COMMON THEMES, EAST & WEST:

"She holds in her hands an opened pomegranate, whose Hebrew name, rimmon, comes from the word rim, to bear a child.  The pomegranate is an ancient middle-eastern symbol of the womb, because of its red juice and its numerous seeds or offspring.  It was carved on the pillars of Solomon's Temple as a symbol of fertility.  In this icon it represents all the descendents of Eve, the human race, and our debt to her and all our fore-mothers.

"Eve was said to have lived for more than nine centuries. . . . she is celebrated each year on the second Sunday before Christmas in the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church." [ © Robert Lentz 1995]

Some web categories drop links into my lap like ripe apples --  Ancient Greece, Egypt, Ireland, Arthurian tales, medieval Europe and many more.  Others require long patience.

When I first structured my website in April 1998, I placed "Crones & Sages" in my Western Europe category.  My hope was that I would find links that would explore the wisdom of female and male elders -- Kundrie of Wolfram's Parzival, for example (who is nothing like Wagner's version); Merlin, that tricksterish sage; Hecate, Baba Yaga.  I was in no way denying the cross-cultural ubiquity of the theme -- aging wisely, or not, is a universal phenomenon.  Nevertheless, I wanted Eurocentric sites honoring the elders because the Eurocentric obsession with immature heroes has brought so much tragedy to the world.  If I could keep the issue within the Western context, I hoped it might prove compensatory.

Yet more than a year passed and no Eurocentric links concerning crones and sages fell into my lap.  I began to wonder if I should drop the category entirely.  Yet, as a crone myself, I was reluctant to do this.

Then the summer of 1999 a small handful of links suddenly appeared, but, except for Ashliman (see below), all  were from Native American sites.  With this, I saw that I must shift the category from Europe to the rest of the world.  Thus, it is now among my COMMON THEMES section.  Perhaps in collecting links from this enlarged perspective, my original goal will nevertheless be furthered.

"Woman between the Wind"
© Charles Frizzell

Although respected as a source of wisdom, old age has been influenced by Greek fear and despise, deeply rooted in our Western soul. . . . [From the opening editorial]

Italy's online Hako Magazine offers this rich, fascinating article (actually, a series of small essays by various writers) looking at Native and Meso-American attitudes towards the elderly:

. . .Since old age was the evidence of one's own experience and ability to avoid death, the elders were feared and respected for their spiritual powers, even if skeletal remains, mummies, myths and pictorial representations depict a picture of Indian old age not precisely idyllic from our modern point of view. . . .

A wide number of tribes are covered.  Especially interesting is the connection between the elderly and the Firegods, who are known as the "Old Gods."  There is also a beautiful essay by Francesco Spagna, "Velma Wallis: from Myth to Novel," about a famine-stricken band of Athapaskan Gwich'in who abandon two elderly women in Alaska's cold (see below for reviews of this book).

"Sharing the Gift"
© Charles Frizzell 1988

This is amazon.com's page on Alaskan Gwich'in author, Velma Wallis, and her novel, Two Old Women, an Athapaskan tale of two useful but complaining elders who are left behind by their hungry tribe during a bitterly cold winter.  How the two women pull together and eventually save their people makes for fascinating drama.  (Scroll down amazon.com's page for reviews of the book from various sources.)

Rembrandt's Homer (1663)

This is a lengthy collection from  folklore specialist D. L. Ashliman on "Aging and Death in Folklore."  Although you'll find mostly European tales of chillingly cruel treatment of elders, there are also tales in which protecting elders results in unseen benefits for all.  The page is very long but loads quickly and has a table of contents for those who wish to jump to specific topics.  Ashliman's commentaries as well as his selections are superior.

Sage Watering the Tree of Life
(The original is an icon over a gateway in the orthodox
Monastery of the Cross in the Valley of the Cross, Jerusalem.
Artist & date unknown -- I apologize for the poor quality of the image: it resists changes!)
Courtesy of Physicians for Global Survival  [Link updated 6 February 2002 - image page gone, however]

This is a tale from India about an old man who looked at good fortune and misfortune alike as serving the overall good.

This is another tale from India, this time about a man who can work miracles, and a young student who cheats to gain access to such power.  The miracle-worker isn't called "old" or a "sage," yet as a teacher of the young, he embodies the best qualities of a sage.

