Doumu — Dǒumů (斗母), “Mother of the Great Chariot (the Big Dipper)” — is the great mother-goddess of the stars in Chinese Daoism: a powerful, many-armed celestial goddess who governs the stars of the Big Dipper (and so the heavens, fate, and the registers of life and death), and who is the divine mother of the star-gods. The Daoist goddess of the heavens and the constellations, Doumu is the Mother of the Dipper.
The Mother of the Big Dipper
Doumu (“Dipper Mother”) is a great goddess of Chinese Daoism and the stars, especially associated with the constellation of the Big Dipper (the Northern Dipper, Beidou) — one of the most important star-groups in Chinese astronomy and astrology, regarded as the celestial governor of fate, time, and the cosmos. Doumu is the divine mother of the nine star-gods of the Dipper (the seven visible stars and two hidden ones), and through them she governs the heavens, the movements of the stars, and the fate and lifespan of all beings. She is a goddess of immense cosmic power and high rank in the Daoist pantheon.
The Many-Armed Star-Goddess
Doumu is depicted in a striking, powerful form clearly influenced by the iconography of the Buddhist goddesses (she is often syncretised with the Buddhist/Hindu goddess Marici, the goddess of light and the dawn): she is shown with many arms (often eighteen, or four faces and eight arms), each hand holding a sacred implement or weapon — the sun and moon, a bow, a spear, a bell, a seal, a sword, and other emblems of cosmic power — and sometimes with multiple faces and seated on a lotus throne or riding a chariot drawn by boars. This many-armed, many-faced form expresses her vast power over the heavens and her ability to act in all directions at once.
The Governor of Fate and the Registers
Through her dominion over the Big Dipper — which in Daoist belief governs the registers of life and death, the allotted lifespans, and the fate of all beings — Doumu is a goddess of destiny, longevity, and salvation. The Dipper-gods keep the records of who shall live and who shall die and for how long; Doumu, as their mother and the goddess of the Dipper, can be petitioned to extend life, avert disaster and death, and bestow blessing and salvation. She is invoked for long life, for deliverance from peril and from the underworld, and for the salvation of souls. Many-armed and many-faced, the celestial mother of the Dipper-stars, the Daoist goddess who governs the heavens, fate, and the registers of life and death — Doumu is the great star-mother goddess of Chinese mythology, the Mother of the Big Dipper.
