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The symbols and archetype of the Great Mother are incredibly old.
The figurines of the woman carved in pre-history graphically display
an archetypal image of woman. The mystery of woman in those times was
very great, for it was not realised that the sex act was connected
with the birth of a child. Therefore the place of males in this
greatest of wonders had no significance except perhaps as a provider.
This most ancient of mysteries is still presented in our present
culture by the archetypal image of the
Virgin
Mary - the woman holding the child. In the past she was
known in her various guises as
Ishtar;
Cybele;
Rhea;
Astarte;
the Egyptian Isis;
Demeter;
Hecate;
Diana;
Venus;
Quan Yin;
Rhada,
Ishtar,
Aphrodite,
Freya,
Kali,
Magna Mater, Hera,
Durga,
Devi,
and Shakti.
The most ancient of these mother goddesses is the Earth itself, mother
to us all.
P. W. MARTIN says 'She is the maiden. She is the earth mother. She
is the queen of the underworld. She is the goddess of war, the goddess
of nature, the goddess of love, the goddess of marriage, the mountain
goddess, the goddess of the chase, the goddess of herds, goddess of
agriculture, goddess of fecundity, goddess of the moon.'
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As can be seen, the aspects, the powers, therefore the personal
relationship with this archetype are varied. The great mother can
be devouring and destructive like the Indian goddess Kali. She can
be loving and healing like the Fairy Godmother. What this means in
personal experience is that if one meets with the loving aspect, a
man may feel permeated by love, bathed in it as if he were in
great peace in the womb of all life. A young woman may develop a
fixation upon an older woman such as a female teacher, and devote
enormous energy to emulate her or be of service to her.
Conversely, experiencing the effect of the devouring mother, a
woman might hold fast to her children, using every bonding and
binding force she can. (See: fourth paragraph under anima above).
This negative aspect of the mother directly connects with feelings
of dread about death. The image of the cave - one of the symbols
of the Great Mother - may indicate not only a holy place full of
divine light, but also a death pit crawling with corruption.
Recent explorations of the psyche show that such a symbol acts in
a similar way to an icon on a computer screen. The picture the
icon displays may be of a printer. When we click on the icon a
distant printer reproduces what is on the screen. The icon is not
the printer, but the icon has full connection with the printer and
the picture indicates its function. |
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Modern image of Great Mother by
Carlos Caban |
So whatever image of the Great Mother we meet, it is only a
synthesis of something much more potent and full of action and
feelings than itself. But the image is full of clues as to what lies
latent in it if we activate it. The recent findings mentioned show
that the cave or the negative mother images often connect with
prenatal experiences, particularly with awful experiences of birth,
shown as hell and the tortures of hell. In past cultures such imagery,
while full of meaning, was never defined beyond its mythological
aspect. One of the great developments of recent times is to trace the
way the unconscious produces such imagery to depict life experiences
which are deeply buried or completely non-verbal. See: Rhijn, van.
The Great Mother may not have these connections for us personally,
but may represent unformed, or largely unconscious feelings we have
about how we are linked with the process of life, and have within us
the splendour of this mystery. For a woman this may
be particularly potent at times. It connects her with the forces of
death and renewal occurring within her during every menstruation. It
connects her with the tremendous link with natural forces of mothering
and the strength of womanhood and the female principle in the Earth
and universe. After all, it is from the earth, matter, Mater, that our
body is formed, and at death will return.
Below a man describes his feelings and imagery experienced when he
explored a dream in which a bull is being led up a meadow toward a cow
- the cow being one of the symbols of the Great Mother.
Example: The sexual drive cannot be dragged, it will be led, and
it must be treated as intelligent, as a living creature or process.
In the dream the bull, depicting my sexual drive, is following, is
willing to be led. And it is being led by the woman. This means that
the cow, the woman, the earth, always leads the sexual drive in the
male animal. All things are born by the great cow, the earth. The
earth holds all the seeds in it. I am kneeling and honouring the
Great Cow. The woman was leading me because she represents this
power. In youth I, the bull, fed at the teats of the cow. Even now I
suck the teats of the Great Cow, mother earth, as I eat the grass.
The mother can also destroy. Anthony.
In her book
The
Once and Future Goddess Elinor Gadon writes that
'In the late twentieth century there is a growing awareness that we
are doomed as a species and planet unless we have a radical change of
consciousness. The re-emergence of the Goddess is becoming the symbol
and metaphor for this transformation of culture.'
Useful questions are:
Do I know how to accept this deeply unconscious creative process in
me to take hold of my being and express through me?
What times in my life have I met or experienced this power of the
goddess, of nature working in and around me?
In my relationships with women can I or do I recognise the goddess
in them? |
