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The Crone Stories
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Jun 13, 2026
Episode 1: Welcome to The Crone Stories
Episode 1: Welcome to The Crone Stories
00:00
21:49
Transcript
0:00
[gentle music] Welcome to The Crone Stories. I'm Karen. Each episode, I sit with a woman in the middle of her life, and she tells me what she's been through, the grief, the fracture, and the becoming on the other side.
0:14
Then I shape what she gives me into a story, and I read it back. This is one of those stories. Hi, and welcome to the very first episode of The Crone Stories. I'm Karen, and I will be your host.
0:32
People have already been asking about the name, and we will get there. Before the name, I want to tell you what this actually is and why I wanted to make it
0:43
because I think if you're going to stay for anything, that is the part worth knowing first.
0:49
The Crone Stories is a podcast of stories, real women who have offered to sit down with me and tell me about their lives in the middle years. Some of these stories carry a long history.
1:01
Some of them are about particular things that arrive at this stage of a woman's life. This is not a show about hot flashes and hormones. There will be some of that because that's just part of the picture,
1:13
but that's not what it's built on. It's built on what women actually move through at this stage of their lives, and there is so much there.
1:22
There's grief, there's loss, the loss that comes with death, the loss of children growing up and leaving, the loss when a family severs or when something between you and a parent severs.
1:37
There's illness, our own, our spouse's, our children's, our parents'. Some of us are on the sandwich generation, caring for our parents at the same time as we are still raising our children.
1:54
But it's not only the heavy things that we carry because it can feel like all we do in these years is sink, and that's not the truth of it. There's also transformation. There is change. There is joy.
2:09
There is wisdom, and there is becoming. The stories are built on all of that. And here is why I wanted to make it.
2:19
For over 30 years, I have worked in the natural health field, and for much of that, I sat with people as a holistic therapist.
2:27
From the time I was 25, my clients were more often than not women in their later chapters of their lives. That's just who came to me. Even in my 20s, those were generally my clients.
2:40
What I realized sitting with them year after year was that I had been given something rare, a front row seat.
2:49
I would sit with one woman and hear what she was carrying, and then the next woman would come in carrying something similar, and I could say to her, "I know someone who's been there. This is what she did.
3:02
This is what got her through." And it was also useful for me. I was able to look at their lives, and when those situations would come up,
3:12
I would feel a little less alone, knowing that I was able to hand more information to other women going through the same thing. I had been blessed my whole working life by the stories of women.
3:25
I got to look at them and see what they were going through and how they came through it. For some of those years, I taught a second career program, women starting in the middle of their lives.
3:38
And what I slowly came to notice is that the things that they had gone and done slowly became my own bucket list. I became a yoga instructor because of one of the women that I taught.
3:52
I walked the Camino de Santiago because of someone who told me what they had done, and it sounded amazing. I did a 10-day Vipassana silent retreat because of another woman's explanation of how it changed her life.
4:07
Their stories didn't just teach me. They shaped the life that I went out and lived, and that is not something we do anymore. We don't sit around a quilting circle. Sure, we have a book club,
4:21
but generally there aren't very deep conversations. The real ones, woman to woman, those conversations are rare.
4:31
So I wanted to give other women the blessing that I have had all along, to hear other women's stories and somewhere inside of it to see themselves.
4:42
And on the other side of that, for the woman telling the story, to hear her own life told back to her and to see herself as the hero of it because so often we do not realize what something has taken out of us.
5:00
We do not stop to recognize that we have actually been through something. And I believe that once you can honor that,
5:09
once you can see the place you are standing in, you can begin to heal, and so can the people around you. Family can hear these stories, and they get a perspective and a truth. Maybe only her truth,
5:26
but it's the truth all the same, a perspective they may have never heard out loud. I knew from the beginning that I wanted these women to be real women, not media trained, not polished,
5:41
not people who knew how to perform on a microphone. And because of that, it created a bit of a problem because most people, the moment you put a recorder in front of them and call it an interview, they get nervous.
5:57
They freeze. They give you the tidy version.So I did it differently. I sit down with each woman privately, and we have a conversation. I ask the questions, she tells me her life,
6:13
then I take what she gives, and I shape it into a story. I bring it back to her, and she approves it before anyone else ever hears it. Nothing airs that she has not read or said yes to.
