“This is a truly ancient archetype, also known as the Triple Goddess. For example, the Triple Goddess was worshipped in Sumeria and ancient Greece, her archetype can be found in Celtic and Hindu mythologies and her myth has now been revived and expanded with Neopaganism. Within early communities of humans it would have made sense to celebrate the three stages of womanhood as they would have represented the viability of the community.”
Allmenningen
The idea of god as a trinity is so ancient, it can’t really be tracked to a beginning. In ancient Greece, god was experienced as maiden, mother and crone (Kore means maiden, Demeter means mother, Persephone means thresher of wheat or one who brings death - the original grim reaper.). There are many trinities represented in ancient cultures. In India she is Parvati, Durga and Uma, in Ireland Ana, Babd and Macha – collectively called the Morgan – and of course, the three Marys present at the crucifixion and at the tomb to witness the resurrection of Jesus. All these represent god the mother in her three forms. In Greece she was also called Hebe, Hera and Hecate. I have used those names in the earliest parts of the story. Then there are the three Fates, the three Gorgons, the three Graces, the three Horae, and the multiples of three that make up the Muses. She is the three in one and the one in three.
As Kore (the maiden), she ruled the Heavens, as Demeter (the mother), the Earth and as Persephone (the crone) she ruled the Underworld. Each god is a point on a triangle or delta (representing the yoni), which spins in a circle, one changing into the next until Kore and Persephone blurred, and people could no longer tell them apart. By the time we get to Homer, Kore and Persephone seem synonymous, and in most grade school classes now there is no mention of Kore or recognition of Persephone’s role as crone. Originally though, Persephone was no maiden. She was Queen of Compassion, ruler of the dead in the Underworld – the destroyer.
A long time ago, with the introduction of a patriarchal idea of marriage, the story changed to say that she obtained those adult titles after she married her rapist. But before that, in these oldest versions, even Pluto is female. The triple god is fifteen when she gives birth, double that as a mother and double that again as the death crone.
Over time, one then another of the trinity became male. In Christian myth, the trinity became father, mother, son - God, Mary and Jesus. Ultimately, the feminine aspect became the Holy Ghost – the Dove. Around this time, in some Germanic tribes, all three aspects of the trinity became male.
But the original trinity, the three who is really one, is a representation of the phases of the moon, the only way it really makes sense. When we see the new moon, for example, we know that all the rest of the moon is still there. So, to my mind, the holy trinity is Kore, Demeter, Persephone, but to avoid confusion I have used the name Hecate to signify the crone phase. If you think about it though, how could Kore and Persephone be the same aspect? One of Persephone’s titles is “the Terrible Destroyer,” not something we generally associate with fifteen-year-old girls who have yet to give birth.
