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Symbols of The Sacred Mother

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Ancient Symbols of Motherhood

"For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world."
- William Ross Wallace

The tradition of honoring mothers dates back to ancient Greek spring festivals dedicated to the Mother Goddess, Rhea, and to the Roman tributes made to their Great Mother of All The Gods, Cybele.

In honor of The Virgin Mary, the mother of Christ, Christians began dedicating the fourth Sunday of Lent to mothers.

It was in England that the holiday, called "Mothering Sunday", was expanded to include all mothers.

Image: GoddessGift.net

Ancient Mothers of the Gods

Mother Goddesses

RHEA was a Greek Mother Goddess of female fertility and motherhood. Her name means "flow" and "ease."

- As the wife of Kronos (Time), she represented the eternal flow of time; and as the Great Mother, the "flow" represented the life blood, birth waters, and nourishing milk.

- Rhea was mother to Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus.

CYBELE (or Kybele) Often equated with the two other Greek Mother Goddesses; Rhea and Demeter (Ceres). Cybele was so revered by the Romans, that she was often called "The Mother of All" or "The Great Mother of the Gods". She was also a primal nature goddess.

Source: www.goddess.com
Picture: commons.wikimedia.org

Voices of The Goddess

Maiden, Mother, Crone: Voices of the Goddess

by: Claire Hamilton

Amazon Price: $14.73 (as of 02/14/2012)

Written in the first person, these provocative and surprising renderings of Celtic tales take us on a challenging journey in which the twelve most ancient and extraordinary goddesses of the land reveal their light and dark faces. In the brining their symbolism to life for today they restore our earlier understanding of war, sex, death, and are turned into spiritual encounters.

Sacred Symbols of The Mother

Ancient Symbols

The Spiral- is Linked to the "Circle", an ancient symbol of the goddess, the womb, fertility, feminine serpent forces, continual change, and the evolution of the universe. The Spiral is probably the oldest symbol of human spirituality.

The Menat- This symbol represents a heavy beaded necklace with a crescent shaped front and a counter piece at the rear. It was a symbol associated with the goddess, Hathor and her son, Ihy. In fact, Hathor was known as the "Great Menat". Hathor used the Menat as a conduit, through which she passes her power. It was representative of joy, life, potency, fertility, birth, and rebirth.

The Lady- A simplified silhouette of the Egyptian Mother Goddess, probably a prototype of the Goddess Isis, it is often used to symbolize the feminine deity of Wicca.

The Cup (or Chalice)- A feminine element and a symbol of intuition, gestation, psychic ability, and the subconscious. The Cup also represents the Goddess of the Womb, and female reproductive organs.

Triskele (Triple Spiral, Triskelion) - Closely related to the triquetra, this Celtic symbol, known as the Triple Goddess, is composed of three interlocked spirals that correspond to the three phases of womanhood. It symbolizes maidenhood, motherhood, and the crone; and represents the waxing, full and waning moons.

The Triple Moon- A Wiccan Goddess symbol that represents the Maiden, Mother, and Crone; and the waxing, full, and waning moon, as well. It is associated with feminine energy, mystery and psychic abilities.

Image: commons.wikimedia.org

Celebrate the Goddess Within

Goddess Jewelry

Mother Goddesses and Saints

Ripeness, fertility, fulfillment, stability, and power

Mother Goddesses represent ripeness, fertility, fulfillment, stability, and power.

Ala (Nigeria) One face of the Mother Goddess. She was the ruler of the Underworld, protectress of the harvest, and fertility of both animals and man.

Bast (Egypt) Bast was the Cat Headed Goddess. She was associated with both fertility and childbirth. She was also the goddess of music, dancing and joy.

Cerridwen (Celtic) Associated with the Mother Goddess and the Sow.

Danu (Celtic) Flowing Mother of Abundance and Fertility. She is associated with flowing rivers, agriculture, cultivation, and the nurturing of the land. She represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, as demonstrated by the plants of the natural world.

Demeter (Greece) (Roman Ceres) The Mother Goddess. Daughter of Rhea. She represented the wellspring of life; giving and compassionate, and the Mother- Daughter bond.