6:26
Then I tell her story here in my voice, and everyone is invited back to answer three questions I created in her own voice. I built it this way for a reason. If a woman wants to tell her story
6:40
but does not want to be known, this lets her do exactly that. Her name, the details, anything she needs kept private can be kept private. The story still gets told. She still gets heard. Now the name,
6:58
Crone Stories. When I was 25, I was at a ceremony, and the elder who ran the ceremony explained three archetypes, the maiden, the mother, and the crone. And I remember sitting there thinking, "I want to be the crone.
7:16
When do I get to be the crone?" That's all I wanted to be, not the maiden, not even the mother, just the crone. In our Western culture, the word crone is not really known.
7:29
And for the people that do know it, most of them picture a haggard, old woman, someone to be a little afraid of, someone given very little respect and even less regard. That's not what the crone is.
7:45
In many cultures and across so much of mythology, the crone is something else entirely. She is reverence. She is wisdom. She is grace.
7:59
In many of those cultures, the older woman is not pushed to the edges. She's the leader. She's the one everyone goes to. We've lost that. And personally, I wanna bring the word back.
8:15
We're bringing the word crone back. I want the reverence to shine for every woman who is brave enough to bring her story here, and that is why I called it The Crone Stories.
8:29
I want to be very clear about what I am here to do and what I am not. I am here to bear witness. I'm not here to judge. That's not my role in this world, and it sure as heck is not my role here.
8:46
I'm also not here to tell anyone what they could have done better or different. That's not what this is. These women are letting their stories be heard and be witnessed,
8:58
and my hope is that in some light a story might be of use to someone else listening. So I will gently say this.
9:07
This is not a place for, "Well, she should have," or, "She could have," or, "She should have done that or done this better." That's not why we're here. We are here to let the story be what it is,
9:20
to witness it, and to hold space for the woman brave enough to share it. Let me walk you through what an episode is going to feel like just so you know what you're settling into. There's four parts.
9:34
First, I'll open with a bit of grounding, some context for the story. Maybe if the story is about grief or something else, I'll let you know some research behind grief, how many women are going through it.
9:48
Just enough information to set the ground under the woman's story. Second, I read you her story.
9:57
If you're watching on YouTube, you will see a quiet bit of scenery while I read, and then I'll come back on screen once the story's done. Third, you hear from the woman herself.
10:09
Every guest is invited back to answer the same three questions. I ask her what it felt like to hear her own story told back to her.
10:17
I ask her where she is right now today in her life, and I ask her if there is a woman just three steps behind her on the same path, what would you want to say to her?
10:30
And then I give her the chance to tell you about anything she's offering or building in her own life 'cause I am here to support and hold space for all endeavors. And if a woman would rather not
10:45
come back to the microphone, she can answer those same three questions via email, and I will share them with you myself. Fourth, we will close with something that I am calling the sitting,
10:59
a short, guided journey, about five minutes, where we simply sit together with what has been shared. I do not want us to hear a woman's whole life and then just get up and walk away from it, so we stay a moment.
11:15
We let it land. We honor it. This may not be your usual [laughs] podcast. It's not really a get in, get out kinda show. It's here for you to actually be with the story, with the woman who has told it, and with me.
11:33
And when the sitting is done, that is where we will leave until the next time. Quick note on how the show will run. I've decided to make the show seasonal. So this first season is 11 episodes.
11:48
It opens with this one and me, then come nine women, nine stories. And then at the close of the season, it'll just be me again to gather it all up.
12:00
For this first season, episodes will come out on Friday mornings every second week.I'm starting biweekly on purpose so I can hold the care this work needs.
12:11
Time to receive each woman's story, shape it, read it, and produce it properly. Once I've found my rhythm, I may move to weekly. We shall see. And now, since you've stayed this long [laughs]
12:25
, let me tell you about who's talking. My name's Karen. I have been a serial entrepreneur for most of my life. I've been a real estate agent. I built a successful import-export business in eco-friendly products.
12:41
I've been a wellness coach. And for over 30 years, I've worked in the natural health industry. I started out as an aromatherapist and reflexologist, then a Reiki practitioner and a meditation teacher.
12:55
Over the years, I've done a lot of spiritual training. And most recently, I became a yoga instructor, regenerative health practitioner, and a life coach.
13:04
I am, by all accounts, a serial learner as well as an entrepreneur. I love to learn. If I had to name a gift, it's this: I'm a macro thinker.
