A Triple Goddess symbol (probably originating from Classical Greek lunar symbolism), representing the three aspects of the moon (waxing crescent, full moon, waning crescent) and womankind (maiden, mother, crone).

The Celtic triple spiral symbol, adopted by some neo-pagans as a symbol of the Triple Goddess.

The three crescents emblem of Diane de Poitiers is another, less common, symbol adopted by neo-pagans to represent the Triple Goddess.

The Triple Goddess symbol, used by Wiccans, in symbolic colors

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 (The Greek Hecate). 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. Image File history File links Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol. ... Image File history File links Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol. ... An astronomically correct crescent shape (in blue). ... Image File history File links Triple-Spiral-Symbol. ... Image File history File links Triple-Spiral-Symbol. ... Muiredacha Cross. ... A modern form of the triple spiral symbol Version with three thick single spirals. ... Image File history File links Three-Crescents-Diane-Poitiers. ... Image File history File links Three-Crescents-Diane-Poitiers. ... Diane de Poitiers (September 3, 1499 - April 25, 1566) was a noblewoman and a fixture at the courts of Francis I and Henri II of France. ... Image File history File links Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol-multicolored. ... Image File history File links Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol-multicolored. ... In Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (Greek Μοίραι — the Apportioners, often called the Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, sparing ones, or Fatae; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns). ... The Three Graces, from Sandro Botticellis painting Primavera Uffizi Gallery In Greek mythology, the Charites were the graces. ... In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides (the Romans called them the Furies) were female personifications of vengeance. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation). ... In Irish mythology, Brigid or Brighid (exalted one) was the daughter of Dagda (and therefore one of the Tuatha de Danaan) and wife of Bres of the Fomorians. ...

Overview

The term Triple Goddess was popularised by poet and scholar Robert Graves who noted that an archetypal goddess triad occurred throughout Indo-European mythology. He was not the originator of this concept, and it appears as a recurrent theme in the "Myth and Ritual" school of classical archaeology at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The "Myth and Ritual" school is often associated with Cambridge University and with Oxford University in England. Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English scholar, poet, and novelist. ...

The theme of the goddess trinity can be found in the works of Jane Ellen Harrison,^[1][2][3] A.B. Cook, George Thomson, Sir James Frazer, Robert Briffault^[4] and Jack Lindsay to name a few. The Triple Goddess mytheme was also explored by psychologists involved in the study of archetypes Carl Kerenyi,^[5] Erich Neumann, and even Carl Jung.^[5] 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.C.E.) have opened up entirely new avenues of research.^[6][7] Jane Ellen Harrison (September 9, 1850–April 5, 1928) was a ground-breaking English classical scholar and feminist. ... Sir James George Frazer (January 1, 1854 - May 7, 1941), a social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Robert Leeson Jack Lindsay (1900 - 1990) was an Australian-born writer, who from 1926 lived in the United Kingdom, initially in Essex. ... In the study of mythology, a mytheme is a feature of a myth, which may be shared with other, related myths. ... One of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, Karl (Carl, Károly) Kerényi (January 19, 1897 _ April 14, 1973) was born in Hungary but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1943. ... Erich Neumann (1905- November 5, 1960) was a psychologist, writer, and one of Carl Jungs most gifted students. ... Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams, Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875, Kesswil, – June 6, 1961, Küsnacht) (IPA: ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... Marija Gimbutas by Kerbstone 52, at the back of Newgrange, Co. ... The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos copper stone) period, also known as the Eneolithic (Aeneolithic) or Copper Age period, is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools. ...

Many who are unacquainted with the primary sources for his research, consider Graves' statements to be highly speculative. The publication of the complete texts of the magical papyri from Greco-Roman Egypt^[8] provide exhaustive examples of the imagery usually wrongly attributed to Graves. In one hymn, for instance, the "Three-faced Selene" is simultaneously identified as the three Charites, the three Moirae, and the three Erinnyes; she is further addressed by the titles of several goddesses: The Three Graces, from Sandro Botticellis painting Primavera Uffizi Gallery In Greek mythology, the Charites were the graces. ... In Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (Greek Μοίραι — the Apportioners, often called the Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, sparing ones, or Fatae; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns). ... In Greek mythology the Erinyes or Eumenides (the Romans called them the Furies) were female personifications of vengeance. ...

