Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Maid, Mother, Crone

The seasons of a woman's life maid, mother, and crone are shown on this art piece I have.  Or I can imagine a fourth aspect, if we include the baby.  Before I was a young woman, I was a girl, beginning as a baby girl.
Think of the Baby learning at her mother's breast.
Think of the Maiden as independent and strong.
Think of the Mother as nurturing.
Think of the Crone as wise, changed, and transformed.
In The Spiral Dance (Harper, 1979), Starhawk said:
"The Maiden aspect of the Goddess shows women how to be independent and strong; the Mother aspect shows women how to be nurturing; and the Crone aspect shows that respecting elders is important and focuses on wisdom, change, and transformation."
Our society focuses on youth as the most (maybe the only) important time of life, but some women now have "croning" ceremonies as a rite of passage into a time of wisdom, freedom, and personal power.  After I retired, I was croned in a circle of my friends.  My son said there's no way he would call me a crone.

Is there a word for an old man that is equally as negative as "crone" for an old woman?  Because our society does not value what a woman does or what she learns over a lifetime, women often refuse to divulge their age and many (if not most) women at some point dye their hair in order to look younger.  Men, though, are said to look distinguished with gray hair at their temples.

Respect your elders, people, even if they happen to be female!

4 comments:

Jan said...

How nice, esp. as I am a crone now.

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I got the idea to write this when I read Colleen's Thursday Thirteen (#7) for today, found here:

http://www.looseleafnotes.com/wp/2012/05/do-you-want-the-mom-plate-or-the-wow-plate/

I wrote about my croning in a comment when Colleen posted about hers in 2007, here:

http://www.looseleafnotes.com/wp/2007/05/from-first-holy-communion-to-community-croning/

Anonymous said...

Do you know where I could find the maid/mother/crone wall art that you featured? I'd like to have one! Thank you! :)

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Ebonyharp, I bought it years ago at New Moon Gallery in Chattanooga. I've never seen another piece like mine there or anywhere else, so someone there would have to remember the artist, if you were to get something similar. Maybe you could send them a photo of my art piece or direct them to this post.

The New Moon Gallery has since moved a few blocks to another location. You can see some of their products in this photo gallery and find contact information there:

http://www.newmoongallery.com/Photo-Gallery.html