February 11, 2023

Sage.
Someone venerated
for the possession of wisdom,
judgment, and experience.

I’ve written much about mystics recently, a theme that will clearly continue. Like many of the women in my spiritual circles, I know that I was a mystic in at least one past life and that there were mystics in my biological heritage. After he died, my Dad made me aware of the latter and now I’ve met and am working with one. I sense there are more but one at a time works for me right now.

I absolutely appreciate this is a bit much for some. A threshold that’s a bit daunting. Inspired by more of Karen Armstrong’s writing from her latest book, I would offer another and perhaps more comfortable threshold. Sage. It’s a threshold many have crossed without realizing it. 

Definitions of sage generally include the three energies listed above, energies that are perhaps more comfortable and familiar. Many walk through life relying on their accumulating experiences to manifest good judgment and wisdom. Yet when we hold the energy of profound accumulated experience, we Crones become distinguished as sage sisters. Through our decades of life experience we have had the opportunity to hone our judgement and deepen our wisdom of the natural and cosmic worlds. We have had the opportunity to cross the sage threshold.  

Sage is a globally recognized veneration that has been written about through the centuries in cultures around the world. The following poem is from what is considered China’s oldest mystical text, The Original Tao, written in the 4th century BCE. The reference here is to the energy of Qi; the energy that pervades all life, harmoniously linking the plant, animal, human and divine worlds, and enabling them to fulfill their potential. 

The vital essence of all things:
It is this that brings them to life.
It generates the five grains below
And becomes the constellated stars above.
When flowing amid the heavens and the earth
We call it ghostly and numinous.
When stored within the chests of human beings,
We call them sages.

When we hold this alchemy of deep wisdom, tempered judgement, and accumulated experience within us, in our chests, we just might be called sage. 

Blessings of Crone Wisdom,
Judith