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In Wicca and related Neopagan religions, the Triple Goddess is, along with the Horned God, held in particular reverence, and her three aspects are most often portrayed as being of different ages: Maiden, Mother and Crone, an idea which was popularized in the modern period by Robert Graves.

The Triple Goddess in Neopaganism

The fully formed image of the Maiden, Mother and Crone goddess was Robert Graves' great gift to modern pagan witchcraft.^[1] Many modern witches follow beliefs that originated in 20th century England, in their views, sexuality, pregnancy, breastfeeding and other female reproductive processes are ways that women may embody the Goddess, making the physical body sacred.^[2]

"The Maiden" represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.
The Mother represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life.
The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings.

Believers claim that the echoing of this normative model of a womans life-cycle allows women to identify with the deity in ways unreachable by what they consider to be patriarchal religions.^[3]

Robert Graves' White Goddess

The term Triple Goddess was popularised by poet and scholar Robert Graves, in his "work of poetic imagination," The White Goddess (1948). Graves believed that an archetypal goddess triad occurred throughout Indo-European mythology, and his theories are popular with many neopagans due to the similar Victorian-synthesist approach to myth and history.^[4] Much of Graves theories are indebted to this nineteenth-century romanticist scholarship. Graves intended the White Goddess to be read as an authentic work of history, rather than a personal poetic vision.^[5] His value as a poet aside, elements of Graves' scholarship such as poor philology, use of inadequate texts (for example, the 'pseudo-Celtic' Canu Taliesin from the 19th C which he believed to be ancient^[6]), and use of out-dated archeology have been criticised^[4] and scholars, particularly historians and folklorists generally do not receive the work favourably. ^[7] Graves was disappointed that his work was "loudly ignored" by the majority of Celtic scholars,^[8], however it was accepted as history by many non-scholarly readers and The White Goddess remains a major source of confusion about the ancient Celts and influences many un-scholarly views of Celtic paganism.^[9]

In Robert Graves' anthology The Greek Myths Graves systematically applies the convictions enshrined in The White Goddess to Greek mythology, often confusing and puzzling readers.^[10] The theme is also developed in his book of essays entitled Mammon and the Black Goddess. In his novel Watch the North Wind Rise (1949) Graves extrapolated this further into a future world where the present Monotheistic religions are discarded and the Triple Goddess once again rules supreme (one of the Goddess' manifestations is called "Mari", implying the Mary of Christianity is a disguised form of the same Goddess) (see [1]).

In his introduction The Sufis, a book he co-wrote with Idries Shah, Graves translates a poem of the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) which illustrates a triple goddess as a theme among medieval Sufis:

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 idea that medieval Kabbalah and pre-Islamic Sufi beliefs had influences on surviving pre-Christian folk-traditions in Europe.

Moon 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.

While Graves made the association between Goddesses and the moon appear 'natural' , it was not so to the Celts or other ancient peoples.^[11]

The theme of the goddess trinity can also be found in the works of Jane Ellen Harrison,^[12] who initially formulated and published the idea, which was to later inform the origins of Wicca.^[13]

A.B. Cook, George Thomson, Sir James Frazer, Robert Briffault^[14] and Jack Lindsay.

Neopagan appropriation of history

Marija Gimbutas studies on the Chalcolithic, a period she defined as 'Old Europe' (6500-3500 B.C.E.) ^[15] have been widely adopted by New Age and eco-feminist groups.^[16] Gimbutas postulated that in ancient Europe, the Aegean and the Near East, a great Triple Goddess was worshipped, predating the patriarchal religions imported by nomadic speakers of Indo-European languages (later superseded by a patriarchal monotheism). Gimbutas interpreted artefacts from neolithic (and earlier) Europe as evidence of worship of a triple goddess of (1) death (represented as a "stiff nude", bird of prey or poisonous snake), (2) birth and fertility (represented by a mother-figure) and of (3) regeneration (represented by a moth, butterfly or bee, or alternatively by a symbol of the uterus or fetus, such as a frog, hedgehog or bulls head.)^[17] The view that an 'Old European' religion was goddess-based has been called "essentially sound" by linguist M. L. West.^[18] Her work has been widely criticised as mistaken on the grounds of dating, archeological context and typologies^[16] with most archeologists considering her goddess hypothesis implausible ^[19] and her work has been called pseudo-scholarship.^[20] This has been echoed by feminist authors such as Cynthia Eller^[21] and religion writers such as Philip G. Davis. Her histories have been seen as a poetic projection of her personal life onto history hidden behind a facade of positivistic 'explanation', with her goddess-orientated society being based on her childhood and adolescence.^[22]

