Creatrix Rising

From the author of the award-winning book A Delightful Little Book on Aging comes a new self-help memoir Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women. In her new book, Stephanie Raffelock liberates mold-defying midlife women, tired of the oft-inaccurate characterization of the “old crone,” to amplify the resounding strength within.

Ever since Eve was banned from the garden, women have endured the oftentimes painful and inaccurate definitions foisted upon them by the patriarchy. Maiden, mother, and crone, representing the three stages assigned to a woman’s life cycle, have been the limiting categories of both ancient and modern (neo-pagan) mythology. And one label in particular rankles: crone. The word conjures a wizened hag—useless for the most part, marginalized by appearance and ability.

None of us has ever truly fit the old-crone image, and for today’s midlife women, a new archetype is being birthed: the Creatrix.

In Creatrix Rising, Raffelock lays out—through personal stories and essays—the highlights of the past fifty years, in which women have gone from a quiet strength to a resounding voice. She invites us along on her own transformational journey by providing probing questions for reflection so that we can flesh out and bring to life this new archetype within ourselves. If what the Dalai Lama has predicted—that women will save the world—proves true, then the Creatrix will for certain be out front, leading the pack.

Book Trailer

Interview with Stephanie Raffelock
Part 1 of 2

(Originally featured on Books Forward, August 2021)

Before we dive into your new book, Creatrix Rising, can you briefly tell us about yourself and why you decided to write about aging? Why is this book so important to you personally?

I’ve been writing about aging for several years now. At first it was because, well, I was getting older, and writing has always been a way for me to understand and examine my interior life. But as I wrote about the process, the good, the bad and the ugly, I began to realize that aging is really a woman’s issue. Yes, men get older too, but without the same kind of baggage. Unlike my mother’s generation who saw aging in an almost shameful kind of way, feedback from my readers showed me that today’s woman isn’t particularly interested in going gently into that goodnight.

Creatrix Rising: Unlocking the Power of Midlife Women is an invitation to embrace a new archetype, the Creatrix, that celebrates the creative surge, confidence and power that comes with midlife.

What is this emerging Creatrix archetype, and where did it come from?

The name Creatrix comes from the three Greek fates, the spinner, the weaver, and the cutter. The weaver was called Creatrix, a word that literally means a woman who makes things. The concept of an emerging archetype is a bold but necessary one — Creatrix replaces the Crone, a word that means disagreeable old woman. No one wants that title. We want to be seen as valuable, contributing and creative women as we age. Let us be seen as a Creatrix.

Who will enjoy this book, and what do you hope they take away from it?

Although this is a book written for women, men who wish to deepen their understanding of the women that they love will benefit from it too. The Creatrix archetype is what follows the mother archetype. Creatrix represents women who are discovering the reinvention and awakening of life that comes in the phase after motherhood.

Why do you think midlife women are sometimes characterized as the “old crone?” Why does it seem like women are shamed as they age, but men are treated as more distinguished as they get older?

The poet and novelist Robert Graves came up with the trilogy of maiden, mother and crone in the 1930s. He saw women as his poetic muse. His labels seeped into the culture and was adopted by neo-paganism, who referred to the trilogy as the triple goddess, assigning each phase with a phase of the moon.

Crone is a word that makes most women bristle. It entered the lexicon in the 1300s and was meant as an insult. Words matter. We don’t need to reclaim this one and try to dress it up, we need to replace it. Our worth and our value in society is contingent upon how we see and feel about ourselves. Correcting the worn out and oft times toxic stereotyping of women is an inside job — it begins with us.

How can we correct this mischaracterization and change the conversation about women and aging?

We begin by embracing our years and seeing aging as the next great adventure. Self-knowledge reveals all things. If we look honestly at our lives and innumerate the positives of age instead of listing the negatives, we can begin to change. It has to start with us first. As we mature in confidence and strength then the world begins to take note and society can then change.

(Part 2 of this interview can be found on Book Bustle.)