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Maiden, Mother, Keeper, Crone — The New Archetype for the 21st Century Woman
Even in this modern, scientific age, most people are familiar with the three archetypes of the Divine Feminine — Maiden, Mother, and Crone. For centuries, if not millennia, these three faces of woman have been not only worshipped, but also used as archetypes for navigating the complex psychological experience of being a woman. Whether used in storytelling or psychoanalysis, archetypes are an important tool for helping humans relate to who they are and to one another. They show up in our myths, both modern (Lord of the Rings) and ancient (Beowulf). Screenwriters use the “Hero’s Journey” to pull us into the narrative, reporters will focus on the maidenhood of the young girl gone missing, and the image of the wise, old woman is central to female identity in most cultures.
Modern feminist writers often explain that the Hero’s Journey is prevalent in all literature due to the inherent misogyny of the writers of ancient literature. Some of this thinking has swung so far left that entire works from the Western literary canon are being removed from liberal arts curriculum across the nation due the stories’ patriarchal, male focus. As a woman who has always enjoyed a good hero story, I’m a bit overwhelmed by these efforts to force our modern lifestyle upon ancient texts. The roles we played in the past were due to some very good reasons, foremost of which is biology. And not just any biology, but the biology of reproduction. Until the advent of modern birth control, a woman’s world was guided, shaped and controlled by her reproduction cycles. Consider this, in 1957 The FDA approved the pill, but only for severe menstrual disorders, not as a contraceptive. Subsequently, an unusually large number of women reported severe menstrual disorders. In 1960, the pill was approved for contraceptive use. Hmm…
The point here is that until 1960 C.E., reliable birth control was non-existent. A woman’s life was defined by her reproductive system, and if she wanted to share her life with a man, which was basically her only path to safety, children were the inevitable result.
All three faces of the Divine Feminine reflect this fact. The Maiden is the potential mother. The Mother is the caregiver and the Crone is the grandmother, the one who supports the other women by…
