THE WITCH'S CORNER

The Maiden

The maiden is overflowing with all of the possibilities of the future.  Within her are the seeds of what will be.  She is the fresh dawn of a new day.  She is strength and tenacity and power.  She is unbridled enthusiasm and wonder and hope.







The Mother

The mother is ripe fruit hanging pregnant from the vine.  She is the foundation, the nurturer, the protectress.  She is fortified with strength and placid with the calmness of a sunny day.  She is who we turn to for stability and reassurance.







The Crone

It is the crone we seek in the darkening twilight.  We find comfort in her quiet presence and yet we are challenged by her intuitive knowledge and aware of the dark shadows she casts...forcing us to seek the light and answers.

© Amythyst Raine 2007

Whenever ye have need of anything, 

once in the month and better it be when the moon is full, 

then shall ye assemble in some secret place, 

and adore the spirit of me, 

who am Queen of all witches. 

There shall ye assemble, 

ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, 

yet have not won its deepest secrets; 

to these will I teach all things that are as yet unknown. 

The Goddess Grove

To enter The Realm of  the Goddess, click on the image below:

Temple of Diana

The Temple of Diana is a feminist organization of Dianic Wicca
dedicated to the celebration of women's magick and mysteries.

To enter The Temple of Diana, click on the image below.

Z Budapest

The following is a list of Goddesses and their histories with a link to this site:

Goddess forms are many and beautiful
Goddess as creatrix of the universe
Aphrodite - Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty
Artemis - Greek Goddess of Hunting and Vegetation
Athena - Greek Goddess of Wisdom and War
Ceres - Roman Goddess of Agriculture
Demeter - Greek Goddess of Agriculture
Devi - Hindu Goddess of Existence
Diana - Roman Goddess of Hunting
Durga - Hindu Goddess that Destroys Demons
Gaia - Greek Goddess as Mother Earth
Ha Hai-i Wuhti - Hopi Divine Mother
Hecate - Greek Goddess of Magic
Ishtar - Babylonian Goddess of War
Isis - Egyptian Goddess
Juno - Roman Goddess of Women
Kali - Hindu Goddess of Liberation
Kuan Yin - Buddhist Goddess of Compassion
Lakshmi - Hindu Goddess of Prosperity
Minerva - Roman Goddess of Arts
Mother Mary - Christian Goddess of Compassion
Persephone - Greek Goddess of the Underworld
Sarasvati - Hindu Goddess of Knowledge and Arts
Shakti - Hindu Goddess of Primal Energy
Tara - Tibetan Goddess of Compassion
Venus - Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty

For more information on The Goddess, click on the image below.

I don't know if it's this time of year or this phase of life I'm in now, but I feel a tremendous magnetic pull to The Crone.  I relish her-- I revel in the beauty of her darkness and the depth of her knowledge and all the life tasted that she represents to me.  She is a milestone, a goal, an accomplishment.

She brings to me a sense of peace, as I hope she does to all of you.

Blessings, Lady Amythyst

The Dark Mother is the most misunderstood of the triple aspects of the Goddess. Her color is Black and she absorbs everything, including light and life. The dark of the Moon is Her time, the Abyss and darkness of space Her home. Her number is nine, symbolizing wisdom and sacred magick. Nine is also the number of completion and the completion of beginnings is the Crone's place in the cycle of birth-life-death.

The greatest fear in Western Society is the fear of death and so many have turned away from this face of our Mother. We see this in our fevered need for eternal "youth and beauty" (as defined by society) and in the medical community's fight against aging and death. Who among us had not had a friend or family member kept "alive" on life support long after the soul has left the body to resume its journey?

We also see this turning away in the way this country treats its elderly. At a time of life in which a person should be venerated for wisdom and knowledge they could pass on to the young ones among us, the elderly are at best "taken care of" (read: loss of privacy, dignity and freedom) or at worst completely ignored. Advanced age should be a time to look forward to in our lives. We should be able to look back and remember all that has happened to us with wisdom and good humor. We should be given the chance to relax and rest and contemplate our lives in preparation of a joyful reunion with the Dark Mother, come to take us into Her starry womb once more. Instead because we don't build a comfortable relationship with the Crone early in our lives, near the end all we feel is frustration and fear.

How do we build a relationship with the Crone, this Dark Mother who upholds the laws of life and death with a rigorous need for balance that may seem so many times harsh to us? First we must realize that Death is not the only domain of the Crone. Endings of all sorts fall under Her sway, and endings always lead to new beginnings.