... 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 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 Graeco-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. 1460 - June 21, 1529): John Skelton (c. ...

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. In the annual festival of Navaratri images of the Triple Goddess are carried in procession throughout India and in Hindu communities worldwide. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hinduism (Sanskrit: , , also known as , ) is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. ... This article is about Saraswati, the Hindu goddess. ... In Hinduism, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी ) is the goddess of wealth, light, wisdom and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ... Kali (Sanskrit: काली) is a goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism (although sometimes presented in the West as dark and violent). ... Commonly known as Devi (goddess), Vaishnodevi (देवी, Devī in Hindi and Sanskrit) is the Divine Mother of Hinduism. ... Navratri or Navratra is a Hindu festival of worship and dance. ...

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. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...

In one of the ironies of religious history, St. Augustine of Hippo, mocked the pagan religions of his time for believing in a goddess who could be both three-and-one at the same time. This was in his second book, The City of God. By the time he wrote his third book, On the Trinity, he had become a staunch proponent of the Trinitarian structure of the world and had obviously resolved this conflict within himself or, at the very least, brought his thinking into line with the new orthodoxy. For the first Archbishop of Canterbury, see Saint Augustine of Canterbury. ... Trinitarianism is the Christian doctrine that God, although one being, exists in three distinct persons (hypostases) known collectively as the Holy Trinity. ...

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.C.E. contain bas-relief images of a Goddess in three forms. Excavations at the South Area of atal H k atalh k (also atal H k and atal H k, or any of the three without accent marks -- atal is Turkish for fork and H k is Turkish for mound) was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia...

Mother, Daughter and Crone

Certain followers of the Wiccan and some New Age religions believe that long before the coming of the patriarchal or monotheistic religions (implying a causal relation between patriarchy and monotheism), the Triple Goddess embodied the three-fold aspect of a Great Goddess, sometimes, incorrectly, identified with Gaia, the Earth Mother (Roman Magna Mater). This has been called into question by authors such as Cynthia Ellers and Philip G. Davis (see The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory). For other uses, see Wicca (disambiguation). ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... A patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arché means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. ... Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. ... Gaia (pronounced // or //) (land or earth, from the Greek ; variant spelling Gaea—see also Ge from ) is a Greek goddess personifying the Earth. ... In Roman mythology, Magna Mater deorum Idaea (great Idaean mother of the gods) was the name for the originally Phrygian goddess Cybele, as well as Rhea. ... The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Wont Give Women A Future is a 2000 book by Cynthia Eller, a professor at Montclair State University. ...

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. In the introduction to the book he wrote with Idries Shah, entitled, "The Sufis" he translates one of the poems of the Sufi mystic, Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) which illustrates that the triadic concept of the Goddess remained as a theme even among the medieval Sufis: Greek mythology consists in part of a large collection of narratives that explain the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English scholar, poet, and novelist. ... The Greek Myths (1955) is a comprehensive anthology of Greek mythology, published in two volumes. ... The author and poet Robert Graves study of the nature of poetic myth-making, The White Goddess, first published in 1948, and revised, amended and enlarged in 1966, represents a tangential approach to the study of mythology from a decidedly idiosyncratic perspective. ... Idries Shah (16 June 1924 - 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayyid Idris al-Hashimi, was an author and lyricist in the sufist tradition. ... Sufism (Arabic تصوف taṣawwuf) is a system of esoteric philosophy commonly associated with Islam. ... For the Maliki scholar, see Ibn al-Arabi. ...

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.

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 Qabalism and pre-Islamic Sufi beliefs had on surviving pre-Christian folk-traditions in Europe.

