ABSTRACT
An archetype of myth and media, the crone performs characteristic structuring functions across the generational structures of a family that are underexplored in the psychoanalytic literature. The crone is also a description of a woman at a phase of female development, as she embraces the changes in her body and social role engendered by menopause and the emergence of next generation into their fertile years. The crone becomes a repository for the individual and collective superego function of her community, supporting its ego adaptation over time and providing it with an ongoing approving reflection. The crone is the representation of post-menopausal female in the eyes of younger women and men. Two myths are presented as example of how this archetype has been conceived in narratives of their development. In the Kalevala, national epic poem of the Finnish peoples, the crone plays her more punitive role as castrating mother of a middle-aged man striving to remain a youthful lover and leader.
