 Pagan Studies:Pagans who follow Norse traditions see life as an ever-flowing circle. Contemplating this darker aspect
of the Goddess teaches us that as well as everything Nature moves in circles, we
as individuals also must do it, accepting death as a passage into another state,
as valid and as much part of our lives as our own birth. (Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts, pictured here with her hound Garmr.) The Crone can be associated with the Waning Moon, and the colours black,
deep blue and the deepest purple. Her corresponding season is Winter, and her
usual animals are the owl, wolf, crow and raven. Her festival is that of the
dead, that is, Samhain. If the Maiden talks to us about beginnings, and the Mother of maturity, the
Crone makes us think of endings. This is maybe the less understood aspect of the
Triple Goddess, one that usually causes fear because it makes us unavoidably to
face death. The Crone was revered in ancient cultures as a regent of the Underworld,
seen in those times as a place where souls went to rest between incarnations,
before coming back to the earthly plane. The later associations this place got
with the hell of the revealed religions was the reason why this aspect of the
Goddess was equal to something evil or demonic, forgetting the fact that we
all must die as we all are born, and the duty of this Goddess was generally to
guide us during this last phase in our lives, getting us ready for the big leap,
reigning afterwards over the souls of the dead while they waited for their re
birth. As in the previous cases, there are many examples from all over the world
on this aspect of the Goddess. Hecate Among the Greeks, called during the Middle Ages the Witches’ Queen, a deity
of the Underworld and the Moon, worshiped in cross roads where she received
sacrifices during the Full Moon. Hel Germanic goddess of the Underworld, is recognized as having her origins in
the Indo-European period (prehistory). All mortals returned to Her when
finishing their physical existence. Morrigan Goddess of the Dead, known in Britain, Wales and Ireland, who also reigned
over battles. She had a Triple aspect in herself, and sometimes was also called
the Three Morrigans. Tiamat In Sumerian mythology, Goddess of the primeval abyss, both creatrix and
destroyer, represented as a snake. In one of the combats typical in ancient
mythology where descendants rebel against their fathers and primitive gods,
Marduk kills Tiamat, building then the sky and earth with halves of Her
body. Kali Ma For the Hindu’s, known in her aspect of Destroyer and Terrible Mother, has,
nonetheless, among her attributes a skull necklace, each of them bearing a
character from the sanskrit alphabet, which She uses to create words or
mantras. Nephthys In Egypt, wife of Seth and regent of the Underworld, mother of Anubis, the
jackal-headed god that guides the spirits in their journey after they die. Tlazolteotl Riding on a broom, was associated for the Aztec with the moon, the snake
and the bat. Her worship was held at cross roads just like european Hecate, and
her priestess were known as capable of cleansing whoever asked of every sin, but
that grace could only be asked once in their lifetime. All these written images, except maybe Nephtys, invoke a darker aspect of the
Goddess, what in analytical psychology is called “The Terrible Mother”. A clear
example of this can be seen in a famous image of the Goddess Kali Ma, that shows
her copulating with Her consort Shiva, with a dented vagina and feeding on His
entrails. At first sight, this is almost a repulsive image; but is not so from a
symbolic point of view. We can see it as a reminder that life needs to feed on
life to subsist, and a representation of the aspects of
Creatrix-Preserver-Destroyer of the Goddess. |
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