Are the Queen Mother, Golden Mother and Golden Mother of the Jade Pool different deities?

In the faith context I am introducing here, the Queen Mother, the Golden Mother and the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool all have their origin in the Western Golden Mother. However, different systems of worship later developed in Taiwan. Along with differences in their names, the ways devotees approach her and the qualities they feel from her may also differ somewhat.

Take me as an example. My children call me Dad, my disciples call me Master, and friends on the same path may call me teacher or senior fellow practitioner. All these names refer to the same person. But naturally, how I behave with my children is not exactly how I behave when standing before disciples to teach. Different forms of address also carry different relationships between us.

So I once offered a rough comparison: the Golden Mother is like a dignified, graceful mother who presents a formal public image, while the Queen Mother is like a mother at home who feels familiar and kind. This is a comparison to help people understand. It is not a rule that every temple using the name Golden Mother must feel solemn, or that every temple using Queen Mother must feel warm and approachable.

People may experience this differently, and what I am sharing is my own experience. Traditions such as Cihui Hall and Sheng’an Temple also have their own histories that we can continue learning about. If we first understand the common origin behind these names and then learn about the individual traditions, we do not have to assume that they are entirely unrelated deities simply because their names differ.

Later, I also introduced what I knew of the story of how Sheng’an Temple and Cihui Hall developed into separate traditions. An original tradition developed in different directions, with differences in clothing colours and titles. I was recounting the history as I understood it, not attempting to explain the entire history of both systems in one short story.

In that explanation, I still emphasised that the Queen Mother and the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool refer to the same divine source within these traditions. When we see different titles or clothing, we can first understand their respective contexts. There is no need to rush to classify them as completely unrelated deities.