Some thoughts on the Tripple Goddess

It seems like you can't read much of anything about the Goddess concept without coming across the maiden/mother/crone trinity. I always had several issues with this though. Firstly, not every woman will be or can identify with the Mother aspect as traditionally explained (mother=children). Plus I really dislike the idea that you pass through each phase to the next. And lastly, I think this is a very one sided elitist concept that is often (it seems) used to set women apart from men as something 'more' (since women create and bear life within their own bodies).

Firstly, I am a woman, and I am a biological mother. I have a son whom I love dearly...and yet I rarely identify myself as a mother. It's not that I deny my motherhood, but more I just don't define myself as a mother first and foremost. It is a part of who I am but it is not the be all and end all of who I am.

When I think of the mother concept, I think of that nurturing comfort. Especially during the pregnancy, you are everything to the child you bear inside you. Their life is literally in your hands. But beyond the birth, I think when most of us think of our own Mother, we get ideas of home (of being safe and protected and cared for) and of someone who helped us grow and become the people who we are today. Even if we didn't have the best mother personally, there is so much out there about this aspect of motherhood, I think that it is ingrained in us as the ideal mother: the one who sacrifices of herself so her child can flourish.

But I don't think motherhood is restricted to physical offspring. I think we can embrace the essence of motherhood in other creative parts of our life. When we get an idea, and ruminate on it, and then eventually bring it into being, we have taken on the role of mother. Part of what I see in the aspect of motherhood is this concept of planning and working towards something that won't happen immediately. We have our eyes on the future, and are looking forward.

In contrast, if we look at the maiden aspect, we are looking at a younger woman. Much can be said about looking at the world through a child's eyes, and this is what I feel represents the maiden. It is before you start worrying about the future, when anything can capture your attention and become your whole world. It has a timeless quality in that you fully loose yourself in the moment. Fun is something that is vital and worthwhile, and you are more likely to shirk your responsibilities for what you want to do than you are to deny yourself.

In the crone, we start to look back. We have lived so much and experienced so much, and we see the next generation (even if they aren't our blood relatives) struggling with things we have learned to overcome. We have both the time and the patience to sit and think, and by examining our past we can learn so much more about ourselves and the world because we can see the bigger picture and make better connections. We want to share our thoughts with those we care about, although we may find they aren't ready to receive all of our insight yet.

I think that we all, both men and women, both with and without physical offspring, both young and old, have bits of all three in us. Our personal journey will, most likely take us to places where our focus is more firmly rooted in one or another, but we are never without the others.

Knowing that you have them all inside you allows you to deliberately call upon what is needed at any given moment. There are times where the freedom and abandon of the maiden is necessary for our souls. It is a time of renewal, of bringing back that youthful energy, and celebrating the experience of living. The mother aspect helps us to keep steady, to keep our eyes on our goals and to endure the work that it takes to bring them into the world. And when we see what we have created, we get the quiet satisfaction that we helped bring it into being, even after they take on a life of their own. And the crone teaches us that we can take time to think about who we are and where we have been. That reflecting on our past gives us insight we can take to the future. If we don't learn to recognize both the good and the bad choices we have made, we can't make better choices in the times to come.