Crone Chronicles #21(original)
Mothers & Mentors

Mothers & Mentors
Becoming crone, in many cases, means becoming -- or rejecting, or transforming our relationships with -- our mothers. Not just our childhood mothers, but the mothers we have been in adult relationships for many years. This issue of Crone Chronicles is dedicated to exploring the many faces of mothering (and other mentoring relationships) from the dual point-of-view of ourselves relating to mother, and being mothers ourselves.

The topic of Mothering naturally begins with birth, and this issue of CC starts out with several birthday contemplations. We begin with Jean Mountaingrove's delicious column describing her "little girl party" at 65 and her croning ceremony at age 66. Then there's several other croning rituals, poetry and Ann Emerson's reflective essay "Facing My Fears" in which she contemplates her upcoming 80th natal celebration. (In her postscript, she reveals that being 80 isn't so bad after all!)

Next is Jean-Noel Bassior's delightfully candid and upbeat interview with sculptor/potter Beatrice Wood "Risk Taking at 101." Beatrice is a vivacious, sensual, witty woman who has shocked and delighted the art world for over sixty years, and this interview reveals a portrait of a woman who has not let age tone down her vigor, her avante garde outlook, or her artistic vision even one bit. Viva Beatrice!

As we delve deeper into the theme of this issue, Ann Kreilkamp writes "there is not an ounce of sentimentality in these pages...instead, I am struck by our collective attempt to reach back and re-member, both the good times and the bad. As if in the remembering we can wake up to all of it and truly feel the love we know is there." Shinan Naom Barclay's poem begins this section with a poem saluting the Great Mother, "Ancient Mother." Then, her her essay, "Grandmother??!!" Ruth Raymond Thone relates the story of coming to terms with the cultural stereotype that, as an elder woman, she must have produced children who have themselves procreated. "The Truth About Mother" by Diana Vilas, describes the powerful force of her mother in her life as well as how their relationship manifested many of the archetypal conflicts which characterized the 20th century.

Speaking of the 20th century, Hannah Hinchman's sensitive and detailed portrait "Like Mother, Like Daughter: Two Women in Transformation" sketches in what so many Crone readers experience -- a mother who wanted to have a career and independent life, but who came of age in the gap between women's suffrage and Second Wave feminism. It's a lovely piece that neither sugar-coats nor demonizes a complex and rewarding relationship. Similar in tone (though not in content) is Linda Feldt's memories of her mother's last days "Dying Again."

The next two articles are written from a mother's point-of-view. In "Mothering a Potential Shaman" Ann Pugh brings an observant and sympathetic eye to bear on her relationship with her troubled but talented teenage daughter. There are no answers here, only the willingness to see "what is" and a compassionate heart. Likewise, Judy Tepley's "Raven" reveals the story of a mother willing to give up custody of her only son when she proved emotionally unable to care for him. Breaking one of the greatest "mothering" taboos, Judy was not only able to protect her son from her inner demons, but to reveal them to us. It is searing and difficult to read -- but eventually, revelatory.

Many short vignettes about mothers, grandmothers, and being a mother, make up the remainder of this issue, including "Voices" -- excerpts from a group discussion at the Jackson Holistic Center, Janet Lawson's "Meeting a Mentor," and "Perge! Press On!" Suzanne Young's account of a memorable nun in her life.

For everyone who is a mother, or everyone who has (or had) one, this issue is a remarkable collection of stories, reflections, and an opportunity for thinking deeply about what "mother" means to us.

Edited and published by Ann Kreilkamp in the Autumn of 1994. 48 pages. 982