Mystical Trinity
The three faces of the Moon goddess represent Nature’s cycles and fuse the conscious, subconscious and unconscious processes of the human mind – our material, emotional and spiritual faces. The Moon has become the archetype of creation, womanhood and the feminine psyche.
All major religions contain, in one form or another, evidence of this female trinity. Central to the ancient Greeks were Persephone, Demeter and Hecate with their Roman counterparts of Diana, Ceres and Sibyl. In the Norse tradition, the Norns, or Wyrd (weird) Sisters, wove together the past, present and future. And for the Hindus, Kali incorporates the three-fold-goddess-in-one as “the light”, “the dark” and “the mother of the world”.
The maiden goddesses venerated in civilizations far and wide include Persephone, Aphrodite, Ul-Uzza, Athene, Diana and Minerva. Mother goddesses of creation and of the Full Moon include Astarte, Demeter, Ceres, Al-lat, Kwan-Yin, Hathor, Isis, Selene and Wahini-Hai. And of the group belonging to the “dark” goddesses may be added Kali, Skadi, Hecate, Tlazolteotl, Circe, Hathor, Lilith, the serpent-headed Medusa and Nemesis, goddess of all retribution.
The Three Faces of the Moon
As the moon travels her monthly path it can be said that she transforms as she enters each new phase. She begins at New Moon innocent as the Maiden Goddesses, full of hope and youth, such as; Aphrodite (worshipped by the Greeks), Diana (celebrated with the Romans) and the Norse Goddess of love and fertility, Freya.
| MAIDEN GODDESSES | ||
| Aphrodite | Diana | Freya |
Full Moon sees her with more womanly attributes as she becomes more desirous and motherly. The loyal Egyptian Goddess Isis, Selene for whom the term selenology (the study of the moon) comes from, and Ceres, goddess of grain and an emblem of the harvest all represent this phase of the moon.
| MOTHER GODDESSES | ||
| Isis | Selene | Ceres |
The final phase is represented by the Dark Goddesses. These goddesses are much maligned because of their ability for destruction, but I feel that if a little light were shed on them they would be respected for their ability to nurture that which is undiscovered in us. The destructive powers that they yield are only used create the fertile ground necessary for rebirth. It is also true that when vengeance is called for they are all capable of it, but they only allow themselves to reek havoc when we have completely lost ourselves in unworthy pettiness of character. These goddess include Lilith, Hecate and Kali.
| DARK GODDESSES | ||
| Lilith | Kali | Hecate |