The Great Goddess

 (Nature Unveiling Herself to Science by Louis Barrias in 1899, Musee d'Orsay.)

"Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess, She in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of Heaven, whose body encircleth the universe. 'I who am the beauty of the green earth; and the White Moon amongst the Stars; and the mystery of the Waters; and the desire of the heart of man. I call unto thy soul: arise and come unto me. For I am the Soul of nature who giveth life to the Universe; From me all things proceed; and unto me, all things must return.'" The Prose Charge

The Great Goddess of Wicca is described as Mother Nature Herself. She is the creative force of the Universe. Nature is envisioned as a Mother because the Latin word natura means "to birth".  The personification of Mother Nature, was widely popular in the Middle Ages. Mother Earth or Eorthe in Old English was also popular. The Norse personified Mother Earth as Jord. The Greeks called Her Ma-ka (transliterated as Ma-ga), "Mother Gaia". The pre-Socratic philosophers personified the entirety of the Universe as Phusis (or Physis) from which we derive the word physics "the study of nature".

Orphic Hymn IX To Nature

Nature [Phusis], all parent, ancient, and divine, 

O Much-mechanic mother, art is thine;
Heav'nly, abundant, venerable queen, 

in ev'ry part of thy dominions seen.
Untam'd, all-taming, ever splendid light, 

all ruling, honor'd, and supremly bright.
Immortal, first-born [Protogeneia], ever still the same, 

nocturnal, starry, shining, glorious dame.
Thy feet's still traces in a circling course, 

by thee are turn'd, with unremitting force.
Pure ornament of all the pow'rs divine, 

finite and infinite alike you shine;
To all things common and in all things known, 

yet incommunicable and alone.
Without a father of thy wond'rous frame, 

thyself the father whence thy essence came.
All-flourishing, connecting, mingling soul, 

leader and ruler of this mighty whole.
Life-bearer, all-sustaining, various nam'd, 

and for commanding grace and beauty fam'd.
Justice, supreme in might, whose general sway 

the waters of the restless deep obey.
Ætherial, earthly, for the pious glad, 

sweet to the good, but bitter to the bad.
All-wife, all bounteous, provident, divine, 

a rich increase of nutriment is thine;
Father of all, great nurse, and mother kind, 

abundant, blessed, all-spermatic mind:
Mature, impetuous, from whose fertile seeds 

and plastic hand, this changing scene proceeds.
All-parent pow'r, to mortal eyes unseen, 

eternal, moving, all-sagacious queen.
By thee the world, whose parts in rapid flow, 

like swift descending streams, no respite know,
On an eternal hinge, with steady course 

is whirl'd, with matchless, unremitting force.
Thron'd on a circling car, thy mighty hand 

holds and directs, the reins of wide command.
Various thy essence, honor'd, and the best, 

of judgement too, the general end and test.
Intrepid, fatal, all-subduing dame, 

life-everlasting, Parca, breathing flame.
Immortal, Providence, the world is thine, 

and thou art all things, architect divine.
O blessed Goddess, hear thy suppliant's pray'r, 

and make my future life, thy constant care;
Give plenteous seasons, and sufficient wealth, 

and crown my days with lasting, peace and health.

Later medieval Christian thinkers regarded Mother Nature as earthbound rather than cosmic. They believed She had been created by Yahweh (Jehovah) as a personification of life on Earth, between Heaven and Hell. To Christians, She was higher than the demons but lower than the angels. In Wicca She is called "Queen of Heaven, Queen of Hell" as She resumes her place as Cosmic Mother.

Nature is veiled to us as Queen Isis or the Virgin Artemis. The veil of maidenhood symbolises all that is unknown and mysterious. Physicists, the students of Nature, attempt to lift Her veil and reveal Her Cosmic Laws. Initiates of Wicca seek to know Her through the Mysteries, ecstatic experiences of enlightenment or sublime understanding.

As an embodiment of the Universe, the Cosmic Mother is everywhere and in everything. This means that while She is the beauty of the Moon, the sparkling Stars and the rolling sea, She is also the raging storm, the desert, and the sweeping fire. She is the mysterious Maiden, the all-creating Mother, and the all-destroying Crone. This modern concept of the Triple Goddess uses the phases of the moon to symbolise the ever waxing and waning cycle of life and death.

