On Wednesday, November 6, the day after the election, I posted the following on Facebook:
“Stunned. Terrified. Resolved.
There is a lot to learn from people who have lived through terrible times—the Cold War in Eurasia, Jim Crow in the South, juntas and dictators in Central and South America, the Great Leap Forward in China, and many more. So, for a few days I need to sit with this and figure out where to invest time and treasure to help those without the privilege I have, and then get to work again. What else is there?”
So now, in a new year, with this new administration in power, it’s time to start. Announcing: A Council of Crones!
What is a crone?
Definition, Merriam Webster: a cruel or ugly old woman
But, according to scholar Clarissa Pinkola Estés, the Crone is “the one who sees far, who looks into the spaces between the worlds and can literally see what is coming, what has been, and what is now and what underlies and stands behind many things. […] The Crone represents the ability to see, more than just with one’s eyes alone, but to see with the heart’s eyes, with the soul’s eyes, through the eyes of the creative force and the animating force of the psyche.”
As we head into the uncertain times ahead, I want to channel the second definition, that of Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I think we (women of a “certain age”) have the power to use our life experience, our history, to resist what is coming and to support each other in finding ways to help those in our midst who are being targeted and harmed by the new administration and the ripple effects it will spawn and endorse. I think it is our responsibility to remember and teach what we are losing, why it matters, and to build bridges with younger women who are stunned and terrified, and who, frankly, will experience the impacts more acutely than I do.
While I have virtually stopped following political news at the same rate and intensity that I had for the past eight-plus years, I have begun to rediscover American Black voices such as James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Isabel Wilkerson, and Octavia Butler, as well as current commentators such as Jamelle Bouie, Josie Duffy Rice, Elie Mystal, Melissa Murray, Sherilynn Ifill, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Madiba K. Dennie, seeking to learn how folks who have known oppression in their souls continue to find purpose, resolve, and joy in dark times.
As Sherilynn Ifill wrote on November 6, “If this is the nadir, then it is planting time. Building our own institutions, theories and strategies, making art and seeding ideas that can be carried forward in the coming years. Yes, the harvest will come. But for now, we plant.”
What does the planting time look like? Let’s figure that out together. Join the Council of Crones.