this feminine energy into this space, this night.
One-by-one, we can either read aloud our "letting go" list, or silently read through the list and then throw those into the fire. We see the old, slower, negative ways burned up in the fire and released as energy to become something positive, new and dynamic. Then, there is much drumming, singing, dancing around the fire, chanting mantras, prayers of peace, and gathering the energy from the Earth Mother into our beings. It is not unusual to see many "shooting stars" during this sacred ritual. They are always so magical to me. They are little "sparkling gifts" from Spirit and I always say thank you. :)
We then gather around the fire, or in a tepee with a smaller fire and feast on contributions we have all made to nourish our beautiful bodies and honor the Mother with the creative act of food preparation. We each read aloud our gratitude list and intentions of the coming year. We then drum, chant and tone to the drumming and the fire and the earth and the water and the air and the sky and become one in Spirit with every woman in the circle and every woman in the world. The intensity and peace that we feel is profound and moving and can hardly be described in words.
When it feels right, the Maidens and Mothers can ask questions of the Crones to help them live up to their journey of life as a woman on this planet at this time. The wisdom of the Crones is honored and shared. Many "motherless" Maidens and Mothers are healed on this night and they feel a closeness and caring from the Crones in the group that nurtures their souls and profoundly affects their lives thereafter. They can stop blaming their birth mother for not living up to unrealized expectations and can honor the mother they are given through the Crones in their circle.
The wisdom of the Crones can be shared freely and openly. The healing that comes upon the Crone is immediate. In this circle, her wisdom, her counsel, her wrinkles, her gray hair, her fathomless and ageless beauty are honored. She knows her place, and she knows her time is perfect. She sees the Mothers and Maidens and knows that by honoring each other in this perfect circle, that balancing the feminine energy is taking place and that healing is occurring on the earth.
Each woman in the circle feels her perfection and beauty and feels the connectedness of all beings on the planet. This a profound and moving time and is often met with quiet gratitude and always with kindness. Then we each hold an unlit candle and the oldest Crone in the group lights her candle with the fire in the middle. She lights the candle of the woman on her right and says a positive prayer and reflects on a beautiful feminine, light, aspect of the woman whose candle she is lighting. After giving thanks, the woman who was given that gift of light, turns to the woman on her right and does the same. And so it goes around the circle until each of us has a lighted candle, a lighted soul, a lighted path to walk upon the coming year. We know good things are in store for us and that we have the support, love and guidance of our women friends... Crones, Mothers, Maidens. Again we sing, tone and pray through sound and life up the Light of the World with Joyful noise!
2008 will be a year of great change and great energy shifts in this earthly home. The Spirit is moving towards enlightening souls who have turned away from the Light and that takes much energy and support from each of us. So, as women of this lighted circle, we commit to do our part to light the world in love and thanksgiving, harming no one and honoring the Spirit in all. We look forward to all the changes with wonder, excitement and thanksgiving. It is all good, it is all Goddess and God, balancing, loving, living, creating, becoming.
With my women's circle, we will meet again on the dark of the moon and the full moon, each month, to create the ritual to honor the Mother and the earth and promote peace, prosperity, healing and wholeness for each other and each woman on the planet. We solidify our Spirits in this way and create a Sacred Circle that will be felt throughout the planet. You can find out more about those rituals here.
I pray you have a meaningful ritual to attend this December 31, 2007 that shares healing, hope, wonder and honor. If you do not have other women to share this time with, create your solitary ritual and then feel the connection with others around the globe who are creating a sacred space with you. The energy is there and being sent throughout the world, so feel its blessing, wholeness and healing. By creating your own ritual, you will be attracting like minded women of "the way of it" and can, if you like, share the New Year ritual with them, in person, next year. But I encourage you to feel the energy of the Sacred Circle, created by the Mother. It is more moving and profound than anything you may have experienced previously.
I wish all my sisters, Crones, Mothers and Maidens the Peace, Prosperity, Healing and Hope of a Happy New Year!
I love you - Wisewoman Carole
Philip, 5th Grade