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". They were known collectively as the three cranes. The name al-Lat is known from the time of the histories of Herodotus in which she is named Alilat, meaning "The Goddess". Pre-Islamic Arabia is studied by Islamic scholars because it is the context in which Islam, as practiced today, was formed. ... Petra, the Nabataean capital The Nabataeans, a people of ancient Arabia, whose settlements in the time of Josephus gave the name of Nabatene to the border-land between Syria and Arabia from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. ... Al-Lat was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess. ... Mentioned in the Quran (Sura 53:20), al-ʕuzzā the Mightiest One (derived from the root ʕzy) was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess who was one of the three chief goddesses of Mecca. ... Manat is: The currency unit of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan; see Manat (Azerbaijan) and Manat (Turkmenistan). ... Genera Grus Anthropoides Balearica Bugeranus Cranes are large, long-legged with large talons and long-necked birds of the order Gargoyles, and family Gruesome killers. ... Al-Lat was a pre-Islamic Arabian fertility goddess. ... Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos Halikarnasseus) was a Dorian Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC - ca. ...

The three aspects of the goddess are the Maiden (Greek Persephone), pure and a representation of new beginnings; the Mother (Greek Demeter), wellspring of life, giving and compassionate; and the Crone (Greek Hecate) wise, knowing, a culmination of a lifetime of experience (the "crone" goddess corresponding to Persephone and Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries is, however, Baubo, a goddess of coarse and obscene jest rather than wisdom). These aspects may also represent the cycle of birth, life and death (and rebirth). A maiden may refer to: A female virgin. ... Persephone, the Maiden: the late Archaic Kore of Antenor from the Acropolis, Athens In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Persephónē) was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or young maiden, and the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. ... Faces of mother and child; detail of sculpture at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Female mallard duck and ducklings In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates her child (called first an embryo, then a fetus) in the womb from conception until the fetus... Ceres (Demeter), allegory of August: detail of a fresco by Cosimo Tura, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1469-70 Dêmêtêr (or Demetra) (Greek: , mother-earth or perhaps distribution-mother, perhaps from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *mater) is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher... Commonly a synonym for Hag. ... For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation). ... The Eleusinian Mysteries were annual initiation ceremonies for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. ... Baubo is an old woman in Greek mythology who jested with Demeter when she was down. ... The category life-death-rebirth deity also known as a dying-and-rising god is a convenient means of classifying the many divinities in world mythology who are born, suffer death or an eclipse or other death-like experience, pass a phase in the underworld among the dead, and are...

Some Neopagans claim historical antecedent for their beliefs, with some even holding that in Old Europe, in the Aegean world, and in the most ancient Near East, the Triple Goddess preceded the coming of nomadic speakers of Indo-European languages. Some archaeologists and ethnographers use the term Old Europe to characterize the autochthonous (aboriginal) peoples who were living in Neolithic southeastern Europe before the immigration of Indo-European peoples (for this reason also called Pre-Indo-European). ... Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many in Southwest Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. ...

Wiccans and some New Age religions often profess to work with the Goddess in her triple form and sometimes apply the Maiden, Mother and Crone symbolism to goddesses who do not historically fit this pattern. An example of this would be the goddess Hecate, who could be depicted as three maidens when in triplicate or as an old woman by herself. For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation). ...

Maiden

The Maiden represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the female principle, the promise of new beginnings, youth, excitement, and a carefree erotic aura. Potential maiden goddesses include: Brigid, Nimue, Titania, Durga, Verdandi and others. In Irish mythology as it is presently constituted, Brigit or Brighit (exalted one) was the daughter of Dagda (and therefore one of the Tuatha Dé Danann) and wife of Bres of the Fomorians. ... In Arthurian legend, The Lady of the Lake gave King Arthur the sword known as Excalibur. ... Titania may refer to: Titania (mythology), the queen of the fairies in medieval folklore and a character from William Shakespeares play A Midsummer Nights Dream Titania (moon), the largest moon of Uranus. ... In Hinduism, Durga (Sanskrit: , Bengali: ) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess, also identified with Parvati. ... In Norse mythology, Verdandi (ON: Verðandi), also known as Verthandi, is one of the three norns, along with Urd and Skuld. ...