The regular cycle of the moon phases have long served humans as an indication of time passing. The words measure, month, and menstruate all derive from the Indo-European word for moon. Humans have also noted the gravitational effects that the moon has upon the Earth's oceans. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Pliny the Elder believed that the moon not only caused the ocean's tides but also created a tide of the brain, causing emotional fluctuations in humans. There is no scientific evidence for this common concept of lunacy being caused by the moon. The gravitational force of the moon does not actually effect human biology. Studies have been done to see if the moon's light may have some correlation with the menstrual cycle but no conclusive evidence has been found. The human menstrual cycle is 28 days whereas the lunar cycle is 29.5 days, making the two cycles out of synchronisation.

The Greek physician Galen called the Moon "princeps" who "rightly governs this earthly realm, surpassing the other planets not in potency, but in proximity". He claimed the moon was responsible for all physical changes in sickness and health, and regarded its aspects as decisive for prognosis. The moon is a symbol of regulation, order in the cosmos, the concept of time, and the cycle of decay and renewal. In Christianity, the symbol of the moon was connected to the Virgin Mary, God's Grace, the Water of Life and the Holy Spirit.

The classical text The Golden Ass of Apulius is a story of one man's redemption through the Great Goddess. Gazing upon the full moon over the sea, Apulius prayed: "O blessed Queen of heaven, whether thou be the Dame Ceres which art the original and motherly source of all fruitfull things in earth, who after the finding of thy daughter Proserpina, through the great joy which thou did presently conceive, made barren and unfruitful ground to be plowed and sown, and now thou inhabitest in the land of Eleusie;

"or whether thou be the celestial Venus, who in the beginning of the world did couple together all kind of things with an ingendered love, by an eternal propagation of human kind, art now worshipped within the Temples of the Ile Paphos, thou which art the sister of the God Phoebus, who nourishest so many people by the generation of beasts, and art now adored at the sacred places of Ephesus, thou which art horrible Proserpina, by reason of the deadly howlings which thou yeeldest, that hast power to stop and put away the invasion of the hags and Ghosts which appear unto men, and to keep them down in the closures of the earth:

"thou which art worshipped in diverse manners, and doest illuminate all the borders of the earth by thy feminine shape, thou which nourishest all the fruits of the world by thy vigor and force; with whatsoever name or fashion it is lawfull to call upon thee, I pray thee, to end my great travaile and misery, and deliver me from the wretched fortune, which had so long time pursued me. Grant peace and rest if it please thee to my adversities, for I have endured too much labour and peril. Remove from me my shape of mine Ass, and render to me my pristine estate, and if I have offended in any point of divine Majesty, let me rather die then live, for I am full weary of my life."

Beholding a vision of the Great Goddess, he heard her reply: "Behold Lucius I am come, thy weeping and prayers hath moved me to succour thee. I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the Elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, Queene of heaven! The principal of the Gods celestial, the light of the goddesses: at my will the planets of the air, the wholesome winds of the Seas, and the silences of hell be diposed; my name, my divinity is adored throughout all the world in divers manners, in variable customs and in many names."

More recently, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith experienced a vision which he described in the Tablet of the Temple as follows: "While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet voice, calling above My head. Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden - the embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord - suspended in the air before Me. So rejoiced was she in her very soul that her countenance shone with the ornament of the good-pleasure of God, and her cheeks glowed with the brightness of the All-Merciful. Betwixt Earth and Heaven she was raising a call which captivated the hearts and minds of men. She was imparting to both My inward and outer being tidings which rejoiced My soul, and the souls of God's honoured servants. Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in Heaven and all who are on Earth saying: "By God! This is the best beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but understand."

This is who She is to me, Anima Mundi. This concept is important in Neoplatonic systems, as Plato said: "Therefore, we may consequently state that: this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence ... a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related." The Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece believed that Nature was the vital force of the Universe. Similar concepts are found in the Brahman of Hinduism, the Yin-Yang of Taoism, and the Ch'i of Chinese culture. This belief can also be found in Hermeticism, taught by philosophers such as Paracelsus, Benedict de Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Friedrich Schelling. As of the late 17th century, this belief was known as pantheism.