A Triple Goddess symbol (probably originating from Classical Greek lunar symbolism), depicting three phases of the moon: waxing crescent, full moon, and waning crescent. For things named Crescent see Crescent (disambiguation. In art and symbolism a crescent is generally the shape produced when a

A Celtic triple spiral, adopted by some Neo-Pagans as a symbol of the Triple Goddess. Celtic art is art associated with various people known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period The triple spiral or triskele is a Celtic and pre-Celtic symbol found on a number of Irish Megalithic and

The three crescents emblem of Diane de Poitiers is another, less common, symbol adopted by Neo-Pagans to represent the Triple Goddess. Diane de Poitiers ( September 3, 1499 - April 25, 1566) was a noblewoman and a fixture at the courts of Francis I and Henri II It is especially popular among some Dianic Wiccans. Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a Goddess-centered woman-centered witchcraft tradition founded by Zsuzsanna

A Triple Goddess symbol used by some Wiccans, in colours symbolic of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

In ancient Indo-European mythologies, various goddesses or demi-goddesses appear as a triad, either as three separate beings who always appear as a group (the Greek Moirae, Charites, Erinnyes and the Norse Norns) or as a single deity who is commonly depicted in three aspects (Greek Hecate and the cult image of Latin Diana Nemorensis, of whom Hecate is one part^[1]). A goddess is a Female Deity. Many Cultures have goddesses Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance The Moirae or Moerae (in Greek – the " apportioners " often called the The Fates) in Greek mythology, were the white-robed In Greek mythology, a Charis (Χάρις is one of several Charites (Χάριτες Greek: " Graces " goddesses of charm beauty In Greek mythology the Erinyes (Ἐρινύες pl of Ἐρινύς lit Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland The Norns ( Old Norse: norn, plural nornir) are a kind of Dísir, numerous female beings who rule the fates of the various races of Norse Hecate ( Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting") Hekate ( Hekátê Diana Nemorensis, also known as “ Diana of the Wood” was an Italic form of the goddess who became Hellenised during the fourth century BCE and conflated with Often it is ambiguous whether a single being or three are represented, as is the case with the Irish Brighid and her two sisters, also called Brighid, or the Morrígan who is known by at least three or four different names. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings This article refers to the Pagan Goddess Brigid For the Catholic/Orthodox Saint of that name see Saint Brigid. The Morrígan ("terror" or "phantom queen" or Mórrígan ("great queen" (also known as Morrígu, Morríghan, Mor-Ríoghain In most ancient portrayals of triple goddesses, the separate deities perform different yet related functions, and there is no obvious difference in their ages. In Wicca and related Neo-pagan religions, the Triple Goddess is, along with the Horned God, held in particular reverence, and her three aspects are most often portrayed as being of different ages: Maiden, Mother and Crone. Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical Horned gods, with Horns or Antlers appear in various cultures

Triple goddess in classical Antiquity

At her sacred grove at Aricia, on the shores of Lake Nemi a triplefold Diana was venerated from the late sixth century BCE as Diana Nemorensis. A major event leading to the eventual formation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, took place in what is commonly referred to within the Church as The Lake Nemi (Nemorensis Lacus is a small circular Volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy 30 kilometers south of Rome, taking its name from Diana Nemorensis, also known as “ Diana of the Wood” was an Italic form of the goddess who became Hellenised during the fourth century BCE and conflated with "The Latin Diana was conceived as a threefold unity of the divine huntress, the Moon goddess, and the goddess of the nether world, Hekate," Albert Alföldi interpreted the late Republican numismatic image,^[2] noting that Diana montium custos nemoremque virgo ("keeper of the mountains and virgin of Nemi") is addressed by Horace as diva triformis ("three-form goddess"). Hecate ( Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting") Hekate ( Hekátê Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace ^[3] Diana is commonly addressed as Trivia by Virgil^[4] and Catullus. Trivia in Roman mythology was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hecate, the goddess of Witchcraft, the three-way crossroads and the harvest ^[5]

Modern interpretations

The term Triple Goddess was popularised by poet and scholar Robert Graves, in his "work of poetic imagination," The White Goddess (1948). Robert Graves (24 July 1895 &ndash 7 December 1985 was an English Poet, Translator and Novelist. The White Goddess is a book-length essay upon the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. Graves believed that an archetypal goddess triad occurred throughout Indo-European mythology. He was not the originator of this theory; it appears as a recurrent theme in the "Myth and Ritual" school of classical archaeology at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, among scholars concerned with the ritual purposes of myths. In traditional societies myth and ritual are two central components of religious practice The "Myth and Ritual" school is often associated with Cambridge University and with Oxford University in England.

