History Main / EarthMother

* Allegories of Charity, whether in sculpture or painting, show an Earth Mother, often nursing one of the plentiful children about her. Take [[Art/CharityBouguereau portrait of Charity]] by Creator/WilliamAdolpheBouguereau. More emphasis on the "mother" than the "earth," but here we see a very fertile mother caring for a gaggle of children right above a spilled cornucopia lying in shadow, forgotten by the children in favor of their mom's milk.

* Cel was the Etruscan version of Terra Mater/Tellus.

* Space rockers Music/{{Hawkwind}} were for a while fronted by The Amazing Stacia, a stage dancer who interpreted their music, frequently naked. Stacia stood a little over six feet tall and boasted [[BuxomIsBetter impressively large breasts]]. In the unofficial band history, other band members confirm her habit of selecting young, attractive, and preferably inexperienced boys from the audience, whom she would sexually initiate. Recipients of her affections say there was nothing predatory about it -- she came across as caring and loving.

* Allegories of Charity, whether in sculpture or painting, show an Earth Mother, often nursing one of the plentiful children about her.

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': [[GreenThumb Makoto]] in her manga/''Crystal'' incarnation best fits this trope with her plant powers, domesticity, wanting a family and to be more girly, and being the TeamMom of the Inners. She also acts like a surrogate mom to Chibiusa in one chapter in the Dream arc. Her dream to own either a bakery or a flower shop is mentioned extensively.

[[folder:Comics]]
* While childless, Franchise/{{Batman}}'s adversary ComicBook/PoisonIvy (Pamela Isley) shows nurturing love for all things green and growing and is cranky on issues such as pollution and pesticides. She has attacked polluters without mercy in defense of her beloved plants, but has also (in extremism) nurtured humans after an apocalypse with abundant fast-growing fruit and vegetables.

* Marvel Comics has the Earth goddess called Mother Earth (alternatively: Mother Nature), who under various names is member of every single pantheon. Among others she is Gaia (Hercules' great-grandmother) in the Greek pantheon and Jord (Thor's mother) in the Norse one.

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* The character of Doctor Davinia Bellamy in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Davinia is a mumsy faded blonde in her middle-to-late thirties who trained as an academic botanist, and ran florists' shops in Ankh-Morpork. She came to the attention of the Guild of Assassins through her ability to understand the language of flowers -- she could say ''Drop Dead!'' in a variety of interesting floral ways. A loving wife and mother of three boys, she now teaches botany and Aggressive Flower-Arranging at the Guild school. Her ability to nurture ''difficult'' flora is legendary. And Gods help ''anyone'' unwise enough to threaten her husband or sons. Unexpected bouquets have been delivered. She is an OC creation of Creator/AAPessimal.

* Sybil Vimes in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' stories. Especially after her giving birth to Young Sam Vimes.

* Piper's role when she gets temporarily turned into a goddess in an episode of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''.
* TV archaeologist and historian Bettany Hughes is also a woman who gets close to the earth. Archaeologists bend over a lot whilst digging, trowelling or exploring with fingertips to get the Earth to give up its secrets of the past. Bettany has a lot in common with Charlie Dimmock when on digs, especially in the warm sunny climes she favours such as Greece, Egypt, and the Middle East.

* Irish mythology mentions a people called the Tuatha De Danaan. Since it means something like "people of Danu", Danu has been hypothesized as an ancestor/mother goddess-type figure. She's also been associated with the land, making her even more of an example.
* Myth/ClassicalMythology has Gaia, though she differs from the popular image of one in a number of ways. For starters she's more associated with rocks and soil, as opposed to plant life, which she is only tangentially associated with. She's also not particularly nurturing, with most of her major stories involving her pursuing the destruction of the Olympians mostly via birthing monsters like [[EldritchAbomination Typhon]] or orchestrating the evisceration of her first husband Ouranos. Demeter has some shades of this as well, with her association with plant life, and being the leader of the agrarian gods. Though she is predominantly Olympian, and therefore celestial. There's also the rather obscure primordial goddess Physis, the goddess of nature, though she doesn't really have any extant myths about her.
* Myth/NorseMythology has Jord, the personified earth, who seems to be in a similar position as Gaia. She's barely mentioned except as being the mother of Thor and a jotunn. Fjorgyn and Hlodyn are considered other names for her. A male Fjorgynn is also mentioned, but he's also a shadowy, abstract figure who does nothing. The Continental Germanic tribes had a worshiped example similar to Tellus named Nerthus, called Terra Mater by Tacitus. He also mentioned an "Isis of the Suebi" who may or may not have been an example depending on what criteria he used to identify the native Germanic goddess with Isis.
* GenderInverted in Myth/EgyptianMythology, where Geb is an earth father married to a sky goddess, Nut. He's pretty benevolent as far as personifications go.

