The triple moon symbol is three moons in a row: a waxing crescent, a full moon, and a waning crescent, horns facing outward. It represents the three faces of the goddess, maiden, mother and crone, and the three phases of every cycle: beginning, fullness and release. It is one of the oldest ideas in our studio and the symbol most people ask us about, so here is what it means, where it comes from, and how we wear it.
What the three moons stand for
Read the symbol left to right and you are reading a life, or a month, or a single project.
The waxing crescent, the maiden. The moon growing toward full. Youth, beginnings, possibility, the version of you that has not been told no yet. The maiden is not about age. She is the part of us that starts things.
The full moon, the mother. The moon at its height. Fullness, creation, power at its peak, the capacity to hold and to give. In the old goddess traditions the mother is the sovereign, the one who rules. On a full moon night you can feel her.
The waning crescent, the crone. The moon returning to dark. Wisdom, endings, the harvest of everything that came before, and the knowledge that the dark is not the end. The crone is the one who has seen the whole cycle and is no longer afraid of it.
The symbol is not a ladder you climb once. It is a wheel. You move through all three every month, and over a lifetime you learn to recognize which one you are standing in.
Where the symbol comes from
Lunar goddesses are ancient: the Greeks worshipped Artemis, Selene and Hecate as moon goddesses, and triple goddesses appear across European and Near Eastern mythology. The specific triple moon glyph we draw today took its modern shape in the twentieth century, as the neo-pagan and Wiccan traditions took those older ideas and gave them a single symbol. Robert Graves' writing on the triple goddess in the 1940s is usually credited with shaping how it was understood, and the symbol spread from there into modern witchcraft, where it marks the goddess the way the pentacle marks the elements.
So the symbol is newer than it looks, and the idea behind it is older than almost anything. That combination is what makes it ours.
Why we build with it
Every collection in this studio begins with an archetype, a theme, or a question. The moon was one of the first, and it has never left. The triple moon is the symbol of the cycle, and cycles are what this work is about: the one-of-a-kind drops that come and go with the seasons, the made-to-order pieces that get cast fresh every time, the stones that wax and wane with the person wearing them.
Our Lunar collection is the home for all of it, and the Triple Moon Goddess Necklace is its centerpiece.
How to wear the triple moon
Wear it as: Triple Moon Goddess Necklace
The Triple Moon Goddess Necklace carries the three phases in sterling silver with a natural amethyst at the full moon, where the goddess sits at her height. Amethyst is the stone of intuition and the crown: the quiet purple that connects the everyday mind to the one that dreams. We chose it for the center because the full moon is the moment of seeing clearly, and amethyst is the stone for that.
The necklace is hand carved in wax, cast using the lost wax method, then finished, set, oxidized and polished by hand in our studio. The oxidized recesses are what make the moons read as moons; the darkness between the phases is part of the design.
Who it is for: the woman who already knows which phase she is in, and the one who wants a reminder that it will change. It is the piece we see most often worn every day, and the one our collectors tell us they put on for the hard days.
Also wear it as: Moon Phase Shield Ring
If you want the whole cycle rather than the three faces, the Moon Phase Shield Ring carries the phases of the moon around a natural black onyx: protection for every phase, including the dark one.
Explore the rest of the Lunar collection for crescents, moon phases and the goddesses who rule them.
Pairing the triple moon with a stone
The symbol is strong on its own, but the stone you set with it changes the conversation.
- Amethyst (the stone in ours) for intuition, the crown and the full moon's clarity
- Rainbow moonstone for the obvious reason and for the cycle itself: new beginnings, the tides of feeling
- Black onyx for the crone's protection and the dark moon
- Labradorite for the maiden's transformation and what is still hidden
- Clear quartz when you want the symbol to carry an intention of your own
Which goddess is the triple goddess?
There is no single answer, and that is the point of her. In Greek myth, Hecate is the triple goddess of the crossroads, usually shown with three faces or three bodies. The Morrigan, the Irish goddess of battle and sovereignty, appears as three sisters. Brigid is a triple goddess of poetry, healing and the forge. Each culture found her and gave her its own name.
In the studio we have spent whole collections on her. Read about the making of our Morrigan pieces in Goddess of the Month: The Morrigan.
Questions we get about the triple moon
Is the triple moon symbol Wiccan? It is used widely in Wicca and modern witchcraft as the symbol of the goddess, and its modern form came out of those traditions. The ideas behind it, lunar goddesses and the three stages of a woman's life, are far older and belong to no single religion. You do not need to practice anything to wear it.
What is the difference between the triple moon and the moon phase symbol? The triple moon is three moons: waxing, full and waning, standing for the three faces of the goddess. A moon phase design shows the whole lunar cycle, usually eight phases, from new to full and back. One is a symbol; the other is a calendar. We make both.
Can I wear the triple moon if I am not a woman? Yes. The maiden, mother and crone are archetypes of beginning, fullness and wisdom, and everyone moves through them. The goddess does not check.
The moon is the first calendar anyone ever kept. Wearing her three faces is a way of keeping it still.
