纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 069瓦斯特克女神雕像（5）（在线收听）

"It's important not to say that all mother goddesses are the same. A lot of times the mother goddesses are related to the spring, to vegetation, to that kind of fertility - not just human, animal fertility. Then in terms of fertility you enter the area of extreme danger, because the great threat to humankind is of course the death of either mothers or children in childbirth. That's been a universal constant in human history until fairly recently. And also a very strong sense that this contact with the danger of giving birth, of life, of perpetuating life, will actually brush you very close to pollution. In Christianity that's very, very strong. You know, Augustine said, 'We are born between faeces and urine', and he was very worried about the animal aspect of actual parturition, human parturition. Mother goddesses on the whole have to help human beings confront this anxiety - that there's a danger of pollution, that death and birth can be mixed up together."

母亲神的形象并非单一，认识到这点很重要。很多时候她与春天、植物生长、繁衍生息——不只是人类，也有动物——等等相连。说到繁衍，你将进入一个非常危险的领域，因为在分娩过程中母亲与孩子都面临着生命危险。在人类历史上一向如此，直到进入现代社会才有所好转。也有很多人认为，与这种延续生命的冒险行为接触，会让你接近不洁之物。这一点在基督教中表现得尤为强烈。奥古斯汀曾说：“我们是伴着粪便与尿液出生的。”人类在分娩过程中表现出的动物性让他忧虑。总体而言，母亲神必须帮助世人正视某种焦虑—一在污秽的威胁下，生与死的界限变得十分模糊。