Triple Goddess in psychology

The Triple Goddess mytheme was also explored by psychologists involved in the study of archetypes Carl Kerenyi,^[23] Erich Neumann, and Carl Jung.^[23]

Fiction, film and literary criticism

The Weird Sisters of Shakespeare's Macbeth

The Wyrd Sisters of Terry Pratchett's novel of the same name are most definitely inspired by the maiden/mother/crone triad. 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, suggesting that they are, in fact, all the various interpretations of the motif recorded through history. ^[24]

In Alan Garner's The Owl Service, based on the fourth branch of the Mabinogi and influenced by Robert Graves, clearly delineates the character of the Triple Goddess. Garner goes further, in his other novels in making every female character intentionally represent an aspect of the Triple Goddess.^[8]

Norman Holland has used Jungian criticism to explore the female characters in Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo using Graves' Triple Goddess motif as a reference. ^[25]

The main characters in James Cameron's movie Aliens have been seen to reflect aspects of the triple goddess: The Alien Queen (Crone), Ripley (Mother) and Newt (Maiden).^[26]

References

^ Ronald Hutton The Triumph of the Moon p.194
^ Bromley Teaching New Religious Movements p 214
^ Helen A. Berger, Witchcraft and Magic p.
^ ^a ^b Wood, Juliette (1999). "1, The concept of the Goddess". In Sandra Billington, Miranda Green (ed.). The Concept of the Goddess. Routledge. p. 12. ISBN 0415197899, 9780415197892. Retrieved 2008-12-23. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
^ Hutton, Ronald (2001). "2". The Triumph of the Moon:A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 0192854496, 9780192854490. Retrieved 2008-12-23. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
^ Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.320
^ The Paganism Reader p.128
^ ^a ^b White, Donna R. A Century of Welsh Myth in Childrens Literature p.75
^ Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.145
^ Von Hendy, AndrewThe Modern Construction of Myth p. 354
^ Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British isles P.145
^ Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1903, revised 1922.; Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912; Ancient Art and Ritual , London, Cambridge University Press, 1913.
^ Joanne Pearson, A Popular Dictionary of Paganism p.147
^ Robert Briffault, The Mothers (in three volumes), London and New York, 1927.
^ Marija Gimbutas, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974; The Living Goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
^ ^a ^b Roberta Gilchrist Gender and Archaeology: Contesting the Past p.25
^ Civilization of the Goddess, Marija Gimbutas, HarperCollins Publishers p223
^ West, M. L. (2007) Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford University Press. p. 140. "The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas saw the Indo-Europeans as bringing a male-oriented religion into a goddess-worshipping 'Old Europe', and this reconstruction, based largely on iconic evidence, seems essentially sound."
^ Nelson, Sarah Milledge Handbook of gender in archaeology p 756.
^ Did God have a Wife p.
^ Eller, Cynthia P., The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory
^ Chapman, John. A biographical sketch of Marija Gimbutas inExcavating Women p.299-301
^ ^a ^b C. G. Jung and C. Kerényi, Essays on a Science of Mythology. Bolligen/Princeton University Press, 1967.
^ Gaiman, Neil et. al. The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology p 151.
^ Norman Norwood Holland Meeting Movies p. 43
^ Roz Kaveney, From Alien to The Matrix p. 151

External links

[1] Ronald Hutton The Triumph of the Moon p.194

[2] Bromley Teaching New Religious Movements p 214

[3] Helen A. Berger, Witchcraft and Magic p.

[wood-4] Wood, Juliette (1999). "1, The concept of the Goddess". In Sandra Billington, Miranda Green (ed.). The Concept of the Goddess. Routledge. p. 12. ISBN 0415197899, 9780415197892. Retrieved 2008-12-23. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

[Tmoon-5] Hutton, Ronald (2001). "2". The Triumph of the Moon:A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 0192854496, 9780192854490. Retrieved 2008-12-23. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)

[6] Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.320

[paganism_reader-7] The Paganism Reader p.128

[White-8] White, Donna R. A Century of Welsh Myth in Childrens Literature p.75

[9] Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.145

[10] Von Hendy, AndrewThe Modern Construction of Myth p. 354

[11] Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British isles P.145

[12] Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1903, revised 1922.; Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912; Ancient Art and Ritual , London, Cambridge University Press, 1913.

[13] Joanne Pearson, A Popular Dictionary of Paganism p.147

[14] Robert Briffault, The Mothers (in three volumes), London and New York, 1927.