13:19
I tend to be able to get up above the quagmire of life, the thick of it, where everything feels tangled. I can usually bring a person up there with me to see that there's a bigger picture, to welcome it.
13:32
That's the place I work from when I work with women. Outside of The Crone Stories, I do work with women. There will be some workshops and retreats and some courses that I will tell you about all along the way.
13:47
My greatest desire, the reason that I'm doing this, is the witnessing, the storytelling. That is the heart of it for me. As for the rest of me, I am the mother of two incredible
14:03
adult children and the grandmother to two beautiful little ones. I also have a daughter-in-law, and we have an amazing, easy relationship.
14:13
I am blessed with friendships that have lasted more than four decades and sisters I love dearly. We are all croning together. I know some of what these women are going to talk about from the inside.
14:29
I lost my mother when my daughter was three years old. Caught right in that sandwich, and I could not be as present at her dying as my two sisters were. I did what I could.
14:40
But I understand that particular ache and that particular pull.
14:44
As for menopause, I am not all the way through the other side yet, but the hot flashes and the nightly sweats, the waking up at 3:00 in the morning, that part has mostly passed for me, except for the rare night.
14:57
I have made peace with a few very stubborn chin hairs. Seem to keep turning up to keep me company. So that's the show, and that's me. Well, at least part of me. You'll learn a little bit more as we go along.
15:12
Before I tell you how to find me, I want to say something to these nine women in particular. This first season exists because nine women said yes before there was anything to say yes to. No episodes, no proof.
15:27
Nothing but [laughs] me telling them what I had hoped this could be. They let me sit with them, and they handed me their stories, and they trusted me to tell them back.
15:40
I will not forget that they were the ones who went first. You will meet them over this season, and I think you will understand very quickly what kind of courage that took.
15:50
And if you are listening to this and somewhere inside you, something is saying, "I have a story," just like that, I want you to know that I'm already looking for the women of season two.
16:03
If that is you, the show notes will tell you how to find me. There is no need to be a podcaster. There is no need to be polished. You only need a story and the willingness to let me hold it with you.
16:15
I really hope you'll come on this ride with me. I would love your feedback. I've always believed that you cannot improve on a thing unless you actually know how it's landing. So please tell me.
16:27
I only hope that you keep it constructive. And I'm also going to make myself a little awkward and vulnerable here. It's the part I don't really wanna say out loud, but I need to because it matters.
16:41
If you can please hit that subscribe button and leave a review, a five-star one if you're feeling that it's earned, it honestly helps more than you know as I try to grow this. I also send out a weekly newsletter.
16:56
If you would like to be part of it, the link is in the show notes. And the show notes will always tell you what that episode's guest is offering, so you can find her if her story stays with you.
17:09
Before you go, I want us to do one last thing together at the close of this episode. [gentle music] I call it the sitting. Just a couple of minutes here at the end to not rush off. First time, it will be short.
17:24
If you are somewhere that you can close your eyes, please do. If you're driving, likely not the best thing to do. Let your shoulders come down from wherever they have crept up to. It's amazing
17:41
what our shoulders do, and we don't even realize it. Let your breath out, all the way out, longer than you think you need to. And then let the next one arrive on its own.
18:00
You don't have to manage it. And allow that exhale to fall out.Notice the weight of yourself wherever you are sitting.
18:18
The chair underneath you, maybe your feet on the floor. Small sounds in the room you stopped hearing a while ago.
18:32
The first time there is no one else's story to hold, only your own. So I'm going to ask you something. No need to answer out loud or even in words.
18:50
Somewhere in the middle of your own life, there is a chapter you have not really told anyone. A loss you moved past quickly because there was no room to stop.
19:08
A version of yourself you have been quietly carrying. You don't have to open that door today. I only want you to notice that it's there.
19:27
That you have been through something. That it took something out of you and you kept going anyway. That is the woman these stories are for.
19:46
Her. The one who kept going.
20:03
So over the next while when another woman's story arrives, listen for the place where her story touches yours. Not to compare. Just to feel a little less alone inside your own.
20:25
Connect once again with your breath. Breathing in and exhaling all the way out.
20:45
And breathing in, filling the belly and exhaling all the way out. One more time, breathing in
21:05
and letting that last breath carry anything out that needs to journey on its own.
21:21
When you feel ready and comfortable, bring yourself back to the room. And hopefully I will see you here next time. In love, light and laughter, Karen.
21:38
[outro music]
The Crone Stories
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