Mother

Mask

Appears as an old lady tending her garden in her sacred grove in the forest.

The Wanton Maiden, The Fertile Mother, The Wise Crone

• maiden: representing youth, vitality, growth / wanton maid: representing unruliness and challenge to authority
• mother: representing fecundity, fertility and family /whore: representing uncontrolled female sexuality
• matron: representing wisdom and knowledge / crone: representing dark arts and forbidden lore

A.K.A.

The Mother, Mother Earth, Atara Arda.

Force

Light/Mother.

Aspect

Earth, Mountains, Nature, Agriculture, Fertility, Cycle of Life and Death, Restoration, Wisdom, Intuition, Emotion and the Moon.

Sects

n/a

Regions

The Seven Isles and the Outer Countries, with special devotions at T'aquar and Dort.

Rituals

1) Food/Fruit - could be placed at cardinal points around prayer circle [and left for scavengers after the rite?]

2) Planting - flowers/trees [with significance for the boon being asked] could be planted during the prayer.

Marriage by handfasting, Funeral Pyre for the dead.

The casting of a circle to protect one during prayer and or meditation is a very important part of the Mother's religion. To do such one needs to first cleanse the area by burning incense then may use charcoal or chalk to make the actual visual circle. Some just give a general outline of where the circle lays with several candles.

- festivals, usually involving a feast and bonfire, to mark key points of the yahren; these should include the quarter days (Winter Solstice, Summer Solstice, etc), the beginning of ploughing, sheepshearing, harvesting and haymaking. These often take the form of fairs-cum-markets, dances, plays involving figures from folk lore playing tales of the cycle of life-death-rebith, processions, or 'visits' between houses of the community

- Fire as purification: a bonfire is often raised, and when the flames have died and only the embers and smoke remain, a path is cleared through it and the cattle driven along the path and through the smoke and heat. This method is used to 'hive off' evil spirits infesting the cattle, although the heat and smoke are more likely to kill and drive off parasites.

- Sacrifice. Mother Earth gives life from the ground, and all things in tun return to the earth to nuture and feed the generation. In times of famine or hardship, it is not unknown for animals to be sacrificed to the Mother; the throat of the animal is slit, and then carried or dragged about the perimeter of a field or a village, in the hope that the sacrifice will encourage fertility in the future. The body is then burnt, and the ashes and bones buried as a 'gift' to the mother. The greater the need, the greater the sacrifice; sometimes prize sheep or cattle are slaughtered in this way. In those places where belief in the Mother is deep, it is not unknown for human sacrifice to occur, although this is rare indeed; the practise takes place, almost certainly guaranteeing the favour of the Mother and fertility in years to come.

Lords and other rulers and high placed advisors are know to spend the night with a young woman in the fields each yahren "spilling their seed". This ensures the fertility of the fields for yet another yahren. The ritual is also said to tie the lords to the ground and the community to such an extend that they can feel if something is wrong.

Dictates from Dort

The first Abbot, Finn O'Shea, left 9 teachings, which all monks of the Abbey adhere to:

1. As often as possible, hold rites in forests, by the seashore, on deserted mountaintops or near tranquil lakes. In doing so you will bring yourself closer to Mother Earth.

2. Seek out wisdom in books, rare manuscripts and cryptic poems if you will, but seek it out also in simple stones and fragile herbs and in the cries of wild birds. Listen to the whisperings of the wind and the roar of water if you would discover the true meaning of Gaia, for it is here that the old secrets are preserved.

3. Books contain words; trees contain energies and wisdom books never dreamt of.

4. Ever remember that the Old Ways are constantly revealing themselves. Therefore be as the river willow that bends and sways with the wind. That which remains changeless shall outlive its spirit, but that which evolves and grows will shine for centuries.

5. There can be no monopoly on wisdom. Therefore share what you will of our ways with others who seek them, but hide mystic lore from the eyes of those who would destroy - for to do otherwise increases their destruction.

6. Mock not the rituals or spells of another, for who can say yours are greater in power or wisdom?

7. Ensure that your actions are honourable, for all that you do shall return to you three-fold, good or bane.

8. Be wary of one who would dominate you, who would control and manipulate your workings and reverences. Be guided by your heart and your faith.

9. Honour all living things, for we are of the bird, the fish, the bee. Destroy not life save it be to preserve your own.

Symbol

Waving Grain.

History

As Mother Earth is one of the prime gods it is difficult to determine where one aspect begins and another one starts. It overlaps with her daughters who have sprouted from her hips.