* Arguably, the Virgin Mary is a Christian take on the idea: she's the Mother of God rather than a mother goddess.
* The Tarot card of the Empress symbolizes the Earth Mother, and the star signs of Cancer and Taurus both have aspects of nurturing and motherhood.

* For the most part, averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'', as the earth element is associated with the planet Venus and use a LoveGoddess vibe instead: the statues in the Venus lighthouse are gracefully built rather than heavy while ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' shows that Cybele is a similarly beautiful woman (who attacks by throwing a weird frog-like plant creature).

[[folder:RealLife]]
* The British warrior queen Boudicca, who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against the Romans. Her spur to doing this was rage at witnessing her daughters being raped by Roman soldiers. The alleged [[SpikedWheels spikes on her chariot wheels]] were a courtesy detail. The two principal Roman-British cities - Colchester and London - were completely trashed and the Romans seriously considered abandoning Britain altogether.
[[/folder]]

* Comedienne Series/{{Miranda}} Hart is an Expy of the Earth Mother. Built way over scale and dwarfing her elegant, tiny, mother, the six-foot-plus Miranda is a woman brimming with love, nurturing to her friends, and seeking the right man.

* Both Tara in UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} and Sherab Chamma in UsefulNotes/{{Bon}} religions are often considered Mother Earths versions.

* Comedienne Series/{{Miranda}} Hart is an expy of the Earth Mother. Built way over scale and dwarfing her elegant, tiny, mother, the six-foot-plus Miranda is a woman brimming with love, nurturing to her friends, and seeking the right man.

* Irish mythology mentions a people called the Tuatha De Danaan. Since it means something like "people of Danu", Danu has been hypothesized as an ancestor/mother goddess-type figure. She's also been associated with the land, making her even more

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/earth_mother.png]]

[[quoteright:294:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Caritas_EarthMother_8800.JPG]]
%%[[caption-width-right:294:some caption text]]

Like the Empress in the [[TarotMotifs Tarot]] pack, a hearty, smiling lady who is invariably portrayed as heavily pregnant and holding a brimming cornucopia, or nursing a baby, while children play at her feet. She is almost always of [[BigBeautifulWoman ample and attractive proportions]] and will be generous and bountiful in her affections; [[GreenThumb she can make green things grow and flourish]], and who want to share that love and bounty in one way or another--[[ThroughHisStomach food being a particularly popular one]]. They want to love and support and nurture others and generally be motherly. She is both fertile and fecund, but she can get a little cranky if she is not appreciated the way she wants to be. Scorned, [[NatureIsNotNice she can be lethal]] -- God help you if you get between her and [[MamaBear one of her babies.]]

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': [[GreenThumb Makoto]]" her manga/Crystal incarnation best fits this trope with her plant powers, domesticity, wanting a family and to be more girly, and being the TeamMom of the Inners. She also acts like a surrogate mom to Chibiusa in one chapter in the Dream arc. Her dream to own either a bakery or a flower shop is mentioned extensively.

* Roseanne Barr, naturally.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

* A particularly malevolent version is found in Myth/SonghaiMythology. Nyaberi means “great mother” and she was the cruel earth goddess. Her followers are ghosts, witches, and other evil spirits.

* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': The [[ALoadOfBull Tauren]] sometimes refer to an Earth Mother (and the Tauren Chieftain's Reincarnation ability is said to come from a strong connection with her).

* The British warrior queen Boudicca, who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against the Romans. Her spur to doing this was rage at witnessing her daughters being raped by Roman soldiers. The alleged [[SpikedWheels spikes on her chariot wheels]] were a courtesy detail. The two principal Roman-British cities - Colchester and London - were completely trashed and the romans seriously considered abandoning Britain altogether.

* the Tarot card of the Empress symbolises the Earth Mother, and the star signs of Cancer and Taurus both have aspects of nururing and motherhood.

* For the most part, averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'', as the earth element is associated with the planet Venus and use a LoveGoddess vibe instead: the statues in the Venus lighthouse are gracefully built rather than heavy while ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' shows that Cybele is a similarly beautiful woman (who attacks by throwing a weird frog-like plant creature).

* Mother goddesses exist/existed in many religions. Unfortunately, neopagans have a bad habit of [[SadlyMythtaken misinterpreting]] almost every goddess under the sun as a mother/fertility goddess even when there's no evidence to support their claims. Yet they still claim to be worshiping the actual religion of some dead, ancient society instead of their own made up hokum. At least {{UsefulNotes/Wicca}}ns admit their religion is NewerThanTheyThink.

