Merry Meet my beloved readers:
This months diety edition is going to be one of my favorites, simply because we are honoring the Triple Goddess. If I were to try and explain the Goddess in all her glory, both light and dark sides, This months Diety edition would be endless. There is just literally so much discovered and undiscovered, explored and still left to explore that it would be virtually impossible to cover it all. This is the same as with any aspects of "the old religion" What I will cover is a generalization of the Triple Goddess. I really wish I can squeeze so much more into this months edition, but alas I couldn't. So please just keep in mind, both male and female alike, the Goddess is within us all. By acknowledging, exploring and worshipping her, we are doing the same for every part of our female energy. We become empowered and we become whole.
Blessings to you all,
LavenderMOON

The Triple Goddess is anis an eternal archetype in the human psyche, familiar to most cultures.The original trinity symbolizes the three faces of the Great Goddess and is the earliest representation of her division into multiplicity. The goddess triad represents three distinct phases of a womyn's life which correspond with the three phases of the moon (waxing, full and waning). just as the moon transforms from one phase to another, the Great Goddess moves among her many roles. If you get close to the moon, it no longer seems to be a sphere of light but a rocky globe that shows nothing of full moon, quarter moon, or dark moon. The Goddess is like the moon. In her essence, in the heavens, is much more than three forms. ----- Francesca De Grandis "be a goddess"
new moon (waxing) the full moon, and the dark of the moon (waning),



The Full Moon is the Mature woman ripe in her femininity, the nuturing Mother. This is the time for projects to have their fruition, the time to gather in and reap the rewards of the growth rituals done in the waxing of the moon. The full moon is also a time for healing and fullness, fulfilment of that which was asked in ritual. The full moon is also considered the best time to do magic to attain things, to gather to one's self.

The Dark of the Moon is the Crone as She wanes in Her life, appraoaching death that She might be reborn.As the New Moon is good for purification, and consecration,(most traditions say that the new moon is a good time to consecrate ritual tools of the craft), the Dark of the Moon is a time for banishings and bindings. It is the Moon of Death, the Dark of the Moon, but as always with the cycle of birth, life, and death, it promises rebirth again

The new moon is the Maiden as She grows and waxes into womanhood. This is a good time to start projects, to do rituals that need time to grow to bring forth fruits, and fore all creative endeavors.

Three is a sacred pagan number,it represents the Goddess in all her essence. Her three faces are usually virgin, mother, and crone.

Virgin representing the strong, self-defined goddess.
Mother representing the nurturing goddess as source of all nourishment, and the crone representing the goddess of death and transformation.
This symbolism embraces the role of the goddess in all phases of existence, from birth through death to rebirth. The triple Goddess reminds us of our sacredness regardless of our ages or function in life. She reminds us that despite her many forms there is one goddess, always present and always sacred.

THE MOON PHASES AND THE GODDESS

new moon (waxing) the full moon, and the dark of the moon (waning).
The new moon represents the Maiden as She grows and waxes into womanhood. This is a good time to begin creativity, projects, to do rituals that need time to grow and bear fruit.A time for all creative endeavors.

The Full Moon symbolizes the Nurturing Mother, the Mature woman, ripe in her femininity. During the Full Moon it is best to follow through and complete projects. This will allow the projects to bear fruit. The full moon is also a time for healing oneself.A time for fulfilment of that which was asked in ritual. The full moon is also considered the best time to do magic to attain things, to gather to one's self. the time to gather in and reap the rewards of the growth rituals done in the waxing of the moon.

The Dark of the Moon represents the Crone as She wanes in Her life, appraoaching death that She might be reborn. The New Moon is good for purification, and consecration,(most traditions say that the new moon is a good time to consecrate ritual tools of the craft), the Dark of the Moon is a time for banishings and bindings. It is the Moon of Death, the Dark of the Moon, but as always with the cycle of birth, life, and death, it promises rebirth again.

