Ye Olde Witches Brew Magazine
Embracing the Vintage Witch

 
To understand the Crone is to understand the deepest Mysteries. The Dark Mother
is the ultimate Teacher of the very deepest of spiritual Mysteries. Her
Mysteries include the contacting of spirits. It is through Her that we learn
prophesy, seeing clearly backward and forward through time. If we do not
acknowledge the Crone, how can we "remember ourselves." Through the Dark
Mother, and the records of our past lives, we learn the necessity of focusing
our energy onto important things such as spiritual growth, living our lives the
best we can and seeking the Goddess within. She does not seek us, we have to
seek her. When we have finally reached the Divine center and sit at the Mother's
feet to receive knowledge, the Crone appears and beckons. The Dark Mother guides
us with Her lantern of ultimate truth and wisdom, not running ahead as does the
Maiden, but just before us with a firm, confident step. She teaches us that
there are unlimited treasures within the treasures. We must seek the Crone for
our magickal teachings, psychic powers and prophetic knowledge. These are
things the Witch could never obtain in her day to day life. It is the night and
to the Crone that she must turn to. The Crone holds the key of life; She is the
light within the darkness, the Power behind the Mother's throne. With Her aid,
our eyes are opened to the deepest of spiritual mysteries, and we gain the
knowledge that is needed.

Over the course of history, the original role of the Dark Goddess as a renewer
was forgotten, and she became to be feared as the destroyer through patriarchal
myths, as She is still thought of in today's paganism. Throughout many world
mythologies, She is portrayed as the Temptress, the Terrible Mother, the death
bearing Crone, the destroyer and the terrible, or the fearsome bent figure of a
woman bearing a scythe, instead of the loving, wise Crone. This is because man
has feared the Crone, because they do not understand Her. We must remember that
to say something is destroyed, implies it is done away with completely; the
cycle has stopped. This means that re-creation would have to start at an
absolute beginning. In the Goddess' cycle, nothing is actually destroyed.
Although things die constantly, everything that dies is merely reorganized,
redistributed, reformed, then reborn.

 
What happened to cause this change and to now see the Crone harsh and something
to fear? This change probably took place at around 3000 BCE, where there
occurred a transition in the predominant religious and political structure that
governed humanity. Matriarchal societies, which had worshiped Goddesses of the
earth and moon such as Innana, Ishtar, Isis, Demeter and Artemis gave way to
patriarchal societies, which followed the solar Gods and heroes such as
Gilgamesh, Amen Ra, Zeus, Apollo and other Olympian Gods and then later on to
Yahweh. From there, while originally the Goddess reigned supreme and alone, the
patriarchal cultures later relegated Her to a position of secondary importance,
as the Mother of the God/King such as Isis as the mother of Horus. The
Goddesses were also forced to accept Gods as their husbands, without whom they
were powerless-such as the marriage of Hera to Zeus and Isis to Osiris. It has
even bled over into the Crone aspect wherein some pagans in the name of duality
matches Her up with a God in rituals not realizing that the Crone stands alone,
independent and free within Her own right. The dependent status of the Goddess
was later intensified when she was made the daughter instead of wife of the
omnipotent Father God/King and inherited his characteristics. This pattern was
symbolized in the birthing of Athena from Zeus' head, and she maintained her
elevated position as her father's favorite by denying that she ever had a mother
at all and by destroying her matriarchal antecedents, such as Medusa and Pallas.
It has spilled over even into today's followings in modern paganism which is
called Wicca, which many call the "old religion". The teachings of the Great
Mother have long since been replaced with the Wheel of the Year of the Sun God
and the Sabbat celebrations centering around his life cycle. The all
encompassing Goddess with myths of love and compassion in all her phases are now
replaced with the Dark Goddess as something to be feared and warrior Gods eating
their children or life being continued through trickery and rape. If followers
of the Goddess wish to return to the true "Old religion" and worship the Great
Goddess as daughters of yesteryear did, many frown at this and consider it
lacking the balance of the male and female and that one cannot survive without
the other, never realizing that it is the Goddess herself that keeps the
balance. The true "old religion" entailed honoring the Goddess in her many
facets and not simply as a sex partner and mother. What most do not understand
is that the Moon (feminine) and the Earth (feminine) evolve around each other as
they dance across the nightly sky each month and share with each other's
energies.

 
There is also confusion in that now everyone calls the Dark Moon the New Moon.
The New Moon is a patriarchal word. The dark phase of the moon, not to be
confused with the dark side of the Moon, occurs each month in the three days
preceding the actual Dark of the Moon, which most consider the New Moon. Over
the centuries, as people no longer worshiped the moon as Goddess, nor used the
Moon as the calendar, they began to fear the dark and everything associated with
the dark, including the name itself. Unfortunately, because they feared the
dark, is it no wonder that they feared the Dark Goddess, whom they do not
understand. So, instead of the Moon being called the Dark Moon, it became the
New Moon. But today's Witches are claiming Her rightful name of Dark Moon and
Her independence, strength and freedom of standing alone without a God.
For all women, the lunar cycle is linked to women. The dark moon phase is linked
to women when they are shedding their blood. When the lunar cycle is overlaid on
the menstrual cycle, the full moon corresponds to ovulation and fertility, and
the dark moon is analogous to the actual shedding of the blood. The ancient
Goddess-worshiping cultures of yesteryear understood that when they bled, it is
woman's most powerful time of the month; a time when her psychic and spiritual
energies are most highly sensitized. At this time of a woman's cycle, she tends
to want to withdraw and go within, to look upon her darker self, but in this
masculine world of today, women are prevented in doing that. The renowned
Aleister Crowley preferred to have sexual acts with women when they were
shedding their blood, as even he knew it was a most powerful time of their body,
as blood is very powerful. If it is considered a powerful time for women during
the dark moon menstrual cycles, then it should also be considered a powerful
time of the month when the Moon is in Her dark phase. But just as with the rise
of the male god cultures of Zeus and Horus and in which women's menstrual cycle
became taboo, so has working magick when the Moon is in Her dark phase become
taboo. The cycles of the Moon and women feeling its energies are a women's gift.

