Gisele Bundchen | Vogue's 'Earth Mother' | Anne's Fertility Goddess

Gisele Bundchen by Patrick Demarchelier | Vogue US April 2010

This splendid set of photos appears in the midst of our own research into ancient fertility goddesses and the evolution of gender relations between men and women.  When you read the Gisele Bundchen interview in Vogue about the birth of her son:

Benjamin was born at home, in warm water in a deep bathtub that overlooks the Charles River. “I wanted to experience the transformation,” says Gisele. A midwife friend of hers came in from Brazil as did her mother; her husband was there too. Gisele meditated through the birth. “It was the most amazing experience of my life, feeling him come through my body. And once he was born, I never felt so empowered as looking at him and thinking, Oh, my God, we did it together!”

And on the subject of her son’s name:

The baby is called Benjamin Rein: “I wanted him to be called River because I wanted something always flowing, immortal. My husband said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to call him River.’ But my father’s name is Reinoldo, so it’s a homage to him. And it’s like water.”

 … surely you agree with us that Gisele Bundchen is a glorious Earth Mother, fertility goddess, and symbol of female fecunidity. We love her photos by the woman-friendly photographer Patrick Demarchelier, who makes it his business to make every woman look divine.

Photos via Fashion Gone Rogue

“Mighty, majestic, and radiant,
You shine brilliantly in the evening,
You brighten the day at dawn,
You stand in the heavens like the sun and the moon,
Your wonders are known both above and below,
To the greatness of the Holy Priestess of Heaven,
To you, Inanna, I sing!”
- Diane Wolkstein, Inanna

“Obsience to Her Who is Pure Being, Consciousness, Bliss.
As Power,
Who Exists in the Forms of Time and Space,
And All That is Therein, 
Who is the Divine Illuminatrix in All Beings.” -  A Tantric Prayer

“Yah Devi sarva bhuteshu,
vishnumayeti shabditaa
Namastasyai, namastasyai,
namastasyai namoh namaha”
This goddess, who in all things, exists as
the very form of God.
I bow to you, I bow to you, I bow to you,
again and again.”
-  Yah Devi (This Goddess)
   Krishna Das, Pilgrim Heart

 “Oh Goddess, Source of Gods and Mortals, All-Fertile, All-Destroying Gaia,
Mother of All, Who brings forth the bounteous fruits and flowers,
All variety, Maiden who anchors the eternal world in our own,
Immortal, Blessed, crowned with every grace,
Deep bosomed Earth, sweet plains and fields fragrant grasses in the nurturing rains,
Around you fly the beauteous stars, eternal and divine,
Come, Blessed Goddess, and hear the prayers of Your children,
And make the increase of the fruits and grains your constant care, 
With the fertile seasons Your handmaidens,
Draw near, and bless your supplicants.”
-  Orphic Hym to Gaia, Translated by Virginia Stewart.