Mother Goddess

Mother Goddess

Mother Goddess is a term used to refer to a Goddess who represents motherhood, devotion, fertility, nurturing mature love, creation or who embodies the bounty of the Earth.  For male witches, the God would be Father.  When equated with the Earth or the natural world such Goddesses are sometimes referred to as Great Goddess, Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.  The ability to forgive and provide for her children and put them before herself is the essence of a good mother.  She is described as Mother Earth, Mother Nature or the Creator of all life. 

Many different Goddesses have represented motherhood in one way or another and some have been associated with the birth of humanity as a whole.  Others have represented the fertility of the Earth.  The Mother Goddess is a composite of various feminine deities from past and present world cultures, worshiped by modern Wicca and Neopagan.  She is sometimes identified as a Triple Goddess, who takes the form of Maiden, Mother and Crone. She is also associated with the full moon M, summer, Earth and sea.

Several small, corpulent figures have been found during archaeological excavations of the Upper Paleolithic, the Venus of Willendorf, perhaps, being the most famous.  This sculpture is estimated to have been carved 24,000–22,000 BC. Some archaeologists believe they were intended to represent Goddesses, while others believe that they could have served some other purpose.

Mother Goddesses are also present in the earliest images discovered among the archaeological finds in Ancient Egypt.  An association is drawn to the early Goddesses of Egypt with animals seen as good mothers—the lioness, cow, white vulture and cat—as well as, to the life-giving waters, the sun, the night sky and the Earth herself.

From 5500-2750 BC the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture flourished in the region of modern-day Romania and Ukraine, leaving behind ruins of settlements that practiced agriculture and domesticated livestock.  They also left behind many ceramic remains of pottery and clay figurines.  Some of these figurines appear to represent the mother Goddess.

In the first century BC, Tacitus recorded rites amongst the Germanic tribes focused on the Goddess Nerthus, whom he calls Terra Mater, 'Mother Earth'.  Prominent in these rites was the procession of the Goddess in a wheeled vehicle through the countryside.

In Norse mythology, Jord is a female giant (jotunn). She is the personification of the Earth.  Jord is sometimes considered a Goddess, like other giants who coupled with the Gods.

Freya was a Norse Goddess of abundance, fertility and war. She is still honored today by some Pagans and is often associated with sexual freedom.  Freya could be called upon for assistance in childbirth and conception, to aid with marital problems or to bestow fruitfulness upon the land and sea.

In skaldic poetry, Odin's wife, is a common designation for the Earth.  Frigg was the wife of the all-powerful Odin and was considered a Goddess of fertility and marriage within the Norse pantheon.  Like many mothers, she is a peacemaker and mediator in times of strife.

 

Cosmic Mother

Oh Goddess Mother
You are the mystery of Night
Your radiant shine is the Day
Infinite realms cascade within You

Abundance is Your essence of Being
Blessings flow from You Limitlessly
Your Universe is harmony and tension in Balance

Within each of us, You are Alive

~Abby Willowroot~

Mother Goddess

Mother's Day

Frigg

Divine Friends

 

Sunna

Sunna

suna

Appeal: Sun, Light, Solar Panels, Growth, Sunny Places, Warmth

Sunna s (Sol) is the Sun personified in Norse mythology.  She is described as the sister of the personified moon, Manni, the daughter of Mundilfari and is foretold to be killed by a monstrous wolf during the events of Ragnarok.  She was a human who rose to the rank of Goddess due to the Gods.  Sunna has blonde hair with golden curls that looked like rays of sunshine. Sunna like the ‘sun’ was always kind and generous to her people brining light wherever she went.

Rudolf Simek stated that Nordic Bronze Age archaeological finds, such as rock carvings and the Trundholm Sun chariot, provide evidence of the Sun having been viewed as a life giving heavenly body to the Bronze Age Scandinavians and that the Sun likely received an amount of respect.

The Sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old.  As the largest object in the sky, the Sun is the source of light, heat, and life.  It can also be a symbol of destructive power.  Since earliest times, people in all parts of the world have observed the position of the Sun and its rising and setting throughout the year.  Many cultures have created solar calendars to govern such things as the planting of crops and the timing of religious festivals.  They have also given the Sun a major place in their mythologies, often as a deity.

