Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 to 25,000 BCE Many statuettes of female figures have been found across Europe, dating to 28,000–22,000 years ago. We can only guess as to their purpose. Many assume that these statuettes were objects of reverence, representations of the Great Mother. When a human child asks where they came from, the answer is often "from mummy's tummy" so perhaps it is only natural to view the entire world as coming from a Great Mother. When trees spring out of the ground, are they being born from Mother Earth? When new stars are formed in the heavens, are they being born from Mother Nature? Is the entire Universe one great womb? Many religions have a "mother of the gods" who is Great Mother to a whole pantheon of deities. Some believed that all the deities were emanations or fascets of one supreme godhead. In Hinduism, the Great Mother (Mahadevi) manifests herself in various forms, representing the universal creative force. She be...

Tarot of Marseilles The wheel of fortune is ever turning. Past, present and future are all on the wheel, and as the wheel turns, the present becomes the past and the future becomes the present. We can't freeze time, we can't stop the wheel from turning. It seems like history repeats itself, and we go round and round in circles. How does the number ten relate to this card? Humans have ten fingers to count, so ten represents a full set. A shape with ten sides is called a decagon, which almost resembles a circle or a wheel. In Pythagoreanism, the number ten played an important role and was symbolized by the tetractys, or tetrad. It's a triangular figure consisting of ten points arranged in four rows: one, two, three, and four points in each row. It represents the order of the Universe, comprised of four elements. It's also associated with the ten sephirot of Kabbalah. The sephirot are ten ways in which the Supreme Being or Higher Power is known to us. The number ten...

I have had this statue for yonks, and had been meaning to give it a lick of paint for some time now. You might think it strange that I have a statue of the Virgin Mary, but in my opinion, this portrayal is based on Roman goddess statues, and the Virgin Mary was given many attributes of Isis, who was worshipped across the Roman Empire, including Britain. The title "Queen of Heaven" was given to many celestial goddesses, and to me this represents the great Cosmic Mother who births all of creation. Lucius Apuleius adressed the Queen of Heaven by many names, recognising her presence among all cultures. He describes how she appeared to him in a vision: "Then by little and little I seemed to see the whole figure of her body, mounting out of the sea and standing before mee, wherefore I purpose to describe her divine semblance, if the poverty of my humane speech will suffer me, or her divine power give me eloquence thereto. First shee had a great abundance of haire...

  (Nature Unveiling Herself to Science by L ouis 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 (translit...