Leslie Kenton > Quotes

“The crone is the irrational power of nature that causes all things to decay and be changed. The experience of change is terrifying to both men and women who have lived their lives believing that material reality is all there is and that reason is the ultimate means by which all our problems will be solved. Whatever else she may be, the crone is most certainly not reasonable. No more reasonable than the forces that cause leaves to decay when they fall in autumn, transforming them into leaf mold that will eventually bring new life to the forest. No more reasonable than the hurricane which, irrespective of man’s wishes or longings, blows its course through city and countryside. No more reasonable than the earth herself as she ques and trembles with the shifts taking place in the continental plates of her body.

It is little wonder that male-centered religions have diabolized the crone, for the is the ultimate destroyer, the emasculator of male reason.”
― Leslie Kenton, PASSAGE TO POWER

“The Dark Goddess lives at a woman’s core. She guards the self. She is the friend of the soul, whose purpose in your life is to fiercely protect and further the whole process of your learning to live authentically from your core. She never trades in deceit, she never lies, nor does she veil her power. She refuses to uphold any rela-tionship that doesn’t work, and she tears away at anything within us that is greedy or grasping or infantile. She continually urges us to reclaim our own power—the power to set limits and shout ‘no,’ and the power to say, ‘This is what I will do and this is what I won’t do’ when we are faced with any sort of abuse or anyone trying to steal our power or dominate us.”
― Leslie Kenton, PASSAGE TO POWER

“The male-oriented Western world in which we live is linear and hierarchical. The world of the female is cyclical. The female is moist; the male is dry. The female, like the ancient goddess in whose image she is made, is infinitely generous. Her generosity takes many forms. When Christianity came to Ireland, the Irish hung on to their goddess, carving her into the walls of their churches. Sometimes she is depicted sitting on a pig, sometimes she has a huge vagina that she holds open with her hands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, most of these figures were removed, for what most terrifies the male is the absolute licentiousness of female generosity. It is a power that is completely free, that cannot be bought or sold, manipulated or exploited, and that is continually fueled by the seasons, nature, our friendship with each other, and our bonds to the earth. No wonder our materialistic world has devised ingenious ways of trying to contain women's wildness. Control a woman's hormones, and you may for a time be able to contain her wildness. Yet locked within the wildness of woman is her only true experience of freedom and meaning, as well as her sense of connection to the planet. No woman can live without these things for long. It is my belief that the time has come for the wild female energies to be set free.”
― Leslie Kenton, PASSAGE TO POWER

“Spokeswoman for the Dark Goddess is the crone. Her presence in a woman’s life is usually easy to spot. She appears whenever we experience any drastic and dramatic changes—the death of a loved one, loss of a job, disfiguration. She is the teacher who guides us through the transformation that is demanded of us. She is there in our deepest despair and at times when we connect most powerfully with our own creative fire. She is the handmaiden that nurtures us through dark nights once we are willing to make the descent into our own psyche and connect with whatever forms are sleeping there so that we can begin to live our own power. When these connections are made, she is present, too. She teaches us by her presence alone to become deeply and spontaneously sexual, assertive, straight, incorruptible, prophetic, intuitive, and free. All of these qualities are asking to arise at menopause, and all are gifts of the crone. They are, it must be said, also the qualities that most terrify the patriarchal culture in which we live.”
― Leslie Kenton, PASSAGE TO POWER