Goddess Question

this may be odd, i'm writing rituals for the sabbats for my coven right now, at Yule, the triple Goddess would be in her Crone stage or is she the Maiden? can't seem to find the answer anywhere. thanks.

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I am pretty sure it is the crone

it is the crone.

thanks. i figured it was the crone, but in one of the stories i researched she gives birth to the oak king, so i was confused.

The idea of Maiden, Mother and Crone don't work well with the Celtic beliefs. There is no true triple goddess in mythology, it is a new age concept created by the poet Robert Graves.

I personally teach my daughter, however, that the Goddess (Mother Earth) gives birth to the Sun and becomes the Great Mother. The Goddess isn't the most important aspect of Yule, the spotlight is on the Sun's death and rebirth. The Goddess is focused on during the sabbats that land in the beginning of the month. The Solstices are always male centered celebration (those celebrated in the middle of the month). After the birth of the Sun, depending on the person, the Goddess goes to sleep or grows old and dies until Spring. So I would say she is the Mother during Yule because a crone doesn't give birth.

*doesn't work well

And what I mean by no true triple goddess, is there is no goddess of maiden, mother and crone "faces". The goddesses who have three faces aren't like that. You can't find anything in mythology that actually supports a supreme goddess of three faces. The only thing in mythology that comes close is the Moirai (Fate sisters) but they were separate women, not one being.

Moirae*

Haha, I wrote that in a rush. Still a few more typos there that are bugging me but oh well. I still wish there was an edit feature on the forums...

But I was a bit bored (it being 2am with no one on SOM) and thought I would look around the web for Neko, I found this!
http://whisperingworlds.com/wiccan/yule.php

There you go. That should help ;-)

Maiden, Mother, and Crone refer to the three aspects of the yearly cycle. Maiden is birth, rebirth, rejuvenation, cleansing. In other words spring. Mother is the aspect of growth and development. Caring and nurturing. Summer as it enters fall. Crone is the end of the cycle and the rebirth of the new. The possession of the great wisdom of life and experience. The onset of winter and then the rebirth again into spring. Since Yule falls into the end of the year then the Goddess would be in the crone stage.

Who is a good goddess to read up on.