I was recently asked a question by a friend of mine, regarding portrayals of the divine. She asked whether or not it was helpful to portray the Great Goddess in human form. Using a small statue to represent someone so boundless, so vastly supreme, may seem fruitless. Is it possible to accurately depict Her? Is it helpful to try and depict Her in human form? Since my childhood, I like to imagine Her as a warm and loving mother, but I knew that she was much more than that. And image we come up with is merely a symbolic representation of our experience of the divine.  The Metamorphoses of Apuleius describes a vision of the Great Goddess. She emerges from the sea, to announce that she is known by many names... "the Phrygians call me the mother of the Gods: the Athenians, Minerva: the Cyprians, Venus: the Candians, Diana: the Sicilians Proserpina: the Eleusians, Ceres: some Juno, other Bellona, other Hecate: and principally the Aethiopians which dwell in the O...

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...

"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."  The Ancient Greek goddess Astraea "star-maiden" was a personification of justice, innocence and purity. She weighs the deeds of mortals in her scales to deliver law and order on earth. According to legend, Astraea, the celestial virgin, was the last of the immortals to live with humans during the Golden Age. Fleeing the injustice and wickedness of humanity, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo. Her scales of justice became the constellation Libra. One day Astraea is expected to come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age. Virgo was also associated with the goddess of wheat, Ceres. The late Republican Ceres Mater (Mother Ceres) was described as genetrix (progenitress) and alma (nourishing). Ceres was patron and protector of plebeian laws, rights and Tribunes. Goods, prope...

The Wiccan Charge begins with the words  "Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Bride, and by many other names." What are some of the other names? Hecate, Persephone, Selene, Cybele, Demeter, Rhea, Gaia, Astraea, Ceres, Isis, Hathor, Venus, Psyche, Sophia, Shakti. These are all names of our Goddess. How can one goddess be known by so many names? How can one goddess have multiple faces? We find the same fact is stated by pagan philosophers of the first millenium. The Metamorphoses of Apuleius is a Latin text from the 2nd century CE. The story is of a young man called Lucius who is eager to be initiated into the mystery cult of Isis. The secrets of the cult are explained to him before he goes through the process of initiation, which involved a trial by the elements during a journey to the underworld. Lucius also seeks initiation into the cult of Osiris, and...

Although Wiccans often refer to the Lord and Lady by Celtic names, it must be known that the Celtic culture is a relatively new development in the history of human kind. Anthropologists tell us that the human race first evolved in Africa and began to slowly spread across the world. Just as humanity began in Africa, so did religion and spirituality. The most ancient of gods and goddesses are found in the cradle of humanity. As people migrated, different cultures developed, different languages developed, and new names for the gods and goddesses were found. No ethnic group is entirely unique and different from the rest of human kind. Each ethnic group carries the heritage of their ancestors, who ultimately are traced back to a common origin. The migration of the human race out of Africa is estimated to have occurred about 70,000 years ago. The first step out of Africa wa into Asia Minor, then to India, Australasia, the far East, and North America. Only 30,000 years ago did humans begi...

The sacred texts of the Egyptian pyramids identify the Pharaoh with both Horus and Osiris. During life on Earth, the Pharaoh is identified as Horus, but during death he is known as Osiris. The notion of Horus as the Pharaoh seems to have been superseded by the concept of the Pharaoh as the son of Ra during the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Ra is the Egyptian god of the midday sun. Ra was identified with another sun god, Atum, and so they became known as Atum-Ra. Later, Ra was identified with Horus, and combined they were known as Re-Horakhty. Following this, Ra was identified with Amun and became known as Amun-Ra. For a while, the worship of Ra was replaced with another solar deity, Aten. Every dawn, the goddess of the night sky, Nut, gave birth to Ra, and in the evening he descended back into the underworld. When equated with Horus and Osiris, Ra is born as Horus at dawn and becomes Osiris at dusk. Osiris is the Egyptian god of the Underworld. He is depicted as a partially mumm...