
As the goddess lays claim to the heavens and all in it, and to
all living things as well as to the seas and all things wet,
there is no limit to the number of things which could be said to
be her symbols.This, therefore, is only a partial
listing:
- Animals: the Bull; Horses, the Python, the hare
(because the darker areas on the moon resemble it), any white
animal
- Colours: white; red, black (of the Triple Goddess) and
blue and green (of Aphrodite Anadyomene, the sea goddess)
- Birds: the halcyon (kingfisher) the raven; the dove,
the heron (or crane)
- Fish: all sea creatures, the dolphin, and the python
because it was thought a land-going fish, and the salmon.
- Letters: the vowels; and the consonants b, c, f, q, v,
w, z. All of writing and literature, may be claimed for the goddess, as her temples were where the alphabet began.
- Metals: silver, because it is the colour of the
moon
- Mirrors: the looking glass; and reflections from
water
- Music: Muse one of the names of the goddess, is the source of the word. The following are especially referential to the goddess: music based on the pentatonic scale; the
Phrygian mode, choral music, wind and string instruments but also
keyboards (because Saint Cecilia, a
Christianised form of the goddess as muse, reputedly invented
them). Generally, the Romantic composers (and in the case of
Mozart's Die Zauberflote, specifically) made goddess
music, but the composers of martial (named for the war god Mars)
music and heavy metal did not.
- Numbers: 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 , 13, 15, 29 and any larger
number which had astronomical or calendrical significance, like
51 (years in a cycle of lunar eclipses). The number three is the
goddess' as the Three Fates, the Three
Graces or the Three Furies, while five belongs especially to
Venus because when that planet is observed over an eight-year
period, it traces a unicursive five-pointed path against the
backdrop of the fixed stars (hence the pentagram and the Wicca
symbol).
- Plants: all belonged to the goddess Spring, but
particularly white or red-flowered ones, or ones with a symmetry
based on 5 (like the papaya, which confirms it's goddess nature
by yielding women's pharmaceuticals). Roses are symbolic of
Aphrodite, the
Nile lotus of Isis. Grain plants (for Ceres); grapes, the
laurel, the thirteen tree species
of the bardic grove and the herbs of the ancient Materia
medica
- Shapes: circles; spirals, triangles (with base up or
down), five-pointed stars, pots, cups
and urns.
- Stars: the planet Venus; the Pleiades, the moon....
- Veils: veils occur in many paintings of the goddess, and represented the crescent moon. They also refer to the curtain of secrecy maintained by secret societies, as in Mme Blavatsky's Isis Unveilled
- Water: the seas; streams, springs, wells...
Some symbols associated with Venus: the veil lofted
above the goddess comes from images of the moon-goddess dating
from Greek and Roman times. It is a disguised crescent moon.
The cherubim (flying babies) refer to Venus as Great
Mother. Over time the flying babies have been conflated with her
companion and servant Cupid, the love-god of Roman times. Her
companion and servant in Greek and Minoan times was Hermes.
The roses, like all flowers are associated with the goddess as
Spring (the force that through the green fuse drives the
flower... Dylan Thomas), but roses refer specifically to
Venus as love goddess.
The sea and all its creatures
belong to Venus since she was born of the ocean foam. Venus can
stand upon the water, at which time the sea becomes calm.
The dolphin is another specific symbol of Venus as
sea-goddess. The name of the boy on the dolphin is Palaemon.
The swan (or sometimes, a goose) is a frequent motif in
ancient seals and carved gems, where it is shown flying with the
goddess riding on its back.
