Pagan Blog Project - G is for Goddess

Disclaimer: Since I am a cisgendered female, it is comforting to me to relate to the Divine as Female. Deity is different for everyone and may be female, male, all, neither, and any shade between.

I honor the Goddess, the Divine Feminine, Womanhood, and all that comes with it. Yes, it can be trying at times especially with PMS and moon time. Yet, I am happy to be female. Imagine my joy when I discovered paganism and was introduced to the concept of Goddess! I was never close to Jehovah, though I really tried to be. He was "up there", faraway. JWs would always talk about how worshipping Jehovah was so joyful. I couldn't see it. With the many restrictions of the JW religion, I was miserable not happy.

Paganism in general embraces both the Feminine and Masculine. I choose the Feminine because it makes sense to me. The Goddess is not just "up there", She is also within. My spirituality is no longer a burden. I am learning about Isis, Bast, Hathor, and the Egyptian pantheon. Embracing my (inner) Goddess has encouraged me to quit using chemicals to straighten my natural hair - there will be another whole post on this later.

Moon Goddess
Most cultures view the moon as female. In paganism, there is the Triple Goddess - Maiden, Mother, Crone - along with the Dark Goddess. Each of these aspects correspond to the 4 main moon phases.

Earth Goddess
Mother Earth, Mother Nature, even Aunt Flo - the Feminine embodies nature.

Sun Goddess
Although many cultures view the sun as masculine, a few do not. Amaterasu is a widely known Japanese sun goddess.

Planet Goddess
Sadly, other than Earth & Venus, all of the planets are name after Gods. There are asteriods named for Goddesses such as Vesta and Ceres.

Triple Goddess

Since my posts have been about Buddhism, I decided that it was time for a Pagan post. The Triple Goddess – Maiden, Mother, Crone - typically refers to the Moon and Her phases.  I like to think of the Triple Goddess during solar occults* and lunar eclipses as consisting of the Moon Goddess, the Earth Goddess, and the Sun Goddess. The symbol for Triple Goddess in type is )O( or in picture form a waxing crescent moon, a full moon, and a waning crescent moon.

Triple Goddess also refers to different periods during a woman's lifetime. Maiden is from birth to 21, Mother is from 21 to menopause, and Crone is from menopause onward. Now, these are just my arbitrary values. Another Solitary or coven may a totally different setup. Maiden could be from birth to puberty and Mother from puberty to menopause but with puberty starting earlier and earlier, I would have a hard time seeing a 9 yr old as Mother. Usually there is a special ceremony for the beginning of each stage.

Note that in Paganism, Crone does not have a negative connotation. Maybe someone to post a comment about the background for this.

*Technically, solar occult is the proper name for the event that we call solar eclipse. The moon blocks, hides, or occults the sun.