Triple Goddess concept?

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[Reona]

I don’t know how to really word this, so I hope I at least get my question across in an understandable way.

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I ask because I see a lot of triple goddess images and ideas floating around but at the same time I get the sense of many of the goddesses being just in the singular. I’d just like to hear everyone’s thoughts.

[Dania]

I ask because I see a lot of triple goddess images and ideas floating around but at the same time I get the sense of many of the goddesses being just in the singular. I’d just like to hear everyone’s thoughts.

My personal belief is that the Triple Goddess concept was created sometime in the not-so-distant past, and I'm always confused (and a little annoyed) by the assertion that it's some sort of "ancient concept". Honestly, I cannot think of a single Goddess who really fits this format. Oftentimes Goddesses are "made to fit" by modern Pagans but I don't believe that this is true to the Goddesses in question; especially when a shaky grasp of mythology has to be used in order to make it work. (In my opinion, of course).

[Tana]

I don’t know how to really word this, so I hope I at least get my question across in an understandable way.

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I ask because I see a lot of triple goddess images and ideas floating around but at the same time I get the sense of many of the goddesses being just in the singular. I’d just like to hear everyone’s thoughts.

The MMC Concept is quite new. Older 'triple' gods like Hermes or Hekate are of one age. Or better: they where tripled out of other reasons. Like threefold power over things. Sea, Earth, Sky f.ex. but I'm not quite sure about this now. I read a lot of it here on the board, so some of the folks around here can surely give the exact information.

I don't use the MMC myself. It simply does not fit my believes and experiences. Though I can see it can be of use for others.

[Áine]

I don’t know how to really word this, so I hope I at least get my question across in an understandable way.

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I ask because I see a lot of triple goddess images and ideas floating around but at the same time I get the sense of many of the goddesses being just in the singular. I’d just like to hear everyone’s thoughts.

For me, I think that the Triple Goddess is a deity in of Herself, but I also think that the Triple Goddess is represented in triads such as Selene, Diana, Hecate or Nimue, Mahri, Ana--also the Goddesses that have triple aspects like Brighid, Matronae, or The Fates.

Some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Goddess
http://www.maryjones.us/jce/triplegoddess.html
http://www.witchesway.net/links/triplegoddess.html
http://www.crystalinks.com/triplegoddess.html

[Darkhawk]

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

When dealing with the gods of Egypt, I mostly don't consider the interpretations of Romantic poets terribly relevant to much of anything.

When dealing with the lemniscate gods of Feri, I recognise them as both entities in Their own right and as the faces of the Twins, and treat them accordingly.

[Thorn]

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I do find the MMC model quite useful when thinking about the stages of my own life, rites of passage and all that (I've been looking forward to my own "Crone-hood" for years.  I'm the only person I know who actually celebrated her first grey hair!) 

However, I don't know of any goddess that actually fits this model. 

I work with Brighid, who is a triple goddess, but not MMC at all - all the sisters are of an age.  As far as UPG goes, sometimes she seems a little younger than others, but she's always a woman in her prime.

Actually, the only "triple" goddesses I can think of are Brighid, Hecate, and the Morrigan.  (And I don't know the last two very well, so I couldn't vouch for them.)  Most of the time what I see is people lumping three different - often related, sometimes not - goddesses together and say they're the same person.

[Jenett]

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I find it a useful archetypal image, in the same sense that I find concepts like Healer, Sage, Witch, King, Warrior, Lover, Bard, etc. useful  for some conversations, but when talking about an individual, it is rather rude to boil them down to one single word.

M'Lady .. who knows. Ask me in 20 years. I see her as being roughly my age, and I have no idea if that's her preferred appearance, or if it's a reflection of where I am in life. I don't see her in a Mother role in the slightest. (Some specific kinds of nuturing and creativity, yes, but that's not the same thing.)

I do find it useful in terms of general life stages (broadly defined and calibrated to personal life choices.) And I find it useful for talking about shifts in focus and locus of attention over time. But I don't work with three separate deities to have all aspects represented.

I've actually thought about this one a lot in personal terms: I'm single (which'd be Maiden), divorced (who knows), in my 30s (mother), have no intention of kids ever (Maiden), am looking at specific nurturing and creative roles, both in my own life and in the broader community (mother). I've had silver hairs since I was 20 (and at 32, it's becoming noticeable, and I love it.)

My general inclination tends to be away from explicitly Mother Goddesses whose clearest focus is parenting and direct individual nurturing - I tend to be far more interested by the independent-women model, who are often slotted to Maiden. (And there's lovely stuff about Crones, too.) Mostly, I just shrug and get on with what I was doing anyway. Archetypes should be a tool, not a shackle.

[Dania]

Actually, the only "triple" goddesses I can think of are Brighid, Hecate, and the Morrigan.

