Triple Goddess versus
Four-Fold Goddess

Most Wiccan (and many Pagan) belief systems involve the triple goddess: maiden, mother, and crone. The Maiden represents the goddess in her youthful aspect, the mother when she's carrying and birthing the god, and crone when she grows old. This reflects the wheel of the year, with the passing of the seasons marking the "life cycle" of the goddess.

My belief system (and a few others), however, add a fourth: warrior/temptress. I think this more adequately represents the "life" of the goddess and the lives of women everywhere.

Most of the women I've met seem to "bloom" some time in their thirties. It's a time when we've usually gotten our careers established (if we choose to have one), our kids aren't yet grown but are more independant, and we blossom into a confidence that's not present in our younger years. This is a time when a lot of women become more involved in politics and community, and a time when some scientific research says a woman hits her sexual peak (but there are a lot of older women who would disagree ). So this time in a woman's life is often when she is most "warrior-like" or "temptress-like."

I think this also fits better with the four seasons and the wheel of the year. Spring is fresh and new, summer is ripe and fruitful, and winter is bleak. Fall is a time of revelry in the abundance of the year, a time of "lustful gluttony" even. And it's also a time when politics and causes are often at the forefront (school resumes and school involvement, elections occur in the US, charities begin their major fund-raising efforts, and so on).

I also think the four-fold goddess fits better with the four directions, as well as with the moon phases. The new moon represents the maiden, the waxing moon the mother, the full moon the temptress, and the waning moon the crone.

The new moon as maiden represents new beginnings, new starts, freshness, and the move toward "growth." The mother is best represented (in my opinion) by the waxing moon because motherhood is a time of growth and learning. Whether one is nurturing children or a fledgling career, it's a constant learning and growth process. The full moon best represents the temptress/warrior because both represent very "full times" in our lives (as the temptress, we've reached that age where we are "full" of confidence; as the warrior, we fill and enrich our lives working with causes that are near to our heart). And the waning moon best represents crone because crone doesn't die. She wanes, but never dies.

So, for the belief system I follow, the quad-goddess representation makes more sense-- it fits with the phases of a woman's life, the phases of the moon, the four seasons, and the four directions.

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Some other links on the quad goddess:

Jaguarmoon

8-fold Aspect

Four Phases

(This one is a glossary, and the brief info is under "Goddess"). Glossary

Girls paradise

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