Inside the Night Sky, the Crones are Laughing: this self-published manuscript became my roadmap yesterday as I navigated my way into another decade of life. I was a reluctant traveler--which surprised me. It took this slender volume of essays and musings to chart out my perspective. Fifteen women I met in Taos gave this manuscript as a gift to the "maidens"...which was the rank I most identified with during my time there.
Mother: the label should have been easy for me to assume, as it is the one that fits me in my daily life. I gladly take up the variegated mantle of "the mother", because it is through my experiences as a parent that I have learned the most about myself as an individual. Some of the people I met in that New Mexico community were parents themselves...and, to me, motherhood should represent a woman at her creative zenith. (Whether the offspring are flesh and blood or "brainchildren" makes little difference to me), but that facet of the feminine cycle was overlooked.
My old Webster's tells me that a maiden is "a horse that has never won a race". A mother is a woman "who gives rise to or produces,"...who, "is the creator or author of". There are many women not wishing to have children who should claim the cloak of "the mother" nonetheless. Age is irrelevant to the distinctions of a woman's life, as long as that woman can possess each phase with dignity.
So, I have been a "mother" since I penned (penciled, to be honest)the lines, "I'm loving you...You're loving me, but--Do you love my family?" when I was a five year old with penny-sized thoughts and more inspiration than I knew what to do with.
Recognizing that, I will let go of the last decade and move out into the next one. Taos Crones, (you know who you are), thank you for the map and the vision into my future potential. "Maidens", let's re-assess that title...we are all the creators of our own stories, and the authors of our destiny.