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Goddess.
The chief characteristic of the goddess in her crescent phase is that she is virgin. Her instinct is not used to capture or possess the man whom she attracts.She does not reserve herself for the chosen man who must repay her by his devotion, nor is her instinct used to gain for herself the security of husband, home and family. She remains virgin, even while being goddess of love. She is essentially one-in-herself. She is not merely the feminine counterpart of a male god
with similar characteristics and functions, modified to suit her feminine form. On the contrary she has a role to play that is her own, her characteristics do not duplicate those of any of the gods. She is the Ancient and Eternal, the Mother of God. The god with whom she is associated is her son and him she necessarily precedes. Her Divine power does not depend on her relation to her husband-god, and thus her actions are not dependent on the need to conciliate such a one or to accord with his qualities or attitudes. For she bears her divinity in her own right. In the same way the woman who is virgin, one-in-herself, does what she does – not because of any desire to please, not to be liked, not to be approved, not even by herself; not because of any desire to gain power over another, to catch his interest or love but because what she does is True. This is from Marion Woodman, Addiction to Perfection, p 83 where she quotes Esther Harding – Woman’s Mysteries, examining the original meaning of the word virgin and where Woodman understands virgin in this way to represent the feminine ego. |