[15] Marija Gimbutas, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974; The Living Goddesses. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

[Gilchrist-16] Roberta Gilchrist Gender and Archaeology: Contesting the Past p.25

[17] Civilization of the Goddess, Marija Gimbutas, HarperCollins Publishers p223

[18] West, M. L. (2007) Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford University Press. p. 140. "The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas saw the Indo-Europeans as bringing a male-oriented religion into a goddess-worshipping 'Old Europe', and this reconstruction, based largely on iconic evidence, seems essentially sound."

[19] Nelson, Sarah Milledge Handbook of gender in archaeology p 756.

[20] Did God have a Wife p.

[21] Eller, Cynthia P., The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory

[22] Chapman, John. A biographical sketch of Marija Gimbutas inExcavating Women p.299-301

[JungKerenyiEssays-23] C. G. Jung and C. Kerényi, Essays on a Science of Mythology. Bolligen/Princeton University Press, 1967.

[24] Gaiman, Neil et. al. The Sandman Papers: An Exploration of the Sandman Mythology p 151.

[25] Norman Norwood Holland Meeting Movies p. 43

[26] Roz Kaveney, From Alien to The Matrix p. 151

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Refimprove|date=January 2008}}
 <!--This article is in Commonwealth English-->
+<!-- this article is about the Wiccan deity, not generic "triple female deities" -->
-[[Image:Hecate Chiaramonti Inv1922.jpg|150px|thumb|right|The Greek goddess [[Hekate]] portrayed in triplicate.]]
-A '''triple goddess''' is a term used to describe any [[goddess]] who appears as a triad.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} In ancient Indo-European mythologies, various [[goddess]]es or demi-goddesses appear as a [[Triad#Mythology and religion|triad]], either as three separate beings who always appear as a group (the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[Moirae]], [[Charites]], [[Erinyes]] and a trio of [[Norse mythology|Norse]] [[Norns]]) or as a single deity who is commonly depicted in three aspects (Greek [[Hecate]] and the cult image of Latin [[Diana Nemorensis]], of whom Hecate is one part<ref>Virgil addresses Hecate as ''tergemina Hecate, tria virginis, ora Dianae'' (''Aeneid'', 4.511.</ref>).
-Often it is ambiguous whether a single being or three are represented, as is the case with the [[Irish mythology|Irish]] [[Brighid]] and her two sisters, also called Brighid, or the [[Morrígan]] who is known by at least three or four different names.  In most ancient portrayals of triple goddesses, the separate deities perform different yet related functions, and there is no obvious difference in their ages.
 In [[Wicca]] and related [[Neopagan]] religions, the '''Triple Goddess''' is, along with the [[Horned God]], held in particular reverence, and her three aspects are most often portrayed as being of different ages: [[Maiden]], [[Mother]] and [[Crone]], an idea which was popularized in the modern period by Robert Graves.
+==The Triple Goddess in Neopaganism==
-==Triadic goddesses in historical mythologies==
+The fully formed image of the '''Maiden, Mother and Crone''' goddess was [[Robert Graves]]' great gift to modern pagan witchcraft.<ref>Ronald Hutton ''The Triumph of the Moon'' p.194</ref> Many modern witches follow beliefs that  originated in 20th century England, in their views, sexuality, pregnancy, breastfeeding and other female reproductive processes are ways that women may embody the Goddess, making the physical body sacred.<ref>Bromley ''Teaching New Religious Movements'' p 214</ref>
-Throughout history, various female deities and mythological figures have appeared as triads. According to [[M. L. West]] these show the influence of pre-Indo-European goddess worship in Europe.<ref>West, M. L. (2007) ''Indo-European Poetry and Myth''. Oxford University Press. p. 140-1.</ref> Triple female fate divinities, typically "[[weaving (mythology)|spinners]]" of destiny, are attested all over Europe and in Bronze Age Anatolia.<ref>West, M. L. (2007) ''Indo-European Poetry and Myth''. Oxford University Press. pp. 379-385.</ref>
+* "The [[Maiden]]" represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.
-===Greek myth===
+*The [[Mother (neopaganism)|Mother]] represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life.
-In [[ancient Greece]], the goddess [[Hekate]], who was associated with [[witchcraft]] and crossroads, appeared in artistic representations as three maidens. She had initially appeared in [[Anatolia]], where she was a great goddess who did not appear as a triad, but her role was adapted in Classical Greece.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
+*The [[Crone]] represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings.
+Believers claim that the echoing of this [[normative]] model of a womans life-cycle allows women to identify with the deity in ways unreachable by what they consider to be [[patriarchal]] religions.<ref>Helen A. Berger, ''Witchcraft and Magic'' p.</ref>
