Least Understood of
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Of the three faces of the Triple Goddess, Bevcar (2005) calls the archetype of the aged wise woman “often the most feared and least understood of the three aspects of the Goddess” (p. 20).
October inaugurates an appropriate season to consider the meaning of the crone for contemporary women.
From Revered
To Reviled
It's time to give the boot to the wicked witch with warty nose of Halloween imagery which is the nadir of this goddess symbol.This is where the once-valued meaning of the third face of the maiden-mother-crone ended up. From this profoundly ageist low point, older women are emerging once again to transform social understanding of aging.
The dying of the old year and, in many places, vegetation continues throughout November and December. This month, Archetype of the Month will investigate the contemporary recuperation of the wise women dimension of maiden-mother-crone.
How the Valued Wise Woman
Became the Warty Witch
Bevcar (2005) does a fine job of tracing the historical evolution of how we interpret the meaning of the word crone. She defines the meaning of each of the three faces of the goddess: maiden-mother-crone.
The maiden signifies youthful enthusiasm, the mother is creation and nurturance, and the crone confronts the mysteries of death and achieving final wholeness.
This quest for wholeness also is the concern of Jungian psychology.
Carbon-Dating Confirms Era of Goddess Worship
It is little surprise that in a patriarchal era that objectifies and even obsesses over youthful beauty, the crone was marginalized as the old hags who appear as witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the many folktales that survive as children’s stories even today.Williams (1997) recounts, “We now know (thanks to sophisticated radiocarbon dating methods and to the work of archaeologists like Maria Gimbutas) that for the period extending from approximately 30,000 B.C. to 1500 B.C. humanity's spiritual -- and earthly -- life revolved around the worship of the Great Goddess in all her myriad forms” (no page numbers).
Bevcar explains, “Once the era of goddess worship passed, women in the final stage of life — those representing the third face of the Goddess — lost their place of honor. Through the ages they often were misconstrued at best, and at worst reviled as hags or witches” (p. 20).
Contemporary Society Denies Aging
Contemporary society has done its best to truncate the meaning of maiden-mother-crone and even pretends that the third trimester of life does not exist.Examples of our mass-scale social denial of the cycle of aging -- its positives as well as its drawbacks -- are anti-aging forumulas, the popularity cosmetic surgery, and the warehousing of society's oldest citizens in nursing homes where they need not be seen by the rest of us.
Women’s quest to find new templates for living has created renewed interest in goddess-lore. From this has emerged inquiry into how older women can find meaning, wisdom, and wholeness in our later years.
Wisdom Is Our Learning Imperative
Bevcar reflects on the principles and values that guide her understanding of wisdom. Rensenbrink (2004) also reflects deeply on what wisdom means. He even speculates that there wisdom is a “learning imperative” of the third-trimester of our lives.This is similar to the remark of Barbara Hannah, a student of Jung of Zurich, who comments that Jung believed the first 40 years of life are for gaining experiences and the last 40 are for making sense of them.
Maureen Evans (1998) writes that modern times allow older women freedom that they did not enjoy hundreds of years ago – if they even survived to old age.
Today's Crones Break Old Molds
And Stereotypes
Evans’ words support the Fashion After 50 philosophy of women and aging. The contemporary crone, she writes, “may also enjoy a new freedom that she never had as a younger woman -- the freedom to act in a way that, when she was young, may have been considered outrageous.
"If tongues wag when she has lunch with a younger man, will she blush for shame? Not likely. If she chooses to pierce her cars three or four times, need she self-conscious? I think not.”
She adds, “As modern Crones, the women of my generation must make a conscious effort to break the stereotype that has plagued the older woman for thousands of years and strive to make a difference to the world around us as only Wise Women can.”
With Gratitude to These Sources
In November and December, Fashion After 50 will continue this exploration of the maiden-mother-crone archetype, emphasizing this third face of the goddess.This week's sources are:
Bevcar, D. S. (2005). Tracking the archetype of the wise woman/crone. ReVision, 28(1), 20-23. Accessed using EBSCO.
Evans, M. (1998, Jan./Feb.) Crone pending. Natural Life magazine, n.p. Accessed using EBSCO.
Rensenbrink, J. (2004.). Wisdom and the learning imperative. Dialogue and Universalism, no. 3-4, 199-206. Accessed using EBSCO.
Williams, V. (1997, July). The crone: A woman for all seasons. Body Mind Spirit Magazine, 16,(3), n.p. Accessed using EBSCO.
Return from maiden-mother-crone to Archetype of the Month.
Why does the crone archetype matter? Read about therapeutic uses of archetypes.
Croning ritual celebrates life, third part of this series.
Return from maiden-mother-crone to Fashion After 50 home.
