Midlife Musings: Creative Croning Ceremonies

Are you ready to kick off your mid-life renaissance? Are you asking "What's a crone?" and not particularly liking the sound of the word? Well, you're not alone. Many women feel that way until they better understand what it means to be a crone. I encourage all women to embrace the notion that to be a crone is a crowning achievement in our lives, worth celebrating, and to wear our crowns proudly!

My dear Crones, by my fiftieth birthday, I'd gone through that tunnel of fire called menopause without a gray hair on my head being scorched, thankfully. I felt a new source of energy that seemed to come out of nowhere; and I didn't know how yet, but I planned to spend the last phase of life making a difference in the world! (But before I set out on that mission, I wanted to bring together a few dear friends to open a bottle of champagne and rejoice!)

So I began looking for unique ways to celebrate my post-menopausal triumph and started doing some research on rites of passage ceremonies. Through my research I saw words I hadn't seen before, like the crone and croning ceremonies, which I learned have their roots in ancient society. The crone is a woman who has gone through menopause and a croning ceremony is a spiritual, symbolic event that specifically honors a woman who has gone through that transition. Although I knew that becoming an elder is respected and revered in other cultures, when was the last time you saw a 50ish year old woman being honored for her great wisdom, beauty and achievements? Not often enough, I'm afraid. I spent a great deal of time researching the crone and croning ceremonies and I looked for ways to honor my fiftieth in a unique way that would set the stage for a celebration that would be meaningful to me.

As I thought about various ways to do that, I began to feel I probably wasn't alone in wanting to celebrate my cronehood, and I could probably make information-gathering about the crone and this rite of passage ceremony a lot easier for like-minded women. That is when I began writing my first book, "Midlife Musings: Creative Croning Ceremonies". In it, I encourage the aspiring crone to embrace the notion of creating her own personal croning ceremony; where honoring her life's journey, sharing her life's wisdom and experience, and giving clear intention for an extraordinary future is a rite of passage worth celebrating!

In "Midlife Musings", you'll find twenty unique and fun ways to celebrate and honor the crone, a template for an invitation letter you can send to your friends to kick off your ceremony, and a simple ceremony to follow, along with beautiful blessings to recite.

My desire to increase awareness of the croning ceremony, and to leave a legacy upon which future crones can build, is the inspiration for my book and my website,  www.wisewomenworldwide.com.

June Hill, is the Founder of www.wisewomenworldwide.com and author of 'Midlife Musings: Creative Croning Ceremonies'.

June sincerely hopes that the ideas presented here will inspire, intrigue and delight you. It's important to June to share her ideas with you, as it is to guide you on a path of self-discovery that leads you to appreciate who you are and will become.

To crones and wisewomen around the world, let's celebrate! To view excerpts from the book and to order online.