We Are Goddess
Maiden, Mother, Crone, the triple goddess archetype, as some may be familiar, depicted by the image of the waxing moon, full moon and waning moon. Some believe the depiction to signify youth, motherhood and inevitable old age but it means so much more. There is so much more represented by this image and these three stages in life than just the chronological trajectory of a woman aging. It’s so much more than childhood, menses and menopause. One can be old and still be a maiden. How can that be? Let me explain.
The Maiden’s journey is embarked upon anytime we start something new. It’s not just about virginity or youth. And for that matter, virginity in ancient times was less about an intact hymen and more about sovereignty. A virgin was a woman who was complete unto herself. She didn’t need a man to complete her or be her reason for living. This definition changed when women were demonized with the rise of religions that shamed, excluded or demoted women from positions of equality or power and edified men to supreme status, as the overlords of women. But, I digress, the maiden is a virgin, complete unto herself, embarking upon something new, something she hasn’t done before. A new start, a new endeavor, a new undertaking in which she isn’t an adept, she has to learn. She needs to acquire knowledge and skills. She learns as she undergoes the journey, it’s a first for her, she is a virgin (complete unto herself) going out on her own to do something for the first time. Think of boating, the maiden’s voyage, the ship is complete and intact but it’s the first time the boat leaves the safety of the harbor to begin a journey at sea.
The Mother’s journey is the outcome of the maiden’s “voyage”. She has acquired experience and skill. A Mother’s or Queen’s journey, embodies her sovereignty through the acquisition of knowledge. She has become powerful, as anyone who has mothered a child, animal, or garden does, when she must protect and guide another sentient being. Yes, plants are also sentient beings, ask any herbalist or avid gardener. The Mother/Queen rules and cares for her “kindom”, looking after the kindred spirits and nurturing them, guiding them, ruling them with all the skills she’s obtained along her way.
Lastly, the Crone’s journey is when the knowledge becomes wisdom, a deep in your bones kind of wisdom, that can only be acquired through experience, sometimes joyous yet at times grievous and arduous. It’s a deep learning, a beingness, a state in which the wisdom goes deep into the marrow of the bone. It becomes a part of her DNA and sometimes it’s so much a part of her that she forgets what it took to earn it and gives it away to those who are not ready to hear her or cannot understand her depth of knowing because they too must live it. Then the crone must remember to be discerning for not all appreciate or understand her wise ways.
Maiden, Mother/Queen and Crone, we spiral through these phases in our lives over and over again. And if we are lucky and diligent when we cross over in death and are born again into a new body, our soul can return in our next incarnation with some of the gifts we’ve worked so hard to acquire in previous lifetimes.
