Order of the White Moon Goddess Gallery Proudly Presents |
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© Tanith All original material in this site is under copyright protection and is the intellectual property of the author. This website created as a level one final project for The Triple Moon School of the Feminine Divine |
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The Corn Mother "In the house with the tortoise chair
She will give birth to the pearl
To the beautiful feather...
There she sits on the tortoise
Swelling to give us birth
On your way, on your way
Child be on your way to me here
You whom I made new.."
-Aztec poem to the Corn Mother
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http://www.susunweed.com/images/poster_cornwoman.jpg |
http://www.abaxion.com/sz02.jpg
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When most pagans or people in general hear of the Corn Mother, They automatically conjure up the image
of a Native American Mother Earth. However, the Corn Mother is also known throughout the world with either
the same name (in a different language)or with a different name. Ancient traditions used corn dollies to
represent the Corn Mother as a means of honoring her. In Germany , it is said when the Corn stalks blow,
the Corn Mother is running through the fields.
She is known by names such as:Demeter, Persephone, Cerridwen, Bride/Bridget, The Callieach (Old Wife),
The Corn Maiden. Mother Corn, The First Mother, Selu and Kahesana Xaskwim. |
Her stories throughout the World:
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In one Corn Mother tale of the Cherokee Tribe, The Corn Mother, Selu, gave birth to two sons who were always hungry.
She told her sons she would go find food and she returned very quickly with a basket full of corn. She continued to do this every day, leaving to find food, and returning shortly,
with a full basket of corn. Her sons were very curious and mischievous, so one day they decided to follow her and find out where she was getting the corn. They followed her to a small hut, and peeped through the gaps in the logs to see what she was doing. Inside the hut, the Mother set down her basket and squatted above it,
filling it with corn. That night after dinner, the boys told their mother that they had followed her and knew where she was getting the corn.
Sadly, the Corn Mother told her children that now that they knew her secret, she would have to die.
She told them that after her death, they must drag her body through the field, then corn would grow.
She also warned them that from then on, they would have to work for their food. Then, she lay down and died.
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Another Cherokee Tale:
The Corn
Woman is a spirit that is sent down from heaven every year
to come and walk in the fields of the Cherokee. And when
she walked in the fields the corn began to grow tall and
beautiful.
One year
they planted their corn and had gone out to watch it come
up, but it didn’t come. So they waited a week, and then
two weeks, and it still hadn't come up. They then prayed to
the Great Spirit and asked where the Corn Woman Spirit was.
And he said that he had sent her down two weeks before. Corn
Woman was missing. And so the people began to look. They
looked all over the earth (known to them at that time,) and
they still couldn't find her.
So they
began to ask the animal kingdom if they would help search
for her. The kingdom agreed and the animals began searching
for this beautiful Corn Woman Spirit. Then a raven dived
down into a dark cave and looked for her. He found her in
the bottom of the cave, all tied up. She was captured as a
prisoner of the evil spirit Hunger. Hunger was dancing
around her and laughing, knowing very well that if she
didn't get out, that the Cherokee people would starve the
coming winter.
So raven
went back and reported to the people that he had found the
Corn Woman Spirit. And they told the raven that only he and
his family could get her free. They told him to go down into
the cave and perch on the ledges to hide from the evil
spirit. He did just that. He took all of his brothers and
sisters into the cave, (as they were so black they couldn't
be seen by the evil spirits,) and they perched on the
ledges and the rocks.
When the
signal was given they all leaped down and pecked the evil
spirit and made such terrible noises that they frightened
him out into the sunlight. And like most evil, when he hit
the sunlight he melted away and disappeared.
They
freed the Corn Woman Spirit with their big strong beaks, and
when she walked out into the sunlight the corn of the
Cherokees began to grow. From that day forward, the Great
Spirit in the heavens would not let her come down in
person. And so it is today.
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