See also MotherNature.

* For the most part, averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'', as the earth element is associated with the planet Venus and use a LoveGoddess vibe instead: the statues in the Venus lighthouse are gracefully built rather than heavy while ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' shows that Cybele is a similarly beautiful woman (who attacks by throwing a weird frog-like plant creature).

* Irish mythology mentions a people called the Tuatha De Danaan. Since it means something like "people of Danu", Danu has been hypothesized as an ancestor/mother goddess-type figure. She's also been associated with the land, making her even more this trope.
* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Generally not very prominent in Greece, probably due to a mix of most of the writers of myth being city dwellers and thus having no need for earth deities, Greece being extremely poor for farming, and the society being patriarchal. Most of the popular mother goddesses were imports, like Cybele and Isis. Cybele in particular was bizarrely associated with Rhea, who only existed in {{backstory}} to give birth to Hades, Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, and Zeus and then promptly disappeared from myth. None of her kids seem to miss her much. Hera in ''Literature/TheIliad'' visits her foster mother Tethys instead of her. Gaia is, if anything, a twisted subversion. She's the personified earth who's the grandmother and great-grandmother of the Olympians, but she's outright hostile to them and sends her kids the Gigantes to overthrow Zeus. The only kids she was ever interested in protecting were the monstrous ones. Aside from this, she is solely an abstract concept that received no cult worship. Demeter was the closest thing the ancient Greeks really had to this trope. She was the goddess of grain and agriculture (among other unrelated things) and heavily associated with her daughter Persephone. To say she was upset when Hades kidnapped her is an {{understatement}}. Together the two were the focus of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Hera may have been this to at least some of her worshipers and some scanty references seem to imply she was a goddess of childbirth at one time, but normally Eileithyia and/or Artemis are thought of as being the goddesses of childbirth. However, mythology supports no such view; she mostly exists to take revenge on Zeus' mistresses and their kids though it's probable the written myths record a lopsided view of the goddess. Neopagans mostly seem to ignore her for [[WrittenByTheWinners other goddesses mythology treats more kindly, such as Artemis, Athena, and Aphrodite]].

** The Romans seemed to have been a bit more keen on them, though considering their soldiers were farmers in the off-season, this makes a lot of sense. In addition to Ceres, they actually worshiped their version of Gaia, Tellus, later to become better known as Terra Mater. She seems much closer to this trope than Gaia could ever hope to be. A SpearCounterpart called Tellumo or Tellurus is rarely recorded. Juno was notably a goddess of childbirth (under her epithet ''Juno Lucina''). Diana only seems to have become a goddess of childbirth due to syncretism with Artemis. Cybele and Isis were popular as imported goddesses among the Romans as well.

* While childless, Franchise/{{Batman}}'s adversary Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley) shows nurturing love for all things green and growing and is cranky on issues such as pollution and pesticides. She has attacked polluters without mercy in defense of her beloved plants, but has also (in extremism) nurtured humans after an apocalypse with abundant fast-growing fruit and vegetables.

* the Tarot card of the Empress symbolises the Earth mother, and the star signs of Cancer and Taurus both have aspects of nururing and motherhood.

* The British warrior queen Boudicca, who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against the Romans. Her spur to doing this was rage at witnessing her daughters being raped by Roman soldiers. The alleged [[SpikedWheels spikes on her chariot wheels]] were a courtesy detail.

* The character of Doctor Davinia Bellamy in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Davinia is a mumsy faded blonde in her middle-to-late thirties who trained as an academic botanist, and ran florists' shops in Ankh-Morpork. She came to the attention of the Guild of Assassins through her ability to understand the language of flowers -- she could say ''Drop Dead!'' in a variety of interesting floral ways. A loving wife and mother of three boys, she now teaches botany and Aggressive Flower-Arranging at the Guild school. Her ability to nurture ''difficult'' flora is legendary. And Gods help ''anyone'' unwise enough to threaten her husband or sons. Unexpected bouquets have been delivered.

* Comedienne Dawn French.

* TV archaeologist and historian Bettany Hughes is also a woman who gets close to the earth. Archaeologists bend over a lot whilst digging, trowelling or exploring with fingertips to get the Earth to give up its secrets of the past. Bettany has a lot in common with Charlie Dimmock when on digs, especially in the warm sunny climes she favors such as Greece, Egypt, and the Middle East.

* The British warrior queen Boudicca, who led an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against the Romans. Her spur to doing this was rage at witnessing her daughters being raped by Roman soldiers. The alleged spikes on her chariot wheels were a courtesy detail.