Baba Yaga helping the young Ivanushka
[Courtesy of Russian Sunbirds]

Baba Yaga: an Essay by an Anonymous Author

[Added 9 March 2000, when I finally found a good paper with a more Eurocentric focus]:
James Hillman argues somewhere that the senex (wise old man) and puer (eternal boy) are not separate archetypes but, rather, two different manifestations of the same archetype -- that of man's ever-changing relationship to Time.  In a similar vein, the unknown author of this essay looks at the crone (in the person of Russia's old bony goddess, Baba Yaga) and the maiden (in the person of Vasalisa), and argues that both are manifestations of the same Divine Feminine archetype.  She spins her topic in a different direction from Hillman's, but it's quite interesting and hopefully of benefit, especially to those who might have a negative attitude towards the crone and aging.  I found the lengthy essay on an e-mail list and felt it was worth saving as a work by "Anonymous" -- I've illustrated it with many wonderful images of Baba Yaga from Russian lacquer boxes.  (Note: I searched for weeks without success for the original author -- if anyone knows who the essay's author is, please let me know!)

[Added 10 March 2000]: From The Book of Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghan comes this very brief piece on Baba Yaga in Russian folklore.

[Added 10 March 2000]: "Thoughts on Baba Yaga" from Sacred Spiral is a brief, sensitive essay by Eliza on Baba Yaga's dried grain, her oven, and death [Note to me: I saved this to my Misc. html files, just in case it ever vanishes].
For more on Baba Yaga, including two traditional tales (in which, unfortunately, Baba Yaga is portrayed as the villainess), go to Sacred Spiral's Baba Yaga page at: http://www.sacredspiral.com/Database/babayaga/

Crone Shaman
Siberia's Taymyr Region: Dolgan Nenets People
(Courtesy of Russian Sunbirds)

[Added Beltane, 1 May 2000]:  Eliza at Sacred Spiral [see above] sent me this delicious essay penned by famed Hungarian author, crone, and witch, Z Budapest, about Z's personal reflections on croning in the '70's as well as Z's own role in making croning rituals so well known to the rest of us today.  Z Budapest has graciously given me permission to share this essay on a special Myth*ing Links page.

http://www.birthingthecrone.com/home.html

[Added 9 September 2000]: This is "Birthing the Crone" from Helen Redman, an extraordinary cyber-journey through one artist's rich and multi-textured experiences, first with menopause and hot flashes, then with croning.  It's a wise, funny, deep, and splendid passage. Each page features one of her vibrant, alchemical paintings as well as her beautifully written thoughts on the process.  She asks that viewers go from page to page in the order in which she presents them -- I honored her request, spent about 30-40 minutes doing this, and found it a moving, evocative trip, especially in the paintings of her later work where old age merges mystically with the on-going cycles of birth.  Don't miss this one.

[Added 9 September 2000; annotated updated 2/9/02]:  This is She-Links, Gifts of Spirit, and Searches of Interest for Reluctant Crones from "Mac," one of my e-mail friends.  It is a crone-"clearinghouse" devoted to news, webrings, and great links on Cronehood (I found the Helen Redman site -- see above -- on Mac's site). The page is just beginning but given Mac's passion and drive, her page will grow.  Check checking back for her updates.

[Added 9 September 2000]: Again from artist/writer Helen Redman's site comes this page full of bibliographic sources on crones.  It's impressively comprehensive.

[Added 9 September 2000]: This is "The Second Half of Life," Tracey A. Callison's very brief bibliography on crones & sages with 4 books linked to amazon.com.

 Animal Guides
 Creation Myths
 Crones & Sages
 Dragons & Serpents
 Earth Goddesses & Gods
 Floods, Storms, Rainbows, & Other Weather Wonders
 Food: Sacrality & Lore
 Green Men
 Landscape: Sacrality & Lore   (Mountains, Wells, Springs, Pools, Lakes, Caves, Labyrinths, Spiral Mounds, Crop Circles, Stone Circles, Feng Shui)
 Music: (in Life, Lore, Ritual, & Science)
 Nature Spirits of the World
 Rituals of Puberty
 Sacred Theatre, Dance & Ritual
 Shamanism
 Sky Goddesses & Gods
 Star Lore & Astrology
 Symbols, Signs, & Runes
 Time: (Calendars, Clocks, Natural Temporal Cycles, Attitudes toward Time, & Millennium Issues)
 Trees & Plant Lore
 Tricksters, Clowns, Magicians, Jesters & Fools
 Weaving Arts & Lore: (Cosmic Webs, Spinning, Spindles, Clothing)

Down to Geographical Regions: Africa

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Text and Design:
Copyright ©1998 - 2002 by Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.
Latest Updates: Lammas, 1 August 1999;
9-10 March 2000;
Beltane, 1 May 2000; 4 May2000 (Nedstated);
9 September 2000 (checked all links & added new ones);
15 September 2000;
6 February 2002 (did a link-check; minor format updates); 9 February 2002 [Mac's update].