109 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
109 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
DISCOVERING THE MAIDEN GODDESS
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by Shekhinah Mountainwater
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A group of sisters in Oregon put on a Goddess gathering one summer,
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featuring the topic "Is there a fourth aspect to the Goddess?". Hearing
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about this got me thinking that the answer might be yes, the Dark Maiden.
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I first learned about this Goddess from a lover, who used to call me
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her "dark maiden," and point out the waning crescent in the late night sky.
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She would explain that there are two crescents and two maidens. The Bright
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Maiden corresponds to the waxing crescent, curving towards the right. The
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Dark Maiden corresponds to the waning crescent, curving towards the left.
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Over the years, I have discovered the beauty of this symbol system and its
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potential to give healing and enpowerment to women.
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We all know about the great triad : Maiden, Mother and Crone. This three
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fold archetype resonates deeply in our psyches as Begining, Middle and End
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of all things, and is likely to be with us always. Yet a fourth aspect
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might appear within the triad -- as well as a fifth or sixth. "When the
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myths come alive for us they change," says Starhawk. Truly, there are no
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limits to the Goddess, and all things are possible.
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But why the special attention to the Bright and Dark Maiidens? For one
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thing, they make a marvelous all-female alternative to the male-opposite-
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female symbolism of patriarchy. The Bright Maiden who waxes, moves towards
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the Light and the Sun. She is the young Goddess who is growing, the Amazon,
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the woman who takes her powers of freedom, action, strength and
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independence. She is the risk-taker, the woman who dares. in other words, she is all things our society tells us should be considered "male." Because
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of our loss of Her image in our psyches, women find themselves accused of
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becoming "like a man," when they express Her qualities. Known to us as
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Diana, Artemis, Boudicea, the Amazon Warrior Woman... the Bright Maiden is
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more familiar to us than the Dark.
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The Dark Maiden who wanes, moves towards the Underworld, The Crone. She
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is associated with aging, descent, introspection and magic. The Dark
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Maiden is teh enchantress, She Who Pulls. In her positive attributes, She
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represents some of the lost powers of woman. She surrenders to the flow
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and pulls, like the pull of the moon, the suction of the undertow. This is
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the magnetism of magic, our power to draw to us all that we require. Images
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of the Dark Maiden appear to us as Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, the
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Mermaid, Sirens, Sorceress.
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In patriarchy the Bright and Dark Maidens tend to appear in negative
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expression, and because of this, our impression of them can become
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destorted. Patriarchs love to keep our Dark Maidens weak and dependent upon
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them, and if we decide to act out of our Bright Maiden selves, they insist
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we do so "like a man." These are some of the reasons why it is so important
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for us to find woman-identified symbols for these parts of ourselves;
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Goddesses that are soft and strong, magickal and free -- female expressions
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of these qualities.
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DARK MAIDEN : AFFLICTED LIBERATED
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--------- ---------
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Weak Surrendering
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Flaky Spontaneous
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Passive Pulling
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Victim Supporting
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Self-Sacrificing Compassionate
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"Loser" Gentle
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Myopic Subjective
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Over-reacting Intuitive
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Deluded Imaginative
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BRIGHT MAIDEN : AFFLICTED LIBERATED
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--------- ---------
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Hard Boiled Strong
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Superficial In control
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Hyper-rational Organized
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Militant Disciplined
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Aloof Independent
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Unemotional Objective
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Mechanical Scientific
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Power-over Power-from-within
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Careless Playful
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The main thing to remember about the Dark Maiden is that She has the
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power to Respond. She is the receptive and sensative part of us, which
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we need for successful magic as well as personal wholeness. She is tender
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and vulnerable, and it is important to keep our Bright Maiden qualities
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so we can protect Her. Too many women with Dark Maiden qualities become
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victims in our society, subject to the will of others. And too many Bright
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Maidens become cold and hard. Feminist spirituality teaches us that we
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have been programmed to act out these qualities in ways that men have
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devised. Liberation lies not in discarding them, but in learning to reclaim
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them in their older, female expressions.
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Inevitably, this process will lead us back to the Three-fold and Five
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fold expressions of the Goddess, because they offer flow and continium.
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They teach us that any one quality when isolated at the expense of the
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others becomes destructive and limiting. WHile the Bright and Dark Maidens
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do pair off and become partners, companions and lovers...they can be seen
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within the larger contexts of Maiden, Mother and Crone, or Fire, Water,
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Air, Earth and Spirit. Sometimes I picture the two Maidens as Warrior and
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Priestess within a cycle that includes Mother, Grandmother, and Lover.
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Sometimes I see them as the Fall and Spring Equinoxes, known to the ancient
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Greeks as the Anados (Goddess arising) and Kathados (Goddess Descending).
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Thus we can integrate the duality of our Bright and Dark Maidens into the
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three-fold, five-fold and eight-fold (the eight holy days of the year)
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cycles of Life and Being.
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This article is but a glimpse into the possibilities. I invite you to
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search within yourself, in myths and amoung symbols that you know, for
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signs of the Bright and Dark Maidens.
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___________________________________________________________________________
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Shekhinah Mountainwater is a long-time Muse and lover of the Goddess. She
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offers teachings, rituals, music, writings, runes, tarot, workshops and
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more to the woman-spirit community. For a catalogue send $1 to Shekhinah
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Mountainwater, PO Box 2991, Santa Cruz, CA 95063. She is currently working
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on two books, one of Tarot and one on theololgy, both of which will contain
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images and discussions of the maiden Goddesses....
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___________________________________________________________________________
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