Autumn: The Croning Time
by Lady Abigail
Spirited away, my energy gently glides above the treetops
like a down feather blown within the circling wind. Below, I see the quilted
workings of Mother Earth in the patches of green grass, freshly plowed ground
and fields of grain ready now for the harvest. The air is sweet and cool as it
moves round my body and delights me like loving whispers of voices unknown.
Faeries dance on wing; their joyous laughter calling my spirit ever on.
Reaching down, I try to grasp a bright purple leaf from atop the sugar maple.
As my energy moves within the magickal moment, I feel the sun warming me as it
moves through the essences of my being, giving glimmers of what possibilities
lie just beyond. . .
And then, in a sound, a spark of light, the cracking of a
twig, I find myself laying atop the freshly cut hay ready for baling. Yet
looking down I find within my hand the big and beautiful purple leaf from the
top of the old sugar maple. Did I pick it up in my dreams or from under the
tree? In my heart I shall always believe it came within that veil of magick
just between dreams and what others call reality.
I always looked forward to sharing my adventures with my
Great Grandmother. She, in her wisdom, would listen to each of my quests with
attentive wonder and delight. It didn’t matter if they were ones of my chasing
a frog down the creek bank for a few short and muddy hours, or those that
carried me above the tree tops and into the veils of magick and possibility.
She was there for me, smiling and teaching; teaching me many lessons I still
remember even today.
Now that Autumn is here and Samhain is quickly approaching,
I cannot help but remember the magick I felt and still feel today in this time
of changing. The energy seems to rise within my spirit, as it sparks and dances
across the essence of my soul. It touches me in memories and stories shared as
my Great Grandmother would teach the old ways and the understanding of the
Seasons of Life. In this, I again feel I can soar above the treetops in the
arms of Autumn.
Fall is more than a season or that time of transition from
summer to winter. Fall is what my Great Grandmother called the “Croning Time;”
that time where the giving of life moves to the teaching of life within wisdom,
no longer giving birth to new life, but nurturing all that is life and all that
life brings.
Autumn is the “Spirit Goddess of the
Changing.” She is
guardian of the Croning Time.” Autumn in Her feminine form, is welcoming us
unto Her as She, in wisdom, changes to the Crone. Autumn is a Grandmother
Goddess and a keeper of the Cauldron of Life. She is wise with great knowledge
and the understanding, which has grown within and of her experiences. Proud and
strong, She dresses in the glorious colors of all that She is and shall be
again.
As the Great Crone, Autumn, welcomes us with understanding
of our own personal changes within the seasons that are life. She teaches us
that Fall, as the Croning Time, is a time of celebration and joy. As we
celebrate the seasons and ourselves, we find the wisdom within to see the
beauty held in all the colors that make life the magick that it truly is.
Today in the eternal goal of everlasting youth, we find
disgrace in and hide the changes of our personal seasons of life. Wrinkles are
no longer seen as the lines of knowledge and understanding from the roads in
life we have traveled and conquered. Now they are marks of shame for what
nature brings us. We fight and pull and dug until sometimes, we cannot even
recognize the reflection looking back at us in the mirror.
Graying hair is no longer a crown of wisdom, but a symbol of
old age to be hidden. Age is no longer held as a destination of honor but is
approached with the fear that we will be cast away, unimportant and forgotten.
For our society finds it easer to lock away the wisdom of the aged behind
closed doors than to seek the secrets held within. Perhaps age causes us dread
because it uncovers within what our emotions fear. For when we are faced with
those aged by life it reminds us each of the approach of inevitable death.
Death no longer being a new beginning but the end of what was.
Autumn, as the Great Crone reminds us, that time life and
death are but a thought, a moment flashing past eternity. Not to be feared but
each to be relished and enjoyed. For as with the seasons, each holds it on
gifts. Spring, Her excitement of the possibilities of the magick life holds
anew. Summer, Her knowledge growing as She gives birth to new beginnings and
eternal hope. Autumn, in Her wisdom and beauty reminds us of all that we have
and all we have to give. Winter, wraps us in Her soft blanket of white that we
might rest within the arms of Mother Earth to be reborn again in Spring. For
this time shall come again as time circles forward in the Great Wheel of Life.
For thousands of years, women of wisdom and age were
honored, valued and revered as the Elder Women. Autumn, as the Spirit Goddess
of the Changing, is also the guardian of the Croning Time. Dressed in Her
radiant colors, She reminds us of the respect held by those who are entering
The Croning Time. Autumn allows us to reclaim our identity and status of the
ancients, as Crones and Elders. We are coming of age, accessing our wisdom and
acting upon it. Croning is the process of becoming active wise women.
Croning can begin at any age and is particularly relevant
for women 45 and older. Yet, even men can become Crones within their on
understandings of this passage. Personal experiences of aging provide the
understanding of your path within this Time of Changing. It is up to us to
decide how the circumstances of life transform us and move us forward.
We can no more hold back time and aging than we can stop the
Great Wheel as it
moves forward in its seasons. Perhaps the reason we all find
such a joyous renewal in the energy of fall is the power that Autumn gives us
over the fear of change, in both life and death. Change should not be feared
but celebrated, for life has given us another year of wonder, magick and
beauty.
My Great Grandmother opened my eyes to the magick of the
seasons. She walked with me as I found the Goddess all around me, dressed in
Her bright and fiery colors of reds, oranges, purples, and gold’s. When I
became tired, she encouraged me to walk forward on the hillsides and watch the
morning rise as the glistening dew gave a kaleidoscope of color on the leaves.
When I became weak, she would carry me until I could once more hear the sweet
mystical voice flowing in the breeze that would renew my spirit.
Autumn is the Croning Time, a time of magick, a time for
renewal of spirit. As you experience the mysterious energy of this mystical
season, allow the child within you to replenish your soul . . . and again look
to the treetops in their beauty and touch the veils beyond.
Now I am the Crone, proud to teach those within my life in
honor to my Great Grandmother. Let the magick of the Season truly touch your
spirit as you walk forward in the colors of life.
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