By women’s author and teacher Miranda Gray.

Read also the introductory article.

When we are in stressful circumstances we often react with a ‘fight or flight’ response, and this is Mother Nature’s way of helping us to survive a dangerous situation. However, over a longer period of time this response can limit our abilities and our sense of spiritual connection and self. It can also influence our cycle – not only by changing the length of our cycle and any pre-menstrual or menstrual symptoms, but also by blocking us from experiencing the subtle energies and enhanced abilities that we have. It is these subtle gifts that we experience in each of our phases that make women the most flexible, adaptive and creative creatures on this planet. So, we need these abilities to help us through any crisis, and we need these abilities to help us to create the future after the crisis.

Let’s look at what we can do to meet the needs of our Enchantress and Crone Archetypes in their phases while we are living restricted lives and in self-isolation, so that we can maintain balance in the phase rather than respond from a stressed ‘fight or flight’ approach when this stress approach is no longer needed or beneficial.

Balancing the Crone in self-isolation

The Crone Archetype in ‘fight or flight’ mode can withdraw deeply, meaning that the people around her do not feel loved or supported, leading to misunderstanding and insecurity. She can feel detached from the world, unable to motivate herself for contingency planning or to seek out help when she needs it. 

Although rest is very important and necessary for wellbeing in this phase, when it is out of balance and becomes an escape the Crone Archetype loses her spiritual awareness, the wisdom that she can share with others, her ability to accept and to care, and the restoration that empowers her to re-emerge into the world with renewed energies in the pre-ovulation phase.

An unbalanced Crone can also find it hard to find the bigger meaning in a situation, and she can feel disconnected from her soul and the deep unshakeable knowledge that whatever happens she is held by the Divine. As life changes in the crisis she can find decisions more difficult to make because she has lost her inner guidance on which actions are in alignment with her core values and beliefs. 

The unbalanced Crone also loses her ability to be patient and to observe, so she scatters her limited energies in many different directions. Without balance she can become detached from the crisis, uncaring about others, unempowered and without a sense of purpose. 

The energies and gifts of the Crone are identification of core values, pragmatic decisions, spiritual awareness, intuition, the ability to accept, deep joy, patience, acceptance with love and low energy.

To help support our Crone we can:

• Reduce down responsibilities and activities and delegate as much as possible to someone else. Let the world work without us for 2- 3 days!
  
• Reduce down the amount of news we hear for a few days and ask someone trusted to keep us up-to-date on any important changes in restrictions.
  
• Keep away from negative online communities which can push us deeper into overwhelm, withdrawal and not caring.

• Find simple tasks that we can do to bring purpose, and add rest breaks.
  
• Be careful of sleeping too much – withdrawal is necessary, but too much is escapism.

• Use prayer or meditation or other spiritual practises to maintain spiritual connection and to benefit the world in crisis. We have a deep spiritual connection in this phase, and we are there to help others. Perhaps write prayers or spiritual poems and share them online to uplift others and to connect them to the spiritual love that is there for them.
  
• Be there for those who grieve. In the dense silence of the Crone within us, we have the power to hold space for others.

• Find joy in the small things in the moment. The Crone is a great observer, and when we add appreciation, we open up to the intense joy of being.

Lean more about balancing the other female archetypes of Maiden, Mother and Enchantress and read the article ‘Introduction to Covid-19 self-isolation and mental and physical wellbeing in your menstrual cycle’