Sacred Feminine Archetypes
An introduction to five sacred feminine archetypes:
the Maiden, Lover, Mother, Queen and Crone.
The Divine Feminine – Goddess – is not an abstract figure who you need to have faith in … for She is within you and all around you.
She is your heartbeat, and your bones, flesh, blood, and breath.
She is the energy which makes flowers blooms.
She whispers on the wind and through the song of birds.
She is in the bloom of a rose and its divine scent.
She is in sunlight diamonds sparkling on water, and in the roar of the ocean.
She is in the tender sapling and the gnarled old oak.
She whispers to you through the numinous glow of the Full Moon and the flow of menstrual blood.
She is life itself.
And you are an embodiment of this life force.
In this way I believe your soul is a unique expression of life living itself: of the Sacred Feminine; of the Goddess.
While spirit calls us to rise and transcend our sense of self and merge with the Oneness, soul calls us to descend into our bodies and root ourselves in the truth of who we are and engage with our bodies, emotions and feelings … and listen to the wild voice of our yearnings and callings – the messy but beautiful truths of our inner nature.
And these callings become more and more insistent during midlife and perimenopause.
I believe perimenopause is a sacred and spiritual rite of passage that allows us to open widely and deeply to the Sacred Feminine archetypal energies which are working through us and with us during this stage of our lives.
She invites us to dance with Her so we can consciously engage with this process while feeling spiritually held through the journey.
She is with you and within you, and you can call of Her for help, guidance and support.
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In my work with the Sacred Feminine I invoke five life-cycle archetypal energies: the Maiden, Lover, Mother, Queen and Crone.
Here’s an overview, but you can read more about them in my book, Cycles of Belonging.
Five Sacred Feminine Archetypes
The Maiden
Relates to childhood and early youth, spring, the new and crescent moon, menarche and the pre-ovulation stage of each menstrual cycle.
Call on the Maiden for her joy, lightness, hope and curiosity.
The Lover
Relates to youth and early adulthood, early summer, the waxing moon, the menstruating years and the transition between pre-ovulation and ovulation in each menstrual cycle.
Call on the Lover for her courage, passion and love of life.
The Mother
Relates to the birthing/creative and menstruating years of your life, high summer, the full moon, and ovulation.
Call on the Mother who loves you unconditionally no matter what you say or do. Mother yourself.
The Queen
Relates to the years of the peri/menopause transition, autumn, the waning moon and the pre-menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle.
Call on the Queen and channel her strength and zero-tolerance for nonsense and fools. Be Queen of your realm!
The Crone
Relates to the post-menopausal years and later life, winter, the dark moon and menstruation.
Call on the Crone and her deep wisdom. She has seen it all and knows what you need to do. Let her guide you.
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These psycho-spiritual archetypes embody the fundamental aspects and potentials of these phases of life as energies that exist around you and within you, independently of whether you’ve personally experienced that stage of life or not.
In Jungian theory, archetypes are powerful, enduring symbols which exist out of time and transcend cultures, in what the psychologist Carl Jung termed ‘the collective unconscious.’
These archetypes can be considered external figures with a life of their own; as facets of the Goddess in human form, or as we see Her in nature.
You can honour and invoke them and call on a specific aspect to come and help and counsel you with a particular challenge, or you might simply open to Her presence and see which of Her aspects comes to whisper to you.
Or you can invoke these archetypal energies as you sense them within your own psyche – perhaps as your inner council of wise women, always present within your body, heart and soul.
Of course, your psyche and personality are so much more complex than merely these five archetypal figures, but they’re helpful in providing a structure of energies and experiences which we can recognize, honour and consciously invoke when we need to embody the wisdom they offer, at any point during our lives.
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Now, as outlined above, the Queen archetype relates to the perimenopause stage of life.
But I’m finding that other archetypes are also powerfully present during this time.
I’ll explore them more in future articles, or find out more in the free ebook below.
