In her full power, the Maiden is sexuality beckoning but not fully realized; she is strong in body and only at the beginning of realizing her full potential. She is painting her self-portrait, but there are pieces missing because she has yet to experience them.
The Mother
As the Goddess moves into her Mother phase, fertility and creativity emerge. The Earth Goddess was generally portrayed at her most fertile, with a huge rotund belly, large breasts, and strong thighs—the Venus of Willendorf is the most famous statue thought to represent the Earth Mother.
Women coming into the Mother cycle had children. This was, for the most part, a given. Until the modern age, most birth control methods (except for abstinence) were chancy at best. Therefore, if you were female and you had sex, it was a fair bet you’d end up pregnant, sooner or later. Women were revered for their ability to give life: to bring forth life was a sign of divinity. Women were touched by the Goddess.
So the Mother Goddess signified creativity, fertility, and nurturing. The Mother was the goddess of the harvest—the queen of bounty to sustain the people through the long winters. She became Mother Bear, protecting her cubs; Ocean Mother, bringing in the treasures of fish and shellfish; she was symbolized by Cow—another fertility symbol—and by Rabbit.
Modern women entering their Mother phase have many more options than just bearing children to explore their fertility and creative energies. Nurturing a career and/or a partner (be it a man or woman) also falls under the Mother aspect. Women ripen fully into their sexuality during this phase—what began as experimentation during the Maiden phase now blossoms into the woman who knows what she wants, in the bed or out of it.
Women who fully embrace their Mother phase and release the Maiden stage without regret grow in personal power and confidence. They evolve into the Queen, not afraid of their age, not afraid of society and her whims. They nurture themselves along with their families and their friends. They protect. They defend the home and hearth, as well as their positions.
The Crone
When we turn to the Crone, in our society we often think of an ugly old woman who has no voice, no sensuality left, and no impact on society, but that is far from the truth in Goddess worship and modern Paganism. The Crone embodies wisdom and power. She understands compassion, but her methods often involve tough love—the love that lets the mentee learn the consequences of making wrong choices, the love that will protect from harm but will not coddle. The Crone is objective and understands the nature of balance—that without shadow, we cannot have light. Without sorrow, we cannot fully understand joy.
She is still sexual, but because the possibility of pregnancy has faded, she can enjoy her passion without worry. She is freer than either the Maiden or the Mother with her sexuality. If she is outside of a monogamous relationship, she can pick and choose her lovers as she will.
The Crone is firmly established in her career and her life path. She is a force to be reckoned with. Spiritually, the Crone embodies the Dark Mother. She is closer to death than her two companions, and she rules over the Underworld in many of her guises. As we saw earlier, she is the Fate who cuts the life-thread for each mortal.
The Crone is close to her magic. She has had longer to practice—she’s learned her strengths and built upon them. She works under the Dark Moon, and her magic is that of stars and the deep woodland and the veil that separates the worlds of life from the worlds of spirit.
The Crone cleanses the land, she is the wildfire that clears the scrub, she is the avalanche that sheds unbalanced snow banks, she peels away the scab to expose the new, healthy skin. And she also reveals hidden secrets and ugly truths so that spiritual cleansing can take place.
As she moves toward the veil, the Crone begins to shed her ties to the world; she walks the path to the Underworld, knowing that it is simply another transformation. In Paganism this journey is known as the Eternal Return—death leads to life leads to death leads to life again, and on and on.
THE FACE OF THE TRIPLE GODDESS WITHIN THE HOUSE OF NIGHT SERIES
While the Triple Goddess is referenced only indirectly in the House of Night series, we can still find clear expressions of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone aspects within the books.
Zoey Redbird is the Maiden—young, learning her place in the vampyre world, discovering her new abilities and potentials. She dates, but she isn’t tied down to any one man yet. She is in training, someday looking at being High Priestess, but for now, she’s got a long way to go and has questions, doubts. She makes the wrong choices at times and is beginning to learn through her mistakes.
