“…So take me in your arms old hag, let’s claim the word together.
We won’t be broken by images that women must be young forever.
Gather your Hags around dear one and I will bring mine, too.
We’ll stoke great fires together and be guided by the moon.
Call me a hag I dare you - I delight in all it means.
For in my eyes are burning bright lights of power and from me it beams.
They’re scared of all our knowledge, the secrets we might possess.
We claim the hag, both old and young, won’t be made to feel we’re less.
For I am great and so are you, let’s break the bond of words.
Let’s band together connect with light, let kindness fill our swords or wands.
We’ll see you in the garden, and we’ll see you by the fire.
We’ll see you where love’s forgotten, and we’ll see you somewhere higher.
You’ll know us by our looks, you’ll be certain in our stare.
You’ll know us by our great, great power.
We Hags get everywhere.”
Excerpt from Sarah MacGillivray’s “A Poem for all the Old Hags”.
It is time to throw off the yoke of the stereotype of the old hag. Instead of Maiden, Mother, and Crone I say we should embrace Maiden, Mother, and Sage.
Or Maiden, Mother, and Mage.
Or Maiden, Mother, and Mystic.
The Mystic
As she came out of the woods
She was approached by 3 hoods. Hey you, old hag What’s in the bag?
Why in this tatty purse
Not a hex or a curse
Just some herbs and 3 stones
And a lot of old bones. Let us see it he cried.
At her fingers he pried.
She called on the Divine
To protect me and mine.
Mightily he did scoff,
Til his fingers fell off.
In her haste she forgot
To say and harm naught.
A hard lesson learned.
You will get burned.
Don’t be egotistic
And mess with a mystic.
Four of the five dictionaries I consulted did not include the second definition.
The etymology of the word is Dutch Kronye, an old ewe or croonje, a carcass;
Old French carogne, a carcass; or Anglo-French charoine, dead flesh.
Rarely the word crone referred to a senile man especially if he was acting like an old woman.
At Vocabulary.com they came right out and said the term was insulting.
Nobody is calling me an old carcass!
I would rather get rid of the word than try to redefine it in the minds of the general population.
I was honestly not trying to pick a fight or offend you but clearly I have. Your opinion is valid and I meant no disrespect. I’m exiting this conversation now with respect and peace.
I personally enjoy the word crone and what it has come to mean in the spiritual community, but to each their own I’m not considered a crone yet I’m still in my Mother phase in my early 30s!
No, I am not offended. Not in the least!
I just think if I walked into a group of people and said I was a crone, I don’t believe their first thought would be that I was to be considered wise. They would probably say “Oh no dear, you’re not old or ugly!”
I feel like the second definition is a compliment.
I’m still in my Mother phase in my early 30s!