THE CRONE
Lilith Silverhair

The Dark Mother is the most misunderstood of the triple aspects of the Goddess.
Her color is Black and she absorbs everything, including light and life. The
dark of the Moon is Her time, the Abyss and darkness of space is Her home. Her
number is nine, symbolizing wisdom and sacred magick. Nine is also the number of
completion and the completion of beginnings is the Crone's place in the cycle of
birth-life-death.

The greatest fear in Western Society is the fear of death and so many have
turned away from this face of our Mother. We see this in our fevered need for
eternal "youth and beauty" (as defined by society) and in the medical
community's fight against aging and death. Who among us had not had a friend or
family member kept "alive" on life support long after the soul has left the body
to resume its journey?

We also see this turning away in the way this country treats its elderly. At a
time of life in which a person should be venerated for wisdom and knowledge they
could pass on to the young ones among us, the elderly are at best "taken care
of" (read: loss of privacy, dignity and freedom) or at worst completely ignored.
Advanced age should be a time to look forward to in our lives. We should be able
to look back and remember all that has happened to us with wisdom and good
humor. We should be given the chance to relax and rest and contemplate our lives
in preparation of a joyful reunion with the Dark Mother, come to take us into
Her starry womb once more. Instead, because we don't build a comfortable
relationship with the Crone early in our lives, near the end all we feel is
frustration and fear.

How do we build a relationship with the Crone, this Dark Mother who upholds the
laws of life and death with a rigorous need for balance that may seem so many
times harsh to us? Forest we must realize that Death is not the only domain of
the Crone. Endings of all sorts fall under Her sway, and endings always lead to
new beginnings.

You can get in touch with the Crone during many transitional periods in your
life; during the ending of relationships or jobs, when you need to regroup your
energies, at the end of a project or problem, even when you are getting your
garden ready for the winter. The Dark Mother also covers trance states, spirit
communication, and prophecy. Menopause is also a time to learn about the Crone
aspect of the Goddess.

Crone magick is not all that different from Her other three aspects, one must
simply remember that the Crone is not a Goddess of birth, but the harvesting and
resting of all life. One may use meditation, candle burning and other general
tools of magick to draw Her energies near. Her power may be called upon with
dark candles such as black, dark blues, or deep purples. Another of Her magickal
domains is retribution, but you must be certain that you are justified in your
need. D o not ask for revenge (remember the Low of Three!), do not be specific
in anything that you want done. Simply lay the problem before Her and allow Her
to decide whether or not there has been a true imbalance of justice.

At the Winter Solstice, you can burn white, red and black candles to be reminded
that everything is born, lives and dies to be born again.

In the end, all must confront the Dark Mother, willing or unwillingly. How much
better it would be to realize that She is not to be dreaded, a figure in black
come to take us away from all we know and love, but a loving Goddess come to
take us home so that we may rest and revive and begin our journey on the Wheel
of Life once more.