The Goddess

The Goddess symbolizes the mystery of three, the cycle of life, death and rebirth, playing out one's karmic role ever walking toward the Gate of Inspiration, and once there, to pass through to await rebirth on the physical plane and start over. We all know this cycle. But are there any deeper, personal teachings the Cymry hold as the secrets of our tradition? Yes. To become one with the family of the Cymry means to become one with the knowledge handed down during the generations of seekers and teachers; the mysteries given by the Goddess and God in our rituals, celebrations and individual lives.

The image of the Goddess inspires women to see themselves in a very different light. As Daughters of the Goddess, they are divine, their bodies are sacred, and the changing phases of their lives are holy. Their aggression is healthy, and their anger can be purifying. Their power to create and nurture as well as their ability to limit and to destroy, when necessary, is seen as the very force that sustains all life. Through the Goddess, women can discover their own strength, enlighten their minds, own their bodies and celebrate their emotions. They can move beyond narrow constricting roles and become whole people. For women, the Goddess is the symbol of the inmost self and the beneficent, nurturing, liberating power within all women.

The Goddess is woman and man in all their infinite splendor. She is the passion that flows between lovers and all acts of loving pleasure are her rituals. Women and men are equal in her sight. She teaches love of each other regardless of color, ability, age, shape, size or type.

The Goddess is Magick, the subtle forces of planets, moons and stars, and the power of our own internal thoughts and feelings. She is our ability to call forth that which we have need of (once in the month, and better it be when the moon is full), and to banish that which we have achieved. It is in praise of the Goddess that we come together and join with the forces within to further peace and nurture the Earth.

The Goddess is also the dance of the seasons in the cycle of the mysteries. She is the maiden flowering in the spring, the woman bleeding, the mother giving birth, the lover loving, the grandmother growing wise, the crone dying, and the spirit child being reborn. Each stage of her is sacred, beautiful and necessary to the whole. Although the Goddess is known by many names during the aeons of mankind, the Cymry frequently call the Triple Goddess by the names of Arianrhod for the maiden, Rhiannon for the mother, and Cerridwen for the crone.

We see the Goddess in many different forms. We experience her as the Earth which is the mother of us all. In this form she fills us with awe and wonder as we experience the myriad forms of life that emanate from her womb. When the flowers bloom, we see her as the eternal maiden who fills us with inspiration. When the plants produce their fruits and grains, we see her as the all giving, all nurturing Mother; and when the land is barren, we see her as the Crone of death to which everything returns. All forms of matter are children of the Great Mother.

The Image of the Goddess has a great deal to offer men. Men are oppressed in a God ruled, patriarchal society. Men are encouraged to identify with a model that no human being can possibly live up to. But in a balanced religion, the Goddess becomes the mother who: will never abandon her child, will never refuse to nurture him when he is feeling his most vulnerable, and; tempers her justice with compassion and understanding. She does all these in ways not always possible in human women and other men.

For a man, the Goddess is his own hidden Female self, as well as being a part of the Universal Life force. She embodies all the qualities society teaches him not to recognize in himself. His first experience with her may therefore be somewhat stereotypical, in that she appears as the cosmic lover, the gentle nurturer, the eternally desired Other, or the Muse. As he becomes more whole and becomes aware of his own "female" qualities, she changes, to show him a new face. Always holding up a mirror, she shows what may seem unknowable to him. As the Moon, he may chase her forever and she will elude him, but through the attempt, he will grow until he too learns to find her within.

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