So hot today and yet tomorrow promises to be hotter and more humid. sigh
I listened to two podcasts from OBOD today and am so enthralled with everything about their organization. One podcast was the Modron (Mother) of OBOD and I was so fascinated by what she had to say about her belief that there are four phases of the Goddess instead of three. Maiden, Mother, Wise Woman and Crone. My brain is mush so I can't do her justice but in essence her belief was that there was a woman in between the Mother and Crone who was still young and vital and ready to go out and still have fun before the days of Crone-dom. As someone past menopause, it did appeal to me to think of the Crone days ahead of me yet, but Wise Woman? Not by a long shot. I have so much to learn yet.
But today I'm worn out from the heat and having been in the hot kitchen for 2 hours today fixing a meal mostly from our garden. I'm just not good with heat.
I hope to be more articulate tomorrow even in spite of the 100+ temps expected (with the heat index.)
I've also seen this "Wise Woman" stage referred to as the "Queen" stage. Personally, I prefer the traditional 3 phases and would simply like to see the "Crone" stage better understood as being more than just decrepitude and death. There's no reason why we can't understand the Crone stage as encompassing vitality and vigor as well. Creating a "fourth" stage is a reflection, I think, of our society's fear of aging, decline and death. We want to stave it off.
ReplyDeleteI guess in our current state of society, I can see where there is a "need" to create this fourth stage, as Debra said the fear of aging and wanting to prolong it as long as possible. I personally do not. I can see, for me anyway, the Crone being the Wise Woman herself, not a separate stage. The Crone being the one who has experienced much, and passes on her knowledge to the next generation. But, I have much to learn as I am only at the beginning stages of learning the path.
ReplyDeleteThanks, both of you. I really thought about what you said and responded in the next entry.
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