Two Months and a Triad

[hapaxnym]

Yes, I know that it's been two months since I posted anything.

There has been Stuff What Happened.

But I don't want to talk about that right now.  So I'll talk about triads instead.

One of my online hangouts had been talking about Female Archetypes, specifically the classic triad of Maiden / Mother / Crone.  There is great power in these archetypes -

Comments

[hapaxnym]

Yeah, I actually thought long and hard about the sword, because of the phallic associations.

But I really don't like that symbolism, partially in a "Patriarchy Hurts Men Too!" way. A penis should be a symbol of pleasure, fertility, generation, not a weapon to hurt, don't you think?

And the Warrior *should* wield an unequivocal weapon. She should not be ashamed of her role. Bows and arrows are too remote. A knife is too ambiguous ("Oh, no, it's a domestic tool, I just accidentally re-purposed it as a weapon!") A sickle or a goad is out for the same reason. The weapon on the cover of the book actually looks more like a sai, and I thought about that (sais are cool), but I thought that might be too unfamiliar and possibly appropriative.

I'd like to reclaim the sword as a symbol, but you may be right -- the masculine associations may just be too strong. How about a dagger? That still has the phallic shape (hard to avoid), but is used both as a ranged weapon (when thrown) or close-in (almost intimate, one might say).

(The only thing I can blather more about than Archetypes is Symbolism). What do you think?

[muccamukk]

I totally see what you mean, but =for me the sword, more than anything else, is inseparably bound up with phallic symbolism. Which, as you say, isn't ideal for men or women, but, again for me, the act of reclaiming it really bogs down your symbolism.

I like Xena's Chakram, but it might be a little too Xena!. Talia in the Princess series has that whip thing. Dagger could work too. I like the viscous close combat associations.

Edit for punctuation.