The theme of the goddess trinity can also be found in the works of Jane Ellen Harrison,^[6] A.B. Cook, George Thomson, Sir James Frazer, Robert Briffault^[7] and Jack Lindsay. Jane Ellen Harrison ( September 9, 1850 &ndash April 5, 1928) was a ground-breaking British classical scholar linguist Arthur Bernard Cook (1868-1952 was a British Classical scholar, known for work in Archaeology and the History of religions. Robert Leeson Jack Lindsay ( October 20 1900 - 1990 was an Australian born writer who from 1926 lived in the United Kingdom, initially in The Triple Goddess mytheme was also explored by psychologists involved in the study of archetypes Carl Kerenyi,^[8] Erich Neumann, and even Carl Jung. In the study of Mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth an irreducible unchanging element similar to a cultural Meme, one that is always found shared One of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, Károly (Carl Karl Kerényi ( January 19, 1897 &ndash April 14 1973 Erich Neumann (אריך נוימן January 23, 1905 Berlin - November 5, 1960, Tel Aviv) was a Psychologist ^[8] One of the most recent of archaeologists to explore this theme is Professor Marija Gimbutas whose studies on the Chalcolithic period of Old Europe (6500-3500 B. Marija Gimbutas ( Marija Gimbutienė) ( Vilnius, January 23, 1921 – Los Angeles, United States February 2 The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos ' Copper stone' period or Copper Age period known as the '''Eneolithic''' ('''Æneolithic''' is a C. E. ) have opened up entirely new avenues of research. ^[9]

The publication of the complete texts of the magical papyri from Greco-Roman Egypt^[10] provide exhaustive examples of the imagery usually wrongly ascribed to Graves' imagination. In one hymn, for instance, the "Three-faced Selene" is simultaneously identified as the three Charites, the three Moirae, and the three Erinyes; she is further addressed by the titles of several goddesses:

. In Greek mythology, a Charis (Χάρις is one of several Charites (Χάριτες Greek: " Graces " goddesses of charm beauty The Moirae or Moerae (in Greek – the " apportioners " often called the The Fates) in Greek mythology, were the white-robed In Greek mythology the Erinyes (Ἐρινύες pl of Ἐρινύς lit . . they call You Hekate,

Many-named, Mene, cleaving Air just like

Dart-shooter Artemis, Persephone,

Shooter of Deer, night shining, triple-sounding,

Triple-headed, triple-voiced Selene

Triple-pointed, triple-faced, triple-necked,

And Goddess of the Triple Ways, who hold

Untiring Flaming Fire in Triple Baskets,

And You who oft frequent the Triple Way

And rule the Triple Decades. . .

She is variously described within the one poem as young, bringing light to mortals . . . Child of Morn, as Mother of All, before whom gods tremble, and as Goddess of Dark, Quiet and Frightful One who has her meal amid the graves. She is exalted as the supreme goddess of time and space,

. . . Mother of Gods

And Men, and Nature, Mother of All Things. . .

. . . Beginning

And End are You, and You Alone rule All.

For All Things are from You, and in You do

All Things, Eternal One, come to their End.

The Greek Magical Papyri reveal elements of the culture of Greco-Roman Egypt that were drawn not only from Classical and Egyptian tradition but also from earlier cultures such as those of Mesopotamia and the Near East. The triplicity of the Goddess in these texts is one of the most recurrent themes.

This imagery was well-known to those with a Classical education and continued in poetry throughout English history. A case in point is the Garland of Laurell by the English poet, John Skelton (c. John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c 1460 &ndash June 21, 1529) English Poet, was born at Diss in Norfolk 1460 - June 21, 1529):

Diana in the leavës green,

Luna that so bright doth sheen,

Persephone in Hell.