When the world was created from the body of the dead giant Ymir by the triad Gods of Odin, Vili and Ve - the Sun, Moon and Stars were made from the gathered sparks that shot forth from Muspellsheim, the Land of Fire.  Sunna drives the chariot of the Sun across the sky every day.  Pulled by the horses Allsvinn and Arvak, the Sun chariot is pursued by the wolf Skoll.  It is said that sometimes he comes so close that he is able to take a bite out of the Sun, causing an eclipse.

On Midsummer Eve, Sunna's strength begins to decline, and those who honor her gather to celebrate this passage.  For the Pagan religions of Northern Europe, this is the Sabbat of Midsummer.  Songs are sung, poems are read, libations and toasts fill the air.  In honor of the strength of light and warmth that are Sunna's blessing, fire is a central part of the celebration at this Sabbat.

Despite the wolf Skoll catching and killing Sunna, not all is lost.  Like the other Gods at the end of Ragnarok, light still shines on the Earth.  Before her death, she gives birth to a daughter as beautiful as her mother and she shall ride her mother's road.  The daughter survives with the Sun to aid and guide humanity after the destruction of the world as we know it.  She heals the world, knitting together the fragmented pieces of life after the chaos of Ragnarok. 

 

Sunday (Sun's day) is a day of rest in most Western countries, part of the weekend.  Sunday is associated with the Sun and symbolized by its symbol ☉. 

Sowulo s rune represents the power of the Sun. In almost every religion in the world, the Sun is held most sacred.  To the Norse, the sun was known as Sunna or Sol and was considered feminine. The sun’s light and warmth symbolizes life, nurturing, growth and all that is good.  In some Northern cultures, they start their day at sunset and usually begin their year in the winter months.  (This is why many Sun and Moon images show the Moon ahead of the Sun)

 

Come out into the light!

You are meant to shine!

 

 

Sabbats

Sowulo Rune

Sunna

Sunna and Mani

Sunna's Day

Love

Give out Love and let it come in.

lEwe

Principles and Guidance: Love may be understood as part of the survival instinct, a function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species.  It is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment.  In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, God is love.  Love may also be described as actions towards others (or oneself) based on compassion or as actions towards others based on affection. 

The word love can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts that English relies mainly on love to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for love. Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition. Religious views on love vary widely between different religions.    

Different cultures have deified love, typically in both male and female form. Even though in monotheistic religions, the God is considered to represent love, there are often angels or similar beings that represent love as well. Freya, Goddess of love, fertility and war in Norse mythology.  Mihr, spirit of love in Persian mythology.  Venus, Goddess of beauty and passionate love in Roman mythology.

 

The Eight Wiccan Virtues come to us from Doreen Valiente, considered by many to be the mother of modern Wicca. These eight virtues were first revealed in her writing, "The Charge of the Goddess." They are presented in pairs of complementary opposites which balance each other and reflect a dualism that is commonly found in Wiccan philosophy. The Eight Wiccan Virtues are listed in the line, "Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you."

Compassion allows you to have true love, not only for others, but also for yourself. It allows you to forgive yourself when you make mistakes. It's also the ability to have deep feelings and concern for the misfortune and suffering of others. Compassion allows you to share another's pain, gives you the desire to relieve it, and the willingness to act on that desire.

The virtue of reverence refers to having profound respect and devotion for the God and Goddess and all things sacred. But, it also means to have love and regard for all of life, including ourselves, all of Nature, and our planet Earth. Reverence is expressed in the choices you make in your life in caring for and loving your body. It is also shown in the respect you give the Earth by doing things such as recycling, planting trees and gardens, or cleaning up beaches and streams.

 

 

The Asatru moral code of conduct is known as the Nine Noble Virtues. The Nine Noble Virtues represent the distilled wisdom and ancient Germanic moral code gleaned from various ancient sources including the Poetic Edda, the Icelandic Sagas and Germanic folklore: courage, truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, industriousness, self reliance, perseverance.

Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one's fellows, especially when they are far from home.  We rely on the strengths and love that are forged by blood and oath...what good are such things when we can't otherwise? We must be ready and willing to lend help and assistance where we can, when it is needed- what good are we to those that we are bound if we cannot depend on one another?

Self Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved not only for the individual, but also for the family, clan, tribe and nation. It is not a concept of denying ones interconnectedness with others, but of ensuring that one can take care of oneself first, then ones family and loved ones.  Only freedom can strengthen our love for life, and we cannot allow ourselves to be enthralled by need or want, which in turn enthralls our children and folk.

