Crone Grown Wisdom

Crones: Taking Back the Name 

 At Terra Mater Farma we are here to do more than farming and distributing the fruits of that labor.  We are here to share what we’ve learned, as we continue to inhabit and honor the wise mature Crone roles we are taking on.

As Robin Wall Kimmerer describes in her beautifully written Braiding Sweetgrass, it is the duty of the female elders, no longer so occupied with the needs of children and other demands, to turn our strengths towards the well-being of the community, expanding  “to ever widening circles so that the sphere of a wise woman is beyond herself, beyond her family, beyond the human community, embracing the planet, mothering the earth.”

The wise elder woman matriarch, a Crone, existed in cultures across the world for thousands of years.  Before the rise of Patriarchy, humans everywhere revered the goddess as the mother of all, the one who witnessed, supported and aided birth, death and rebirth.  It was the women elders who possessed the acquired knowledge, wisdom, healing skills, and moral leadership that was relied on by their communities. Crones were thus understandably revered. 

We begin here by taking back the title, Crone. A little background for those who aren’t familiar.

Crones in history 

Women have herstorically been powerful for many reasons, not the least of which was their healing knowledge. They knew the plants and how to use them.  Even as patriarchy grew and women were increasingly devalued, women survived to heal their communities.  The final onslaught began in the mid 1500s as the Church, opening universities and professionalizing medicine to be practiced by men, needed to kill off the competition. 

 It began seemingly innocently with mandates, directing women to stop using herbs to heal.  These mandates were backed up by fines and then imprisonment for those caught practicing without a license.  When that escalating fear campaign wasn’t enough to stop the women from healing their neighbors, the Church began their campaign of torture in which many millions of women were ultimately burned at the stake.

  But that was not enough. It was George Orwell’s 1984, which made the point: by controlling the language people speak, you can control the way people think. And thus, the once venerated status of a crone was denigrated for all of history.  As Barbara Walker explains in her book, The Crone:

“The Crone’s title was related to the word crown and she represented the power of the ancient tribal matriarch who made the moral and legal decisions for her subjects and descendants. It was the medieval metamorphosis of the wise woman into the witch that changed the word Crone from a compliment to an insult and established the stereotype of malevolent old womanhood that continues to haunt Elder women today.”

Many of us don’t like to be referred to as crones because we have absorbed our own devaluation.  Through working closely with plants and nature, we at Terra Mater Farma are embracing the crone whole-heartedly.  We assume this role both because of our herstorical duty to our communities and because we have been inspired by the plants, who don’t have human voices, to speak for them. 

Crone Grown 

What we know from observing the natural world, is what human communities used to know: Life on this planet works through cooperation and sharing and that all of life is connected.  Humans are here only by the beneficence of plants who supply the oxygen and sustenance we need to survive.

Plants live above and below ground.  Below ground is an interconnected mycorrhizal web which is the web of life that supports the plants and by extension, all human life. Scientists have been able to physically see the cooperation and sharing of nutrients between the fungi and the trees.  Humans understood this intuitively, respected  and practiced the laws of nature by living and sharing fairly in community, respectfully never taking more than is needed, and planting to benefit future generations they would never know. 

 At Terra Mater Farma, all our plants are regeneratively grown, which is but a modern way of describing the way Crones taught their communities to grow.   Our plants are sun-kissed, deeply rooted in fertile soil, nourished by the air, wind and rain.  They are surrounded by dozens of beneficial companion plants who attract beneficial insects, pollinating bees and birds.  Our plants are tended and gently harvested by women’s hands.  We thank the earth for the plants we take by protecting and enriching the soil.  We are never harsh: we would never use synthetic chemicals or regularly till and destroy the subterranean network that supports plant life. 

Crone Grown Knowledge

 All of our plants have been teachers. Our Autumn Olive berries reinforce our awareness of the generosity of nature so we can approach life from a perspective of abundance, not lack. Our Motherwort, Nettles and Purslane, remind us of the importance of self-care as we avail ourselves of their soothing anti-inflammatory gifts, their ability to calm and mother us, and their exceptionally rich quantity of flavonoids and other nutrients that strengthen us.  But the cannabis plant - with its unique ability to elevate human consciousness - has taught us on an even deeper level. 

Cannabis can powerfully heal our bodies and minds, open our hearts, awaken our consciousness and help us to see our interconnectedness with nature and each other. We are so grateful to have been sought out by all these plants.  We understand and humbly accept our duty, as crones, to share their gifts with others. We are grateful to have such wonderful green teachers and allies as partners and to cannabis in particular, to help illuminate the way.

We harvest the flowers from the female cannabis plant and while working with her, one can feel  a strong divine feminine energy and spirit. Through her abundance and generosity, we understand that we can live from a place of abundance and that greed is a man-made condition which doesn’t need to control our lives.  Indeed, as Tammi Sweet - a most formidable crone and author of the excellent book The Wholistic Healing Guide to Cannabis- notes:

One of the many wounds cannabis is here to heal is our relationship with generosity and greed.

It is painful that such a master plant has been degraded, stigmatized and demonized for all of our lifetimes.  As a result many people are afraid, uncomfortable, and simply don't know how to reap the myriad benefits of this sacred plant. Many people don’t wish to feel the psychoactive effect and don’t know how to receive cannabis’s gifts without feeling high.  Learning how to dose for oneself requires teaching and some time: the benefits from cannabis can take weeks, so observation and patience are necessary.  Most of us need to learn how to engage with cannabis.

Using our Crone Grown knowledge, we at Terra Mater Farma are here to support our communities through education.  All our medicinal plants can alleviate the inflammations that plague us, but it is the cannabis plant that we need instruction to use because she alone can rebalance the master system known as our Endocannabinoid System.

We will be providing that instruction through ongoing workshops and private educational consultations so that everyone can learn how to find the dose that works best for them, experimenting in a safe and comfortable way.  We will share our personal experiences with you and nurture you through yours.   We will help you navigate the confusing market and offer select Crone Grown flowers, berries and tinctures. 

 You can trust our plants because they are all crone-grown! We are hoping that when you ingest them, some of their wisdom will be passed through and that you will experience a bit of transformation.