Hathor (Egypt) Hathor was the protectress of woman and pregnancy. She was sometimes also considered, in some areas, a midwife. Hathor was most often shown as a cow and was said to have nourished the mortals with her milk.

Hera (Greece) (Roman Juno) Greek Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Birth and Marriage. Daughter of Rhea. Hera presided over all things feminine.

Ixchel (Mayan), The Goddess of Fertility and Crone Wisdom, was generally viewed as ruling childbirth, lunar cycles, and pregnancy. However she had a disastrous side as well, as she sent floods and storms to earth.

Juno Lucina (Roman) Another face of Juno, Juno Lucina had a duel role; she protected pregnant woman and women giving birth. She was thought to bring a newborn child "into the light".

Mylitta (Babylonian and Assyrian) Goddess of fertility and childbirth.

Pukkeenegak (Eskimo) Feminine goddess who was supposed to give children to Eskimo women.

St. Catherine of Sweden (Roman Catholic) Patron saint of miscarriage prevention.

St. Gerard Majella (Roman Catholic) Patron saint of pregnancy and expectant mothers.

St. Monica (Roman Catholic) Patron saint of mothers.

Uma (India) She represented femaleness in all forms, particularly active ones, like childbirth.

Sri-Laksmi, The Lotus Goddess Power over fertility and abundance.

Image and Reference: www.crystalinks.com/triplegoddess, Symbols.Net/Wicca

Guardians of Childbirth

Mother and Child (detail from The Three Ages of Woman), c.1905

Klimt, Gustav

Buy at AllPosters.com

Ajysyt (Siberia) Mother Goddess. Her name means "birth giver". She visits every mother among her followers and provides a soul for the newborns.

Artemis (Greece) Although the goddess of chastity, Artemis presides over childbirth because it was said that she caused her mother Leto no pain during delivery.

Diana (Roman) Goddess of the moon, forests, animals, and women in childbirth. Both a virgin goddess and an earth goddess, she was identified with the Greek Artemis.

The Hathors (Egypt) were "Fairy godmothers" who appeared at birth to bestow blessings to the newborn. They would set the child's destiny. The Hathors consisted of seven to nine young, beautiful women who danced and sang at the birth of a child. The Hathors are said have been created by Hathor herself, as she adopted seven to nine aspects of herself from her role as Mother Goddess.

Heket (Egypt) Wife of Khnum. Heket was associated with Hathor as a birth deity. She was said to be the birth goddess of all creatures.

Ilithyia (Greece) Once viewed as two separate goddesses, Ilithyia was brought together into one. She was the daughter of Hera who freed a child from her mother's womb.

Isis (Egypt) Queen of Egypt, Isis was the protector of motherhood, women, and healer of the sick. She also rules magic. Sick with grief concerning the murder of her husband Osiris by his brother Set, Isis reconstructed and reanimated his corpse long enough for it to impregnate her with their only son Horus.

Juno Sospita (Roman) Presides over labor and delivery.

Meskhent (Egypt) Egyptian goddess who presided over the delivery of babies. She was represented as a brick with a woman's head; the reason being that Egyptian women traditionally gave birth squatting over a brick. She also pronounced judgment over the new child. She was married to Shai who protected the destiny of newborns and children.

Mylitta (Babylon) Mylitta was identified with Aphrodite. She took special interests in the process of childbirth.

Nekhbet (Egypt) Vulture Goddess of Childbirth

Nintur (Sumeria) Another name for the goddess Ninhursaga, the Mother Goddess. Her name means "Lady Who Gives Form". She was represented as a woman holding a midwife's pail of water.

Pi-hsia-yuan-chun (China) Known as the "Princess of Streaked Clouds", she protects women, children, and presides over birth.

St. Anne (Roman Catholic) Patron saint of women in labor.

St. Margaret (Roman Catholic) Patron saint of women giving birth.

Selket (Egypt) Selket was the scorpion headed goddess. Goddess of scorpions, magic, childbirth and nursing.

Taueret (Egypt) Goddess of childbirth; Taueret took the form of a pregnant hippopotamus in hopes that her hideous form would scare away any demons after the newborn infant.