You can get in touch with the Crone during many transitional periods in your life; during the ending of relationships or jobs, when you need to regroup your energies at the end of a project or problem, even when you are getting your garden ready for the winter. The Dark Mother also covers trance states, spirit communication, and prophecy. Menopause is also a time to learn about the Crone aspect of the Goddess.

Crone magick is not all that different from Her other three aspects, one must simply remember that the Crone is not a Goddess of birth, but of the harvesting and resting of all life. One may use meditation, candle burning and other general tools of magick to draw Her energies near. Her power may be called upon with dark candles such as black, dark blues or deep purples. Another of Her magickal domains is retribution, but you must be certain that you are justified in your need. Do not ask for revenge (remember the Law of Three!), do not be specific in anything that you want done. Simply lay the problem before Her and allow Her to decide whether or not there has been a true imbalance of justice.

At the Winter Solstice, you can burn white, red and black candles to be reminded that everything is born, lives and dies to be born again.

In the end, all must confront the Dark Mother, willingly, or unwillingly. How much better it would be to realize that She is not to be dreaded, a figure in black come to take us away from all we know and love, but a loving Goddess come to take us home so that we may rest and revive and begin our journey on the Wheel of Life once more.

Lilith Silverhair
Cochranton, Pennsylvania
Editor, C.O.L.L. of the Goddess

For a link to this site, click here.

It is the Mother aspect of the Goddess that seems to encompass most of our lives-- we are the nurturers.  Whether we are women who have given birth to our own children, or find ourselves entrusted with the care of other women's children.  And it is not only the children of the world we nurture, but the animals, the earth itself, and the men in our lives.  We nurture growth in all things, inlcuding new ideas and ventures, in the arts and literature, in all things worthwhile that need careful care and a magic touch.  Within that magic touch is the promise of creation and growth.

Blessings, Lady Amythyst

The Mother

            Hail the Great and Mighty Mother!
            Your Womb is the Cradle of Heaven,
            Your eggs are cast across countless worlds within.
            Hail the Mother of the Earth, Grandmother of all!
            Hail Earth, Daughter of Heaven!
            Earth, whose life-blood is the salty sea,
            Whose bones are the mighty mountains,
            Whose belly is pregnant with Life!
            Earth we hallow You! And your many children,
            Those that swim in the sea, that fly in the air,
            Those who run on the ground, and whose leaves wax green.
            So great has your family grown, no one can tally its count!
            Hail Earth, Mother of all Living!
            Dwell among us on this Full Moon night!
            We are in celebration of your Continuous Gifts!
            Great One, make yourself known to us!
            Hail and Welcome!

(~Ma'at's Book of Shadows)

It has been my experience that the older a woman gets, the farther away the Maiden feels.  It is probably a natural progression.  And yet, even women entering the more mature phases of life need the vital life force of this aspect of the Goddess.  She is what propels us forward with strength and tenactiy and the self-confidence to discover our inner selves and our hidden strengths.

Blessings, Lady Amythyst

The Maiden

As the representative of the waxing crescent moon, she is the beginner -- the initiator of the Hunt, the one who helps women make their own choices. The Maiden is the Virgin - but not *a* virgin.  Instead of a definition in which she is without sexual knowledge, we look to one in which she retains her own independance, beholden to no other (male or female).  She is comfortable in her independence and enjoys the occasional companionship of a lover.  She oversees the chase to make sure the hunt is fair both to the hunter and to the hunted, since she feels responsibility for the souls of both and maintains an intense interest in maintaining the natural balance of the food chain. She defends the rights of women to make their own choices, often facilitating an escape from unwelcome suitors for young maidens; and when these women make the choice to bear a child, she is there to ease the inevitable labor pains - and to assist the women in their transition from maidens to mothers. 

Listen to the Words of the Horned God, who was of old called among men:  Adonis, Tammuz, Dianus, Herne, Bran, Beli, Lugh, Gwyn, Dionysus, Osiris, Cernunnos, Pan, and by many other names:

"I am the fire within your heart... The yearning of your Soul. I am the Hunter of Knowledge and the Seeker of the Holy Quest. I who stand in the darkness of light; I am He whom you have called Death. I am the Consort and Mate of Her we adore, call forth to me."

 

(From "The Charge of the God")

The music on this page:  "Water Shows the Hidden Heart"

by  Enya

CD:  Amarantine