This week, I’ve decided to offer up some goddess insight from the Goddesses Knowledge Cards, with artwork by Susan Seddon Boulet.

The card drawn was Arianrhod, whose name translates to “silver wheel”, representing the ever-turning wheel of the year, the constant cycles of the seasons and of life.  She is a matriarchal Welsh triple moon goddess of rebirth, fertility, and the weaving of cosmic time and fate.

Well-known for her beauty, she is depicted as a pale skinned goddess with fair hair, and her Greek counterpart is the Cretan goddess Ariadne.

Like all moon goddesses, she has a deep love and responsibility for all life, especially for the green and growing things of Mother Earth.

Linked to the moon and the North Star, she is said to carry the souls of the dead to the northern lands of her heavenly home, a castle named Caer Sidi in the Corona Borealis.  It is here that she watches over those souls in a type of purgatory as they await rebirth once their fates have been assigned.

The silver wheel, weaving tools, the Corona Borealis, and the full moon are all her symbols.  She is said to shape-shift into a large owl, giving her the ability to see into the depths of the human soul.  Sacred plants associated with her are ivy and silver birch, and since she is the weaver of fate, spiders are symbolic of her as well.

Arianrhod is a free-spirited goddess who does not bend to the whims of others.  The keeper of time, giver and nurturer of life, she shows us the the cyclical nature of our lives and is there to nurture and guide through those dark nights of the soul.

Embodying the archetype of the Mother,  she is the giver of life, nurturer, a source of unconditional love and devotion.  Anyone with a life-long devotion to loving and nurturing others can identify with this archetype, you don’t have to be a biological mother yourself.

If you smother or overprotect your children or those you love and nurture, you’re expressing the shadow aspect of this archetype.  This can also be expressed as the Mother abusing or abandoning her children, not making enough time for her children, or making them feel guilty for growing and becoming independent.

It is important to allow those we love to make mistakes so that they may learn,  and to allow our children to grow and become independent, while we remain available for advice and guidance.

Where do you see the expression of this archetype in your own life?

Ask your oracle or tarot deck:

How do I embody the Mother archetype in my life?

Where may I be expressing the shadow aspect of the Mother archetype in my life?

How can I learn to embrace the cycles of my life so that I may be better in-tune with them?

What phase of the cycle is my soul in right now?

What is the current lesson of this cycle?

What message does Arianrhod have for me at this time?

Don’t have a tarot or oracle deck?  Instead, use these questions as journaling prompts.

♥