Mother

The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, fulfillment, stability, and power. Potential mother goddesses include: Aa, Ambika, Calliope, Ceres, Astarte, Lakshmi, Urd, and others. In Neopaganism, the Mother is an aspect of the Triple Goddess, along with the Maiden and the Crone. ... Ambika was the daughter of King of Kashi and wife of Vichitravirya, King of Hastinapur. ... Detail of painting The Muses Urania and Calliope by Simon Vouet, in which she is supposedly holding a copy of The Odyssey In Greek mythology, Calliope (Greek: Καλλιoπη, beautiful-voiced) was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and is now best known as Homers muse... Ceres, in Roman mythology, equivalent to the Greek Demeter (see which for more details), daughter of Saturn and Rhea, wife-sister of Jupiter, mother of Proserpina by Jupiter, sister of Juno, Vesta, Neptune and Pluto, and patron of Sicily. ... Astarte on a car with four branches protruding from roof. ... In Hinduism, Lakshmi or Laxmi (Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी ) is the goddess of wealth, light, wisdom and fortune, as well as (secondarily) luck, beauty and fertility. ... In Norse Mythology Urd (ON: Urðr) is one of the three Norns (old crones). ...

Crone

The Crone represents wisdom, repose, and compassion. Potential crone goddesses include: Hel, Maman Brigitte, Hecate, Oya Yansa ("Mother of Nine"), Skuld, Sedna, Baba Yaga, Kali, and others. Indy Norse mythology, Hel is the queen of Helheim, the Norse underworld. ... Veve for Maman Brigitte In Vodun, Maman Brigitte (Grann Brigitte, Manman, Manman Brigit, Manman Brijit) is a death loa, the wife of Baron Samedi. ... For other uses, see Hecate (disambiguation). ... In Yoruba mythology, Oya, is a warrior-goddess of wind, lightning, fertility, fire and magic. ... In Norse mythology, Skuld was one of the Norns, and she was also one of the Valkyries. ... This article is about the Inuit goddess. ... Yaga can refer to: Yajna (Hindu mythology) Baba Yaga (Russian mythology) Yaga (clothing company) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Kali (Sanskrit: काली) is a goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism (although sometimes presented in the West as dark and violent). ...

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. It should be noted that this order is not consistent with that usually cited by some Neopagans and that the triadic structure is not dependent upon the division of the lunar month into three phases.

Another common error in Neopagan writings which needs to be clarified in this context is the confusion regarding the term "New Moon". The traditional new moon (which is the sighting of the first crescent moon in the western sky at sunset) which was used as the starting point of lunar calendars to this day is not the same as the modern astronomical term "new moon" which refers to the dark of the moon. The lunar phase depends on the Moons position in orbit around Earth. ...

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 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. (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. 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 Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (Greek Μοίραι — the Apportioners, often called the Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, sparing ones, or Fatae; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns). ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. ... The Weïrd Sisters, (sometimes Wyrd Sisters or Three Weird Sisters), is the Germanic mythological group name given to the Nordic fates, or Norns. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... Scene from Macbeth, depicting the witches conjuring of an apparition in Act IV, Scene I. Painting by William Rimmer This article is on Shakespeares play, for other meanings see Macbeth (disambiguation). ... Wyrd Sisters is Terry Pratchetts sixth Discworld novel, published in 1988, and re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This is a list of characters appearing in The Sandman comic book, published by DC Comics Vertigo imprint. ... The Sandman was a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics for 75 issues from 1988 until 1996. ... Neil Richard Gaiman () (born November 10, 1960, Portchester, Hampshire) is a British author of numerous science fiction and fantasy works, including many graphic novels. ... Statue of Hathor (Luxor Museum) In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow. ...

In traditional Greek folklore, a low table is still prepared on the 6th night following a birth with food and drink so that the Fates may enter the house and bless the child with good fortune. ^{[citation needed]} A similar ceremony occurs in India, where the goddess who visits is in single-form and is named Sashthi ("sixth").^{[citation needed]} This is similar to the Scandinavian tales of the Norns who visit the houses in which a birth has taken place.^{[citation needed]} All of these themes, over the course of time, move from the realm of sacred myth to that of popular folktale and folk-custom. Most of the original cultural undercurrents would have had to be pre-Indo-European to have lasted so long and to have stretched across so wide a cultural and linguistic expanse.^{[citation needed]}

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. Sleeping Beauty, The Westcar Papyrus). Egill Skallagrímsson in a 17th century manuscript of Egils Saga Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 A.D.), who may have written the account between the years 1220 and 1240 A.D. It is an important representative of the sagas and has... Sir Edward Burne-Jones painted The Sleeping Beauty. ... Westcar Papyrus is a document about Khufu, a 4th-Dynasty Egyptian leader, and contains a cycle of five stories about marvels performed by priests. ...