The Goddess triad is an essential feature of the Shakti forms of Hinduism and a distinction is made between the separate goddesses Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Kali and their manifestation as three aspects of MahaDevi ("The Great Goddess") when they are named MahaSarasvati, MahaLaksmi, and MahaKali. Shakti, meaning sacred force, power, or energy, is the Hindu concept or personification of the divine feminine aspect sometimes referred Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Saraswati (pronounced as; Sanskrit: sa सरस्वती sarasvatī; Malay: Saraswati Thai: สุรัสวดี is the Lakshmi or Mahalakshmi (pronunciation; Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी lakṣmī) is the Hindu Goddess of Wealth Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga Devi ( Devanagari: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for Goddess, used mostly in Hinduism. In the annual festival of Navaratri images of the Triple Goddess are carried in procession throughout India and in Hindu communities worldwide. Navratri ( Sanskrit: नवरात्रि is a Hindu Festival of worship and dance ^[11][12]

An archetypal Goddess triad is not limited to Indo-European cultures, and can also be found in some mythologies of Africa and Asia. The triadic theme also appears in medieval Christian folk traditions — notably with The Three Marys. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth The Three Marys (or Maries) refer to the three biblical Marys that came to the Sepulchre of Jesus in the Gospels and are

Images of Goddess triads are well attested from both inscriptions and sculptural sources from the time of the Upper Palaeolithic. The shrine rooms of Catal Huyuk which dated from 7500 B. Çatalhöyük (ʧɑtɑl højyk in Turkish also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the three without Diacritics çatal is Turkish C. E. contain bas-relief images of a Goddess in three forms.

While there is no controversy about the fact that a wide variety of ancient cultures worshipped some types of Goddesses who at times were seen as threefold, many scholars consider Graves' statements that they fit a "universal" pattern to be highly speculative, and his lumping together of diverse cultures in the quest for this universal pattern to be inappropriate. Graves attempted to apply his theory of "Maiden, Mother, Crone" to Goddesses who do not fit that pattern, such as the triple goddesses of Celtic Mythology, whose triple aspects are based on function, not age. Celtic mythology is the Mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the Religion of the Iron Age Celts Like other Iron Age The Celtic Goddesses also cannot be said to fulfil roles that are static or well-divided. The three aspects of Celtic Triple Goddesses may all be Goddesses of war (such as in the case of the Morrígan) or manifestations of different types of creativity (such as with Brighid). The Morrígan ("terror" or "phantom queen" or Mórrígan ("great queen" (also known as Morrígu, Morríghan, Mor-Ríoghain This article refers to the Pagan Goddess Brigid For the Catholic/Orthodox Saint of that name see Saint Brigid. The existence of triple goddesses in a variety of cultures does not mean that those cultures experienced these goddesses in the same way, or that there were universal religious patterns that could be applied to all these diverse cultures.

Maiden, Mother, and Crone

Some followers of Neopagan religions believe that in ancient Old Europe, the Aegean and the Near East, a great Triple Goddess was worshipped, predating the patriarchal religions imported by nomadic speakers of Indo-European languages (later superseded by patriarchal monotheism). Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical Not to be confused is the term "Old European" as used by Hans Krahe in connection with hydronymy. Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age Civilizations of Greece and the Aegean. Patriarchy is the structuring of Society on the basis of Family units where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of hence authority over For the Celtic Frost album see Monotheist (album In Theology, monotheism (from Greek grc [[wiktμόνος μόνος]] Some identify this goddess with Gaia, the Earth Mother (Roman Magna Mater). Gaia (ˈgeɪə or /ˈgaɪə/ (" land " or " Earth " from the Ancient Greek Γαîα also Gæa or Gea Originally a Hittite and Phrygian Goddess, Cybele (Κυβέλη was a deification of the Earth Mother and was worshipped in That such a Great Goddess existed is disputed by authors such as Cynthia Eller^[13] and Philip G. Davis.

