View source for Mother (symbol)

'''Mother''' is a symbolic way of referring to the principle of [[matter]] in its different stages of differentiation. Some of the phrases that are associated to the mother are "Waters of Space," "Universal Matrix",<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 62.</ref> [[chaos]], etc.

[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] wrote:

<blockquote>The “Waters” is another name of the “Great Deep,” the primordial Waters of space or Chaos, and also means “Mother,” Amba, meaning Aditi and Akâsa, the Celestial Virgin-Mother of the visible universe.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 460.</ref></blockquote>

== Eternal mother ==

The [[Stanzas_of_Dzyan#Stanza_I|first Stanza]] of [[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']] opens by referring to a female eternal principle that is the parent of the universe:

<blockquote>The eternal parent (Space) wrapped in her ever-invisible robes, had slumbered once again for seven eternities.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1978), 35.</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] the first something that can be conceived has to be treated as a feminine principle:

<blockquote>Q. But why is the Eternal Parent, Space, spoken of as feminine?<br>
A. . . . It is the goddess and goddesses who come first. The first emanation becomes the immaculate Mother from whom proceeds all the gods, or the anthropomorphized creative forces. We have to adopt the masculine or the feminine gender, for  we cannot use the neuter it. From IT, strictly speaking, nothing can proceed, neither a radiation nor an emanation.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge'' (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, [1946]), 4.</ref></blockquote>

It is interesting to note that in her first draft of ''The Secret Doctrine'', known as the ''Würzburg Manuscript'', Blavatsky used the word "mother" instead of "parent" in her translation of the first ''sloka'' of Stanza I:

<blockquote>The Eternal Mother (space) wrapped in her ever invisible robes (cosmic prenebular matter) had slumbered for seven Eternities.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine Würzburg Manuscript'' (Cotopaxi, CO: Eastern School Press, 2014), 145.</ref></blockquote>

== Virgin mother ==

When the [[Logos#Third Logos|Third or manifested Logos]] appears, the [[pre-Cosmic Substance]] becomes the Virgin-Mother.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. IV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1981), 359.</ref>

<blockquote>Mother becomes the immaculate mother only when the differentiation of spirit and matter is complete. Otherwise there would exist no such qualification. No one would speak of pure spirit as immaculate, for it cannot be otherwise. The mother is, therefore, the immaculate matter before it is differentiated under the breath of the pre-cosmic Fohat, when it becomes the “immaculate mother” of the “ Son” or the manifested Universe, in form.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. X (Adyar, Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1964), 397.</ref></blockquote>

The [[Egg#Virgin egg|virgin egg]] corresponds to the Virgin Mother:

<blockquote>The “Virgin Egg” is the microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype—the “Virgin Mother”—Chaos or the Primeval Deep.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 65.</ref></blockquote>

== See also ==
*[[Logos#Female_Logos|Female Logos]]
*[[World-Mother]]
*[[Motherhood]]

==Online resources==
===Articles===
*[http://www.cwlworld.info/html/teachings.html# God, the Mother] by Mary K. Neff

== Notes ==
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[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine]]
[[Category:Symbols]]