ARTEMIS/DIANA, ISIS, HECATE

Maiden
The Maiden:A representation of enchantment, inception, expansion, the female principle, the promise of new beginnings, youth, excitement, and a carefree erotic aura. Innocent in some ways, but also a seductress who recognizes the power of her sexuality. Maiden goddesses include: Anatha, Brigid, Nimue, Kore, Persephone, Gerd, Caer, Blodeuwedd, etc. Her traditional color is white.

ARTEMIS
Artemis is the virginal moon goddess roaming the forest with her band of nymphs, bearing the bow and quiver, avoiding men and killing any male who looks on her. But this familiar form was only one of the identities assumed by this complex Greek goddess, the warlike Artemis said to have been the special goddess of the Amazons. Artemis represents the Maiden goddess. She came to represent the variable energies of the feminine. She was therefore contradictory: she was the virgin who promoted promiscuity; she was the huntress who protected animals; she was a tree, a bear, the moon. Artemis was the image of a woman moving through her life and assuming different roles at different times; she was a veritable encyclopedia of feminine possibility. There an order exists so unlike human order that it seems to us formless and free, but this freedom is that of complete obedience to instinct, which animals still follow while humans do not. Artemis in this form was the "Lady of the Beasts," the force who assured their individual deaths and the survival of the species. As mistress of the animals, she was the invisible game warden of the Greeks, killing with sharp arrows anyone who hunted pregnant beasts or their young. Again as instinct, she ruled reproduction, both sex and birth.

Mother
The Mother is a symbol of ripeness, fertility, fulfillment, stability, and power. Mother is full-breasted, at the peak of her womanly powers. She is the one who tenderly rocks the baby, but she is also the lioness who hunts to feed her offspring and will fight to the death to protect them. Mother goddesses include: Aa, Ambika, Anahita, Asherah, Ceres, Coatlicue, Danu, Demeter, Hathor, Ishtar, Isis, Lakshmi, Luonnotar, Nintu, Sheng-Mu, etc. Her traditional color is red.

Isis took on the identities of lesser goddesses until she was r evered as the universal goddess, the total femininity of whom other goddesses represented only isolated aspects. She became the Lady of Ten Thousand Names, whose true name was Isis. She was the moon and the mother of the sun; she was mourning wife and tender sister; she was the culture-bringer and health-giver. She was the "throne" and the "Goddess Fifteen." She was a form of Hathor (or that goddess a form of her). She was also Meri, goddess of the sea, and Sochit, the "cornfield." But she was everlastingly, to her fervent devotees, the blessed goddess who was herself all things and who promised: "You shall live in blessing, you shall live glorious in my protection; and when you have furfilled your allotted span of life and descend to the underworld, there too you shall see me, as you see me now, shining ... And if you show yourself obedient to my divinity ... you will know that I alone have permitted you to extend your life beyond the time allocated you by your destiny." Isis, who overcame death to bring her lover back to life, could as readily hold off death for her faithful followers, for the all-powerful Isis alone could boast, "I will overcome Fate."

Crone
The Crone is wisdom, retrenchment, repose, and compassion. She is old age, experience, accumulated wisdom and death. She is the gateway to Death, and the guide to Rebirth. Crone goddesses include: Annis, Baba Yaga, Cailleach, Greine, Hel, Maman Brigitte, Oya, Sedna, Skuld, Takotsi, Toci. Her color is black.

At night, particularly at the dark of the moon, this goddess walked the roads of ancient Greece, accompanied by sacred dogs and bearing a blazing torch. Occasionally she stopped to gather offerings left by her devotees where three roads crossed, for this threefold goddess was best honored where one could look three ways at once. Sometimes, it was even said that Hecate could look three ways because she had three heads: a serpent, a horse, and a dog. As queen of the night, Hecate was sometimes said to be the moon-goddess in her dark form. She may as readily have been the earth goddess, for she ruled the spirits of the dead, humans who had been returned to the earth. As queen of death she ruled the magical powers of regeneration; in addition, she could hold back her spectral hordes from the living if she chose. And so Greek women evoked Hecate for protection from her hosts whenever they left the house, and they erected her threefold images at their doors, as if to tell wandering spirits that therein lived friends of their queen, who must not be bothered with night noises and spooky apparitions.