The Metamorphosis of Crone Chronicles

The print version of Crone Chronicles ended with the Spring 2001 issue, after 12 years of continuous publication. (For the editorial presenting the story of that decision, click here.) The annual gathering, Crones Counsel, will continue.

As of June 5, 2001, the magazine was transformed into an e-zine. In this shift, our goals are to assist crone networking, strengthen and expand crone community, and offer a form of Crone Chronicles which can be more interactive and more responsive in real time than the printed version. A number of new features have been added to the site, including Crone Forum, Archives, Reviews, The Chronicles and the Crone Store.

We are actively seeking submissions for on-line publication. See Submissions. The Back Issues section of this site has been updated to make it easier for you to order back issues on-line. (Or, call us at 406-628-6243 or email editor@cronechronicles.com.) Each issue of Crone Chronicles is a treasure which will be personally and sociologically valuable for many years to come. If you order the entire set of back issues (available from the Crone Store), you will obtain a documented herstory of what is now being called the Crone Movement.

See What's New for further details and make sure to bookmark this site for new developments!

Editorial from Winter 2000-2001 Issue

We Show the Whole Wide World Who We Really Are

by Ann Kreilkamp

"Let us reclaim our ancient crone selves. Let us delve deep down inside and drink from that endlessly creative source. To fill ourselves. To become full of ourselves. To show the whole wide world who we really are." —Ann K., from "Calling All Crones," the first issue of Crone Chronicles, a letter to 100 women, July 13, 1989.

On September 28, 2000, I returned home from seven trips in four months and finally sat down at my desk with time to spare. Time to think. (I put out the Autumn issue of Crone Chronicles and my latest astrological newsletter Celestial Navigations while on the run, between trips.) Within minutes after sitting down, I was astonished to find myself sobbing uncontrollably.

The time away had allowed fresh perspectives, and it had also allowed my unconscious to work through a dilemma I had been facing for the past 18 months, namely, how to regain my personal freedom. When I returned to finally sit down at my desk, the realization that I was done with Crone Chronicles suddenly avalanched up from belowÑin tears and anguish.

Simply: I cannot go on any longer. As important as the magazine has become to many readers, the evolving path of my own life must take priority.

I know this announcement seems sudden and shocking. As shocking as it was to me. Indeed, the feeling of being done was so strong that at first, I thought I would just write a letter to all concerned. But then, in talking it over with my husband and co-publisher Jeffrey, plus a few other close advisors, we realized that the death of Crone Chronicles needs to be a conscious death. In this spirit, we decided to put out two more issues.

In this Winter 2000-01 issue we announce the ending of this wonderful little publication. The (final) Spring 2001 issue will serve as the "funeral." That issue will consist largely of letters. Letters from you. Letters from as many of you as feel moved to write us by January 1, 2001.We ask that you give us permission to print your contact information (phone numbers, addresses, email addresses) so that you may connect with one another. We see this final issue as a place for your expressions of grief, rage, joy, and whatever else you want to share about the dissolution of this particular form. And we see it as a place for your visions — visions of what is to come, visions of the transformation in the expression of Crone energy to be born from the death of a publication that identified, focused, and amplified Crone energy for nearly 12 years.

In this way, we may together begin the process of manifesting what is to come next.

I learned long ago that if I center on my own unique trajectory, everything else falls into place. Not just for me, but for everyone around me. I trust that by releasing Crone Chronicles, energy will be released for the newly re-emerged Crone energy to express Herself into a myriad of other forms.

A few days after my decision, I heard from a woman who is interested in taking over the magazine. She will work with me in putting out the final (Spring 2001) issue, to help her see if it is her dharma. And, of course, if she does take it over, the magazine will evolve---as it would under any new Editor. In other words, Crone Chronicles might reincarnate, into a different form.

Whatever happens, we must remember that as something dies, energy is released into the world. All of us who have had Crone show up in our dreams, grab us by the shoulders, and caw, "Wake up! It's Time!" know this. We have felt a pregnant stirring in our menopausal and post-menopausal bellies —something growing within us, with its own laws and its own needs, something which our smaller ego selves know nothing about, and are even afraid of! But let's face it, we are fascinated, absolutely riveted by this ancient being that seeks expression within us, this new/old wonder of wonders....

