Creativity: An 8-Part
Series
By Kristy McCaffrey
Don't miss:
Part I ~ Imagination
Part II ~ Domestication vs. Wildness
Part III ~ Shape-Shifting
Part IV ~ Forbearance
The Maiden-Mother-Crone cycle, while an obvious physical
manifestation in a woman's lifetime, is also a recurring sequence within the
psyche. If the maiden is innocence personified, then it is the good mothering
aspect that forces her into the world and into the wild, to toughen and breed
stamina. And it is the crone who not only imparts higher wisdom, showing a
broader and more spiritual picture, but also a state that the psyche must reach
for maturation.
This cycle is reflected in creativity—the blossoming forth
of fresh and untried ideas (maiden), the acquiring of discipline to bring forth
the concept into the material plane (mother), and the wisdom to place the work
in its proper context (crone).
In the maiden state, women frequently make a most terrible
bargain—we settle. We choose a path that promises riches and fulfillment, only
to find that we sacrificed our deepest knowing in the process. We suppress our
wilder selves to appease our parents, our teachers, our religion and society at
large. We don't make the art that calls to us because it's too crazy, too edgy,
too sexual, too anything that offends those that have also made the same
bargain, and resent that you would dare step outside these boundaries. Art done
in this way is flat, unshaped, and lacking in vitality and life.
Maybe you have to know
the darkness before you can appreciate the light. ~ Author Madeleine
L'Engle
To right this wrong, it is necessary to activate the mother.
In its positive form, a mother is the protector of life. It becomes necessary
for a woman to nurture her intuitive self, to listen to herself above all
others, to love oneself when it's so much easier to condemn. For most women,
their own physical mother fills this space within their psyche, and if the
mother had a preponderance of positive attributes then this isn't as much a
problem than if she displayed shadow aspects. If those are present—the
devouring mother, who consumes her children psychologically and emotionally, or
the abusive mother, who violates natural law by harming her offspring—then
every effort must be made to excise this influence. A woman must learn to
mother herself, and in so doing, excavate the terrain of the soul and bring
forth the most pressing gifts and talents. Through this loving guidance can
instincts and intuition be re-activated.
Pursue some path,
however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
~ Henry David Thoreau
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock |
Works Cited
Estés,
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who
Run With The Wolves. Ballantine Books, 1992.
Myss, Carolyn. Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine
Potential. Harmony Books, 2001.
Don’t miss Part VI in the Creativity series: The Virgin and
the Sacred Prostitute
Until next time…
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