Today's Tarot Card

"Inspiration" is precisely what I needed today, as I have spent the last three days trying to get my email back up and working. If you have tried to contact me using this email, taru@tarufisher.com, your emails would have bounced! Please resend it  to taru2@mac.com if it's important.

I'm finally nearing the completion of this oh-so-daunting task, and it should be working again by 12 noon tomorrow. This experience was so frustrating as I was being ping ponged back and forth between Apple support and Blue Host support with each one stating the other was responsible. Grrr!

I can only say DO NOT use Blue Host to host websites or email programs! It took me around six hours spread over 3 days, and seven calls for help, to get a qualified and intelligent support person!

Don't Believe the Dictionary!

As you may have figured out, I identify as a Crone. I can feel some of your shudders coming from cyberspace but let's put this term, Crone, in perspective.

In Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, Crone is defined as "a cruel or ugly old woman".

That's all, just those hateful, unkind words, and I deeply resent this unwarranted and misleading definition.

I belong to a private Facebook Group called Worldwide Circle of Crones. However, given my real-world challenges, I haven't had much time to spend there lately, but something prompted me to visit it today.

There was a post by one of the group Admins that spoke to me so strongly, I have to share it here. Here it is, quoted word-for-word. I have not named her in order to maintain her privacy.

"When you submit a request to join this group and answer all the questions each of us takes turns reviewing your answers, ensuring that you have answered all of the questions as well as being able to find a photograph of you in your photos if it’s not your profile pic to ensure that in fact you’re a woman and not a bot.

In reading the answers to your questions I am rather concerned about how many of you answer the question about what does being a crone mean to you, with some answers reflecting an ugly difficult woman in so many words.

That makes me really sad. Clearly the dictionary defines it as an ugly old hag but I thought that we as women had risen above this masculine defined version of it.

So I just wanted to say here in a post that no matter what some man wrote in his dictionary we are not ugly old hags but gracefully aging incredibly beautiful women, learning how to stand in our power, learning forgiveness, acceptance, and unconditional love for ourselves and each other.

Do not let men define who we are. We are the women who’ve had the experiences including for some, bearing children, and raising them and some of us have dealt with abusive relationships and being “put in our places” and more than words can convey in a post.

We can be gentle and so strong at the same time! We can be fiercely independent and also ask for help without feeling that we’re giving away our power! We can weep for the world and hold your pain in our hearts without melting.

So for those of you who answered the question based on what you read or imagined, I am telling you here from my heart that reaching this point in our lives is a blessing. You are a beautiful flower that blooms in the moon and the sun. You are a wisdom keeper. You are exactly what the world needs right now!

Bless your beautiful hearts and for those of you who are new, welcome to our ever-growing circle around the mother to us all, Earth💕🙏🏼🌹" -  Group Admin

I absolutely love what she wrote and have re-read it several times. She is so right!

Men who create Dictionaries do not get to define Crones in such a derogatory way. They have no idea what it takes to get to our older age, basically in one piece. They have no idea of how hard we really work to stay alive, healthy, active, loving, caring, and resilient, to name a few.

I was almost taken down by this email fiasco as I saw my resiliency wavering and the urge to give up and let it all fall to pieces. There were tears, gnashing of teeth, and thoughts of stopping my Miraculous Mentoring Maven work, which is just getting started. I think my innate stubbornness stopped me from quitting, and I am grateful.

I love being a Crone and sharing my wisdom born of life's ups and downs.

How about you? What do you feel about being cast as a Crone in your later years?

I'd love to know, so send me an email to my personal account, taru2@mac.com

Inspiration

When we are young, it’s the illusion of perfection
that we fall in love with. As we age, it’s the humanness
that we fall in love with- the poignant stories of
overcoming, the depthful vulnerability of aging, the
struggles that grew us in karmic stature, the way a
soul shaped itself to accommodate its circumstances.
With less energy to hold up our armor, we are revealed
and, in the revealing, we call out to each other’s
hearts....Where we once saw imperfect scars, we now see evidence of a life fully lived."

- Umberto Boccioni - The Mother, 1909

My Next Steps

I'm learning how to use Substack so I can move this Love-Letter there and have both paid and unpaid subscribers. I'll also be able to host my new Podcast, as well as post videos with my L-L's.      It's a much better platform than this somewhat buggy Coaches Console newsletter template I've been using.

And, since I also occasionally write on Substack, it's a place I can offer everything in one place without having to learn separate software for podcasts, videos, and my writing. And the Substack community is very welcoming for writers both well-known and amateur.

I'll be sending out a special announcement when I've got the details together. Wait for it!!

My Ask...

I deeply appreciate your readership and love it if you would refer my L-L-’s to your friends and acquaintances so they may find value, too. So, if you know any women who would benefit from reading this, please forward it to them. And, if  they want to get my 10 Tips For Powerful Aging, here's the link to subscribe and receive it: https://bit.ly/3RpkWQW