Goddesses and Gods.wps - Welcome to Our Temple

death were denied, old women were particularly feared and vilified. Many of the
women who were accused of witchcraft, tortured, and murdered by church
authorities were older women. The church has propagated the image of all witches as
old hags with crooked noses, who do evil rather than good, to dehumanize and
disempowered the women in our communities who served as teachers and healers
before the onset of Xianity. This image continues to abound in various media images
today. In Wicca, the image of the Crone is of an old, wise woman who teaches us the
lessons she has learned -- not an ugly, evil eater of children. She can be difficult to
work with from a magickal sense if you are shrinking your responsibilities or refusing
to let go of unhealthy people, relationships and habits, but Her role is to help us learn
to cut away the old so that new can grow.