Crone has unearthed herself into the world. She flies around furious and unforgiving, She insists that we heed her warnings to: Wake Up! It's time! Wake up before it is too late! Wake up before life on earth is extinguished! Wake up before our grandchildren's and their grand-children's legacy is buried in the rubble!

For, as we all know, and then feel so weighed down by this knowledge that we are paralyzed and cannot act — ours is a world gone mad.

• We are so fearful of death that we worship youth and throw away our elders.
• We value money at the expense of authentic personal values.
• We litter the earth with nonbiodegradable garbage and we destroy precious, non-renewable, natural resources.
• We spend billions on ever-new and ever more lethal generations of offensive weapons and then market them, cleverly, as (merely) "defensive."
• We substitute "credibility" for authenticity, "spin" for truth, "image" for reality.

Indeed, have you noticed? We are no longer citizens, we are, instead, "consumers" who, blinded by desire and haunted by a hunger that our "goods" cannot satisfy, cry in our souls for a larger meaning. A meaning that elders in more traditional cultures preserve, and which because we do not value our old ones, we have lost.

To know is to have lived a long time. To know is to have truly lived and learned from each experience. To know is to have contemplated the way things work — and don't work.

Many people know that the template of the new United States government was that of the Iroquois Nation. That both the ideas of three independent governmental bodies, and of the separation of powers came from this great band of Native Americans whom we so viciously betrayed. What most people don't know is that above all other powers in the Iroquois Nation was the Council of Old Women. The old women both chose the leaders and booted them out if they did not act appropriately.

Imagine what would happen if the United States were to be run by a Council of Old Women.

Imagine how the world will change when the old ones do speak their truth.

I speak my truth in saying I am done with Crone Chronicles. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that this ending is perfect. That (this original version of) Crone Chronicles was not meant to go on any longer. That its mission has been fulfilled. "Crone" —as an archetype, as an honorific title, as a symbol for the transformation of consciousness and of values which can accompany the aging process— has re-entered the culture.

In this process I experience a resurgence of Crone energy within myself. I am amazed to feel Her presence now as strongly as in the beginning. I learn that endings are as important as beginnings. I must close this 12-year cycle with as much awareness as was galvanized in the original dream of the Raven, clawing my shoulders from behind, cawing "Wake Up! It's Time!"

Immediately, I knew that the Raven was the Crone. The Crone was coming back. She wanted to wake us up, and She wanted me to help Her. Yikes!

I bowed to Her will, to the internal voice which dictated that I begin a publication to open up space for the Crone to speak. I was told that this great archetype would awaken within us, and that She would arouse us — to honor ourselves and our own aging process, to create a place within society for the hard-won wisdom born of long experience, to say NO to the powers that be and return us to the natural order.

I was only 46 years old, hardly a crone myself. However, I was (and always will be) an astrologer, who focuses on life as a developmental process. For 20 years I had been telling clients about the changing roles we play in the world as we move through three 30-year Saturn cycles. In the first cycle (birth to 30), we become enculturated, discovering what society expects of us, its rules and roles. In the second cycle (30 to 60) we carve out our own individual identity within the culture. And, in the third cycle, having seen it all and done it all, we shift focus from doing to being, and offer our lives in service to the larger community. Over and over again, I would state that the most important Saturn cycle should be the third (and usually, final) one. Rather than discarding our Old Ones as useless, we need to honor and learn from them.

The deep crisscrossing of wrinkles on the face of each Elder tells the story of her or his unique life. Yet the lessons gleaned from each Elder's experience tend to be universal, cross-cultural. The "perennial wisdom" is found in those stories which are passed on through the generations, which honor the ancestors, the living, the yet unborn.

But since, I would say to my clients, in our youth-obsessed culture the third cycle of life is ignored, our culture lacks wisdom. Our culture's dishonoring of its old ones and its lack of wisdom are connected.

So, when it came time to begin Crone Chronicles, I knew that my job was to open up space for the Crone to speak. I knew that She had dwelt in the deep darkness of our souls for thousands of years. That the gradually increasing dominance of patriarchal values had pushed Her underground. That She was to unearth Herself, now, at the turn of the millennium, when humanity would either enter the final self-destructive paroxysm of its life-denying his-story, or would recreate itself by absorbing not only the nurturing benevolence of the Goddess but the truth-telling ferocity of Her aspect as Crone.