Descriptions of the relation between Greek Mythology and the Triple Goddess can be found in many of the myths translated in Robert Graves' anthology The Greek Myths and more cryptically and poetically in his book The White Goddess and his book of essays entitled Mammon and the Black Goddess. Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Robert Graves (24 July 1895 &ndash 7 December 1985 was an English Poet, Translator and Novelist. The Greek Myths (1955 is a Mythography, a Compendium of Greek mythology, by the Poet and Writer Robert Graves The White Goddess is a book-length essay upon the nature of poetic myth-making by author and poet Robert Graves. In his novel Watch the North Wind Rise (1949) Graves extrapolated this further into a future world where the present Monotheistic religions are discarded and the Triple Goddess once again rules supreme (one of the Goddess' manifestations is called "Mari", implying the Mary of Christianity is a disguised form of the same Goddess) (see [1]). Seven Days in New Crete, also known as Watch the North Wind Rise, is a seminal but out of print future-utopian speculative fiction novel by Robert Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In his introduction The Sufis, a book he co-wrote with Idries Shah, Graves translates a poem of the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) which illustrates a triple goddess as a theme among medieval Sufis:

I follow the religion of Love,

Now I am sometimes called

A Shepherd of gazelles

And now a Christian monk,

And now a Persian sage. Idries Abutahir Shah ( 16 June, 1924 &ndash 23 November, 1996) ( ادریس شاه) also known as Idris Shah, né Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Ibn Arabi (ابن عربي ( July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an

My beloved is three-

Three yet only one;

Many things appear as three,

Which are no more than one.

Give Her no name,

As if to limit one

At sight of Whom

All limitation is confounded.

In this book, Robert Graves and Idries Shah explore the influences that medieval Kabbalah and pre-Islamic Sufi beliefs had on surviving pre-Christian folk-traditions in Europe. Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה lit "receiving" is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism.

In pre-Islamic Arabia and Nabataea the goddess triad were called "the three daughters of Allah": al-Lat ("the Goddess"), Uzza ("Power") the youngest, and Manat ("Fate") the crone, "the third, the other". The history of Pre- Islamic Arabia before the rise of Islam in the 630s is not known in great detail The Nabataeans ( Arabic: الأنباط, Al-Anbāṭ) were an ancient Semitic people Arabs of southern Jordan, Canaan Mentioned in the Qur'an ( Sura 53:20 al-Lāt (Arabic اللَّات was a pre- Islamic Arabian Goddess who was one of the three Mentioned in the Qur'an ( Sura 53:19 al-‘Uzzá "the Mightiest One" or "the strong" (derived from the root ʕzz) was a pre- ^[14][15] They were known collectively as the three cranes. Cranes are large long-legged and long-necked Birds of the order Gruiformes, and family Gruidae. ^[15] The name al-Lat is known from the time of the histories of Herodotus in which she is named Alilat, meaning "The Goddess". Mentioned in the Qur'an ( Sura 53:20 al-Lāt (Arabic اللَّات was a pre- Islamic Arabian Goddess who was one of the three Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash ^[16][17] It is these goddesses who were said to have been briefly interpolated into an early version of the Qur'an in the apocryphal Satanic Verses. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Satanic Verses is an expression coined by the historian Sir William Muir in reference to a few verses delivered by Muhammad as part of the Qur'an ^[15]

Some Wiccans and Neopagans honour their Goddess in the triple aspects of Maiden, Mother and Crone. Some also syncretise goddesses who do not historically fit this pattern. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought Such goddesses include Hecate, who when in triplicate was historically depicted as three young women, and Celtic goddesses who sometimes appear in triple form, but for whom there are no clear age patterns. Hecate ( Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting") Hekate ( Hekátê

Maiden

Among Pagans, "The Maiden" represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.

Mother

The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, nurturance, fulfillment, stability, power and life. A mother goddess is a Goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother who serves as a general Fertility deity the bountiful embodiment of the Earth.

Crone

The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings. Like the moon which waxes once again after the new moon and like in the year, where spring always follows winter. The Crone is an end, but she is always followed by the Maiden once more. It is death and rebirth, representing the common pagan belief of reincarnation as well as the renewing cycles of the moon and of the year.

