Yes! You are completely right in your writings and understanding Imelda !
I am a hag myself much older in today-time than you but I never ever worry about that - I am a forever young and old and a trickster too, what else would be suitable for an ancient crone. Remember we are all eternal beings. We have to take care of all our ages and nourish them well within the house that we always carry inside. We know now how to play all the roles seriously always serious yet playful as small and pretty bambinos!!
Ageism is simply stupid and cruel and we do not bother with that kind of ignorance. Sun is shining. I will leave my bed and play as much as I can with my bad knee and my reluctant leg. Tonight theatre is waiting. I play a servant - this is what I need to learn. To serve. And serve well.
It is an extraordinary Hag Teaching that actors and actresses on stage (and movie screens) get to play all roles, from Servant to Queen, from Criminal to Hero. Truly being a Hag means nurturing all those roles within ourselves, even a tiny little bit of the criminal (the rule breaker, the game changer, not the serial killer!) Stuff ageism and keep going strong dear Baba Anneli! Lead the way for the rest of us!!
I am absolutely delighted that you have decided to embrace your energy as an Elder; what a beautiful declaration.
Thank you also for writing on the Trickster this week. Whilst I have worked with this energy with Coyote Medicine, it has brought an extra dimension to my recent relations with Fox, who has been glued to my side for a couple of months now. In my Dreamtime and my journey time, Fox has indeed been behaving in a trickster way, making me re-think my experiences in the Other World.
Interestingly, he recently took me to Baba Yaga’s hut, a place I visit fairly often, but the two together brought fresh new insight into my life that I was very grateful for.
Celebrating the serendipity, the magic, the mystery ✨
Interesting!! In my shamanic picture books for children (The Green Bear series) there is a Forest Witch who has both a fox and a lynx living with her. So far fox is only a visual presence but now I will tune into a trickster role for Fox in the next book I am working on! Thank you for inspiring me by mirroring back that piece! :-)
Such rich pickings from your shedding's of your truth , from the wisdom that can only come from trying on all these outfits to see whether you want to fit in, even if for just a while....thank you, I see, feel and hear you so you must be a reflection of me, or maybe a projection, who knows or cares. What matters most to me is; the sense you're inspiring in me about labels, branding, identity and other meaningless things and how we make the meaning from them to feel .......whatever. We are collectively being called to stand in our truth and if it no longer fits then to shed it, in the year of the wood snake I feel I must part take
Thank you for this wonderful essay. I am a crone, and proud of the years of experience from my path. Coming to grips with aging can be a challenge, especially, if like in my career of education, ageism is thriving just below the surface. I love the connection to the trickster, a concept I look forward to exploring!
Yes.... do we ever really retire from teaching? I fear it is so wired into me that I will still try to do it in a nursing home at age 98... Enjoy your explorations (and rewilding) and keep me posted please!
I completely agree with you that (y)our unique medicine is needed now.
Bravo for stepping into you Hag power unapologetically! This world needs Women of Power (and Men of Heart) who know exactly what they are here to bring and do.
Personally, I have felt old almost all my life. the last couple of years, I am finally reaching the life momentum where I feel my spiritual gifts, my human experience and my physical body are coming into a natural and powerful harmony. And all are of course still evolving! I am sort of looking forward to growing old(er), in that sense.
My main inner struggles have been around being (in)visible. Wanting to be seen and wanting to be a hermit at the same time. Wanting my work and my wisdom 'out there', yet not liking too much intense extravert interaction in order to do so. There, too, I am blending into new alchemical balances within myself.
I have always been a deeply spiritual seeker and practitioner, but I have kept a lot of that 'hidden' from the mainstream world for a long time. I am happy with all the books I have been able to write and publish, but some were really also vessels in which I could dress up some of my spiritual path, or into which I could smuggle deeper content, while also trying to be 'acceptable'. That pattern is now coming to an end. I will stop trying to fit the boxes, I need to show up as me, openly, in all my strength and weirdness, both in my life and my work.
I am sitting here nodding madly, as I read this...
"Wanting to be seen and wanting to be a hermit at the same time". STORY OF MY LIFE! I have literally divided myself into several locations and modes to live both, to have my cookie and eat it!
I have decided to release "being acceptable" because it will stop me from doing what I really need to do. I just wrote in reply to another comment (on another essay here) that I might need to rename my Substack "The Hornets' Nest", as I have a lot more to say and not much of it is politically correct or "acceptable" the by the current trends in society...
I wish you courage, inner strength and JOY doing this! Alchemical process, yay!
I have been focusing deep meditations on the world spirit bear. I have had many visions and a new thing is to write them down and journal them. This journey was inspired by your last months hibernation. I also am a crone and in one particular vision I took bearskin and became the bear. Surely this was symbolic of what we all are feeling. A rise of the crones! 🌀🌀🌀thank u so much for sharing. These things u do -I do-we ALL do-change the world...change the wyrd....
That is so beautiful to read! It reminds me that I am not "writing into a Great Void". Yes to a Rise of Crones and let's return Rites of Passage for younger crones, Crowning the Crone! : )
Thank you for this wonderful article. I recommend the Sacred Hag Oracle. I turned 60 last year and am getting used to thinking of myself as an elder or hag/crone. There's something very liberating about letting go of the need to be outwardly active all the time and exploring the "universe within " as Novalis called it.
Yes! You are completely right in your writings and understanding Imelda !
