Archetypes are universal patterns that reside in the collective unconscious and actualize in behavior or images when they become conscious. Their nature is unclear until they emerge, but they can be considered somewhat equivalent to instinct. Examples are the Mother, the Trickster, the Old Man and the Self. The Crone is an interesting archetype because current western culture, for the most part, has not allowed its healthy expression.
In ancient societies, the Crone performed many important functions in these cultures. She was the midwife--the expert at delivering children and handling complications. She made the decision when the baby was malformed about whether it would live or die. She treated the sick, dispensed herbal remedies for healing and also used herbs to put terminally ill people to sleep. She also served as a priestess in the worship of the goddess. She was in charge of all the burials; she was the psychologist, the doctor, the undertaker, and the gardener.
From the ancient Greek and Roman cultures, we can see the three stages of womanhood, or the Triple Goddess, symbolized by the moon, the virgin (new moon), the mother (full moon) and the Crone (waning moon). The crone is seen today in Jungian psychology and in woman’s studies as a powerful and wise old woman and represents wisdom, freedom, and personal power. But as we shall it see the Crone wasn’t always seen in a positive light.
It is estimated that nine million women were accused of witchcraft and executed between the 12th and 18th centuries. There are various theories about why this extermination was carried out. Some say it was to take the power of healing from the women and give it to the emerging (male) medical practitioners. Some say it was to take the spiritual power away from the people and transfer it to the church. Others say that the majority of these women were unmarried and also had property which was transferred to the church after they were executed--an important source of wealth for the church. Also, there was a power struggle to disenfranchise women and the goddess and force them to be submissive to men and a male god. All of these theories may apply to some degree. It is simply amazing that the women who took on the role of the crone and all of the important functions of community life were almost totally eliminated.
The archetypes of the other two phases of womanhood, the virgin, and the mother can be expressed in a positive way to us today. Virgin in pagan days-meant not married--not controlled by a man; it did not mean sexually naïve. We see virgin archetypes (single young women) in movies and TV. The mother archetypes are also prevalent throughout our culture. Many older women are resorting to cosmetic surgery in order to play the virgin; others are trying to mother their middle-aged offspring. It is the Crone -–older women, independent, strong and powerful-that we don’t see.
To find the Crone archetypes we must look to the myths, the stories of Kali, Hecate and Ereskigal. My favorite is Baubo in the story of Demeter and Persephone. The fact that Baubo is left out of most of the renditions of this myth is another indication that the crone aspect has not been recognized. The Persephone/Demeter myth is a lot more than a story about the seasons and the reason for summer and winter. That interpretation shows our ignorance to think the pagan myths were simple, when in fact they are complex psychologically healing dramas.
Persephone/Demeter is about the issues of womanhood. No one knows the age of this story. It is still celebrated in parts of Greece where once a year, women bake loaves of bread and take them to a Demeter shrine. I won’t give a detailed examination of the story here because I want to concentrate on the Baubo part of the story. Persephone is the virgin and her abduction is about the stage when a woman leaves her mother and becomes a queen or an adult on her own. Demeter the mother meeting Baubo is about the transition from motherhood to Crone.
At this meeting, Demeter is distraught and crying over Persephone’s loss. She no longer nourishes the world, and the earth begins to die. Baubo, an old woman comes up to Demeter and lifts up her dress. Baubo is naked underneath and her body is old and shriveled, she does a lascivious dance in front of Demeter and Demeter laughs and everything starts to grow again. With that laugh, Demeter makes the transition. Baubo is showing her how ridiculous it is to hold onto the virgin/mother aspects. It takes intense focus to nurture a child. Demeter finally transferred that focus to nurture the Earth.
Crone archetypes are found the world over. In American Indian cultures, Crones were seen as connected to the earth. I remember seeing a daguerreotype of Indian chiefs at a table with the representatives of the United States government negotiating a treaty and behind the Indian chiefs stood a row of old Indian women who the Native Americans called “Our Grandmothers”. The Indians believed that a decision about the earth should never be made without consulting the grandmothers since they spoke for the earth. The Native Americans would ask the Government representative when they were ready to sit down at the table. “Where are your grandmothers?” Today, we see the pillage of the earth, we see the result of decisions being made without the grandmothers.
The time in life when the Crone archetypes should manifest is when less energy is needed in our personal life. This is the time we can put into action our delayed passions – into our neighborhood, our city, or the planet itself.
I think that today we need the Crone archetype more than ever, the nurturing, wise, humorous, broad view is missing from our culture. We are destroying the earth with the predominance of male values. Crones have the energy, the time, the wisdom to put a stop to it.
Where are our Grandmothers?
Janet Kane
www.mythiczodiac.com
References:
The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom and Power by Barbara Walker, published by Harper and Row, 1985