Play & Book Excerpts
Creatrix Rising
(She Writes Press)
© Stephanie Raffelock
The Stage Is Set for the Creatrix to Emerge
Sometime in my forties, I became aware of a feminine archetypal model: Maiden/Mother/Crone. This model was meant to represent the summation of a woman’s life in a way that all women could relate to. The Maiden was all about innocence and youth sitting at the precipice of womanhood. The Mother was self-evident—the time in a woman’s life when she either bears children or engages in a professional career or calling. And finally, the Crone.
The word crone entered the lexicon six hundred years ago, around 1390. It means disagreeable old woman. Though some groups have sought to reclaim the word and dress it up as meaning sacred or wise, the etymology doesn’t come close to suggesting that, so the word comes with cultural baggage. Crones are portrayed as old and ugly. They are defeminized and desexualized. They are used up, no longer capable of creating the one thing they’ve been allowed to create—babies. They are done and rendered irrelevant!
Contemplating the overarching journey of a woman’s life—my own and that of many friends—is what drew me to this particular archetypal progression of Maiden, Mother, Crone. But as I explored the three phases, I realized there was something dreadfully wrong with how they progressed. The gap between Mother and Crone seemed much too wide. Something was missing.
I also had to question: Do we really still see older women the way people saw them in 1390? Was Crone even relevant at all?
I’m not a psychologist, sociologist, or theologian, and I can’t lay claim to years of study with regard to this particular topic. But I am a storyteller, and I’m especially interested in the stories of women. Through the art of storytelling, I’ve learned a lot about the world and about myself.
As a storyteller, I know the universe is constantly presenting to us what we need to know. For instance, I can hear the wisdom of nature whispering to me when I walk in the woods, and I can hear my intuition speak to me in the early hours of the day as I write. One morning, it occurred to me that I knew the story of that missing phase that came after the Mother, and it was not the Crone. I was living in this as-yet-unnamed phase—and so were my friends. I could see “her” story everywhere, that woman who could no longer be called Crone. The potential of who we can be at midlife is so far beyond the intended insult of the word Crone.
I’ve written about aging for several years. I’m curious about how we see ourselves as we age and how the world sees us. As my realization of a new phase grew, I began to see certain cultural narratives in need of correction. The urgency to write about and claim what I was experiencing as the missing archetype that follows the Mother and replaces the Crone was getting louder in my head, fiercely demanding my attention.
The word crone entered the lexicon six hundred years ago, around 1390. It means disagreeable old woman. Though some groups have sought to reclaim the word and dress it up as meaning sacred or wise, the etymology doesn’t come close to suggesting that, so the word comes with cultural baggage. Crones are portrayed as old and ugly. They are defeminized and desexualized. They are used up, no longer capable of creating the one thing they’ve been allowed to create—babies. They are done and rendered irrelevant!
Contemplating the overarching journey of a woman’s life—my own and that of many friends—is what drew me to this particular archetypal progression of Maiden, Mother, Crone. But as I explored the three phases, I realized there was something dreadfully wrong with how they progressed. The gap between Mother and Crone seemed much too wide. Something was missing.
I also had to question: Do we really still see older women the way people saw them in 1390? Was Crone even relevant at all?
I’m not a psychologist, sociologist, or theologian, and I can’t lay claim to years of study with regard to this particular topic. But I am a storyteller, and I’m especially interested in the stories of women. Through the art of storytelling, I’ve learned a lot about the world and about myself.
As a storyteller, I know the universe is constantly presenting to us what we need to know. For instance, I can hear the wisdom of nature whispering to me when I walk in the woods, and I can hear my intuition speak to me in the early hours of the day as I write. One morning, it occurred to me that I knew the story of that missing phase that came after the Mother, and it was not the Crone. I was living in this as-yet-unnamed phase—and so were my friends. I could see “her” story everywhere, that woman who could no longer be called Crone. The potential of who we can be at midlife is so far beyond the intended insult of the word Crone.
I’ve written about aging for several years. I’m curious about how we see ourselves as we age and how the world sees us. As my realization of a new phase grew, I began to see certain cultural narratives in need of correction. The urgency to write about and claim what I was experiencing as the missing archetype that follows the Mother and replaces the Crone was getting louder in my head, fiercely demanding my attention.
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Stephanie Raffelock is the author of the recently released Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women (She Writes Press). She also penned the award-winning book, A Delightful Little Book on Aging.
A graduate of Naropa University’s program in Writing and Poetics, Stephanie was a contributor to The Rogue Valley Messenger in Oregon. She has blogged for Nexus Magazine, Omaha Lifestyles, Care2.com, and SixtyandMe.com. A former iHeart Radio host, she is now a popular guest on podcasts, where she inspires women to embrace the strength and passion of their personal story. Stephanie continues to build her speaker’s resume by giving presentations for groups like The Ashland Literary Arts Festival, Breaking the Glass, WINS at Charles Schwab, and Southern Oregon University, Friends of the Hannon Library. Her commitment to uplift women extends to teaching personal development classes for incarcerated women and nonprofits, including Dress for Success, Austin. A recent transplant to Austin, Texas Stephanie enjoys an active life with her husband, Dean, and their Labrador retriever, Mickey Mantle Raffelock. |
