Maiden, Mother, Crone

Hi cant open your picture.!!

Great concept though I find the transition (in years)from mother to crone too great....maybe another panel with children?

I like the artwork but the copy needs an edit. Crone has awful conotations. In keeping with the mnemonics how bout?

Maiden Mother Matriarch

Kita -- Good job. I think Panzade doesn't know the Celtic images of women or else is kidding around.

The figures are beautifully done, the colors are warm and I like the way the background changes from flowers to fruit to dry branches. The best may be the way you have positioned each figure to show her interest, with the maiden glorying in herself, the mother intent on the baby inside her and the crone looking straight into the viewers' eyes.

What is the snake about?

The snake is my least fave part of the three... especially being above the woman's head, but snakes represent knowledge as well as evil. Kind of creepy... just like crones.

Shepaints -- I wondered about the little white swirls below. I couldn't quite make them out... then had a dreadful thought they were maggots! (Life AND Death...) I've set it firmly into my head that they are swirls of light in a dark sky.

Hi kita.... Welcome to A2K....

I agree with Piffka.... Beautifully Done!!!

I did a Google Search for "Maiden Mother Crone"....

It helped to understand the existing Goddess concept....

I think you captured the concept....


About the snake.... personally, I think it fits into the concept (although I hate snakes!!)....

My personal feeling is that the snake is there to symbolize the cycle of life (like the Chinese symbol of the serpent eating its tail)....

kita, please excuse me if I've misinterpreted the snake in your painting....


thanks for sharing your painting!!

PaL
:-)

Hey PaL... nice to see you.

Good thought... cycle of life... I like it.

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Kita -- I should have said welcome to a2k, too... though I thought we met before. I like your name anyway... it was the nickname of the mother of a friend of mine... for Marqueta. Great lady!

As an aside I think I'll also mention that Kita (or maybe 'gita') was an Inuit word I learned when I spent some time in Alaska. It meant 'Let's go!' and was often abruptly (to me) said while in the midst of a visit at someone's house. Then, whoever had come in together, would stand up and leave. Very little standing on ceremony except for saying that word. <smiles> Sometimes I'd be taken aback... and sometimes I'd stand and go. A very effective and commanding word!

WOW! Thanks for all the input everyone! Much appreciated.
They were done a long time ago while I was studying Goddess mythology and feminine symbolism - in this case the Celtic "Triple Goddess" Maiden, Mother and Crone.

Very interesting to hear how others "read" it. Insightful actually - things I never actually would have thought of myself.

As to the snake... The Crone (yeah, I know it's a loaded word) is supposed to represent death AND rebirth. From what I researched at the time seeds, eggs and snakes symbolised these concepts to earlier civilisations (though I always wonder - how do we know for sure?) Seeds and eggs holding the potential for new life and the snake (because it sheds it's skin) representing rebirth. Just for the record - the snake's my least favourite part - gave me absolute hell and just point blank refused to end up as I saw it in my head.
The Crone also wears a garland of poppy seed heads symbolising her visionary ability. The idea being that age brings wisdom and knowledge and hence should be respected.

Piffka - next time I'll have to display them larger! Not maggots but fish done in a fairly loose (admittedly a bit skeletal) manner. Yet again a rebirth reference to do with the "waters of life".

shepaints - I like your observation on the age gap. I think I did it that way partially from a keeness to depict a fully pregnant woman. The mother is supposed to represent fecundity, Summer, abundant harvest etc.
But thinking about it again only three seasons are represented ie. Spring (Maiden), Summer (Mother) and Winter (Crone).

panzade - love the Maiden Mother Matriarch - Think I was too young to do much more than interpret visually what I was taking in. Forums like this would have been fab at the time (1995) even just in terms of having other thinking people to bounce off.
Funny how you can look back on something and think - ugh! I should have done x,y and z differently - hmm... maybe time for a revisit on that one.

Again - thank you everyone for your input.

I've only just discovered this thread and these are lovely.

Kita can we use your MMC picture on our Midwifery web site????

Just beautiful!!!