A Glimpse of the Crone

[qos]

I don't work with a "Triple Goddess" system. The Maiden-Mother-Crone model has never fit my understanding of my own nature as a woman, nor my perceptions of the Feminine Divine.

I have resonated with the wisdom aspect of the Crone since I was an adolescent. Even as a mother, I don't tend to relate to the archetypal images of Motherhood or their broad associations with nurture and fertility. The Maiden's essential virginity (one-in-herself-ness) always appealed to me, but not her eternal innocence. And where was the sexiness? The traditional depictions of the Mother always seemed very domesticated to me, the Maiden pre-sexual, and the Crone "past all that." Where was the deep, juicy, wild sexiness that I cherished?


But this morning, I had a constellation of events and images suddenly come together with a sense of invitation: my belief that I have started perimenopause, my daughter turning 13 yesterday, Ereshkigal's directive to me of how to spend New Year's Eve, and a sudden shift in my identification from the young princesses of this story to the crone priestess -- which may be the key to the specifics of my New Year's observance -- all came together to whisper to me of the Crone.

I'm continuing to struggle with my issues around personal authority, and as I'm typing this I'm wondering if the archetype of the Crone would be helpful. Love her, fear her, or both -- no one doubts her wisdom or her power. She usually stands outside traditional authority structures -- and my image is that she doesn't give a damn about them. She knows what she knows, and she will share it -- or not -- according to her own best purposes.

Not sure where this is going to lead, but it seems to have been given me to investigate, and it certainly ties several important themes together for me. . .

One thing I do know: I'm not being called to identify wholly with the traditional image of the Crone. It's not the time -- it may never be the time -- to say "I am this."

But I think it's time to make a journey to the cave on the hillside, to the Gingerbread House, to the below-ground rooms of the castle, and pay my respects.


And in case anyone is wondering: Ereshkigal is not a Crone. Not in my experience of Her. She can resonate with that archetype. Certainly She shares certain associations. But She is not limited to that part of the spectrum.

Comments

[wakingbear.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I don't really have a comment on this per se, but I really enjoyed reading it.

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

i've often been told i am a crone person. i can see where people might interpret that but, like you, i don't particularly identify with any of those aspects.

that picture is lovely, and compelling. i like.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for letting me know. :-)

[freyasman.livejournal.com]

"I think it's time to make a journey to the cave on the hillside, to the Gingerbread House, to the below-ground rooms of the castle..."

Hmm, sounds like a journey into the tomb-womb of death and rebirth.

If so, I'll see you on the other side.

[tinuviel13.livejournal.com]

One of the many things that attracted me to the Feri Tradition of Witchcraft was the inclusion of sexuality in all three Goddesses. Nimue, the maiden, exudes a sexuality that can be uncomfortable to witness in one so young. Hers is the Black Heart of Innocence that has an awareness of beyond her years. Mari, the mother, is sexual, maternal and terrible. She is the widow of the slain God and she is the one who cuts him down as a sacrifice. She is the fecund earth who exudes lust. Ana, the crone, is the Goddess of Forbidden Mysteries and, although past bleeding, has a strong sexual nature that is apparent in her eyes and mannerisms. In Feri we are taught that sex is the beginning and the end and does not diminish with age. Sex is the power of creation and the juice that flows through all things. I am 58 years old, post menopausal and sexy as hell.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this. I don't know as much as I would like about your tradition.

[blessed-harlot.livejournal.com]

I used to resonate a lot with the Triple Goddess as a set of archetypes, though I understand my life as moving through the stages in a nonchronological order, and I am going back to experience maidenhood and cronehood simultaneously through the eyes of a lived-backwards motherhood.

Thank you for sharing this story. Your work with divinity and gender issues is one of the areas of your work that inspires me.

[freyasman.livejournal.com]

I appreciate you comments on the Triple Goddess image not quite working for you. I read recently that there is another pattern of the Goddess. It moves along a vertical rather than horizontal continuum. It's the Goddess of Underworld, Earth, and Overworld. One example is of Hecate, Demeter and Selene. Not that I'm suggesting that this pattern is for you. I just thought that you might find it interesting that there is another tri-fold image of the Goddess put there that doesn't get as much attention. It caught my eye because I don't think Freyja fits into the Maiden-Mother-Crone paradigm either.

Love the pic that you chose for this post!

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

The vertical model is certainly closer to what I work with, although I've been tending to resonate most closely with the Dark/Bright duality, as expressed in Ereshkigal and Inanna.



However, my need to ground more thoroughly in the Earth aspect makes the tripe vertical model interesting. I tend to slide both up and down but not do a good job of grounding in the material world.