First, I can’t express enough how glad I am that I stumbled upon Spells8. What a gift.
To the point: I was talking to a friend and fellow solitary practioner in NY the other night, and she mentioned that she’s read several articles and essays recently on the addition to Queen as in Maiden, Mother, Queen, and Crone due to the omitted period after active motherhood and our Crone era when we are not quite ready for Cronedom.
This kind of made sense to me because I was in full menopause by 47. I’m 57 now, my children are adults in their 20’s and 30’s, and I am feeling very in between stages.
Still, I am a bit of a traditionalist (in all areas of my life), and I just don’t know. Has anyone here heard of the addition of Queen? How do you feel about it? I have to admit, I’m inclined to stay with the Triple Goddess because I also love the numeral 3.
This is the first time I’m hearing about the Queen stage - it’s interesting to consider! Thank you for sharing about it
I think I’m with you about being partial to the sequence of 3’s, it’s such a powerful spiritual number. Then again, I don’t really resonate with the Maiden-Mother-Crone stages in my own life, I follow a different pattern of three. But three it is, and three it shall be - at least for me!
Looking forward to hearing what others think of this additional possible stage and their own life phases/cycles!
I was never a mother, though I try to support my books in any way I can. When someone called me a queen, I had to force myself not to cringe. If there were other names for phases of life, I’d enjoy them, but I feel I am strange enough that I wouldn’t fit much of anything.
Alan Chinen noticed different phases of life in his studies of mythology. Midlife was specifically different from elderhood, male mysteries were separate from but equal to women’s mysteries (though I was kept from studying everything available at first). I didn’t fit the male-female dichotomy, but there was nothing else available back then.
My feeling is the Queen is a personal choice, similar to saying you’re celebrating your 35th birthday for the 10th time I don’t think there’s any official tradition that uses it, it may just be a personal preference. I don’t mind the term crone and have accepted that I’ve moved into that stage of life, but don’t feel like it’s the end, so the term doesn’t offend me.
Mostly I use the MMC as a guide in divination, in tarot or oracle readings. Other than that it isn’t something important to my personal practice.
I’ve never heard of the addition of Queen in the Triple Goddess concept. I would have to agree with @Artemisia in that it’s most likely a persona preference. Historically, there is no “Queen” phase of the Goddess, nor is there a current Queen archetype.
I think what many people misunderstand from the Mother part of Maiden, Mother, and Crone is that it isn’t about physical motherhood. You don’t have to have children or be a mother to be considered in a “Mother” phase of your life. I really like this quote from Witchcraft Unchained by Craig Spencer about the Goddess as Mother.
When a woman gives birth, it is said that she has “mothered a child”, but this is not the only context in which mother is used. How many people do you know who have someone in their life that they describe as being “like a mother” to them? They are not saying that they gave birth to them. They are speaking of a role that this person fulfills in their life - an important and invaluable role that they hnour by attaching such a powerful title to it.
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A female caregiver, generally in a hospital, is sometimes referred to as a matron, a word which derives from the Latin word mater (mother). This example strongly represents the Goddess, as her role as a Mother is of a spiritual nature; she is the divine life-giver whose essence and love maintain the universe.
In the lunar cycle, the Mother archetype is symbolised by the waxing phase of the moon - primarily the waxing crescent. It is in this phase that the moon is “becoming” and is in a state of generation, an action which perfectly reflects the life-giving and preserving aspects of the Goddess.
I used to be very against the MMC concept because I was taking it too literally. Over the last few years, I have come to realize what it means symbolically. The Mother in Maiden, Mother, and Crone is creator and lover of life - everything grows with her just as the waxing moon grows in the sky. You can mother children, you can mother your animals, you can mother your job, and you can mother your life. I think Queen and Mother are synonymous in that respect.
This is very interesting. For me I prefer the term Maiden Mother Crone. I find Queen a bit distant and regal (maybe it’s because we have one here in the UK so that’s all I know) . I don’t follow the Triple Goddess but I do embrace those three stages of life, all beautiful, all valuable. I kinda align Crone (that’s me now ) with Baba Yaga, may no longer hold the physical beauty of maiden, or the motherly nurture of mother, as all those nurtured now off independent, but the experience and wisdom of life gained by living through the other two stages, granny phase , nurturing in a different way. If this makes any sense I feel Queen misses that, as a Queen to me is someone privileged and above the ordinary experiences of life. But that’s probably influenced by living in a country with a Queen (well now King)
Right, I understood it that way, too. I was meaning that people may feel the word “Mother” no longer applies if they either don’t have kids or their kids are grown. In that sense, they don’t feel they have any “mothering” to do anymore and need a new word. I hope that makes sense!
I’ve heard of it but it was from a book I read over twenty years ago so I can’t remember just which one it was. But, yeah, it’s a thing. I don’t resonate with it, but some do.
I don’t feel there is a set age were you would transition from one phase to the other. I still see myself in the mother phase even though I just turned 58 and am post menopausal. I still nurture others a lot being a pediatric nurse practitioner and still give lots of guidance to my adult daughter. Maybe I will become more a crone in retirement. LOL!
@Cattleya This is exactly how I feel! I will be 58 this year, am also post-meno and still feel a strong desire to Mother, which I also do in a variety of ways. I was just thinking about this this morning.
Interesting for sure. But three it shall stay for me! IDK Queen feels too…matriarchisms for me.
I actually consider myself in the Crone stage - only because I have grandbabies, but at the same time I mother them ha… I say embrace what feels good to you.
Written in 2010 - so I guess this isn’t necessarily a ‘new’ thing.
Also found:
What is the triple goddess theory?
These three figures are often described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon, and often rules one of the realms of heavens, earth, and underworld. In various forms of Wicca, her masculine consort is the Horned God.
Could definitely go down a rabbit hole with this topic ha-ha!
I don’t think there’s any official tradition that uses it, it may just be a personal preference. I don’t mind the term crone and have accepted that I’ve moved into that stage of life, but don’t feel like it’s the end, so the term doesn’t offend me.
. I don’t follow the Triple Goddess but I do embrace those three stages of life, all beautiful, all valuable. I kinda align Crone (that’s me now 
) with Baba Yaga, may no longer hold the physical beauty of maiden, or the motherly nurture of mother, as all those nurtured now off independent, but the experience and wisdom of life gained by living through the other two stages, granny phase 
I feel Queen misses that, as a Queen to me is someone privileged and above the ordinary experiences of life. But that’s probably influenced by living in a country with a Queen (well now King) 
I’m glad it makes sense!