-Similarly, the goddess [[Diana]] was sometimes viewed in a triple form.  For instance, she was worshipped as [[Diana Nemorensis]] at her [[sacred grove]] at Aricia, on the shores of [[Lake Nemi]] from the late sixth century BC. "The Latin Diana was conceived as a threefold unity of  the divine huntress, the Moon goddess, and the goddess of the nether world, [[Hekate]]," Albert Alföldi interpreted the late Republican numismatic image,<ref>Alföldi, "Diana Nemorensis", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' (1960:137-44) p 141; Alföldi's numismatic evidence shows that the triple goddess cult image still stood in the ''lucus'' of Nemi in 43 BCE; the [[Lake of Nemi]] was ''Triviae lacus'' for Virgil (''Aeneid'' 7.516).</ref> noting that Diana ''montium custos nemoremque virgo'' ("keeper of the mountains and virgin of Nemi") is addressed by [[Horace]] as ''diva triformis'' ("three-form goddess").<ref>Horace, ''Carmine'' 3.22.1.</ref> Diana is commonly addressed as [[Trivia (mythology)|Trivia]] by Virgil<ref>''Aeneid'' 6.35, 10.537.</ref> and Catullus.<ref>''Carmine'' 35.14 ''tu potens Trivia''...</ref>
-===Celtic myth===
-In Celtic mythology, [[triplism]] appears in both goddesses and gods<ref name="Mythology : The Celts">Emrys Evans - Little, Brown & Company, Page 171</ref>. Male examples include the god [[Lugus]].
-The earliest appearance of triadic goddesses in Celtic paganism that we know about was that of the [[Matres]] or [[Matronae]],{{Fact|date=December 2008}} These goddesses, sometimes represented as a group of 3, but sometimes with as many as 27 inscriptions were associated with motherhood and fertility. Inscriptions to these deities have been found in Gaul, Spain, Italy, the Rhineland and Britain, as their worship was carried by [[Roman]] soldiery dating from the mid 1st century to the 3rd century AD.<ref>Takacs, Sarolta A. (2008) ''Vestal Virgins, Sybils, and Matrons: Women in Roman Religion''. University of Texas Press. pp. 118–121.</ref>
-The goddess [[Brigit]], worshipped in [[Ireland]], was also depicted in a triple form as three sisters; Brigit the Poetess, Brigit the Smith and Brigit the Doctor.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-===Norse myth===
-[[Image:Nornsweaving.jpg|150px|thumb|right|The Norns, by [[Arthur Rackham]], from 1912.]]
-In [[Norse paganism]], a subset of [[Germanic paganism]], a trio of [[Norns]] appear together: [[Skuld (Norn)|Skuld]], [[Urðr]], and [[Verðandi]].{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-===Arabian folklore===
-In [[pre-Islamic Arabia]] and [[Nabataea]], [[Allah]] was worshipped as a pagan deity with a family of deities around him. Among these was a triad of goddesses who were called "the three daughters of Allah": [[Allāt|al-Lat]] ("the Goddess")  [[Al-Uzza]] ("Power") the youngest, and  [[Manat]] ("Fate") the crone, "the third, the other".<ref>Khalīl, Shawqī Abū (2003) ''Atlas of the Qurʼān: Places, Nations, Landmarks''. Darussalam Press. pp. 196-7.</ref><ref name="HawtingIdolatry">Hawting, Gerald R. (1999) ''The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to History''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 130-2.</ref> They were known collectively as the three [[crane (bird)|cranes]].<ref name="HawtingIdolatry"/> The name [[Allāt|al-Lat]] is known from the time of the histories of [[Herodotus]] in which she is named Alilat, meaning "The Goddess".<ref>Herodotus ''Histories'' 1.131; 3.8.</ref><ref>Healey, John F. (2001) ''The Religion of the Nabataeans: A Conspectus''. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 112.</ref> It is these goddesses who were said to have been briefly interpolated into an early version of the [[Qur'an]] in the apocryphal [[Satanic Verses]].<ref name="HawtingIdolatry"/>
-===Hinduism===
-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 [[Devi|MahaDevi]] ("The Great Goddess") when they are named MahaSarasvati, MahaLaksmi, and MahaKali. {{Fact|date=December 2008}} In the annual festival of [[Navaratri]] images of the Triple Goddess are carried in procession throughout India and in Hindu communities worldwide.<ref>[http://www.exoticindia.com/article/navaratri/ Navaratri - Celebrating the Symbolic Vision of the Goddess]</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/navaratri.shtml BBC – Religion & Ethics – Navaratri]</ref>
-An archetypal Goddess triad is not limited to Indo-European cultures, and can also be found in some mythologies of Africa and Asia.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}  The triadic theme also appears in medieval [[Christian]] folk traditions — notably with [[The Three Marys]].
-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.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-==Modern interpretations==
-===Triadic goddesses in Indo-European theory===