Morrigan doesn't fit *at all*. At least, not in my experience of her.

IMO a goddess can have different 'aspects' without having to be divided up into three different beings.

[Aster Breo]

also the Goddesses that have triple aspects like Brighid, Matronae, or The Fates.

I personally don't experience Brighid as a triple goddess.  She is traditionally considered to be the patroness of 3 areas of life/work (poetry, smithcraft, and healing), but I don't think that's the same thing as saying She has a triple aspect.  Those traditional associations are because She's described in Cormac's Glossary (I think) as one of 3 sisters, all named Brighid.  One is the patroness of poetry, one of smithcraft, and one of healing.  But that's really the only reference to Her in any kind of "triple" form.

Also, this is not my area of expertise, but I thought the Matronae were mother goddesses who were usually depicted in groups of 3 or more, rather than 1 goddess with a triple aspect.   I thought the same of the Fates, except that they aren't "mothers".

[Malkin]

However, I don't know of any goddess that actually fits this model. 

A close one is the Germanic folk goddess Holda, who is a maiden in the spring and a crone in the winter...but then, I don't think she has that "mother" aspect in the middle, as far as I know. (It's said that she also appears as a tree-woman, which *maaaaybe* could be seen as a "motherly" aspect, but it's a bit of a stretch.)

Of course, I don't have any sources to hand...this is all stuff from things I've read that's accumulated in my head over time.

[fiamma]

Actually, the only "triple" goddesses I can think of are Brighid, Hecate, and the Morrigan.  (And I don't know the last two very well, so I couldn't vouch for them.)  Most of the time what I see is people lumping three different - often related, sometimes not - goddesses together and say they're the same person.

Hecate is a maiden goddess, actually. she can be seen as a triple goddess in the sense that she was often portrayed as one goddess with three faces. Sometimes anthropomorphic faces, sometimes three different animal faces (horse, snake and dog I *think*) on a human body.

[fiamma]

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I don't. It has no bearing at all on my relationships with the gods, and they are not archetypes. They do not represent anything to me. They are what they are.

The deities that I worship most closely are gods (Apollo, more recently Dionysus. Eh...Hermes is wedging his foot in the door there too.) and I worship a couple of goddesses...eh, more at arm's length I guess is the best way to put it. One of them, Hestia, is a virgin goddess...but she does not fit the "maiden" archetype. Leto is very much a mother goddess, her existence pretty much centers around being the mother of Apollo and Artemis. But she doesn't really fit into the mmc "mother" archetype...not in my estimation anyway.

The other, Asteria, is a mother- her one child is Hekate. But Asteria is not a "mother goddess"...the fact that she had a child has little bearing on the major part that she played in mythology- that is, it was she, fleeing Zeus's advances, who fell into the sea until the pregnant Leto needed a place to give birth, whereupon Asteria rose from the sea floor and became the island of Delos. This I think is an important distinction that needs to be made. Some people believe that all goddesses who are mothers must be "mother goddesses" but many were never worshiped as such, and are surrounded by mythology that does not relate to, or sometimes opposes, motherhood. For example, to the best of my knowledge, Hera was not worshiped as a mother. She had children, but if you look at her mythology...not so motherly.

I know that there is a huge difference in many cases between mythology and how the deities were worshiped, but the MMC archetypal grouping seems, at least in my understanding, to pull from mythology, not from actual religious cult. So Rhea, Demeter, Gaia, Leto....all examples of mother goddesses. Asteria, Hera, Aphrodite...mothers, not mother goddesses.

Um...so I didn't mean to be so long-winded...but it's late and I get like that...

[RandallS]

Hecate is a maiden goddess, actually.

The ancient Greeks would have been very confused by all those today who see her as a crone.

[Star]

How do you handle the concept of the triple goddess, as in the faces of Maiden, Mother, and Crone, when dealing with your own female deities? Do you just disregard the triple goddess concept as not connected to your deity or some just pertaining to Wicca?

I disregard it, as it's not relevant to my religion.  I do find it an interesting archetype in a sort of poetic-imagery sense, but it never goes any deeper than that for me.

[Caroline]

For example, to the best of my knowledge, Hera was not worshiped as a mother. She had children, but if you look at her mythology...not so motherly.

Depends where you look, and how you define "mother goddess". Is being "motherly" all it takes? Or is it fertility concerns? How did the ancients define "mother"? Usually it was closely equated with marriage. Hera was closely associated with marriage, fertility and childbirth in Boiotia, Paestum and especially Argolis. You can find evidence of Hera as both a prenuptial figure (as parthenos) and as Teleia (one fulfilled by marriage). There is also evidence that in some areas Hera was even seen as a potnia theron (mistress of animals) type. This may not all qualify Hera as "motherly" in a modern sense, but there is no doubt that Hera was vitally important to women's concerns, which in the ancient world, generally rotated about children.

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