Exploring Women's Lives
This section of GoddessWriting is devoted to the exploration and honoring of the way women are, the stages they move through and the stories that demonstrate these truths. I have used the thirteen stages as defined in The Women's Wheel of Life, by Elizabeth Davis and Carol Leonard as a starting place.
Most women recognize themselves as going through certain changes, of being a child-mother-grandmother, (maiden-mother-crone) but I have always felt that it was much more complex than that. There always seemed to be parts of me that didn't fit any of these roles or if they did that there was still more to it.
As I furthered my study of the Goddess I discovered that She represented much more than the maiden, mother, crone aspects of the feminine. I started to understand Her in all her aspects and further realized that my experiences, like Her, could not be understood or explained as simply as those three personas. I found that I needed to both deepen and expand the maiden, mother, crone definitions to include my own feelings and experiences.
With the up rise of patriarchy many of our roles/aspects, the very core of who we once were became more and more suppressed. Until after many hundreds of years we were reduced to 'sweet little girl', 'nice young lady', 'nurturing mother' and 'little old grandmother' types. Yet, I sometimes felt that I was more; I knew it somewhere deep inside where, since it didn't fit what I was taught about the way women should be, I kept it hidden. Secretly confused and frightened that there was something wrong with me.
I was shunned for getting too angry, too impassioned, too weepy, too soft, too cold, too outspoken or too withdrawn. I was labeled emotional-overly sensitive-unbalanced. It's no wonder I was unbalanced. Essential parts of my very self were being denied, even by me. The parts that include whore, warrior, leader and destroyer, just to mention a few. They all laid in their little boxes buried under the few acceptable aspects left to me.
It has been both exciting and frightening to make friends with some of these aspects. Many have not yet been shown to the outside world, but within my inner world, the one that makes sense to me and where I am safe, I have begun to unlock the boxes. I have begun to listen to the women who are being let out. I have begun to tell their stories, the good, the bad, the ugly, for they are all part of who I am. I may not act on many of their cries in this lifetime, but I will at least allow them some space to 'be'.
The links on the menu will take you to a brief definition and overview of the thirteen stages primarily based on my interpretations from reading The Women's Wheel of Life, by Elizabeth Davis and Carol Leonard © 1996. They are, of course, somewhat subjective and do not always follow in strict chronological order, but rather cycle throughout our lives. In addition to the stages/cycles of women's lives I maintain that there are identities/personas/aspects that may or may not fit into one of these particular archetypes. But, for now this is as clear as it gets, so changes will be made to the site when and if I find more concise ways to define them.
The links from each of those pages are the stories written by women about their own journeys.
If you have stories, poems or essays that you would like posted in any of these sections please email me. I would be honored to post them.
Betsy Foster
© July-2001
Images and templates used on this site are copyright© 2000 - 2002, Edward Hall and GreyLight Internet and Multimedia, unless otherwise noted. Text and writing is copyright© 1988 - 2002 Betsy Foster.
