43 Comments

Thank you for this article. It made me connect some dots and even gave me a boost in determination.

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So good to hear that, thank you.

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I connect on so many levels.

I'll be back for more of your imperfection as it's beautiful medicine for me :)

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Thank you Emma!

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Saving this for the Roger Keyes and because, well, it reads so beautifully and openly.

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Love the honesty of this, Jo. With each passing year I embrace my Crone more and more (I'm 69.) Let my hair go completely grey so I totally look the part now. It's a beautiful word, really. Means "Crown" - but I'm sure you know that. :) Have you listened to Clarissa Pinkola Estes' "The Power of the Crone?" 👑 xo

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Thank you! I did the same with my hair and it was a wise choice I think. I haven’t heard The Power of the Crone, no. I will find it, thanks! X

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Thank you for this, Jo. There's a freedom in facing up to mortality, isn't there? It might sound morbid but I think in many ways it would do me good to be more aware of my own mortality. And I so appreciate when women speak of the good stuff to come with ageing. I remember reading a magazine article in my 20s where a woman in her 30s said how much more comfortable she felt in that decade and it instantly made me look forward to it. Now I'm 48 and have been wading through perimenopause for several years I'm excited to get to my Crone Calling!

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I don’t think it’s morbid at all! I won’t lie, for me this has in part come from perimenopausal health anxiety that kicked my behind and never left, just faded. So there is still fear there. But I’ve also been able to experience the accompanying wonder that I even get to be here, alive and experiencing all this! And these days, that feeling wins!

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Makes sense to have that fear. I think there can also be an accompanying ‘what’s the point?’ But the wonder you mention - that’s the one to focus on 😍

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Aug 4, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

Yay!! Welcome back. I genuinely missed you Jo. Welcome back - and bring ALL the plants 🌱 🪴 🌲 🌳

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Oh NOW you’ve done it! 😆 🌱🌿☘️

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☺️

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Aug 3, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

This is so good! Thank you!

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Glad you liked it!

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Welcome back🙏

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Thanks, Dee. 😊

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Aug 2, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

I think we go about our daily lives expecting to live forever and it's a shock when a bereavement or other event makes us realise that we won't. Lot's about this in existential philosophy and to navigate your own way, existential psychotherapy:

https://www.bacp.co.uk/about-therapy/types-of-therapy/existential-therapy/#:~:text=Existential%20therapy%20has%20four%20key,reach%20a%20point%20of%20acceptance.

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Completely agree, Bob. We know it, but we don’t feel it. Then when we do…

Thanks for the link, I’ll take a look.

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Aug 2, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

I am as well....the way he uses words? I thought Shakespeare was a whiz kid on the language skills but this guy could match wits with Will and possibly win a few rounds. So this makes me happy ----that you are aware of his works/his writings etc. a few shaw readings on youtube every once in awhile will keep this crone happy enough; pondering the myth and metaphor of life. Glad enough to see your return as well; write however you feel, none of us will abandon you because you are writing 'dangerous things'-----

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Did you know heMs here on Substack?

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Aug 2, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

ya know, i just went to your site and realized you have him listed as one of a number of substack writers recommended by you. Go figure--should have known you would be aware of a good writer. I did not even notice that when I first discovered you. .....and it was Sharon Blackie I signed on for after discovering Natalie Eslik's drawings on her site and you had mentioned Blackie's name in an earlier post as well. So she would be my first intro to myth-gathering , this time around (noting that Campbell was the first years ago). Think of the time I could have saved by noticing that list of substack writers you liked!!! And I suspect that both Blackie and Shaw would say it's more myth we need in our lives (as opposed to poetry). All I can say is that I purchased CINDERBITER rather than rely on a library copy and well worth it.

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So juicy. Can’t wait to hear more. I think I’ve been desperately trying to skip over the mother phase and into crone. I’m trying to be patient, but I’m not very good at it. And yet, there’s a deeper part of me that knows there is work here and I’m not ready yet ☺️

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I found a big area of overlap. Still do, with a 17 year old in the house, but the Crone is in the majority these days.

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Aug 2, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

Well. goood on you------I was missing your posts like fierce and your wise cracks always made me laugh so do carry on with your potions, your medicines for the healing and write once in a moonglow because I am terribly interested in what you find out and discover. I love Sharon Blackie too (her last post was outstanding).

So while I am on the subject of learning new stuff and I want to share what I have learned: This past winter I was looking for a new poet to get into (i do not think we have enough poetry in our lives) and whilest rambling through the library's poetry section, came across a new book by a poet from my original neck of the woods, MN, a Tony Hoaglund. Apparently Mr. Hoaglund had passed away so the tribute to him was written by the co-writer of the book, a Martin Shaw. Well, I was blown away by the book of poetry called CINDERBITER and whereas Hoaglund is a great writer there was a celtic tinge to this book that was not there in previous poetry by Hoaglund.

Not going to get heavy on the phenomenal Shaw except to say that you would be not disappointed to go to youtube and check out the videos(dozens) available . He did found Stanford University's School for mythopoetics and has returned to his native Devon and for 20 years has led wilderness rites-of-passage for anyone as it seems, not just troubled youth, veterans etc. I do not find him FULL OF SHITE, like so many men are capable of being (I have known my share of vain-glorious men---can smell the odor a mile away-done! FINIT!). He has a substack called OF BEASTS AND VINES and the one called FENIST BRIGHT FALCON, a retelling of an Irish Myth is a tear-jerker for me and one other was the one on romantic love, from a TeMeNOs lecture he gave recently, cannot recall the title......I think you might like his books as well, but he is available on youtube for free if you are like me and still paying off a mortgage (9 more months and counting down).

So from one old crone to a younger crone here's looking at you and you look fabulous----I was the slow one, not any more. (I love your death stories---and the wise women you are in cohoots with) from the Salish Sea, often adrift but still afloat and rewilding. Jeanne

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Thank you for all of this and as for Martin Shaw, his work is a much loved old friend of mine. He is extraordinary and I’m so glad you found him!

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Aug 1, 2023·edited Aug 1, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

Oh my stars. You spoke directly to my own heart in this. I not long turned 49, and I am so ready to begin my crone years (helped, no doubt, with illustrating Sharon's gorgeous book). My Baba Yaga energy, my Cailleach energy, it is rising, and I am so here for it

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Oh Natalie, those illustrations! And now Heron Woman... I watch herons from my window each day and there is something so ancient, wise and sharp about them that entrances me! I love your work ❤️.

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I am so appreciative of you Jo xx

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I was glad to see your name in my inbox this evening Jo. Loving these reflections, they are an inspiration as always ✨

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So kind, thank you Laura! ❤️

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

❤️♾

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I know you know. ❤️

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Aug 1, 2023Liked by Jo Hanlon-Moores

Looking forward to hearing more about all these things you’re sharing. I’m in my second Saturn return so the Crone she is calling my name too.

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Ooh the second Saturn return! Mine just ended and it was quite the firework display after almost three years of schooling! Thanks for being here.

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