<\/p>\n
Contrary to the assumptions of many women, the Triple
\nGoddess model is not universal, nor is it really historical. In fact, the
\nso-called ancient paradigm that enjoys so much popularity today is actually not
\nquite as old as I am! <\/p>\n
The age-related Triple Goddess was first articulated in so <\/span>“As Goddess of the Underworld,” he writes, “she was Summing up the paradigm, he concludes, “As the New Moon or Robert Graves’s Triple Goddess is associated only with the Now wait a minute! Where is autumn? The leaves don’t just And what about the waning moon? Where is that, Mr. Graves? He also compares the Maiden with air, the Mother with Earth During the past half century, Graves’s definition of three Four, not the trinity, is considered the holy number in most My new construct of the four stages of a woman’s life — <\/b><\/p>\n
\nmany words by Robert Graves, a classical scholar, mythographer and poet who in
\nhis 1948 study, The<\/i> <\/span><\/a>White
\nGoddess<\/a>,<\/i><\/span>
\n<\/i>synthesized the nine most important early
\nGreeks goddesses into three main types. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nconcerned with Birth, Procreation and Death. As Goddess of the Earth she was
\nconcerned with the three seasons of Spring, Summer and Winter: she animated
\ntrees and plants and ruled all living creatures. As Goddess of the Sky she was
\nthe Moon in her three phases.”<\/p>\n
\nSpring, she was girl; as the Full Moon or Summer, she was woman; as the Old
\nMoon or Winter, she was hag.” <\/p>\n
\nthree elements of earth, air, and water, the three seasons of spring, summer,
\nand winter, and just three phases of the moon — waxing, full, and dark.<\/p>\n
\nget crumbly and brown and fall off the trees at the end of summer. First they
\nturn brilliant colors, a fabulous display of gorgeous glory before they
\ndisappear into winter. Does that not describe midlife women, who are more
\nstunning and sturdy now than ever we were as young maidens?<\/p>\n
\nWhile it might be tempting to think of the waning moon as getting smaller,
\nweaker, dimmer, I prefer to relate to the waning stage as reducing, refining,
\ncondensing, like fine wine or rich broth. Less water and more juice.<\/p>\n
\nand the Crone with water. Fire, any one? If women in our mid years are not about
\nfire, we are not about anything. Our bodies are burning up alive. Our passions
\nare rekindled. And our patience is fried. To a crisp!<\/p>\n
\nage-identified aspects of a Triple Goddess has worked its way thoroughly into
\ntoday’s huge and diverse Goddess and New Age movements where it has been
\nwholeheartedly embraced. But now there is an alternative — a Four- Fold Goddess
\nwhose four periods of growth and transformation resonate deeply with
\ncontemporary women. <\/p>\n
\nEarth-honoring cultures. In numerology, four represents the generating virtue,
\nthe source from which all combinations are possible. It has long been a number
\nof completion, stability and solidity, considered a perfect number, the root of
\nall things.<\/p>\n
\nMaiden, Mother, Queen and Crone is a much more accurate description of the
\ncurrent Way of Womanhood. And they seem so natural, somehow. They are in
\ncomplete metaphoric alignment with the pervasive way that peoples have always
\nordered existence into Four Quarters. The four quarters of the moon, the four
\nseasons of the year, the four solstices and equinoxes, the four elements, the
\nfour cardinal directions of the Earth, the four periods of the day, the four
\nsuits of the tarot. When all four aspects are joined, the Goddess is complete:
\nphysically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And so are we.<\/p>\n<\/span>Four-Fold Correspondences<\/font><\/b><\/h2>\n