Goddess: Also called Devi in The Indo-European tradition. The ancient Goddess is the dual partner of God. In most origin legends a universal, omnipotent Goddess created the world, universe, and all living things, as well as God, endowing him with his powers. Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983) asserts, “the Goddess was a full-fledged cosmic parent figure who created the universe, its laws, ruler of Nature, Fate, Time, Eternity, Truth, Wisdom, Justice, Love, Birth, Death, etc.” Misogynistic historians and authors broke down the Goddess into diminutive forms, sometimes masculinizing her, demonizing her, or otherwise disguising her, although a little research often reveals the archetypal characteristics of the life-giving Goddess. Although She created God, in many religions, God becomes power-hungry and usurps her power by claiming to be the first Creator and creating a phallocentric theology; Zeus is one example of this. As Patriarchal societies and religions encroached onto the pagan peoples, Her temples and shrines were torn down or rededicated. This matricide continues today with legends that are half told, hiding or distorting the role of the Goddess, or by simply calling all ancient deities “Gods.” However, it is impossible to destroy an archetypal energy, and although She was forgotten, Her symbolism and energy was not lost. Many mystical spirituality systems preserved the knowledge of the Goddess, for instance, Wicca continued to worship Her, and Her theology and core concepts are included in patriarchal traditions like Marianism, the worship of Mother Mary. The aspects or “faces” of the Goddess are personified through a plethora of Goddesses from cultures around the world, as the ancient saying goes, “the Goddess has a thousand names and faces.” Often these appear as Great Goddesses, Triple Goddesses, Maiden, Mother, or Crone Goddesses. However, even though I have listed the goddesses into categories for organizational purposes, all of the goddesses simply reflect the same omnipotent Goddess and their qualities and powers overlap each other a great deal.

The most supreme and powerful of the Goddess’s faces are the Great Goddesses, revered as the original and supreme Creatress/Mother of the universe, including Aphrodite/Venus, Asherah, Astarte, Demeter/Ceres, Hathor, and so on.

Aphrodite (Greek)/Venus (Roman): Cyprus’s Great Goddess, often heralded as the “Greek Goddess of Love,” Aphrodite embodied all three of the Maiden-Mother-Crone aspects of the Triple Goddess, as did Venus, the same Roman Great Goddess of sexuality, including birth and death. She was also known at times as the Fates, Moira (another name for the Fates); Ashera, Astarte, or Dea Syria, as the “Goddess to the oldest continuously-occupied temple in the world;” in Rome she is called Venus; Egyptians called her Ay-Mari, the Sea (Walker, 1983). Her patron city was Paphos on Cyprus, and “During the Christian era, Aphrodite’s temple on Cyprus was converted into a sanctuary of the virgin Mary, another name of the same Goddess, but in this sanctuary the virgin Mary is hailed to this day as Panaghia Aphroditessa, ‘All-holy Aphrodite,’” according to Barbara Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). See Fates and Venus. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.

Asherah: Semitic Great Goddess. According to Barbara Walker, in her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “The Old Testament ‘Asherah’ is translated ‘grove,’ without any explanation that the sacred grove represented the Goddess’s genital center, birthplace of all things.” See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.

The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), states, “Astarte ruled all the spirits of the dead who lived in heaven wearing bodies of light, visible from earth as stars. Hence, she was known as Astroarche, ‘Queen of the Stars,’” and it is She who gave souls their “astral” bodies. Although she is a prototype of the Virgin Mary, Astarte was demonized by Christianity. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.

Demeter (Greek)/ Ceres (Roman): Ceres was the Latin Great Mother Earth Goddess, similar to the Greek Kore. Demeter was the Mycenae Great Goddess. From De meaning delta or triangle, referring to the vulva and meter meaning mother. As with all Great Mothers, Demeter gave birth to all life, but also appears as all three triple aspects of the goddess, creator-preserver-destroyer, or maiden-mother-crone. Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), states, “Corresponding letters—Sanskrit dwr, Celtic duir, Hebrew daleth—meant the Door of birth, death, or the sexual paradise. Thus Demeter was what Asia called ‘the Doorway of the Mysterious Feminine… the root from which Heaven and Earth sprang.’” Walker goes on to explain that Ceres, “As the earth-ruling aspect of the Goddess’s trinity, Ceres combined with Juno as queen of heaven, and Proserpine as queen of the underworld.” As Ceres Legifera she was a “the Lawgiver” and her priestesses are “considered the foundresses of the Roman legal system,” according to Walker, and Ceres ruled Rome for four centuries before 200 B.C.E. Patron of crops, her festival, the Cerealia, was kept by farmers of the British Isles, as well as Roman, and Christian farmers. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.

Devi: This Sanskrit word means Divine or Goddess and is the “root word for many Indo-European names for the Great Mother,” according to The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), by Barbara Walker.

Hathor: Egyptian Great Goddess, Mother of the Gods and Queen of Heaven. Like all Great Goddesses, She embodied the triple aspects of creator-preserver-destroyer. As Creatress she was Het-Hert, “’The Womb Above’”… bringing “forth in primeval time herself” and then the world, according to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983). She was the seven Holy Midwives, giving each Egyptian their seven souls at birth. Later she appears in medieval myths as in her preserver/mother aspect of fairy godmother, Mother Goose, Mother of the Sun King, and Lady of the Lake. As the destroyer she appears as the Huntress, with her totem animal, the Sphinx. See UMS Gods, Goddesses and Mythology course.

Spider Woman: Recognized as the Creatress by the Navajo, Spider Woman is “the weaver of the patterns of time and space, the symbol of fate,” according to Rowena and Rupert Shepherd in their book 1000 Symbols: What Shapes Mean In Art And Myth (2002). Spider Woman is said to have consorted with Father Sky and born the Warrior Twins, Monster Slayer and Born for Water. She taught the Navajo women to weave their blankets and rugs. She was Red Spider Woman to the Pawnee, who tell of her death transforming her into the healing root of the squash plant.

Tanit: Another name for the Phoenician Great Goddess, Tanit was recognized by the Carthaginians as a Heavenly Virgin, Queen of the Stars. She is also known as Astarte, Ashtoreth, and Asherah. According to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “Her priestesses were famous astrologers, whose prophecies were circulated throughout the Roman empire and even rivaled by the pronouncements of the Cumaean sybils.”

Xochiquetzal: Daughter of Coatlicue, this Aztec Goddess of All Women is similar to Aphrodite (Walker, 1983).