At least at first, Neferet serves as a mother figure for Zoey and for the rest of the House of Night, as she ostensibly is there to guide and nurture the fledglings as they learn to live their new lives. In her role as High Priestess, Neferet also serves as spiritual advisor, as the voice of Nyx, and as the guardian of the gates of death for the fledglings who don’t make it through the Change.
Sylvia Redbird—Zoey’s grandmother—can be seen as the Crone. She is the fount of wisdom, the elder who has seen great dangers before in her life. She is both resource and support, and yet she can also employ tough love when necessary: she turns her own daughter away when she sees her head down the wrong path, and supports her granddaughter instead.
But the powers of each life phase can corrupt. Neferet lets her desire for power overwhelm her duty to use that power responsibly and commits what could conceivably be the one “sin” common to most belief systems: overstepping the boundaries of her position and assuming she can challenge the Goddess to which she was bound. In essence, she perverts the words of her Goddess in order to strengthen her own position. She twists Nyx’s power and, therefore, Nyx chooses someone else—in this case Zoey—to be her mouthpiece. But as of this point in the series, Zoey, still in her Maiden phase, has not gained enough power to challenge Neferet.
Aphrodite was the Maiden, but she also abused her power as leader of the Dark Daughters and was cast out. Nyx does not turn her away fully, but instead presents her with new struggles as Aphrodite seeks to relearn her place within the order. As she discovers more of her compassionate self and grows into her role as Nyx’s prophet, Aphrodite begins to enter the Mother phase—now human, but still a mirror of the Goddess. As her character develops a conscience and she begins to know what it’s like to actually care for others, she enters her nurturing phase.
OTHER FACES OF THE GODDESS IN THE HOUSE OF NIGHT SERIES
While the Triple Goddess is one of the best-known facets of the Goddess, they are not the only way of envisioning her, and we can also find other aspects of her within the series. First, there is the Bright Mother/Dark Mother duality. Here, bright and dark do not necessarily represent good and evil (just as light and dark do not in the House of Night series), but what essentially equates to the Shadow Self and the Outer Self. The Bright Mother is compassionate, nurturing, and looks after her children. One can turn to her for a shoulder to cry on, a companion with whom to celebrate. She is joyous and mirthful, and filled with hope and optimism. The Dark Mother is the shadow—she is the force of justice. She may have compassion but she will not show mercy; she is the defender and protector of wronged women and children in peril. We turn to the Dark Mother when we need to reveal hidden secrets, to strengthen our will and call upon our inner warrior woman.
We can see these dual aspects of the Goddess within the striking case of Stevie Rae Johnson, whose journey reminds me of that of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, who lives half the year in the Underworld and half the year in the world above.
Stevie, like Persephone, starts out a young innocent maiden. She is marked for the Change, but instead of following the Triple Goddess journey, she is carried into the Underworld, where she essentially becomes queen of the red fledglings. (Neferet plays the part of Hades, who steals her away.)
Stevie Rae’s power grows as she transforms, and she can no longer be considered a Maiden, but even though she watches o
ver the red fledglings, she’s not necessarily the “bright mother.” She has been cast into her power early, and so instead becomes the “dark mother” and the new red vampyres’ elder matriarch.
Where Persephone journeys into the light for six months of the year, so Stevie “returns” to herself enough to spend part of her time with her old friends—but she will never be the same. She now belongs in the Underworld, and must learn to balance her light and dark sides—the Bright Mother warring with the Dark Mother—and accept both.
THE GODDESS AND THE MOON
Another aspect of Goddess worship that we cannot ignore within the series is that of the Moon Goddess. The Goddess has long been connected with the moon, as well as the Earth. Correlations were noticed between the menstrual cycle and the moon’s cycle as far back as ancient Assyria, and woman’s monthly bleeding was first seen as holy. The power to bleed without a visible wound, without being harmed by that bleeding, could only be a powerful magical force. Eventually, as patriarchal religions rose in power and sought to sublimate the feminine sex and strength, this magical power became frightening. Women were often sequestered during their cycles and required to undergo ritual cleansing before returning to daily lives.