At first, people laughed at me for starting a publication with that horrid word "crone" in the title. "Why not call it something else?" They would say. "Crone has such an awful meaning." "Yes, in the dictionary, it does," I would answer. "Let's remember that the dictionary is a patriarchal document, that Crone predates the dictionary." (And that the dictionary is a self-fulfilling prophecy. -- JJ)

That old dictionary definition of "Crone" as withered, ugly old woman is being transformed. "Crone" is now becoming recognized as an archetype, as an honorific title, as a symbol for the transformation of values which can, did, and will again accompany the aging process.

I confess that for the first few years, there was very little in Crone Chronicles that interested me. The stories felt superficial, silly, second-hand. But I knew that we had to keep going, to keep opening space. That the voice of Crone would gradually emerge, as both our understanding of what she had to say and our powers of expression deepened.

It is with deep awe and contentment that I tell you that over the last few years, much of what is in each issue has held me spellbound. I am not alone. Every time a new issue comes out, we hear from at least one reader that the magazine just keeps on getting better, richer, deeper.

How could it not, when the subject is Crone? How could it be other than profound, limitless?

Thanks to all of you who read, subscribed to and wrote for this magazine, a new Crone Culture is being born within the ashes of the old life-denying culture. That old culture may yet look glittery and glamorous, but we crones know that it does not follow the law of the way things work, that its karma is coming due.

I feel so very very thankful to each of you who participated in this fiercely idealistic, wildly audacious enterprise. Just imagine! We decided to "activate the archetype of the Crone within contemporary culture," and presto! Because we held that focus, year after year, it was done! Crone is now here among us.

Before Crone Chronicles, my life's goal was to "join the conversation." Well, my friends, we did not only join the conversation, we started a conversation, one which is still revving up, and who knows what the general cultural outcome will be. Thousands have felt Crone energy rising from within like a giant irrepressible tide. We know now that we are valuable beings on this earth. Indeed we know that the kind of value we, as elders, represent is vitally necessary if our society is to return to any semblance of true sanity: where all of life is honored; where, in telling the truth about our own real lives and in listening to the truths of others, we set the cornerstone of a new cultural foundation by weaving a fabric of connectedness and shared intent for the future of Earth and all Her creatures.

However, we do greatly need your help. Four years ago, I dissolved my astrology practice to concentrate on editing Crone Chronicles. Since then, I have been paid $600-$1200/month (gross income!) for this service. For each of the past five years, Jeff has put in $5,000 or more to help make up the difference between costs and revenues. We could have cut costs by letting go of color covers, cutting pages, changing from recycled to regular paper, etc. But we felt that for the Great Crone to truly activate within this culture, She needed to have a quality publication with a substantial presence.

During the past 18 months we have lost 15% of our subscribers, with a corresponding loss in revenues. We presume this loss was the result of the decision to allow men in the magazine. I don't regret that decision. However, the anger in the many of the letters does show how deeply rooted is the persistent tragic separation between the sexes.

Since the beginning, each renewal notice (for four or eight issues), has generated enough revenues to pay for only one issue. So, obviously, we have never had the capital base to close this magazine without huge losses. Even so, in order to close this potent little publication down in the true Crone spirit of death and transformation, we decided to put out this issue and the next final one so that our readers will have the opportunity to feel complete with the process.

This protracted closing ceremony alone will cost about $20,000. We are asking any of you who are able and willing to help us defray these expenses.

The closing will cost a good deal more if we pay out reimbursements to those of you who are still due one or more issues on your subscriptions. Of course, if you ask for a monetary reimbursement we will gladly give it to you. However, if at all possible, we ask that you allow us to fulfill your subscriptions in one of several other ways.

Please see "FULFILLMENT" in the center insert for details.

As Crone Chronicles releases itself into the Void, new seeds germinate. Who will Crone flow through now? What forms of expression will She take? For if Crone teaches us anything, it is that each ending, done with awareness, sets the conditions for new beginnings.

Ann Kreilkamp is the founding editor of Crone Chronicles.