As does the Supreme Being, the Great Goddess takes the form appropriate to the given culture. In prehistoric cultures, such as the one in Çatal Hüyük, she is the large-bodied, full-breasted figure who exudes opulence and fertility. Similarly endowed Great Goddesses include the Sumerian Ninhursag, the Phrygian Cybele, the Greek Earth Mothers Gaia and Rhea, the Norse Freyja, the Aztec Coatlicue, the multi-breasted Artemis of Ephesus in Anatolia, and some Native American versions of Corn Mother.

The Great Mother can also be the de facto creator, as in the case of Gaia and, in some versions, the Egyptian Neith and the Native American Corn Mothers, the Acoma Thinking Woman, the Shinto Izanami, and the Iroquoian mothers who come down from the sky.