For many women, especially those who were raised in Christian traditions (or any structured religion), the word goddess or archetype can feel a little... off-limits. Like you're crossing into something forbidden. Something that might compromise your faith or your identity. I understand that hesitation deeply — and I want to gently offer another perspective.
This isn’t about worshipping something outside of you. This is about remembering the sacred that's already within you — the parts of you that may not have had a name in the language of your upbringing, but were always there:
- your intuition,
- your ability to nurture,
- your knowing when something just doesn’t feel right,
- your capacity to create, to hold, to heal, and to protect.
These are not new age concepts. They are ancient truths.
What are archetypes?
Archetypes are universal patterns — energies or roles that live inside of all of us. They’re like mirrors that help us understand our behaviors, our wounds, our desires, and our strengths. You’ve likely lived through many already:
- the Maiden discovering herself,
- the Mother pouring from a deep well of care,
- the Warrior setting clear boundaries,
- the Wise Woman speaking truth.
They’re not roles you perform — they’re parts of your soul. Studying archetypes doesn’t ask you to take on something foreign. It’s about naming something familiar, and relating to it with more intention.
The Great Mother Archetype
One of the most powerful and misunderstood archetypes is the Great Mother. She’s the source. The womb of creation. She holds both life and death, joy and grief, growth and stillness. The Great Mother doesn’t rush you or fix you — she holds you.
You can see her in nature — in the way the Earth gives and restores without asking anything in return. You can feel her when you rock a crying child without knowing what else to do. You can sense her when your heart says “enough” — and a boundary is born from love, not anger.
She appears across traditions and mythologies in many names: Gaia, Demeter, Isis, Mary, and in countless unnamed grandmothers who carried wisdom in their hands and stories in their bones.
My journey with her
The Great Mother archetype feels like home to me. She’s who I am here to embody — the fierce nurturer, the grounded container, the one who holds others through birth, death, and becoming.
In the words of one of my spiritual mentors, Sarah Jenks, I "already have a PhD" in her energy, purpose, and path.
But my soul curriculum? It’s not to just be her — it’s to learn how to hold her qualities with compassion for myself, and how to balance her presence with another archetype I’m still growing into: the Mystic, the Selfless Servant, the Compassionate One.
That might sound ironic. I’ve spent my life caring for others. But truly serving with humility, without over-identifying with being the helper… that’s been my edge. Being empathic without leaking my energy. Offering compassion without neglecting my own needs. This is the alchemy I’m living every day.
I’m learning that the Great Mother isn’t just about holding others — she’s about knowing when to soften, when to receive, and when to be held, too.
The Great Mother is not in competition with your God
This is the piece I want you to really hear: exploring the sacred feminine doesn’t ask you to abandon your faith — it invites you deeper into it.
In Christianity, the Holy Spirit is often understood as breath, as presence. In Hebrew and Greek, the word for wisdom is feminine: chokmah, Sophia. Mary, too, is not just a vessel — she is a spiritual container of surrender, strength, and deep knowing.
Tuning into archetypes like the Great Mother doesn't mean you’re worshipping another god. It means you're allowing more of yourself — and more of the Divine — to be known, expressed, and integrated.
A few ways to embody the Great Mother
You don’t have to “believe” in goddesses to access this part of yourself. You just have to listen. To soften. To allow.
Try these reflection questions:
- Where in my life am I being invited to hold rather than fix?
- How do I mother — not just others — but myself?
- What part of me is longing to be witnessed in her wholeness, not just her productivity?
- When was the last time I felt held — by someone, by the earth, or by something greater?
There is room for both scripture and symbolism. For prayer and poetry. For Jesus and Sophia. For motherhood and mystery.
This isn’t about turning away from what you’ve known. It’s about coming home to what you’ve always carried.
Explore the 13 feminine archetypes
A 13-archetype model is often used in sacred feminine, Jungian-inspired, and goddess-based circles. (You can learn about the significance of the number 13 in my blog, "Embracing the cosmic feminine.") These archetypes represent different facets of womanhood, each holding a unique energy, lesson, or initiation.
Here’s a commonly used framework, adapted and expanded through sacred, psychological, and mythological lenses:
- The Maiden: Innocence, wonder, new beginnings, curiosity
- The Lover: Sensuality, passion, embodiment, intimacy
- The Mother / Great Mother: Nurturance, creation, protection, unconditional love
- The Creatrix: Artistic expression, innovation, divine inspiration
- The Priestess: Intuition, spiritual wisdom, ritual, sacred knowing
- The Mystic: Inner stillness, soul connection, devotion, silence
- The Huntress: Independence, focus, wild nature, boundary-setting
- The Queen: Leadership, sovereignty, order, responsibility
- The Warrioress: Strength, courage, activism, protector of the sacred
- The Witch / Medicine Woman: Healing, transformation, earth wisdom
- The Sage / Wise Woman: Experience, perspective, mentoring, timeless wisdom
- The Dark Feminine / Shadow Woman: Rage, death, chaos, necessary destruction for rebirth
- The Alchemist / Transformer: Integration, transmutation, evolution, spiritual maturity
These aren’t roles to perform — they’re energies to embody, recognize, or integrate depending on the season of life you’re in. Most women cycle through many (if not all) of them in different ways.
As women, we carry many names and faces — mother, daughter, partner, healer, friend. But beneath them all lives a deeper identity: one that is cyclical, sacred, and constantly becoming. Archetypes give language to what our bodies and souls have always known. They don’t ask us to become someone else — they help us remember who we are.
Whether you see yourself in the Great Mother, the Mystic, the Priestess, or the Selfless Servant, know this: you are not too much. You are not too late. You are not outside of the sacred. You are, and have always been, part of something ancient, holy, and whole.
My hope is that this path doesn’t pull you away from your faith — but brings you closer to it. That it expands the edges of your understanding and brings your body, heart, and spirit into the conversation.
The divine feminine is not a detour — she’s the doorway back to your center.