Triple Moon Goddesses

The **Triple Goddess** is a deity or deity archetype revered in many Neopagan religious and spiritual traditions. In common Neopagan usage, the Triple Goddess is viewed as a triunity of three distinct aspects or figures united in one being. These three figures are often described as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon, and often rules one of the realms of heavens, earth, and underworld. In various forms of Wicca, her masculine consort is the Horned God.

## History:

Hecate was the "original" and most prominent ancient triple moon goddess. Hecate was represented in triple form from the early days of her worship. Diana (Artemis) also came to be viewed as a trinity of three goddesses in one, which were viewed as distinct aspects of a single divine being: "Diana as huntress, Diana as the moon, Diana of the underworld." Additional examples of the goddess Hecate viewed as a triple goddess associated with witchcraft include Lucan's tale of a group of witches, written in the 1st century BCE. In Lucan's work, the witches speak of "Persephone, who is the third and lowest aspect of our goddess Hecate". Another example is found in Ovid's *Metamorphosis*, in which Jason swears an oath to the witch Medea, saying he would "be true by the sacred rites of the three-fold goddess."

The neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry was the first to record an explicit belief that the three aspects of Hecate (an important goddess in the Neoplatonic tradition of Late Antiquity) represented the phases of the moon: new, waxing, and full. In his 3rd century AD work *On Images*, Porphyry wrote: "the moon is Hekate, the symbol of her varying phases and of her power dependent on the phases. Wherefore her power appears in three forms, having as symbol of the new moon the figure in the white robe and golden sandals, and torches lighted: the basket, which she bears when she has mounted high, is the symbol of the cultivation of the crops, which she makes to grow up according to the increase of her light: and again the symbol of the full moon is the goddess of the brazen sandals." Porphyry also associated Hecate with Dionysus, who he said they set beside her partially "on account of their growth of horns".

### The Three Graces, Seasons, and Fates:

The specific character of the modern neopagan Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetype is not found in any ancient sources related directly to Hecate. Both Diana and Hecate were almost invariably described as maiden goddesses, with an appearance like that of a young woman. However, according to the 3rd century BC grammarian Epigenes, the three Moirai, or Fates, were regarded by the Orphic tradition as representing the three divisions of the Moon, "the thirtieth and the fifteenth and the first" (i.e. the crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon, as delinted by the divisions of the calendar month). The Moirai themselves are traditionally depicted as a young girl, or Spinner of the thread of life, an older woman, or Measurer, and an elderly woman, or Cutter, representing birth, active life, and death.

The connection between the Fates and the variously-named Triple Moon Goddess, then ultimately led to the conflation of these concepts. Servius made the explicit connection between these phases and the roles of the Moirai: "some call the same goddess Lucina, Diana, and Hecate, because they assign to one goddess the three powers of birth, growth, and death. Some that say that Lucina is the goddess of birth, Diana of growth, and Hecate of death. On account of this three-fold power, they have imagined her as three-fold and three-form, and for that reason they built temples at the meeting of three roads." Servius' text included a drawing of a crescent moon (representing the new moon), a half moon (representing the waxing moon), and the full moon.

The syncretism of the prominent triple moon goddess (a united figure of Diana/Hecate/Selene), combined with the Orphic belief that the Seasons and the Fates were divisions of this same divinity, along with the latter representing the three stages of life, ultimately gave rise to the modern conception of a Triple Goddess whose symbol is the moon and whose triplicity can be conceived of both in terms of the moon's phases as the "Maiden, Mother, and Crone". However, it was not until the early 20th century that this fairly obscure ancient connection was developed and popularized.

## Triple Moon Goddesses

* Selene
* Artemis
* Hecate
* Juno
* Persephone

## Children of the Triple Moon Goddesses:

### Through Selene:

#### Immortal Children:

* The Horae
* Moirai
* Pandia
* Ersa
* Nemea
* Nemean Lion
* The Menae
* Naxos

#### Mortal Children:

* Epeius
* Aetolus
* Eurycyda
* Paeon
* Eurypyle
* Narcissus
* Immaradus
* Phorbas
* Musaeus
* Cyrex
* Thea

### Through Hecate:

#### Immortal Children:

* Circe
* Empousa

#### Mortal Children:

* Lamia
* Aeëtes
* Perses
* Aegiale
* Aegle
* Aetheria
* Naomi
* Iphigenia
* Josephine
* Several Amazons
* Several members of the Titan Army
* Alabaster C. Torrington
* Lou Ellen Blackstone

### Through Artemis:

#### Mortal Children:

* Amyclas (adoptive; formerly a Hunter)
* Chloris (adoptive; formerly a Huntress)

## Descendants of the Triple Moon Goddesses:

### Through Selene:

#### Grandchildren:

* Pleuron
* Calydon
* Hyrmine
* Eleius

#### Great-grandchildren:

* Sterope
* Stratonice
* Laophonte
* Agenor
* Epicaste
* Protogenia

#### Great-great-grandchildren:

* Porthaon
* Demonice
* Thestius
* Oxylus

#### Great-great-great-grandchildren:

* Oeneus
* Althaea
* Toxeus I
* Evippus
* Plexippus
* Eurypylus I
* Hypermnestra
* Leda

#### Great-great-great-great-grandchildren:

* Periphas
* Clymenus
* Methone
* Thyreus
* Meleager
* Eurymede
* Agelaus
* Melanippe
* Toxeus II
* Deianira
* Gorge
* Perimede
* Polyboea
* Iphaneira
* Amphiaraus

#### Great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren:

* Thaos
* Astypalaea

#### Great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren:

* Ancaeus
* Eurypylus II

### Through Hecate:

#### Grandchildren:

* Apsyrtus
* Medea
* Minotaur
* Catreus
* Androgeus
* Deucalion
* Glaucus
* Acalle
* Adriane
* Xenodice
* Phaedra

### Through Artemis:

#### Grandchildren:

* Pero (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Perciclymenus (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Alastor (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Chomius (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Asterius (adoptivel; through Chloris)
* Deimachus (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Epilaus (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Eurybius (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Eurymenes (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Evagoras (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Pylaon (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Taurus (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Nestor (adoptive; through Chloris)

#### Descendants:

* Shen Lun (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Grandma Zhang (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Emily Zhang (adoptive; through Chloris)
* Frank Zhang (adoptive; through Chloris)