Sunday, September 6, 2009

Pathworking: The Crone

On a night of the waning moon, sit down in a quiet spot, preferably somewhere where you can see the moon.
Take some deep breaths and relax. Gaze upon or visualize the waning moon while you let go of anger, stress, anxiety and distractions.
Then, close your eyes. Go to your safe place. It is night here, but the night is illuminated a bit by a waning moon shining dimly in the sky. The moonlight touches you, and in response, you feel delicate, luminescent wings grow, strong enough to carry you easily. Stretch your wings experimentally.
Now, with some strong beats of your wings, raise yourself into the air. Feel the resistance of the air, against your wings, the air that is rushing around you as you fly into the sky, into the direction of the waning moon. There is an updraft that carries you higher... and higher... effortlessly higher and higher...
You look ahead and see the moon in front of you, huge, and growing even bigger and bigger as you approach it, until you can no longer see it in its entirety. You can see a building, shaped like a crescent, waning moon. It is a temple of white marble, dappled with black bits.
You land in the middle of the courtyard framed by the crescent. There is an open entrance in front of you, and you fold your wings and walk towards it. You notice the lack of statues, but as you look upon the floor, you can see designs and symbols inlaid, grey in white.
You enter the temple. It smells slightly of incense. Inside, there are some statues, and again mosaics on the walls and floor, displaying partly abstract symbols, and designs, partly scenes such as a woman with a torch guiding another woman through a maze of corridors.
In the centre of the temple, there is a cauldron, bubbling over a fire pit. An old woman stands beside it, stirring it and adding something. She is singing softly, but you cannot understand it. It appears as if she has not noticed you, but before you can make up your mind to do something, the singing stops and she says: “Come over. I won't bite you”, without turning away from the cauldron. You go closer and look into the cauldron. The contents look like boiling soup.
The crone stirs a last time and then turns towards you. “Ah, a guest.
Expect no fancy words of me. I am the old one, and I have no need or want for them. I know that which is hidden, the secrets dark. Mine is the art of change, the mystery of transformation.
I grant you a drink from the cauldron of change. Choose what you want to transform. But be careful, for change may come at a prize.”
She looks at you and giggles, then begins stirring the cauldron once more. From somewhere, she produces a cup, fills it from the cauldron and hands it to you. It is hot, and even if you wait, or stir it, it does not cool down. Choose something to transform, then focus on it as you drain the cup. You may decide to skip, then give the cup back to her. ...
You can take some time talking to her, or just explore the temple. ...
It is time to return. Take your leave of the Goddess. You leave the temple. Look into the sky. There, in the distance, you can see the earth, blue, green and beautiful. Stretch your wings again and rise into the sky. Fly back, home to your safe place. There is a feeling that is gently leading you into the right direction, a pulling, like a homing instinct. You follow it, flying back, and finally, you return to your safe place. As you land, you feel your wings dissolving.
Return to your body. Take a few deep breaths to return and readjust. Count from 10 to 1, open your eyes. Welcome back.

Note: The moon pathworkings might be a bit difficult to memorize because of the speeches they include. I recommend recording these pathworkings. Alternatively, it is possible to adapt them by listening to what the Goddesses say of themselves instead of memorizing the speech.

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