Our culture exalts youth and beauty.
We see this in the media, through age-defying skincare products and treatments and the unconscious way so many of us have internalized the idea that we need to look and act a certain way to be valued by society. This obsession with youth and the archetype of the “Maiden” is harmful because we stop acknowledging, honoring and celebrating all the phases of life, including “Mother” and “Crone,” and the precious medicine each one has to offer us.
In Goddess traditions there is an acknowledgement of the triple goddess - the Maiden, Mother and Crone, or sometimes the Maiden, Lover, Mother, Queen, Crone. Acknowledging these archetypes within is empowering to the Feminine Spirit. It provides a roadmap to navigate the challenges and blessings of life. Without them, we miss the opportunity to fully know who we are in all of our majestic colors and seasons, as a whole, dynamic woman.
We have lost the practice of initiation, threshold and ceremony to mark important life transitions. Without these clear markers, we don’t transition fully from one cycle to the next, and our inner lines of definition can feel blurred. Instead of seeking out our elders to learn from them, we hide them away in old folk homes while fearing our own aging process.
We have forgotten the value of inner beauty and the wealth of knowledge and well-earned wisdom only a long life well lived can offer.
This is the gift of the archetype of The Crone.
She is a wise woman who has wisdom deeply embedded harvested from her own life experience. She has traversed all the other archetypes, and she finds herself as an elder in her final chapter of life. This is her final ferment, full of taste, flavor, depth, and richness.
She knows in her bones the journey of the Rose and has moved from bud to blossom to and now offering her petals back to the earth in the deepest surrender. She has watched babies come, loved ones go and she has weathered the storms. She has no one to impress or need to receive validation from. She just is. She frankly doesn't give a F$%@k. She is free.
She has let go of her layers and attachments and is the process of purification like the purest of waters, preparing herself as she returns to the Source. She holds the vast mystery of birth, death and rebirth, and has gems of wisdom to share if we take the time to lean in and listen.
