ancient woman of Courage and Determination

I quite like some neo-hippy stuff (soooooo unlike me ) I just found on the archetypal Crone:
http://www.waningmoon.com/guide/library/lib0015.shtml
- may have some appeal to our favourite High Priestess!

I also recall an Irish (? of troy's services required here) legend of a young man whose patience is severely tried by an old crone. He passes the test, and the crone reveals herself as a beautiful goddess.