Xi Wangmu, literally Queen Mother of the West (Chinese: 西王母; pinyin: Xī Wáng Mŭ; Wade–Giles: Hsi Wang Mu), is a Chinese goddess, known from ancient times. The first historical information on her can be traced back to oracle bone inscriptions of the 15th century BCE that record sacrifices to a "Western Mother". (Cahill, 1993) Even though these inscriptions illustrate that she predates organized Taoism, she is most often associated with Taoism. From her name alone some of her most important characteristics are revealed: she is royal, female and is associated with the west. (Benard, 2000) The growing popularity of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the beliefs that she was the dispenser of prosperity, longevity, and eternal bliss took place during the 2nd century BCE when the northern and western parts of China were able to be better known because of the opening of the Silk Routes. (Mair, 2006)
Her official Taoist title is Yaochi Jinmu (瑤池金母), literally Golden Mother of the Shining Lake. Historical (T'ang dynasty) biographers name her: Chin mu yüan chün, The Primordial Ruler, Metal (Gold) Mother; Metal (Gold) Mother of Tortoise Mountain, She of the Nine Numina and the Grand Marvel; and the Perfected Marvel of the Western Florescence and the Ultimate Worthy of the Grotto Yin. Commoners and poets of the T'ang dynasty referred to her more simply as Queen Mother; Divine Mother; or by the ancient, familiar expression for "mother" or "nanny", Amah. In modern times she is often called Wángmŭ Niángniang (王母娘娘).
Read more about Queen Mother Of The West: History, Zhuangzi, Mythological Accounts of The Queen Mother in The T'ang Dynasty, Iconography and Representation, Legendary Encounters, Xiwangmu and The Women of The T'ang, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words queen, mother and/or west:
“Half-opening her lips to the frost’s morning sigh, how strangely the rose has smiled on a swift-fleeting day of September!
How audacious it is to advance in stately manner before the blue-tit fluttering in the shrubs that have long lost their leaves, like a queen with the spring’s greeting on her lips;
to bloom with steadfast hope that, parted from the cold flower-bed, she may be the last to cling, intoxicated, to a young hostess’s breast.”
—Afanasi Fet (1820–1892)
“Don Pedro. To be merry best becomes you; for, out o’ question, you were born in a merry hour.
Beatrice. No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under than was I born.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The convent, which belongs to the West as it does to the East, to antiquity as it does to the present time, to Buddhism and Muhammadanism as it does to Christianity, is one of the optical devices whereby man gains a glimpse of infinity.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)