CALLING ALL CRONES 
                                     by Grey Cat
      
     Into  the  dark, the pale light of the waning moon  brings  forth 
     shapeless shadows; bushes, a wandering stone fieldwall,  nameless 
     areas  of blackness.  Some still, some moving; no night for  good 
     folk  to stray from cot or castle.  Black hares amove across  the 
     moors,  black cattle idly gossip together, one old woman  dressed 
     in black searches the grass for secret herbs.  And there  amongst 
     the standing stones, age heavy upon their backs, three hags  dare 
     all the mercy of God's Holy Mother Church to make the magic of an 
     older race. 
      
     ``Call  old  Mother  Piggot,  she  knows  the  proper  words  for 
     warts.''...   ``Tis  Goody  Nurse you'll need if it's  a  son  ye 
     want.''...   ``Tis  naught but an Old Wives  Tale.''...   ``Don't 
     mind  Mother, she hasn't been herself since she went through  the 
     Change of Life.'' 
      
     Looming high over the imagination of humankind, the shadow of the 
     Crone casts a miasma of fear and uselessness, power and casting-- 
     out, across the myths of our race and society. 
          I  have  talked and talked to women who either  have  arrived  at 
     crone  time or who are preparing themselves for  this  transition 
     and  we  have found much to talk about.  And I think that  it  is 
     important  that  we  keep right on talking after  the  season  of 
     Gatherings  has  passed  for  the year.   I  have  absolutely  no 
     interest  in trying to start a newsletter for Crones, nor  really 
     of  founding  OWL (Old Woman's League), SOW  (Salty  Old  Women), 
     CRONE (Clearly Rational Older Natural Energy), nor HAG (Honorable 
     Aged Geniuses). 
          However, I, no more than many of you, want to have to wait  until 
     next  year  to  get a chance to  discuss  all  these  fascinating 
     topics.   So how about some suggestions, and perhaps some  offers 
     of  help.   Would  we  like to cooperate  in  an  APAZine*  which 
     dispenses  with an editing and layout burden, leaving some  low-- 
     level  bookkeeping which I don't mind doing.  Does  someone  feel 
     like  working  on  a  Newsletter?  Do we want  to  form  a  loose 
     organization as part of or instead of the above?  Or are most  of 
     us too busy to do anything about this between gatherings? 
          I'll  be sending this letter to people I know personally  and  to 
     many  Pagan publications; you'll probably see it often enough  to 
     be  sick  of  the  whole idea.  But there  is  a  lot  of  magick 
     available  in  the  Time  of  the  Crone.   There  is  a  lot  of 
     sociological pressure to understand, combat or accept.  And there 
     is  a whole lot of our lives left for us to function  as  Crones. 
     If we don't figure out what it is and what to do with it,  nobody 
     else will. 
          So  write me at the address below (SASE appreciated) and  let  me 
     know  what  you  think about the whole idea, what  you  might  be 
     willing  to  do, what insights you may have about Crone  Time  -- 
     let's figure out what has been left out of all the books.   We're 
     already ``Uppity Women'' and we've nothing to lose but a bad rap. 
     (Crones  are  assumed  to be women more or less  at  the  age  of 
     menopause or past it.  Baby Crones are any who realize that  this 
     time is not far away.) 
               Grey Cat P.O. Box 181 Crossville, TN  38555 
      



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