Definitions HQ

The Great mother (n.) appears ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠at once as the supreme goal and the most frightful danger, the Terrible Mother — for whoever sunders himself from the mother longs to get back to her.

The Great mother (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠mother at dawn, sister-wife at noon, and at dusk the mother again, taking the dead back into her womb.

The Great mother (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the woman's version of the magician: all-merciful, all-understanding, all-forgiving — and as great love goes unappreciated, great wisdom goes misunderstood, and neither can bear the other.

The Great mother (n.) or ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠mother archetype covers both what cherishes and fosters growth and whatever is secret, devouring, seducing, poisoning — "the loving and the terrible mother."

The Great mother (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠usually a danger to her son — as on an early Christian lamp where one fish devours the other.