The Mother Archetype

Her season is summer, her lunar phase is the full moon. The seed flowers, bears fruit and matures thanks to the warmth of the sun and the nutrients of the earth.

The Mother archetype is our connection to the mythological Great Mother, to Mother Earth, the source, the life-giving womb with the capacity for creation and destruction. 

Her phase in the menstrual cycle is ovulation: loving, expressive and fertile in all her aspects. She is sensual and finds pleasure in union. She knows when and how to care for herself and define her boundaries.

She is Demeter, Greek goddess of the harvest who brings the seasons to earth and protects and feeds us as a devoted mother. 

She is the Yoruba goddess Yemaya, mother without having birthed her children, she is the mother of all oceans and powerful patron saint of all, especially pregnant, women.

She is Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty and sexuality. She desires to know and to be known, drives our creative and procreative impulses and our intensity and passion comes from her heart.

She is Kuan Yin, East-Asian deity of purest compassion, whose name means ‘she who listens to the suffering of all beings’, she is the embodiment of the Divine Mother, healer and sustainer of all that is. 

Her rite of passage is the initiatory journey of giving birth, bringing new life to the world.

The Mother archetype is not limited to the biological conception of children; rather she encompasses the entire creative process in its widest sense.

She invites us to cultivate our connection with both her luminous and dark aspects, so that we can embrace our human mother in fullness.

Text: Sophia Style