Motif family
Sacred Feminine and Mother Goddess
The divine mother, earth goddess, source-feminine, or nurturing-and-terrible goddess figure. Includes the mother who gives birth to the cosmos, the mourning mother, the goddess of fertility and death, and the sacred feminine as cosmic principle.
56 traditions
839 occurrences
43 mapped motifs
7 sub-families
- african akan
- amazonian
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- australian aboriginal
- bavili
- buddhist
- buryat mongol
- celtic
- celtic irish
- christian apocrypha
- comparative
- confucian
- daoist
- egyptian
- ekoi
- estonian
- finnic
- finnish karelian
- fjort
- ganda
- germanic
- gnostic
- greek
- greek roman
- guiana amerindian
- hausa
- hermetic
- hindu
- hopi
- inca
- indigenous australian
- inuit
- japanese
- malay
- mangaian
- maori
- mesopotamian
- nahua
- nahua maya inca
- native american california
- native american northwest coast
- native american plains
- native american southeast
- native american southwest
- navajo
- norse
- oceanic
- roman
- shinto
- siberian
- taoist
- tibetan buddhist
- tongan
- yoruba
- zoroastrian
Conserved neighbors: miraculous child · cosmic origin · death and transformation
Sub-families · the next landing down
Mother Figures and Nurturing Landscapes
4 motifs
- Mother Goddess 797 occurrences · 54 traditions
- african akan
- amazonian
- arctic inuit
- armenian
- australian aboriginal
- bavili
- buddhist
- buryat mongol
- +46 more
- Homeland as mother or nurse 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- nature divinity as fosterer of growth 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Tree as mother and nourisher 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
Crops, Animals, and Milk Abundance
5 motifs
- Abundance and cultivated fertility imagery 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Agricultural goddess with crop and torch emblems 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Fertility divinity protecting animals and crops 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- generic crop-mother or maiden spirit without individualized myth 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- supernatural woman associated with animal milk abundance 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- celtic irish
Death, Destruction, and Maternal Loss
2 motifs
- return of the dead to mother earth 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- search for missing mother after apparent destruction 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
Mothers of Diseases and Hostile Beings
2 motifs
- Diseases born as personified children of an underworld mother 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- finnish karelian
- Ancestral mother of hostile beings 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
Triple-Realm and Magical Goddesses
4 motifs
- triform goddess identification 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
- tripartite goddess across heaven, earth, and lower world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Triple-bodied goddess over multiple realms 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- triple goddess of enchantment invoked or associated with magic 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- roman
Goddess Images with Attendants, Animals, Hunt, or Moon
4 motifs
- Divine attendants adorning a goddess 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- divine huntress in wild mountain landscape 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Enthroned goddess with emblematic objects and sacred animals 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- lunar goddess marked by crescent and stars 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
Female Status and Childbearing Rivalry
2 motifs
- divine and heroic feminine exemplars contrasted with human social order 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- rivalry over fertility and number of children 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- indigenous australian
Not yet placed in a sub-family
20 motifs
- cave seclusion of a divine mother 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Childbirth petition at a goddess sanctuary 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- domestic spinning goddess 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua maya inca
- enthroned goddess with royal, vegetal, and animal attributes 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Female reproductive capacity linked to crop production 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- amazonian
- Goddess guarding the female life course 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- living earth as nourisher and receiver of the dead 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- norse
- lotus-bearing divine feminine image by water 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- Maternal bovine epithet 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- mesopotamian
- maternity and childbirth votive cult images 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Motherland as common parent and nurse 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Nursing as sign of fulfilled motherhood 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- christian apocrypha
- progenitor mother of titanic beings 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- hindu
- protective mother rescues son from death 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- australian aboriginal
- ridiculed offspring defended by mother 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek
- Tao as cosmic mother and nourisher 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- daoist
- Threefold goddess across heaven, earth, and lower world 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- Tree as mother or life-giver 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- comparative
- Triple goddess with three-realm sovereignty 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- greek roman
- war-protecting mother goddess 1 occurrences · 1 traditions
- nahua
Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.