 

Some of the qualities we hold in high regard are strength, courage, vigor, and the revering of our ancestors. To express these things in our lives is virtuous and we strive to do this.  These convictions of personal honor are well described by the Nine Noble Virtues and the Six Fold Goal.  The Six Fold Goal is a statement of those things for which we are willing to live and die.  The Six Fold Goal is: Right, Wisdom, Might. Harvest, Frith, Love.

When most people hear love they assume it to mean the romantic love between two people, or maybe the love of an adult for their child. And while these are beautiful and worthy things, the love referred to here is the vitality and lust for life embodied in Freyr and Freya. It is the erotic thrill of life itself, the lust of passion and the senses, the enjoyment of pleasure. This is natural to our people and right for us to enjoy.

 

One last thought, an early example of the Golden Rule that reflects the Ancient Egyptian concept of Maat appears in the story of The Eloquent Peasant, which dates to the Middle Kingdom: "Now this is the command: Do to the doer to cause that he do thus to you." An example from a Late Period papyrus: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another."

Wiccan morality is largely expressed in the Wiccan Rede: 'An it harm none, do what ye will'. While this could be interpreted to mean "do no harm at all," it is usually interpreted as a declaration of the freedom to act, along with the necessity of taking responsibility for what follows from one's actions.

Many different sources claim the Golden Rule as a humanist principle:  Trying to live according to the Golden Rule means trying to empathize with other people, including those who may be very different from us. Empathy is at the root of kindness, compassion, understanding and respect – qualities that we all appreciate being shown, whoever we are, whatever we think and wherever we come from. And although it isn’t possible to know what it really feels like to be a different person or live in different circumstances and have different life experiences, it isn’t difficult for most of us to imagine what would cause us suffering and to try to avoid causing suffering to others. For this reason many people find the Golden Rule’s corollary – “do not treat people in a way you would not wish to be treated yourself” – more pragmatic.

 

Frigg p, Goddess of romance, marriage, sex and reproduction, married women, household duty, and divination.  She is said to be the wife of Odin, and the Queen of Asgard.  Frigg appears primarily in Norse mythological stories as a wife and a mother. 

Freya f, Goddess associated with magic, shamanism, sacrifice, war, death, and sexuality.  Freya is the daughter of Njord and Nerthus, as well as the sister of Freyr. She was once married to Odr, but he disappeared. She is the principle female fertility Goddess of the native Germanic religion.

Freyr q, worshipped as a phallic fertility God, he was said to bestow peace and pleasure on mortals.  Freyr is a leading member of the Vanir, the Lord of the Earth and a God of fertility.  Freyr gives up his sword for love.

Sjofn, Goddess associated with love. Sjofn is the Goddess of marital bliss, she stops fights between husbands and wives. Sjofn is one of Frigg's attendants.

 

Laguz l rune represents Water in all its forms. Water is an essential ingredient to life. All living creatures rely on it to survive. Water is associated with emotions of all kinds, but predominantly with healing, peacefulness, love, truth, compassion, intuition and forgiveness .

Inguz q rune is concerned with male fertility, gestation and internal growth. It is all about common sense and simple strengths, the home and love of the family, caring and human warmth.

 

See Life with Love!

A Year in Review!

Acceptance

Dignity

Justice

Love

Rede

Strength

Temperance

Truth

Volunteer

Wisdom

Midsummer

Merry Meet all those who bring light, joy and love!

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is filled with magic, fairies and sprites, thereby keeping alive the ancient pagan belief that it is easier than usual to communicate with the otherworld on the Sabbats.

 

The Sun Sunna rose at 5 am, with a grand display of orange, purple and blue.  The sky is clear and warm.  I had some red mead for her offering and the four elements.  The Moon Manni is starting to become full as he ready's for his supermoon display in a couple days.  I plan to be in the sun, cleaning the yard and have the windows open to let the fresh air in the home.  On Sunday, is the Midsummer Celebration at Old World Wisconsin in Eagle.  They will have a bonfire, flower crowns, dancing and food.  And Wednesday, is the Summer Solstice Labyrinth Walk at UUCW in Brookfield.  Plus many more events going on in many areas.

 

Sing of Sunna, golden glory,

fiery Goddess of the sky.                                                                                                                

Radiant splendor and Skoll's quarry.

Dag's companion, flying high,

Sunna, shine throughout the heavens,

Sunna, shine till Manni's rise!

Mundilfari's fairest daughter,

shine until the end of time.

So may it be!

 

 

Have a Blessed Midsummer!

Midsummer

Sabbats

Summer Solstice

Sunna

Midsummer Tree