From my new book: Dancing with Goddesses: Archetypal Journey through the Menstrual Cycle.
Autumn is such a beautiful season. It marks the transition from summer to winter. The duration of daylight is becoming noticeably shorter, and the temperatures cool down considerably. Day length decreases and the length of the night stretches immensely taking us all deeply within. The striking change in the colour of the leaves shows us their readiness and preparation to shed. We can learn so much from the trees. They don’t fight with the seasons. Instead, they welcome the change and are letting go. Leaf by leaf, colour after colour, down to the ground in the great transition, preparation, and retreat. Into death and darkness, waiting for the turn of the wheel to take them back into the light, re-birth, and renewal. They are waiting patiently, standing stoically, retreating within. And with the trees all the rest of nature is preparing for the winter to come. Animals gather food in their forest’s larders, preparing themselves for times of absence and shortage, and some for the time of hibernation. Those who don’t hibernate but can’t stand the cold are gathering strength and coming together before the great departure. The rest are preparing for what is to come. Autumn is the time of the last harvest. Fruit, vegetables, and grain are still ripe at the onset of the season, and we can feel the gratefulness in our bodies – Thanksgiving time. There is the feeling of gratitude and plenty, but also the melancholy for the time gone and the one to come. The possibilities and opportunities of summer are truly gone, and the chill and change are on the horizon. Skies turn grey, and the descending darkness becomes palatable in the air. People also react to that change by turning inwards, into the depths of their own bodies and souls. The maturity of the world has reached its peak and the only thing following is brought forward by Lady Death. Autumn is very strongly associated with Halloween feast and All Souls Day. The celebration of life and death, with the time to honour the ancestors and to invite their wisdom into our hearts and homes.
Autumn is usually portrayed as a mature woman surrounded by apples and vine leaves, holding the grapes. She often holds the Cornucopia filled with fruit and abundance given from the land. In the polarity of life autumn is at once a symbol of plenty, ripening, harvest, celebration, and abundance, as well as decay, decline, old age, and even death.
Crone, Sage, or Wise Woman?
It’s all in the name. The potential to feel empowered or disempowered. The ability to lead or to stand at the end of the queue with your head down. The power of the word is immense, even if we pretend to play it down. In stories we tell ourselves, the Crone is often seen as something to be feared. She is ugly, evil, old, and petrifying. She is a representation of death and its mysteries, and from times immemorial, things that are unknown were always feared. But if we think about it for a moment, we can begin to tell ourselves a different story. The word Crone is derived from the old word for crown. It suggests the wisdom emanating from the head like a halo. That woman is the queen. Her own childbearing years are in the past, and now she is the wisdom keeper, seer, and healer – the Sage and Wise Woman. She is a midwife, whose knowledge should be sought out to help guide others during life’s journey and transitions. She is the wisdom personified. By connecting to our inner-Crone we begin to listen deeply within. We are preparing for the winter and the wintering, closing the cycle, and honouring our bodies. By connecting to our inner-Crone, we at the same time are connecting to the Sage and Wise Woman, as they are always coming together. They are one and the same.
Wisdom of the Crone
The Crone invites us to look within, to slow down and regroup. The energies have been coming back to us since the Enchantress began her reign, and now they are pouring within with the doubled force. Within your body, the barriers between the conscious, and subconscious are beginning to wither, and you are able to open your awareness to the consciousness of your body. The veil between the worlds begins to thin. If you listen to this phase and won’t try to suppress it, you will begin to feel a sense of acceptance and you will feel yourself being part of the greater All. The creative energies are changing too. They are no longer inspirational but are becoming more visionary. Your Seer is coming forth and if you welcome her with an open mind and heart, with curiosity, she can show you places that can change you forever. This phase brings you closer to the phase of stillness and gestation. This phase shows you the steps of descent into your inner-most self. Your body responds to it too. You start to have less strength and energy, you may begin to feel heavier, more swollen, and you may need more rest and sleep. The outside world becomes less important and sometimes even annoying. Social things become unnecessary. You can hear the call of your inner world. Your patience level decreases, and your inner-critic takes over. The critic is sharp-tongued, as all the filters are coming down. Intellectual processes often slow down, but the emotional ones well up to the surface. Sexual energies are present on an entirely different level and the need to express the depth of love and romance and being witnessed and mirrored by the partner become very strong. Sex becomes the expression of the deepest, sensual, and spiritual love between you and the other. It could also unravel that deep, sensual, and spiritual love for yourself. This phase is the end of the outwardly dynamic energies of your cycle. It is preparing you for the end. This ending can bring a sense of loss, if the new and inner qualities are not recognised. But approaching the end can also help you with cutting ties with everything that holds you back. It is preparing the fertile cave of your womb, enabling the seeds of new ideas to germinate there during menstruation, so they can grow forth when the new cycle comes.
Can you see how much wisdom the Sage/Crone can bring us if we listen deeply within? If we begin to prepare for wintering, honouring our bodies, honouring the Grandmother that lives in every one of us, honouring the Wise Woman, honouring the Midwife.
During our inner autumn, everything comes into sharp focus and often it is a time of review. Ask yourself these questions:
- What have I lost during this cycle?
- What do I need to let go of?
- What do I need to grieve for?
- What is hiding in the shadows?
- What do I need to release to bring more balance into my life?
- How did this cycle show me how well I’m communicating my own boundaries?
- How well have I been honouring the boundaries of others?
If you allow it, this phase of your cycle can become a storytelling time. Not dominated by the Hag living in the house in the middle of the rotten woods and eating children, but by a Wise Woman sitting at the fire with a circle of women and weaving wisdom from within. The more we listen and share, the more we remember; and the wisdom of the stories can carry us through the darkness. This is true Womb Shamanism.
With love,
Agnieszka