The celebration of the life-thresholds was from early times in the hands of woman and was repressed comparatively recently. That is why the Three Fates, the Three Graces and the Three Furies were said to be sisters. When the women presided over the blessing of the child at birth and who acted as midwives they served the Fates, when they performed the traditional dances and songs for blessing weddings and acted as bridesmaids they served the Graces and when they fulfilled the role of professional mourners and psychopomp they served the Furies^{[citation needed]}.

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 Daughter (the red or rajasic) aspect of the Great Goddess, known to archaeologists as The Goddess of Love-and-Battle^{[citation needed]} (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. 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".^[9]

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. They are still known in Welsh folklore as Y Mamau ("the Mothers"). In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona (divine mother goddess) was the goddess of the river Marne in Gaul. ... The Matres or Matronae were ancient deities venerated in northwestern Europe in Roman and earlier times. ... Principal sites in Roman Britain Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and 410. ...

References

1. ^ Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1903.
2. ^ Jane Ellen Harrison, Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912.
3. ^ Jane Ellen Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual , London, Cambridge University Press, 1913.
4. ^ Robert Briffault, The Mothers (in three volumes), London and New York, 1927.
5. ^ ^a b C. G. Jung and C. Kerényi, Essays on a Science of Mythology. Bolligen/Princeton University Press, 1967.
6. ^ Marija Gimbutas, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974.
7. ^ Marija Gimbutas, The Living Goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
8. ^ Betz, Hans Dieter (ed.) (1989). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation : Including the Demotic Spells : Texts. University of Chicago Press.
9. ^ Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968.

See also

• Goddess
• Triple deities
• Dea Matrona
• Matres
• Marija Gimbutas
• Beten (Mythology)
• Kumari
• Mahavidyas
• The Judgement of Paris
• Durga
• Goddess movement
• Morrigan
• The aspects of the Great Goddess in Shaktism

Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. ... Triple deities, legendary persons and mythological creatures (sometimes referred to as tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune or triadic), are common throughout world mythology, typically fitting into one of the following general categories: triadic (forming a group of three): three beings inter-related in some way (life, death, rebirth, for example, or... In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona (divine mother goddess) was the goddess of the river Marne in Gaul. ... The Matres or Matronae were ancient deities venerated in northwestern Europe in Roman and earlier times. ... Marija Gimbutas by Kerbstone 52, at the back of Newgrange, Co. ... The triple spiral has been cast by some theorists, such as Marija Gimbutas, as a symbol of the Triple Goddess. ... The Royal Kumari Kumari, or Kumari Devi is a living Hindu goddess in Nepal. ... In Hinduism, the ten mahavidyas (Great Wisdoms) are aspects of Devi. ... The Judgement of Paris, Peter Paul Rubens, ca 1636 (National Gallery, London) The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, in which the legendary roots of the Trojan War can be found. ... In Hinduism, Durga (Sanskrit: , Bengali: ) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess, also identified with Parvati. ... The contemporary Goddess movement emerged as part of the re-emergence of spirituality in the late 1960s and as a recognition of the need for the worship of the Great Goddess to emerge into the mainstream rather than be confined to the status of a mystery religion, or limited to... The Mórrígan (Morrígan, Morrigu, Mór-Rhioghain) (great queen or phantom queen), is an Irish goddess of war and destruction. ... Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that worships Shakti, or Devi -- the Hindu name for the Great Mother -- in all of her forms whilst not rejecting the importance of masculine and neuter divinity. ...

External links

• Neo-pagan definition of the three aspects of the Triple Goddess
• The Great Mother:An Analysis of the Archetype, Erich Neumann, Princeton University Press
• Betz, Hans Dieter, editor The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, Volume 1. 2d edition. 406 p., 42 figures. 7 x 10 1986, 1992
• Varaha Purana
• Skanda Purana
• The Robert Graves forum which contains an informed debate on issues regarding the imagery of the Triple Goddess
• The Westcar Papyrus : The Egyptian Goddesses manifesting as travelling midwives/name-givers
• The Westcar Papyrus in English
• Sashthi and the ceremony of the sixth night after the birth of a child