-[[Georges Dumézil]] proposed that a potential [[Indo-European]] society followed a tripartite model consisting of three classes - Priest, Warrior and Peasant. His theory enshrined the idea that mythology relied upon social structures for its content. Subsequently the imagined religious life of his society included three main gods which represented each of these three classes.<ref>''The Edinburgh Encyclopedia of Continental Philosphy'' p. 562</ref>  In 1970 Dumézil proposed a goddesses representing three qualities through different aspects or epithets. The basis for this theory was his interpretation of various deities, including the Iranian [[Anāhitā]], the Vedic [[Sarasvatī]] and the Roman [[Juno]]. <ref>(Nāsstrōm, Britt-Mari (1999) "Freyja — The Trivalent Goddess" in Sand, Erik Reenberg & Sørensen, Jørgen Podemann (eds.) ''Comparative Studies in History of Religions: Their Aim, Scope and Validity''. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 62-4.)</ref>
-Petreska Vesna posits that myths including trinities of female mythical beings from Central and Eastern European cultures may be evidence for an Indo-European  belief in trimutive female "[[weaving (mythology)|spinners]]" of destiny.<ref>Petreska, Vesna (2005) "Demons of Fate in Macedonian Folk Beliefs" in Gábor Klaniczay & Éva Pócs (eds.) ''Christian Demonology and Popular Mythology''. Central European Press. p. 225.</ref>
 ===Robert Graves' ''White Goddess''===
 The term '''Triple Goddess''' was popularised by poet and scholar [[Robert Graves]], in his "work of poetic imagination," ''[[The White Goddess]]'' (1948).  Graves believed that an archetypal goddess triad occurred throughout Indo-European mythology, and his theories are popular with many neopagans due to the similar Victorian-synthesist approach to myth and history.<ref name="wood"/> Much of Graves theories are indebted to this nineteenth-century romanticist scholarship. Graves intended the ''White Goddess'' to be read as an authentic work of history, rather than a personal poetic vision.<ref name="Tmoon">{{cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Triumph of the Moon:A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2001|pages=41-42|chapter=2|isbn=0192854496, 9780192854490|url=http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=gK43x-BFDuEC&dq=%22triumph+of+the+moon%22+hutton&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=9pEFXwRAtM&sig=bxnEBc4HxaumLxNutbBCYOW_26A&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA41,M1|accessdate=2008-12-23}}</ref> His value as a poet aside, elements of Graves' scholarship such as poor [[philology]], use of inadequate texts (for example, the 'pseudo-Celtic' ''[[Canu Taliesin]]'' from the 19th C which he believed to be ancient<ref>Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.320</ref>), and use of out-dated archeology have been criticised<ref name="wood">{{cite book|last=Wood|first=Juliette|title=The Concept of the Goddess|editor=Sandra Billington, Miranda Green|publisher=Routledge|date=1999|page=12|chapter=1, The concept of the Goddess|isbn=0415197899, 9780415197892|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IoW9yhkrFJoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Concept+of+the+goddess%22#PPA11,M1|accessdate=2008-12-23}}</ref> and scholars, particularly historians and folklorists generally do not receive the work favourably. <ref name="paganism_reader">The Paganism Reader p.128</ref> Graves was disappointed that his work was "loudly ignored" by the majority of Celtic scholars,<ref name="White"> White, Donna R. ''A Century of Welsh Myth in Childrens Literature'' p.75</ref>, however it was accepted as history by many non-scholarly readers and ''The White Goddess'' remains a major source of confusion about the ancient Celts and influences many un-scholarly views of Celtic paganism.<ref>Hutton,'The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles' p.145 </ref>
-While there is no controversy about the fact that a wide variety of ancient cultures worshipped some types of Goddesses who at times were seen as threefold{{Fact|date=December 2008}}, many scholars{{Who|date=December 2008}} consider Graves' statements that they fit a "universal" pattern to be highly speculative, and his lumping together of diverse cultures in the quest for this universal pattern to be inappropriate. Graves attempted to apply his theory of "Maiden, Mother, Crone" to Goddesses who do not fit that pattern, such as the triple goddesses of [[Celtic Mythology]], whose triple aspects are based on function, not age.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}  The Celtic Goddesses also cannot be said to fulfil roles that are static or well-divided.  The three aspects of Celtic Triple Goddesses may all be Goddesses of war (such as in the case of the [[Morrígan]]) or manifestations of different types of creativity (such as with [[Brighid]]).  The existence of triple goddesses in a variety of cultures does not mean that those cultures experienced these goddesses in the same way, or that there were universal religious patterns that could be applied to all these diverse cultures.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
