(This ritual utilizes the imagery described in the descent of Inanna into the realm of death and back into the world of the living. Using some form of token, such as a scarf to represent each item given up helps to reinforce the symbolism. It was written for my own Croning. Each person should substitute what they find most valuable that they are giving up)

Priestess: In the ancient days, our ancestors knew that living was changing. They gazed upon the heavens and saw the moon rise in the sky first new, then full, then drawing down into the dark. They marked with great stone circles the path of the sun, and crossed the untrammeled oceans guided by the circling stars. They honored the Lord and Lady in the changing seasons of the Earth. As above, so below. They honored also with rites of passage those among the kin who passed through the mileposts of this life; rites to honor birthing, coming of age, marriage, and elderhood.

Honored were the elders, those who held the wisdom of the tribe. They were the teachers, the healers, the diplomats, the shamans, the chieftains, the priests and priestesses. It was they who cared for the dying and who helped the spirit find its way into the light of the Goddess. It was they who showed in their living and their dying that all life continued on, and that death was nothing to be feared, but only a gateway into another life.

We gather tonight to mark the passage of one of our own into their elder years.

First Guardian: Who comes upon the first gate?

Crone:: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess

First Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down those accomplishments and titles of this world. Soldier, healer, daughter, wife, lover, friend. Names only. As this cloak I wear, they are but faces of the whole. To the gods, it is the heart within and not the face without which is the true measure of a woman or man. And to the gods freely do I offer my heart..

First Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, honored one!

Second Guardian: Who comes upon the Second Gate?

Crone: I , Lark, a daughter of the Goddess.

Second Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down my youth. No longer for me the nubile form of the Maiden or the ripeness of the Mother. My hair grows grey, my steps grow slow, and my face is creased with the lines of a thousand smiles, a thousand tears. Yet I am still a form of the Goddess, how can I ever be anything but beautiful?

Second Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, Honored One

Third Guardian: Who comes upon the Third Gate?

Crone: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess

Third Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down my fertility. Passed are my years for the bringing forth of children. There will be no son or daughter of my blood to remember me at the Samhain feast. Yet I will stand as mother in spirit to the young of this clan, to teach, to guide them in the sacred ways.

Third Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, Honored One.

Fourth Guardian: Who comes upon the Fourth Gate?

Crone: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess

Fourth Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down the certainty of health. My bones ache of a winter night, my heart stumbles in its pace atime, and my breath comes quick upon a hill. Yet within this aging frame still lives a spirit that burns strong and bright.

Fourth Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, Honored One.

Fifth Guardian: Who comes upon the Fifth Gate?

Crone: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess.

Fifth Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I surrender my independence. I once was strong enough for every task. I saw it a weakness to ask the aid of others. Now I, as the body fails, I know that for false pride. As I grow in years, I see that we are a community. Like the spider's web, the strength of the whole is more than any part. I place my trust and my future in the sure and caring hands of my clan.

Fifth Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, Honored One.

Sixth Guardian: Who comes upon the Sixth Gate?

Crone: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess.

Sixth Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down the sword and shield of the Warrior. Once I stood upon the field of battle with the crash of armies in my ears. I and my comrades held fast the line that brought an evil empire to its knees. Proud and strong I was, with certainty in what was right. Now I know that right is seldom simple, and that the young pay the price of their elder's mistakes. I will remember the human price of war and conflict as I guide our clan in the future.

Sixth Guardian: Pass you freely with my blessing, Honored One.

Seventh Guardian: Who comes upon the Seventh Gate, the Siege Perilous.

Crone: I, Lark, a daughter of the Goddess

Seventh Guardian: You shall not pass without a price. What do you lay down here?

Crone: Here I lay down the promise of life itself. I am older now than my Father, my cousin and my Mother's sister when they passed into the Summerland. Friends of my childhood are gone into the final night. These hands have comforted the sons of other Mothers as their bodies perished and their souls flew free. We cannot know what waits for us beyond that final gate. Yet I know that all things must die so that they may be reborn. As the Goddess waits for me in perfect love, I go to her in perfect trust.

Seventh Guardian: Pass freely with my blessing, Honored One.

Priest: The winds of time have carried you to this place.

You have been tested in the fire and not found wanting

You have been purified in the waters of the Lady's tears

You return at last to the Earth, the first and final Mother. And from the womb of Earth are you reborn.

Priestess: Maiden no more. Mother no more. Crone do I name you. Crown of the trinity, completion of the cycle of life. Wear the crown of your years with grace and wisdom. Wear this circlet as the symbol of your new estate. Let all honor the Crone.