Some years ago a friend asked if I’d like her oracle cards of Zen Crones.
Oooh, I thought, they sound just the ticket, and said, Yes please thank you very much. Turned out, they were Zen Koans.
And rather wonderful.
However the mishearing stuck, and some time later, believing as strongly as ever that the world needs to hear from Zen Crones, I had the idea to make some to fit the original perhaps not so mistaken brief.
A Zen Crone, I suggested to those I emailed with the idea, is a piece of wisdom or thought or saying that encourages understanding, shares learnt experience and has that edge we know Crones have. (Zen, in this case, is a state of calm attentiveness. A koan is an often paradoxical statement that invites contemplation for possible insight.)
These Crones have come from that band of elder friends who replied to my request for contributions.
And are: Jill Anderson Lora Aziz Deb Barnard Sita Brand Rebecca Bilkau Maya Chowdhry Penny Collinson Collette Corcoran Mandy Dike Charlotte Done Jane Eagland Siri Ellis Naomi Foyle Susan Gibbs Chris Hardy Flo Headlam Pippa Hennessy Jude Ho Anne Holloway Endar Kaur Dorothy Lander Jo Lawrance Eleanor Levin Ally MacKenzie Di Mitchell Sally Slade Payne Caroline Pick Billie Riley Diane Sammons Stephanie Sandham Seni Seneviratne Sue Sherman Florisini Tomas Helen Tookey Catherine Williams and Katherine Zeserson
They’ve bent sayings to rejuvenate them, offered ones well-used by their families, others they’ve repeated over and over, conjured special phrases for us today or suggested ones they heard said in passing.
Reclaiming homespun wisdom, all of them serve to remind ourselves of our potential at times of need. They might be wise counsel, signposts to elsewhere, words of wisdom, a familiar proverb, an aphorism. Crone sense, rather than common sense. They might be funny, obvious, queer, serious, anything that a crone might have to share with another person.
I hope you enjoy them, ground yourself with them and be as free with them as those who gave them in the first place. They’ve been made with love, for love.
100 matchbox editions. £10 each, plus p&p
Each contains a unique mix of 18 Zen Crones, plus a blank card to add your own wisdom to the collective, an explanatory insert sheet and linen thread lever.
If you want these sent overseas, please email me directly on sehymas [at] gmail.com so I can double check postage costs. Thank you 🙂
Details
The cards have been made with Paperback recycled Context White 225gsm card, the wrapper is 110gsm Context White paper and the info slip is Context Yellow.
I used the Morecambe Riso Press to print their glorious colours, with the generous guidance of Charlotte, to whom I’m indebited
While cutting boxing wrapping and faddling the 100 editions, I listened to multiple episodes of For the Wild podcast
Zen teacher Susan Murphy Roshi says a koan has the power to unfold us in much the same way crisis unfolds us; to bring us into greater intimacy with a reality in which we are seamless with all of creation.