 In [[Robert Graves]]' anthology [[The Greek Myths]] Graves systematically  applies the convictions enshrined in ''[[The White Goddess]]'' to Greek mythology, often confusing and puzzling readers.<ref>Von Hendy, Andrew''The Modern Construction of Myth'' p. 354</ref> The theme is also developed in his book of essays entitled ''Mammon and the Black Goddess''. In his novel ''[[Watch the North Wind Rise]]'' (1949) Graves extrapolated this further into a future world where the present Monotheistic religions are discarded and the Triple Goddess once again rules supreme (one of the Goddess' manifestations is called "Mari", implying the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] of Christianity is a disguised form of the same Goddess) (see [http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/4/canary4art.htm]).
@@ Line 77: / Line 45: @@
 :''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. The term "[[new moon]]" is used by Graves in its original sense, as the first visible crescent after the luni-solar conjunction (which has traditionally been used as the starting point of lunar calendars), rather than the luni-solar conjunction itself.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
 While Graves made the association between Goddesses and the moon appear 'natural' , it was not so to the Celts or other ancient peoples.<ref>Hutton, ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British isles'' P.145</reF>
-====Greek Magical Papyri====
-The publication of the complete texts of the magical papyri from Greco-Roman Egypt<ref>{{cite book|last=Betz |first=Hans Dieter (ed.) |title=The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation : Including the Demotic Spells : Texts |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1989}}</ref> provide exhaustive examples of the imagery usually wrongly ascribed to Graves' imagination.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} In one hymn, for instance, the "Three-faced Selene" is simultaneously identified as the three [[Charites]], the three [[Moirae]], and the three [[Erinyes]]; she is further addressed by the titles of several goddesses:
-:''... 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 is 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 Greco-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. {{Fact|date=December 2008}} The triplicity of the Goddess in these texts is a recurrent theme.
-This imagery was well-known to those with a Classical education and continued in poetry throughout English history. {{Fact|date=December 2008}} A case in point is the Garland of Laurell by the English poet, [[John Skelton]]  (c. 1460 - June 21, 1529):
-:''Diana in the leavës green,''
-:''Luna that so bright doth sheen,''
-:''Persephone in Hell.''
 The theme of the goddess trinity can also be found in the works of [[Jane Ellen Harrison]],<ref>Jane Ellen Harrison, ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion'', London, Cambridge University Press, 1903, revised 1922.;  ''Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion'', London, Cambridge University Press, 1912; ''Ancient Art and Ritual '', London, Cambridge University Press, 1913.</ref> who initially formulated and published the idea, which was to later inform the origins of Wicca.<ref>Joanne Pearson, A Popular Dictionary of Paganism p.147</ref>
@@ Line 115: / Line 52: @@
 [[A.B. Cook]], George Thomson, [[Sir James Frazer]], Robert Briffault<ref>Robert Briffault, ''The Mothers'' (in three volumes), London and New York, 1927.</ref> and [[Jack Lindsay]].
+===Neopagan appropriation of history===
-===Marija Gimbutas===
-One of the most recent of archaeologists to explore this theme was [[Marija Gimbutas]] whose studies on the [[Chalcolithic]] period she defined as 'Old Europe' (6500-3500 B.C.E.) <ref>Marija Gimbutas, ''The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974; ''The Living Goddesses''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.</ref> have been widely adopted by New Age and eco-feminist groups.<ref name="Gilchrist" />  Gimbutas postulated that in ancient [[Old European culture|Europe]], the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] and the Near East, a great Triple Goddess was worshipped, predating the [[patriarchal]] religions imported by nomadic speakers of [[Indo-European languages]] (later superseded by a patriarchal [[monotheism]]). Gimbutas interpreted artefacts from neolithic (and earlier) Europe as evidence of worship of a triple goddess of  (1) death (represented as a "stiff nude", bird of prey or poisonous snake), (2) birth and fertility (represented by a mother-figure) and of  (3) regeneration (represented by a moth, butterfly or bee, or alternatively by a symbol of the uterus or fetus, such as a frog, hedgehog or bulls head.)<ref>''Civilization of the Goddess'', Marija Gimbutas, HarperCollins Publishers  p223</ref>  The view that an 'Old European' religion was goddess-based has been called "essentially sound" by linguist [[M. L. West]].<ref>[[M. L. West|West, M. L.]] (2007) ''Indo-European Poetry and Myth''. Oxford University Press. p. 140. "The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas saw the Indo-Europeans as bringing a male-oriented religion into a goddess-worshipping 'Old Europe', and this reconstruction, based largely on iconic evidence, seems essentially sound."