I am a hag myself much older in today-time than you but I never ever worry about that - I am a forever young and old and a trickster too, what else would be suitable for an ancient crone. Remember we are all eternal beings. We have to take care of all our ages and nourish them well within the house that we always carry inside. We know now how to play all the roles seriously always serious yet playful as small and pretty bambinos!!
Ageism is simply stupid and cruel and we do not bother with that kind of ignorance. Sun is shining. I will leave my bed and play as much as I can with my bad knee and my reluctant leg. Tonight theatre is waiting. I play a servant - this is what I need to learn. To serve. And serve well.
It is an extraordinary Hag Teaching that actors and actresses on stage (and movie screens) get to play all roles, from Servant to Queen, from Criminal to Hero. Truly being a Hag means nurturing all those roles within ourselves, even a tiny little bit of the criminal (the rule breaker, the game changer, not the serial killer!) Stuff ageism and keep going strong dear Baba Anneli! Lead the way for the rest of us!!
I am absolutely delighted that you have decided to embrace your energy as an Elder; what a beautiful declaration.
Thank you also for writing on the Trickster this week. Whilst I have worked with this energy with Coyote Medicine, it has brought an extra dimension to my recent relations with Fox, who has been glued to my side for a couple of months now. In my Dreamtime and my journey time, Fox has indeed been behaving in a trickster way, making me re-think my experiences in the Other World.
Interestingly, he recently took me to Baba Yaga’s hut, a place I visit fairly often, but the two together brought fresh new insight into my life that I was very grateful for.
Celebrating the serendipity, the magic, the mystery ✨
Interesting!! In my shamanic picture books for children (The Green Bear series) there is a Forest Witch who has both a fox and a lynx living with her. So far fox is only a visual presence but now I will tune into a trickster role for Fox in the next book I am working on! Thank you for inspiring me by mirroring back that piece! :-)
Such rich pickings from your shedding's of your truth , from the wisdom that can only come from trying on all these outfits to see whether you want to fit in, even if for just a while....thank you, I see, feel and hear you so you must be a reflection of me, or maybe a projection, who knows or cares. What matters most to me is; the sense you're inspiring in me about labels, branding, identity and other meaningless things and how we make the meaning from them to feel .......whatever. We are collectively being called to stand in our truth and if it no longer fits then to shed it, in the year of the wood snake I feel I must part take
We are all soul mirrors for each other and our world needs positive transformative power. Thank you for joining this wild ride!
Thank you for this wonderful essay. I am a crone, and proud of the years of experience from my path. Coming to grips with aging can be a challenge, especially, if like in my career of education, ageism is thriving just below the surface. I love the connection to the trickster, a concept I look forward to exploring!
Yes.... do we ever really retire from teaching? I fear it is so wired into me that I will still try to do it in a nursing home at age 98... Enjoy your explorations (and rewilding) and keep me posted please!
Oooh just got your bonemother ebook. Can’t wait to look at all the paintings and read!
I completely agree with you that (y)our unique medicine is needed now.
Bravo for stepping into you Hag power unapologetically! This world needs Women of Power (and Men of Heart) who know exactly what they are here to bring and do.
Personally, I have felt old almost all my life. the last couple of years, I am finally reaching the life momentum where I feel my spiritual gifts, my human experience and my physical body are coming into a natural and powerful harmony. And all are of course still evolving! I am sort of looking forward to growing old(er), in that sense.
My main inner struggles have been around being (in)visible. Wanting to be seen and wanting to be a hermit at the same time. Wanting my work and my wisdom 'out there', yet not liking too much intense extravert interaction in order to do so. There, too, I am blending into new alchemical balances within myself.
I have always been a deeply spiritual seeker and practitioner, but I have kept a lot of that 'hidden' from the mainstream world for a long time. I am happy with all the books I have been able to write and publish, but some were really also vessels in which I could dress up some of my spiritual path, or into which I could smuggle deeper content, while also trying to be 'acceptable'. That pattern is now coming to an end. I will stop trying to fit the boxes, I need to show up as me, openly, in all my strength and weirdness, both in my life and my work.
I am sitting here nodding madly, as I read this...
"Wanting to be seen and wanting to be a hermit at the same time". STORY OF MY LIFE! I have literally divided myself into several locations and modes to live both, to have my cookie and eat it!
I have decided to release "being acceptable" because it will stop me from doing what I really need to do. I just wrote in reply to another comment (on another essay here) that I might need to rename my Substack "The Hornets' Nest", as I have a lot more to say and not much of it is politically correct or "acceptable" the by the current trends in society...
I wish you courage, inner strength and JOY doing this! Alchemical process, yay!
I have been focusing deep meditations on the world spirit bear. I have had many visions and a new thing is to write them down and journal them. This journey was inspired by your last months hibernation. I also am a crone and in one particular vision I took bearskin and became the bear. Surely this was symbolic of what we all are feeling. A rise of the crones! 🌀🌀🌀thank u so much for sharing. These things u do -I do-we ALL do-change the world...change the wyrd....
That is so beautiful to read! It reminds me that I am not "writing into a Great Void". Yes to a Rise of Crones and let's return Rites of Passage for younger crones, Crowning the Crone! : )
Thank you for this wonderful article. I recommend the Sacred Hag Oracle. I turned 60 last year and am getting used to thinking of myself as an elder or hag/crone. There's something very liberating about letting go of the need to be outwardly active all the time and exploring the "universe within " as Novalis called it.
Oh yes, the Universe Within and Inner Work As Activism!