the wise woman

The forgotten, undervalued, and neglected woman of age. In many cultures around the world she is still honored, but in the modern world it is no longer a common practice to sit at the feet of our elders having their wisdom passed down to us. The elderly are placed in homes where they are cared for by paid staff, and visits become less frequent with each year passing. Is it the same within ourselves? Do we visit the Wise Woman within, or do we exile her as the old haggard in our inner world? Do we honor and value her as much as we do the other archetypal parts of psyche? Are we willing to receive her wisdom?

She is our reminder to go within, slow down, observe, and allow death to bury what no longer serves us so new life can flourish. In her fullness she is the vessel of our transmutation, the transformer of what the Wild Woman discovered as she went deep into the darkness of our psyche. This archetype is also called the Crone, not far from the word Crown which I find poetically fitting. She is the Crown of the cycle of death and new life. She is the very source of wisdom when we allow her to be, the wisdom we find from integrating the shadow (the un-conscious) into our consciousness.

When kept in the shadow of our psyche the Wise Woman can struggle with vulnerability and emotional expression. Incapable of accepting her own shadows and refusing to put them to death through the release of emotions, emotional connection becomes a challenge, and her empathy runs low. This results in us becoming judgemental, competitive, a perfectionist and even cruel in worst cases. Think the evil grandmothers of fairy tales, or the elderly women who almost flinch if a child runs into their arms.

The vision I have of the integrated Wise Woman is a radiant woman crowned by her grey hair, who sits outside her tent for hours receiving all who come to her for wisdom. She knows the value of silence, introspection, and mindful presence. To slow down and accept whatever is brought before her, to let go of the constant need to achieve and produce, and to simply be. Resting when rest is needed, embracing pain and death as friends that seek to bring new life, while tending gently to her emotional sensitivity.

For this archetype I have chosen the Amazonite stone as well as big, chunky, raw pearls. I’ve chosen not only one, but two pieces for the Wild Woman in this collection. Perhaps because we need double the reminder of her importance as we are sometimes too quick to neglect this aspect and need within ourselves, or maybe because she is a painful and difficult aspect of our psyche that needs double the strength to initiate. Both the Amazonite and the pearls have beautiful reminders that connects well with the Wise Woman, their colors gentle and peaceful,
just as she is.

With love,
Miranda Maria.