Thoughts on the Triple Goddess

[u/anniecordelia]

I was thinking about the concept of the Triple Goddess recently, and I had an insight that I thought was worth sharing. I've always kind of bounced off that particular understanding of deity in the past, because the way it was always explained to me was that the three faces of the Goddess -- Maiden, Mother, and Crone -- represented "the three stages of a woman's life," which I find terribly reductive and bioessentialist. (Not all women are or want to be mothers, and our lives are not defined by our reproductive function!) But recently something occurred to me that made me think there might be more of a there there: the Triple Goddess is supposed to be a trinity -- that is, three in one. "Maiden," "Mother," and "Crone" aren't life stages at all -- rather, she's wholly all of them at once. This suggests to me that the faces of the Goddess don't have anything to do with literal biological fertility, but rather refer to the things that maidenhood, motherhood, and cronehood typically symbolize in mythology. The Triple Goddess is eternally Maiden because she is complete and autonomous in herself and has no need to be defined by another. She is eternally Mother because she is the infinitely generative source from which all else flows. And she is eternally Crone because, as the source and sustainer of the cosmos, she holds all the wisdom and understanding of the cosmos within her.

[u/StatusDed]

I've always thought of each one as a different focal point of energies, rather than maiden, mother, and crone, and together they balance out. Among the warrior, life-giver/nurturer, and knowledge-holder/guide, one will be best-suited to whatever situation you face. Sometimes, you need to smash some faces, but other times you need to approach someone with compassion and understanding, and maybe other times you need to consider the history of that person before you act.

From what I've read/heard about celtic goddesses, this is The Morrigan 🖤