Notes on the Circle of Time

In many mythologies and traditions, a woman’s life is described as having three phases: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Over time, the word “crone” came to stand for a sinister, malicious old woman, the toothless hag or wicked witch of fairy tales. But for some time now, women have been reclaiming the original meaning of the word—a wise woman, an elder, a teacher and healer, a mature woman who possesses and acts on the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime. It’s been many decades since I was a youthful, playful maiden, and my years of hands-on mothering ended when my son achieved adulthood. Now I see my task as mustering all the grace and good humor required to be an excellent crone, the embodiment of the person I was striving to become in the first two phases of my life, the authentic self that was too often buried under other people’s expectations, or hidden behind the masks I assumed out of ignorance or fear.

One of the gifts of these Wisdom Years is more time for myself, time to devote to passions and interests that were necessarily, often willingly, set aside during the phases of learning and nurturing. For me, that means time to live more mindfully and to nurture my spiritual longings. Time to sort through memories of past experiences to see how they were shaping the person I would become while I was too busy or too shallow to notice. Time to deepen friendships with the circle of women whose role in my spiritual evolution is the subject of my memoir, Growing in Circles. Time to appreciate the beauty and grace of everyday life.
And best of all, time to write.