Heavenly Mother

Truth is reason—truth eternal / Tells me I've a mother there.

Some denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement, or Mormonism, believe in the existence of Heavenly Mother or God the Mother, a divine feminine companion to God the Father. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and some denominations of Mormon fundamentalism teach of Heavenly Mother. In this belief, Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father are the parents of all human spirits.

Quotes about Heavenly Mother

• You will meet and become acquainted with your eternal Mother, the wife of your Father in Heaven… How could a Father claim His title unless there were also a Mother to share that parenthood?
  • Joseph Smith, n. d. (before his death on June 27, 1844), according to a reminiscence by Zina Diantha Huntington Young reported in Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 16.
  • Said in a conversation about the afterlife with Zina Diantha Huntington.

• Have I then a Mother in Heaven?
  • Zina Diantha Huntington, n. d. (before June 27, 1844), according to a reminiscence by Zina Diantha Huntington Young reported in Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 16.
  • Said in a conversation about the afterlife with Joseph Smith.

• Come to me; here's the myst'ry that man hath not seen;
  Here's our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen
  • W. W. Phelps, "Come to Me", Times and Seasons 6 (Jan. 15, 1845): 783

• In the heav'ns are parents single?
  No, the thought makes reason stare;
  Truth is reason—truth eternal
  Tells me I've a mother there.
  
  When I leave this frail existence—
  When I lay this mortal by,
  Father, mother, may I meet you
  In your royal court on high?
  Then, at length, when I've completed
  All you sent me forth to do,
  With your mutual approbation
  Let me come and dwell with you.
  • Eliza R. Snow, "My Father in Heaven", Times and Seasons (Nauvoo, IL), November 15, 1845, p. 1039, compiled in 1.14 of The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History (Church Historian's Press, 2016)
  • "My Father in Heaven" provides the lyrics to the hymn "O My Father", still sung by Latter-day Saints.

• Woman is the heiress of the Gods. She is joint heir with her elder brother, Jesus the Christ; but she inherits from her God-Father and her God-Mother. … this last grand truth of woman's divinity and of her eternal Mother as the partner with the Father in the creation of worlds…
  • Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (New York, 1877), 192–193

• Does man so far excel that he dare boast
  "I am your head," and still say God is just?
  Nay, call this truth, upon a single throne
  The King and Queen together reign as one;
  No mine, no thing, no first nor last be known
  • Lucinda Lee Dalton, "To Query and All My Dear Sisters in Zion," Woman's Exponent 6, no. 24 (May 15, 1878), 185.

• Oh my mother, thou that dwellest
  In thy mansions up on high,
  Oft methinks I still remember
  When you bade your child good by
  …
  How you gave me words of counsel
  To guide aright my straying feet;
  How you taught by true example
  All of Father's laws to keep
  While I strive in this probation
  How to learn the gospel truth,
  May I merit your approval
  As I did in early youth
  • Wm. C. Harrison, "Our Mother in Heaven: Companion Hymn to E. R. Snow's 'Invocation' ", Juvenile Instructor 29, no. 8, April 15, 1894, 263–264.

• All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.
  • First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "The Origin of Man", Improvement Era, November 1909, 78.

• It doesn't take from our worship of the Eternal Father, to adore our Eternal Mother, any more than it diminishes the love we bear our earthly fathers, to include our earthly mothers in our affections. In fact, the love of one is a complement of our love for the other. We honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal Prototype.
  • Rudger Clawson, "Our Mother in Heaven", The Latter-day Saints' Millenial Star, September 29, 1910, 619–620.
  • The editorial "Our Mother in Heaven" is not directly credited, but "Rudger Clawson, being editor at the time, has traditionally been assumed to be the author of the article" according to David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido, " 'A Mother There': A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven", BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): 91n41.

• Therefore, the Vision held the bright promise of equality and freedom for women. The divine Mother, side by side with the divine Father, the equal sharing of equal rights, privilege, and responsibilities, in heaven and on earth…
  • Susa Young Gates, "The Vision Beautiful", Improvement Era, April 1920, 542.

• She is a goddess in might and dignity. And to consider her otherwise, I think, is disrespectful to Her.
  • McArthur Krishna, quoted in Jana Riess, "Mormon Heavenly Mother Featured in Deseret Book Best-seller", Religion News Service, September 13, 2016.

• Heavenly Mother, as the Mother of all women, holds multitudes under Her wings. Hers is the face that is reflected in the motherly woman, the independent woman, the infertile woman, and the queer woman. We need not restrict Her esthetics and by extension, her love, on account of our ignorance. Her image is the image of all those that choose the label "woman" with as many faces, variations, and expression that are manifested on earth and in the heavens. She is the Mother of all women.
  • Blaire Ostler, "Heavenly Mother: The Mother of All Women", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 51, no. 4 (Winter 2018): 181.

• The Heavenly Mother in Strangers is not a domesticated mother or wife but a fierce and powerful goddess with various faces and representations in a heterodox Godhead.
  • Margaret Toscano, "In Defense of Heavenly Mother: Her Critical Importance for Mormon Culture and Theology", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 55, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 66.
  • Strangers refers to Margaret and Paul Toscano, Strangers in Paradox: Explorations in Mormon Theology (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990).

• One day I had a dream about Heavenly Mother. She spoke to me. I was in the town where I was born, and I was under an avocado tree. And suddenly I heard this voice. She began, "I love all my daughters." It was a beautiful voice.
  • Liliana (pseud.), quoted in Caroline Kline, Mormon Women at the Crossroads: Global Narratives and the Power of Connectedness (University of Illinois Press, 2022), 148.