Feminine Archetype Systems — Variations
This article compares the various systems of literary archetypes described by some of the authors cited in my article on human personality archetypes.
The Triple Goddess
A system of three feminine archetypes, generally equated to the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, has some literary precedents. Wind Hughes[4] identifies them in ancient Greek mythology: Hera viewed as the combination of Hebe the virgin, Here the mother, and Theria the crone; and cites a more current Greek tradition of "[celebrating the] Moon Goddess", involving another three mythological figures associated with the moon: Artemis (as maiden), Selene (as mother), and Hecate (as crone). As also mentioned by Hughes, Celtic observances of Imbolc (or Imbolg) involve Brigid, said to have "three aspects called the Three Blessed Ladies"; and a similar triple aspect applies to the French Mother of Arles. The 1994 book by D. J. Conway [3] has a lot more on this topic.
Four-Archetype Systems
Wind Hughes describes[4] the Maiden, Mother, and Crone as being symbolic of "the changing stages of a woman’s life", then notes that as life spans are now a lot longer on average than in ancient times, it is sensible for "the archetype of the Queen [to take] her place between the Mother and the Crone." In the rest of Hughes' article the four archetypes are distinguished as they relate to the ego:
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References
[1] Toni Wolff, Structural Forms of the Feminine Psyche, 1956. Online at UF Digital Collections (University of Florida).
[2] Carol Christ, "Why Women need the Goddess", in Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, by Carol P, Christ and Judith Plaskow (Eds.), Harper & Row (San Francisco), 1979
[3] D.J. Conway, Maiden, Mother, Crone: The Myth & Reality of the Triple Goddess Llewellyn Publications (1994), ISBN 0875421717
[4] Wind Hughes, Maiden, Mother, Queen and Crone, Sowell Magazine, 2000
[5] Donna Henes, On Finding Myself Middle Aged (largely an excerpt of [6])
[6] Donna Henes, The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Mid Life, Avalon Publishing, Monarch Press (NY), 2004, ISBN 0975890603.
[7] Mary Ovenstone, Understanding the Four Primary Archetypes, interview in Odyssey Magazine. Names the feminine archetypes "Warrioress", "Lover", "Crone" and "Queen". Much in common with Moore and Gillette; also names several composite god and goddess archetypes. Available here
[8] Sunyata Satchitananda, What is the Divine Feminine?, and What is the Divine Masculine? web pages, 2008. Presents a system of twelve primary archetypes, grouped into six pairs: God/Goddess, King/Queen/Mother, Priest/Priestess, Warrior/Warrioress, Lover, and Sage/Wise Woman. Some reflect complementary aspects of psychology commonly viewed through gender personalities, while others are virtually identical.
[9] fallenangel, Queen, Mother, Wise Woman and Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Feminine, web page, 1st February 2013.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2025 Jun 07.
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