This is the time of the hag, when she calls us all down into the earth, into the sweet blackness, so we can meet ourselves and tend to what needs tending.
This is where fertility and outward growth are no longer needed and a different way of being takes over.
We used to understand this time on the cyclical wheel of life as vital, telling stories of the hag, the cailleach, this strong woman in her elder hood who would lead people through a journey that was necessary in order for them to grow well, in order for them to mature and bring their medicine to the world.
She was often seen as the midwife of seeds, life and babies.
The stories of old, seem to have changed so much from their original making. The old woman of the woods has been turned into a filthy baby eating monster.