Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday Form A Circle - Ritual to Heal and Honor the Crone Self

In keeping with Sunday's post on Crone Lore, I felt it appropriate to post this for today's ritual. This is a solitary ritual. I would like to post mostly solitary rituals for this feature as I feel that most readers, much like myself. are either solitary or practice only within a family unit. They won't all be solitary, but I hope for a good number of them to be. While looking for some images for this post, I found this ritual to be posted at The Grimoire. This isn't where I found it, I don't think, it's been in my collection for years, but I try not to take anyone's credit, so there is a link to the site :)

Ritual to Heal and Honor the Crone Self


To be performed at midnight, at the dark of the moon. Be sure that you are completely alone and undisturbed. Fill your cauldron with dried sage for burning. Dress all in black, drape your altar black, and use a black candle. Carve the Crone's pentacle (I apologize, I cannot find a depiction of anything calling itself a "crone's pentacle", so I will go with what I would use, which would be a pentacle, with a modified triple moon symbol, leaving off the Maiden and Mother phases of the moon, giving you something like this:


into the candle.
Before the ritual, spend a few hours, and if possible a full day and night in solitude. Eat a meal by yourself, savoring the peace and the food. Meditate upon crone, the dark side of your nature, the sorrows and fears you have known. Keep notes in your journal, and record all significant realizations. Go out and find a crone for your altar.

Light your candle at midnight, and seat yourself before the altar. Light the sage and inhale some of the smoke, letting it pass over you and fill your aura. Sage is herb of wisdom, appropriate to crone rituals. Place a crone image upon your altar. Do some breathing, and let yourself go into trance:

close your eyes. See yourself entering a cave and descending dawn long, dark passages into the bowels of the earth. Let yourself see your own special Crone there, awaiting you beside her cauldron of wisdom and transformation.
She helps you into the cauldron where you are healed, liberated, renewed She gives you three gifts: a crystal for insight, a sickle blade for cutting, and snake's skin for transformation. You tuck these into your robes, saying:

Hecate, Cemdwen, Kali,
Dark Moon Woman Wise
One who knows the secret ways
I receive thy gifts in joy and in solemnity
Always will I treasure these
Always will I remember their teachings
Many thanks.
Blessed Be.

The Crone embraces you, kisses you on each of the cardinal points of your body, embraces you one more time, and sends you on your way. See yourself ascending up through the passages of the earth, out under the night sky, and back to your position before the altar. When you open your eyes, sit in silence for a while, gazing upon the candle, the flame, the image of the crone. Take the image into yourself, become one with her. Open yourself to any insights or prayers that may come.

When you feel complete, ground the energy and snuff out the candle.

Disclaimer: No one involved in this blog or its contents may be held responsible for any adverse reactions arising from following any of the instructions/recipes on this list. It is the reader's personal responsibility to exercise all precautions and use his or her own discretion if following any instructions or advice from this blog.

No comments: