Goddess’s of death and rebirth
Death is one of the most feared aspects of human existence and also inevitable. Every religious belief will have an aspect of rebirth or at least a sort of life after death. Whether that is a simple, your go to heaven or hell, the Elysian Fields; or Tartarus or more in-depth beliefs such as Karma and reincarnated, these are personal viewpoints and all are valid and part of your own mythologies reinforced by your beliefs and understandings.
When we look at the Goddess (and gods) of death or those connected to it the fall into several basic roles, The Ruler or the judge of the dead such as Hel (Norse), The guides Hecate (Greek) and those that return the dead to back to life such as Meng Po (Chinese).
The goddess’s of death are often depicted as crones or demons (Christian iconology) and are feared by many. Those that dedicate their lives to these goddess’s will often refer to their goddess as the Dark Mother. The dark mother is seen as a high honour as this is the mother who shows her love in a firm handed way, the disciplinarian, the one that see your potential and will not let you slip. But at the same time she offers such rewards and secretes of deeper magicks.
The dark mothers are difficult to petition due to the fact that they do not appear to those that they consider to be unworthy or whose offerings are considered not good enough. For those they considered worthy they will test and test and for those that pass great rewards are granted – and with great power comes great responsibility.
Since dark mothers are not that bothered with the use of darker magicks some of the unworthy can be consumed.
I can remember a young group started to work with Kali and to say the very least the group enjoyed some extra power for a while but the group wanted more and started to become darker and darker. For those that could see they where moving away from goddess and was becoming more like a cult but Kali was patient hoping that they would return so she could slap them back on the right path but they did not listen to her call so she hurt them removed their power and shattered the group to the four winds.
I am always reminded that the dark mother can love or devour her children as she chooses. There is much to be feared about the dark mother her links to the graveyard, body parts, blood and darkness but these are human fears not spiritual. It only when we can confront and defeat our fears of old age and death, can we truly accept the dark mother into our lives.
The dark mother is associated with the Crone aspect and the dark moon (A dark moon describes the Moon during that time that it is invisible against the backdrop of the Sun in the sky. The duration of a dark moon is between 1.5 and 3.5 days, depending on the orientation of the Earth and Sun.) And samhaine and winter.
One of the most misunderstood aspects of the triple aspect goddess and often forgotten being that most pagan paths focus on celebrating the new moon (originally “new moon” referred to the crescent on the first night it is visible, one or two days after conjunction) and the full moon (moon phase information below).
For the exercise in this lesson write down what you feel about death write down all of the thing that you are scared of. You will find that your feeling are very normal once you have them try meditation on that fear confront it and defeat it if you can. You can also meditate on the dark mother in your path and see if you can communicate with her.
| Phase | Northern Hemisphere | Southern Hemisphere | Visibility | Standard time of culmination (mid-phase) |
| New moon | Not visible, traditionally Moon’s first visible crescent | after sunset | 12 noon | |
| Waxing crescent moon | Right 1–49% visible | Left 1–49% visible | afternoon and post-dusk | 3 pm |
| First quarter moon | Right 50% visible | Left 50% visible | afternoon and early night | 6 pm |
| Waxing gibbous moon | Right 51–99% visible | Left 51–99% visible | late afternoon and most of night | 9 pm |
| Full moon | Fully visible | Fully visible | sunset to sunrise (all night) | 12 midnight |
| Waning gibbous moon | Left 51–99% visible | Right 51–99% visible | most of night and early morning | 3 am |
| Third quarter moon | Left 50% visible | Right 50% visible | late night and morning | 6 am |
| Waning crescent moon | Left 1–49% visible | Right 1–49% visible | pre-dawn and morning | 9 am |
| Dark moon | Not visible, traditionally Moon’s last visible crescent | before sunrise | 12 noon | |
Related articles
- Aspects of the goddess Lesson three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
- Lunar and solar goddess’s Lesson three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
- Review: Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett (yabookscentral.blogspot.com)
- Hecate: Goddess of the Witches, Our Dark MotherBy: Granny Moon, HPS, Order of the White Moon Kindly old Grandmother, The Crone, a woman of wisdom, Our Dark Mother, she of many names and guises. Goddess of the Crossroads, Queen of the Witches, the Dark Go (witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com)
- History of the goddess – lesson 3 (cybercauldron.co.uk)
- The Goddess Lesson Three (cybercauldron.co.uk)
- Modern Female Rite Of Passage (cybercauldron.co.uk)
