Mother, Maiden, Crone
Shamanic Ceremonies for Women’s Transitions across the Lifespan
by Nancy Baker, PhD, DMs
It is not easy for males or females to connect to their Core Self or the Sacred Divine within themselves. In addition, as the individual develops from a child, into an adolescent, into an adult, into middle age, and then into his or her older age, there are no longer societal markers or ceremonial rituals that support and hold sacred those milestones.
As a result, individuals often bumble through them, resulting in negative rather than positive transitions. Our male-dominated society makes it is even more difficult for the female to be successful at these shifts.
This guidebook will present literature related to ceremony and detail a basic general template for conducting a Shamanic Ceremony. Using the template, it will detail complete ceremonies that mark the major transitions in the life of the female, beginning with the birth of the girl child and ending with the death of the Crone.
These ceremonies can be powerful markers for female life transitions and can be used, as cultures in the past regularly did, to support and facilitate these transitions. From these ceremonies, it will be clear that we can celebrate both our female-ness and our transitions.
Contact Nancy to facilitate your own personal ceremony or retreat!
From the Introduction:
Mother, Maiden, Crone…The birth of a daughter. A celebration. A young girl, a daughter, marking her first menstrual period, standing between the women who love and support her. Celebrating. Or a girl, becoming an adult, between the women who lovingly guide her. Women supporting and guiding the next generation. Or those women, as their roles in life change from young adult roles to their next ones, no longer focused on young adult societal demands, transitioning in what has been called the mid life crisis. Or the woman entering menopause, another major transition, this time to Wise Woman, the Crone. What an accomplishment! One that is neither supported nor recognized, but rather is often full of physical and emotional angst. This time, instead, surrounded by women who are walking the same, but different, paths. Young and old celebrating that transition with her. Then the woman walking and passing from the sunset of her life to the winter; the death. Not alone, but with other women, as her Spirit reunites with the One. With other women celebrating what she has given and not forgetting her memory; celebrating her. Celebrating, and holding On High, the person, the woman, the Soul. And the cycle of life continues for the next woman, and the next; the never ending cycle of the female that repeats itself every time a girl child is born.
