Whether we are ready to call ourselves ‘crone’ at this stage is a matter of personal preference. The true stage of menopause or cronehood begins approximately a year after the last menstrual cycle: do we just suddenly become the ‘wise one’? How could this be?

No, of course, just as it took a lengthy stage of perimenopause and premenopause ups and downs to reach the physical aspect of cessation of the menses, likewise revealing of the inner wisdom expressed by the mature crone is also a process.

No one can tell you how to reach this stage for yourself though shamans such as Susun Weed and Lynn Andrews advise that it is important to give yourself a crone’s time off - maybe a year even but at least a month or a week to just be with yourself, rediscovering who this new person is! Time in nature, journaling, drumming and dancing, prayer and meditation, are all excellent tools for the inner journey of connecting with your authentic self.

And how will you know when you are a crone? Well, it makes me think of the Buddhist saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” If you think you have reached enlightment, you have surely been tricked. There is no single mountain top from which you can claim “I am here!” And as far as calling yourself a ‘crone’, I think it is significant to note that one who walks the path of a shaman will never refer to him or herself as a ’shaman’ or a ’shamanic healer’. There is no need for a label, one is simply what one is and what one does is to simply BE!

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