The Sabbatu
In ancient Assyria, rituals were performed on the new moon and on the seventh, fourteenth, and twenty-first days of the moon’s cycle. This directly paralleled not only the moon’s orbit around the Earth, but also the twenty-eight-day menstruation cycle. The word Sabbat—used in Pagan rites to denote holidays, and the word Sabbath—used in Judeo-Christian faiths—both have their origins in the word “sabbatu,” which is associated with these Assyrian cyclic rituals.
Since the night is associated with the moon, so were dreams, intuition, visions, passion, and the wild, feral side of the forest. A number of the goddesses are connected with the moon in one phase or another. Most goddesses of the Hunt are connected with the moon (Diana, Artemis, Mielikki), as are powerful goddesses of magic (Hecate, Cerridwen, Arianrhod, Aradia).
Magic performed in connection with the moon is timed to correlate with the aspects of both the phase of the moon and the goddesses associated with that particular phase.
The Waning Phase (as the moon moves toward the new moon) and the new moon are the best times in which to perform binding magic and scrying magic (magically divining for information using tarot cards, a scrying mirror, the surface of water, or even meditation). This is also a good time in which to magically release things no longer needed.
During the Waxing Phase (as the moon grows toward full and the full moon), we practice magic to strengthen new beginnings and new projects, encourage personal growth, bring culmination to projects already started, empower creativity, and encourage health, prosperity, and materialization. As the moon grows, so does our magic.
While Nyx isn’t necessarily a goddess of the moon—either in the House of Night series or in actual mythology—she is a goddess of the night, and she reflects many aspects of the moon goddesses. We can see this connection in the visions she gives Aphrodite—and in Zoey’s dreams. Her rituals are performed at night, under the moon, and the vampyres over whom she rules live and function at night, rather than in the daylight.
Nyx might easily be considered a goddess of both dark and light moons (and not all moon goddesses were connected with both phases)—for she offers hidden secrets that are associated with the dark moon, and yet her rituals are held under the full moon, and sexuality—connected with the full moon—is an implied part in both general vampyre mythos and the House of Night series. Think of Zoey’s reaction to blood, or the sensuality in the Full Moon Ritual Neferet performs in Marked (or Aphrodite’s less refined bump-and-grind version).
Nyx’s association with the moon is also shown in the series through the triple moon necklaces worn by the members of the Dark Daughters and Sons. Its depiction of the waxing crescent, the full moon, and the waning crescent is frequently used as a symbol of the Goddess.
THE CASTS’ GODDESS
Though the particular combination of rituals, practices, and beliefs the Casts have created is unique to the House of Night series, it pays homage to many aspects of modern Pagan goddess worship. The Casts have taken a goddess of myth and fleshed her out for their fictional world, and they have done the same for her followers. They have created an alternative universe where a Goddess looms high over the night—where priestesses walk the world in the robes of vampyres, honoring the Goddess in worship as in old legends, and practices are brought into the modern day.
As I said in the beginning, the Goddess is alive and well; she has been here from the beginning of the world and will be here until Earth takes her last breath. Through real-world worship and fictional worship, she has been honored and revered down through time. And the Casts’ world and series fit snugly into her library of legend and lore.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author YASMINE GALENORN writes two bestselling urban fantasy series: the Otherworld series (aka Sisters of the Moon series) and the Indigo Court series, for Berkley Publishing and Berkley Jove Publishing. In the past, she wrote the Chintz ‘n’ China series—a paranormal mystery series—for Berkley Prime Crime; the Bath and Body series—a short-lived mystery series (under the name of India Ink)—again for Berkley Prime Crime; and eight metaphysical nonfiction books on the subjects of witchcraft, tarot, sex magic, and totem magic for Llewellyn Publications and Crossing Press. A modern Pagan and shamanic witch, she lives in Kirkland, Washington, with her husband, Samwise, and their cats. Yasmine considers her life a mixture of teacups and tattoos (the former in her china hutch, the latter on her skin), and can be found on the web at www.galenorn.com.
