Symbol Dictionary: Triple Goddesses
Often the Great Goddess encompasses all three aspects of The Triple Goddess,
as the maiden-mother-crone, or creator-preserver-destroyer, which also appears
in almost every culture, as Athene/Minerva, Cerridwen, Fates, Kali Ma and more.
Sometimes these Three Aspects of the Goddess are separated into individual
deities, so that one will encompass the mother aspect alone, one the crone,
another the maiden. Most goddesses fall into one of these three categories,
as a fertility (maiden) goddess, protector (mother) goddess, or a death-bringer
(crone) goddess.
Artemis (Greek)/Diana (Roman): This Amazonian Moon-goddess
was recognized by the Latin name Diana or “Goddess-Anna” in Ephesus,
and is recognized as the Mother of Creatures. She was the Triple Goddess of the
three phases of the moon, waning (life-giver), full (preserver), and waxing (life-taker).
According to Barbara Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of
Myths And Secrets (1983), “Her Huntress aspect was another form of
the destroying Crone or Waning moon,” and her totem animals were the “hunting
dogs” Alani, for her priestesses who worshipped her in Greece,
and the She-Bear or Ursa Major. See UMS Gods,
Goddesses and Mythology course.
Bast:
This Egyptian cat goddess was mother of Egypt’s most sacred animal, cats,
and Bubastis was her holy city, where the greatest temple was supposed to reside.
The Greeks called her Artemis or Diana, who were also mothers of cats. According
to Barbara Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And
Secrets (1983), “The cat’s legendary nine lives stemmed from
Artemis as the mother of the nine Muses, corresponding to the Egyptian Ennead
of nine primordial deities.” See UMS Gods,
Goddesses and Mythology course.
Cerridwen: Cerridwen is the Celtic Triple Goddess (representing
the three stages of female life, maiden, mother, and crone), with an emphasis
on the crone as an animal totem of a white, corpse-eating Sow of the moon. The
Greeks called this face of the Goddess Demeter, the Syrian, Astarte (both are
also represented by sows). What is often missed about the crown, or death aspect
to the Goddess is the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth, and that only
by the destruction of the old, is their room for the new. According toBarbara
Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), Cerdo,
the Spanish version of Cerridwen is the “Goddess who both took away, and
harvested souls in her character as ‘the source of life, and the receptacle
of the dead.’” See UMS Gods,
Goddesses and Mythology course.
Chimalman: Aztec Triple Goddess and mother of the savior Quetzalcoatl,
according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia
Of Myths And Secrets (1983).
Fates: Fates symbolize the course of life. The mythological
figures of Fates crosses cultures and stems from the image of the Triple Goddess,
as rulers of past, present, and future, who are usually personified as the Virgin
or Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s
Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983) states, “Nearly all mythologies
bear traces of the Triple Goddess as three Fates, rulers of the past, present,
and future.” These three archetypes can also be personified as the Creator,
Preserver, and Destroyer. Originally from the Indo-European Mother of Karma or
Kali Ma, this female trinity pops up throughout mythology as the Weird Sisters
of Western Europe; in Greek they show up in many forms such as the Muses or Aphrodite’s
trinity of celestial nymphs, Eunomia, Dike, and Irene (meaning Older, Destiny,
and Peace); in Anglo-Saxon myths they are the three weavers of fate who could
sustain or take away life at critical moments by adding string to their web of
life; the Russian Virgin of Dawn, who became Mater Matuta in Latin, Eros in Greek,
and the Slavic Bujan or Buyan all were fair maidens weaving life with silk, when
she stopped, someone died; Fate became Fortuna for the Romans; and Gypsies believe
in the “three ladies in white” who guard a newborn’s cradle
and take life when it is time. See UMS
Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.
Gunas: The Gunas are the three “strands” of thread
used by Fate. Originally a tantric symbol, the three strands were white, red,
and black for the “divine female Prakriti” who is also Kali. According
to Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And
Secrets (1983), the Gunas represent Prakriti’s “three aspects
of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer; or giver of birth, life, and death. The
Virgin-Creator was Sattva, white; the Mother-Preserver was Rajas, red; the Crone-Destroyer
was Tamas, black,” combined these three faces of the Triple Goddess represented
purity, passion, and darkness. See Fate.
Hecate: Originating in Egypt as one of Hathor’s Seven
midwives, Heqit, midwife of the birth-chamber, Hecate is a Triple Goddess recognized
in Greece, as the ruler of heaven (creator), earth (preserver), and underworld
(destroyer). Sometimes she was only recognized as Hecate Selene, the Moon in
heaven, while Artemis the Huntress ruled Earth, and Persephone the Destroyer
was patroness of the Underworld. Hecate became the patroness of travelers and
shrines were erected to her at three-way crossroads, as well as patroness of
childbirth, winning her particular contempt and fear from the Catholic authorities
during the middle ages (Walker, 1983).
Kali Ma: Originally a Triple Goddess of Hinduism, Kali is best
known for her crone/destroyer aspect and is portrayed in many religions. According
to Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And
Secrets (1983), “Kali was the basic archetypal image of the birth-and-death
Mother, simultaneously womb and tomb, giver of life and devourer of her children:
the same image portrayed in a thousand ancient religions.” She typifies
the Life-giving and life-taking Earth Mother, and she “stood for Existence,
which meant Becoming because all her world was an eternal living flux from which
all things rose and disappeared again, in endless cycles,” states Walker.
Hawaii’s volcanic Kali is just one example, as she was worshipped in Tantra;
consort to Shiva in Brahman (although her triple aspect was divvied out to three
gods, Brahma/creator, Vishnu/preserver, and Shiva/destroyer); also called Ieva
or Jiva Kali was Mother of All Living, and found Her way into the Old Testament
as Eve; the kalu were priestesses of the moon-goddess, later masculinized
as Sinai; similarly the Celtic priestesses of the Goddess Kele were called kelles;
etc. See UMS Gods,
Goddesses and Mythology course.
 |
Hestia (Greek)/Vesta (Roman): Roman Goddess Vesta from the early matriarchal tradition (called Hestia by the Greeks). The Vestal Virgins were Her priestesses. They were called virgins because they denounced marriage, being devoted to the Goddess and symbolically married to the phallic god Palladium, not because they never experienced sexual intercourse, as in fact, motherhood was one of their sources of power. Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), further states, “the Vestals were entrusted with keeping alight the perpetual fire that was the mystic heart of the empire” that burned for 600 years, until the Vestals came under attack by the rising Christian powers in 382 C.E. although many Vestal traditions were passed onto Christian nuns, such as head shaving. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course. |
Virgo: Virgo translates to “the Virgin” and may have represented a variety of Goddesses from Erigone Goddess of Justice; Astraea the “Starry One;” Libera, Libra, or the Lady of the Scales, “judge of men and ruler of their fates,” according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). See UMS Astrology Basics course. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.
White Buffalo Maiden: Sioux Nation legend tells of how White Buffalo Maiden brought them the Sacred Pipe from the Great Spirit, appearing first as a beautiful maiden and leaving as a white buffalo calf. According to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002), “When a young woman goes through puberty, she is under the special guardianship of White Buffalo Maiden.