The Triple Goddess reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Triple Goddess

Followers of the revived religion of Wicca, and some archeologists and mythographers believe that long before the coming of Christianity, the Triple Goddess embodied the three-fold aspect of Gaia, the Earth Mother (Roman Magna Mater), who was worshipped under a variety of name not only in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean and Anatolia, but in pre-Islamic Arabia. She is one, but she is also three: The Maiden (Greek Persephone), pure and a representation of new beginnings; The Mother (Greek Demeter), wellspring of life, giving and compassionate; and The Crone (Greek Hecate) wise, knowing, a culmination of a lifetime of experience. These aspects may also represent the cycle of birth, life and death (and rebirth).

Wiccans also claim historical antecedent for their beliefs, holding that in Old Europe, in the Aegean world, and in the most ancient Near East, the Triple Goddess preceded the coming of nomadic speakers of Indo-European languages. In South Arabia the moon-god Hubal was accompanied by the three goddesses, Uzza, the youngest, al-Lat ("the Goddess") and Manat the crone, the three cranes.

Wicca has revived practices honoring the Triple Goddess.

There is some reference to her being like the Moirai, the Wyrd Sisters, the Morrigan or even the Furies-- basically, every triple incarnation. More than anything, though, she is the personification of all women everywhere.

This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This is the "Triple Goddess" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.