{ Worshipping the Female Deity }
Christine Zika
BEFORE I was P.C. Cast’s editor on her Goddess Summoning romances, I once worked with three female mystics on a self-help book for women. During one of our conversations, the authors pointed out that a lot of church rituals—burning incense, the use of flowers, and candle-lighting—had origins in Pagan and polytheistic traditions.
Now, I’m Greek Orthodox, a branch of Christianity similar to Catholicism that is heavy on tradition, ritual, and symbolism. So while I take pride in my faith, I also take pride in my ethnic roots, which stretch back to the ancient Greeks and their beliefs in the gods and goddesses of Olympus. When I worked with P.C., I was always amused when she would call or write to me and address me as “Goddess Editor.” Each of the books in the Goddess Summoning series (Goddess of the Sea, Goddess of the Rose, Goddess of Love, etc.) revolved around an everyday woman who is transformed when one of the mythical goddesses enters her life and helps her find love, and I assumed P.C.’s title for me was a play on the series. But as I’ve gotten to know her over the years and as I’ve read through each of the House of Night books, I realize that for P.C. the idea of worshipping the female deity is deeply entrenched, touching her personal, professional, and emotional life.
P.C. brings the light and mysticism of the female deity she so loves into the House of Night series. We see the Goddess in her rendering of the omnipresent Nyx, and in all of her strong female characters—both good and evil—like Zoey, Stevie Rae, and Neferet. But more importantly, we also see the divine female in the Christian figures of Sister Mary Angela and the Benedictine nuns.
THE WOMEN OF THE HOUSE OF NIGHT
We are first introduced to the benevolent Christian element in Untamed, the fourth book in the House of Night series. Here, Aphrodite and Zoey visit the Street Cats rescue shelter to volunteer. When they arrive, they are surprised to see that the shelter is run by nuns and are further floored when one of them, Sister Mary Angela, remarks that she thinks cats are spiritual creatures.
At this point, Zoey’s experience with Christianity has been strongly influenced by her stepfather’s affiliation with the hate-mongering, narrow-minded People of Faith. Naturally, she is wary of trusting anyone too religious, but as she interacts with the nuns she tries to avoid f
alling into the same intolerant trap. (Aphrodite is a harder sell, willingly laying blame on Christianity for past cat killings due to witch connections.) The more Zoey talks with Sister Mary Angela, the more she realizes that women, by nature and instinct, have a spiritual connection with each other. With compassion and empathy as her guides, the wise woman can see beyond what male-propagated belief systems deem good and evil.
As the conversation between the girls and the nuns continues, Zoey and Aphrodite’s preconceptions are further disproved. The nuns remain unfazed after finding out the girls are vampyre fledglings. Sister Mary Angela even goes so far as to offer to pray for the soul of Loren Blake, the House of Night’s recently deceased poet laureate. Still, Zoey is skeptical. Don’t the nuns believe she and the other fledglings are doomed to hell because they worship a goddess? Sister Mary Angela responds, “Child, what I believe is that your Nyx is just another incarnation of our Blessed Mother, Mary.” And so the convergence of the religions begins here, with the simple belief that a female deity watches over all her children, Christian and Pagan.
Sister Mary Angela adds, “I also believe devoutly in Matthew 7:1, which says ‘Judge not, that ye not be judged,’” crystallizing one of the simplest and most important tenets of Christianity: Love thy neighbor as yourself. Love each other. Pray for each other. Regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity, we are all people sharing the same earth and we must all help each other. Our differences are less important than all we have in common.
In the House of Night, everyone has access to the Goddess, though they may call her by different names. The rituals they use to reach her, however—like the rituals we use in our world, whether we are Christian, Pagan, or other—have as many similarities as they do differences.
THE GODDESS AND THE VIRGIN
Nyx in the House of Night Page 17