 
In most pagan books you do not even see many rituals for the Dark of the Moon or
for the Full Moon. Occasionally you will see an article wherein you are to
embrace the dark power by means of performing a ritual. However, the Dark Lord
is most of the time called in as well. This is not necessary, and you really
only need to embrace and call in the the Dark Mother during the waning to Dark
of the Moon. For the Dark Goddess represents inner strength, independence from
duality for She IS the Hermit in the Tarot with Her torches leading us to
wisdom. She and She alone holds the power and gives the power to those
seeking it. The Dark Moon is there in the night sky and it stands there alone
in all Her power, even though we cannot see Her. During Her dark phase, the
feminine Earth comes between Her and sun, giving Her her much needed rest from
the demanding male energies of the Sun, as we, too, need our rest from the
masculine world in which we live. The sun does not contribute to the Moon's
energies but only allows us to see what phase She is going through. It is not
the Sun who helps effect the tides during Full or Dark Moon for only the Moon
effects the tides of the ocean and the tides of woman and man. Her powers are
there just the same.

 
She stands alone and She stands strong. The Crone teaches us survival. She has
survived all things and from Her we may learn that we, too, will survive all
things. But first, we must seek Her to learn of Her teachings. Many do not truly
understand the Dark Mother because to understand her, you must walk with Her.
Women are daughters of the Goddess, and we carry Her gifts naturally. We know
Her no matter what Her phases is, as She is Mother and Crone to us all. We women
feel her like no other because we are Her.

 
The Crone represents a time in looking into the void, into the unknown and to
find the truth that is hidden in the darkness. It is a time for meditation,
psychic power enhancement or for looking into past life memories to help better
understand current difficulties. Dark Moon energy also lends itself to
divination and matters where truth is an issue. We need to seek the Crone each
month to release those things that we have hidden in the dark recesses of our
mind and are afraid to face.

 
The Dark Moon represents the mystery, performing different types of magick,
divination arts such as the tarot and scrying, and the banishing of negative
energies and seeking wisdom from the greatest teacher of them all, the Crone. It
is also a time to meditate with the Dark Goddess and to listen to the messages
of wisdom that she has to share with you. It is a time to move back into
ourselves, disappearing, hiding and dwelling within our inner selves so that we
may be reborn and are able to look at things in a different light....the Crones
inner light.

There are a lot of Witches who seem to come more alive during the waning moon up
and into the Dark of the Moon. There would be many, many more Witches feeling
the magickal powers of the Dark Moon, if they would push the taboo teachings of
fearing the Dark Goddess and her energies that some teach in today's covens. We
need to go back to yesteryear daughters of the Goddess, back to before the
patriarchal Gods with myths of war, rape, destruction and killings which took
over the world and squashed the wise teachings of the Dark Mother.
Embrace the Dark Goddess and Her magick. When embracing the Dark Goddess and
performing magick, always do ritual and magick three days on or before the Dark
of the Moon. Some say that you can do dark moon magick two days before the Dark
Moon, on the Dark Moon, and two days after. Through years of research, we have
come to understand the Moon more so than ever before. Once the moon turns to its
true dark phase at that given moment, it will soon start to shift into its
waxing phase. Until it does shift into its waxing phase, the moon's energies are
erratic. It is best not to do any banishing rituals 24 hours after the Moon is
considered dark which most astrology calendars give the time when the Moon
reaches Her darkest phase.

 
When doing Full Moon magick, many pagans say that you can do full moon rituals
two days before the Full Moon, on the Full Moon, and up two days after the full
moon. This is not accurate, as the moon's energies start to shift one minute
after the actual time of the Full Moon. It is best not do any positive magick 24
hours after the Moon is full. For an accurate time when the Moon is full,
consult the U.S. Naval Observatory website.

But Daughters of the Goddess, do not fear the Dark Goddess but embrace Her, once
a month, and better it be when the Moon is dark, and there ye shall assemble
yourself in some secret place and adore Her, the Crone, and sing, dance and
perform magickal rites all in Her honor! We must teach ourselves to once more
see Her as She is and not as the annihilator, the destroyer, the pain giver and
perpetual suffering that patriarchal myths portray Her.

 
Many pagans think you need a God along side the Goddess for balance, but in the
end, it is the Crone who keeps the balance in all things. The Crone is the deep
love, the teacher, the wise one, the comforter, and She is understanding. It is
through the Crone that we can learn life's mysteries. It is the Crone who keeps
the balance.