</ref> Her work has been widely criticised as mistaken on the grounds of dating, archeological context and [[Typology (archaeology)|typologies]]<ref name="Gilchrist">Roberta Gilchrist ''Gender and Archaeology: Contesting the Past'' p.25</ref> with most archeologists considering her goddess hypothesis implausible.<ref>Nelson, Sarah Milledge ''Handbook of gender in archaeology'' p 756.</ref> This has been echoed by feminist authors such as [[Cynthia Eller]]<ref>Eller, Cynthia P., ''The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory''</ref> and religion writers such as Philip G. Davis. Her histories have been seen as a poetic projection of her personal life onto history hidden behind a facade of positivistic 'explanation', with her goddess-orientated society being based on her childhood and adolescence.<ref>Chapman, John. ''A biographical sketch of Marija Gimbutas'' in''Excavating Women'' p.299-301 </ref>
+[[Marija Gimbutas]] studies on the [[Chalcolithic]], a period she defined as 'Old Europe' (6500-3500 B.C.E.) <ref>Marija Gimbutas, ''The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1974; ''The Living Goddesses''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.</ref> have been widely adopted by New Age and eco-feminist groups.<ref name="Gilchrist" />  Gimbutas postulated that in ancient [[Old European culture|Europe]], the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean]] and the Near East, a great Triple Goddess was worshipped, predating the [[patriarchal]] religions imported by nomadic speakers of [[Indo-European languages]] (later superseded by a patriarchal [[monotheism]]). Gimbutas interpreted artefacts from neolithic (and earlier) Europe as evidence of worship of a triple goddess of  (1) death (represented as a "stiff nude", bird of prey or poisonous snake), (2) birth and fertility (represented by a mother-figure) and of  (3) regeneration (represented by a moth, butterfly or bee, or alternatively by a symbol of the uterus or fetus, such as a frog, hedgehog or bulls head.)<ref>''Civilization of the Goddess'', Marija Gimbutas, HarperCollins Publishers  p223</ref>  The view that an 'Old European' religion was goddess-based has been called "essentially sound" by linguist [[M. L. West]].<ref>[[M. L. West|West, M. L.]] (2007) ''Indo-European Poetry and Myth''. Oxford University Press. p. 140. "The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas saw the Indo-Europeans as bringing a male-oriented religion into a goddess-worshipping 'Old Europe', and this reconstruction, based largely on iconic evidence, seems essentially sound."</ref> Her work has been widely criticised as mistaken on the grounds of dating, archeological context and [[Typology (archaeology)|typologies]]<ref name="Gilchrist">Roberta Gilchrist ''Gender and Archaeology: Contesting the Past'' p.25</ref> with most archeologists considering her goddess hypothesis implausible <ref>Nelson, Sarah Milledge ''Handbook of gender in archaeology'' p 756.</ref> and her work has been called pseudo-scholarship.<ref>''Did God have a Wife'' p.</ref> This has been echoed by feminist authors such as [[Cynthia Eller]]<ref>Eller, Cynthia P., ''The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory''</ref> and religion writers such as Philip G. Davis. Her histories have been seen as a poetic projection of her personal life onto history hidden behind a facade of positivistic 'explanation', with her goddess-orientated society being based on her childhood and adolescence.<ref>Chapman, John. ''A biographical sketch of Marija Gimbutas'' in''Excavating Women'' p.299-301 </ref>
-The first and third aspects of the goddess, according to Gimbutas, were frequently conflated to make a goddess of death-and-regeneration represented in folkore by such figures as [[Baba Yaga]]. Gimbutas regarded the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], with which this view is highly compatible, as a survival into classical antiquity of this ancient goddess worship <ref> ''Civilization of the Goddess'', Marija Gimbutas HarperCollins Publishers  p243, and whole chapter "Religion of the Goddess" </ref> This goddess persisted into Classical times as [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (the Greek Earth Mother), and the Roman [[Magna Mater]], among others.<ref>[[Georg Luck|Luck, Georg]] (1985) ''Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts''. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 5.</ref>
-===The Triple Goddess in Neopaganism===
+==Triple Goddess in psychology==
-The fully formed image of the '''Maiden, Mother and Crone''' goddess was [[Robert Graves]]' great gift to modern pagan witchcraft.<ref>Ronald Hutton ''The Triumph of the Moon'' p.194</ref> Many modern witches follow beliefs that  originated in 20th century England, in their views, sexuality, pregnancy, breastfeeding and other female reproductive processes are ways that women may embody the Goddess, making the physical body sacred.<ref>Bromley ''Teaching New Religious Movements'' p 214</ref>