Triadic imagery

In The White Goddess, Graves said:

the New Moon is the white goddess of birth and growth;

the Full Moon, the red goddess of love and battle;

the Old Moon, the black goddess of death and divination.

This relates the three life-thresholds of birth, procreation and death with phases of the moon. The term "new moon" is used by Graves in its original sense, as the first visible crescent after the luni-solar conjunction (which has traditionally been used as the starting point of lunar calendars), rather than the luni-solar conjunction itself. This article is about the lunar phase for other uses see New Moon (disambiguation.

Fates

Another cross-cultural archetype is the three goddesses of fate. In Greek Mythology there are the Moirae; in Norse mythology there are the Norns. The Moirae or Moerae (in Greek – the " apportioners " often called the The Fates) in Greek mythology, were the white-robed Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland The Norns ( Old Norse: norn, plural nornir) are a kind of Dísir, numerous female beings who rule the fates of the various races of Norse The Weird Sisters of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Wyrd Sisters of Terry Pratchett's novel of the same name are most definitely inspired by these deities. The Norns ( Old Norse: norn, plural nornir) are a kind of Dísir, numerous female beings who rule the fates of the various races of Norse William Shakespeare ( baptised Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between Wyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchett 's sixth Discworld novel published in 1988 and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author. (In Pratchett's work, they are referred to as "the maiden, the mother, and. . . the other one", as everyone is quite afraid of calling Granny Weatherwax a "crone". ) The three supernatural female figures called variously the Ladies, Mother of the Camenae, the Kindly Ones, and a number of other different names in The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman play self-consciously on both the triple Fates and the Maiden-Mother-Crone goddess archetypes, suggesting that they are, in fact, all the various interpretations of the motif recorded through history. This is a list of characters appearing in The Sandman Comic book, published by DC Comics ' Vertigo Imprint. The Sandman is a Comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published in the United States by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo Neil Richard Gaiman (ˈgeɪmən (born November 10, 1960) is an English author of Science fiction and Fantasy short stories and The manifestation of a Fate goddess in multiple forms in also attested from ancient Egypt papyri in which the birth of a child is greeted by the appearance of the Seven (or in some writings Nine) Hathors. In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Pronounced Hah-Thor ( Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way

The earthly representatives of the Fates may have been travelling bands of women in the role of priestesses, seers and celebrants, evident from the Norse sagas (cf. Egils Saga) and Indo-European and Egyptian myth and folktale (cf. Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 AD who may have written the account between the years 1220 and Sleeping Beauty, The Westcar Papyrus). Sleeping Beauty ( "La Belle au Bois dormant" (The Beauty asleep in the wood is a Fairy tale classic the first in the set published in 1697 by Westcar Papyrus (P Berlin 3033 is a fragmentary ancient Egyptian text containing a cycle of five stories about marvels performed by priests

The Ennead

An expansion of the triadic concept is that the triad can expand into an ennead, or a group of nine aspects or nine goddesses, e. g. the Nine Muses, the Nine Maidens.

The manifestation of the Maiden aspect of the Great Goddess, known to archaeologists as The Goddess of Love-and-Battle (such as Inanna/Ishtar of Mesopotamia and Freyja of Scandinavia), is represented pictorially as The Three Graces, The Bull with Three Cranes or the as triad: Athene, Hera and Aphrodite in the Judgement of Paris representing the embodiments of victory in battle, royal dominion, and love. The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War and (in slightly later versions of the story to This was a recurrent theme in Bronze Age myth and iconography in both Europe and the Middle East. This was a time before Astarte became Aphrodite, as a separate goddess of love. This was a later, Iron Age development. As Anne Ross noted in her work Pagan Celtic Britain, "there is no Celtic goddess of love". ^[18]

Each aspect of the goddess could thus appear in triad, for example, the Dea Matrona or Matres ("the Mother goddesses") shown as a triad throughout the Celtic, Gaulish and Romano-Celtic territories. In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona ("divine mother goddess" was the Goddess of the river Marne in Gaul. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 They are still known in Welsh folklore as Y Mamau ("the Mothers").

See also

References

External links

• Hindu goddesses and ceremonies
• The Triple Goddess