-* "The [[Maiden]]" represents enchantment, inception, expansion, the promise of new beginnings, birth, youth and youthful enthusiasm.
-*The [[Mother (neopaganism)|Mother]] represents ripeness, fertility, sexuality, fulfillment, stability, power and life.
-*The [[Crone]] represents wisdom, repose, death, and endings.
-Believers claim that the echoing of this [[normative]] model of a womans life-cycle allows women to identify with the deity in ways unreachable by what they consider to be [[patriarchal]] religions.<ref>Helen A. Berger, ''Witchcraft and Magic'' p.</ref>
-Some neopagans{{Who|date=December 2008}} attribute a cyclic relationship between the three aspects or phases. The moon which waxes once again after the new moon and like in the year, where spring always follows winter, the Crone is an end, but she is always followed by the Maiden once more.  It is death and rebirth, representing a belief in reincarnation as well as the cycles of the moon and of the seasons.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-Some neopagans also [[syncretism|syncretise]] additional goddesses that do not fit this pattern, for example, include [[Hecate]], who when in triplicate was historically depicted as three young women, and Celtic goddesses who sometimes appear in triple form, but for whom age is not relevant.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-[[Image:Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol-multicolored.png|thumb|right|A Triple Goddess symbol used by some Wiccans, in colours symbolic of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}]]
-Many followers of [[Neopaganism|Neopagan]] religions subscribe to the theory that an ancient Triple Goddess was worshipped across Europe, the Aegean and the Near East, and indeed, see this Goddess as universal to all peoples. Some identify her with [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] or nature.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-<gallery>
-Image:Triple-Goddess-Waxing-Full-Waning-Symbol.svg|A symbol of the Triple Goddess probably derived from Graves' lunar symbolism, depicting three [[lunar phase|phases of the moon]]: waxing crescent, full moon, and waning crescent.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-Image:Triple-Spiral-Symbol.svg|A [[Celtic art|Celtic]] [[triple spiral]], adopted by some Neopagans as a symbol of the Triple Goddess.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-Image:Three-Crescents-Diane-Poitiers.png|The three-crescent emblem of [[Diane de Poitiers]], a less common symbol adopted by some Neopagans, especially [[Dianic Wicca]]ns, to represent the Triple Goddess.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}
-</gallery>
-===Triple Goddess in psychology===
 The Triple Goddess [[mytheme]] was also explored by psychologists involved in the study of archetypes [[Carl Kerenyi]],<ref name="JungKerenyiEssays">C. G. Jung and C. Kerényi, ''Essays on a Science of Mythology''.  Bolligen/Princeton University Press, 1967.</ref> [[Erich Neumann (psychologist)|Erich Neumann]], and [[Carl Jung]].<ref name="JungKerenyiEssays"/>
-===Fiction, film and literary criticism===
+==Fiction, film and literary criticism==
 The [[Weird Sisters]] of [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]''
@@ Line 161: / Line 75: @@
 The main characters in 	[[James Cameron]]'s movie ''[[Aliens (1986 film)|Aliens]]'' have been seen to reflect aspects of the triple goddess: The Alien Queen (Crone), Ripley (Mother) and Newt (Maiden).<ref> Roz Kaveney, ''From Alien to The Matrix'' p. 151</ref>
-===Ennead===
-An expansion of the triadic concept is that the triad can expand into an ennead{{Fact|date=December 2008}}, or a group of nine aspects or nine goddesses, e.g. the Nine Muses, the Nine Maidens.
-The manifestation of the Maiden aspect of the Great Goddess (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.{{Fact|date=December 2008}}  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.{{Fact|date=December 2008}} As Anne Ross noted in her work ''Pagan Celtic Britain'', "''there is no Celtic goddess of love''".<ref>Anne Ross, ''Pagan Celtic Britain''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1968.</ref>
-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 [[Roman Britain|Romano-Celtic]] territories.  They are still known in Welsh folklore as ''Y Mamau'' ("the Mothers").
 ==See also==
 <div style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
-*[[Chía (goddess)]]
-*[[Durga]]
 *[[Goddess movement]]
-*[[Kumari]]
-*[[Mahavidya]]
-*[[Matrikas]]
-*[[Shaktism]]
-*[[Tridevi]]/[[Trimurti]]
 *[[Triple deities]]
 *[[Triskelion]]
@@ Line 187: / Line 87: @@
 ==External links==
-* [http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/Nanded/people1.html Hindu goddesses and ceremonies]
 * [http://wicca.timerift.net/triple.shtml The Triple Goddess]
 * [http://www.mother-god.com/triple-goddess.html The Triple Goddess: the Original Holy Trinity]