Mother Goddess -- two aspects

In Vedic times, mother goddess was worshipped as Ushas and Aranyani in Rig
Veda and as Sri Gayatri in Yajurveda and Durga in other Vedas and in
Upanishads as Uma, Hemavathi, Narasimhi and Tripura.
In Puranas, Samhitas, Agamas and Tantras, she is worshipped as Sri Mahakali,
Sri Mahatripurasundari and as Sri Rajarajeshwari.
Thus from the prehistoric times (2000 BC) up to date there is an unbroken
tradition of the Godhead being worshipped as Mother. Even today it is rare to
find a Hindu home where she is not worshipped as Mother Sri Durga, Lakshmi,
Kali, Saraswati or at least as Gramadevatha i.e. a small village deity. In this long
line of Shakti worship, two aspects of the goddess can be clearly discerned.
1. The fierce form of the deity that is dreaded.
2. The benign aspect of her love and kindness.
These two broad aspects are common in the concept of God in other religions
also. The first one is more primitive and is an active and violent form - Rajasic
or Tamasic personification of Shakti. Fear is the predominant emotion of the
Sadhaka in worshipping this aspect, fear of natural calamities, ill-health,
death, enemies, poverty and even ignorance. Even her form is imagined with
many heads and hands each carrying deadly weapons like sword and mace,
riding on wild animals like tiger, lion and even corpse. She usually resides in
wild places, lonely forests, hilltops and cremation grounds.
She is generally represented with a gesture of allaying fear - Abhayamudra.
She is frequently worshipped to gain limited personal objectives. It is this
fierce aspect of Shakti, which Arjuna sees at the end of Vishwaroopa
Darshana and gets frightened.
The second form of Shakti is the Satvik one, a latter and sublimer concept
that is the product of Upanishadic thought. Here the Sadhaka, through
greater knowledge and practice largely sheds the fear of the deity and loves
her as his own mother. She is generally imagined as seated on a lotus and
surrounded by beautiful lakes and gardens. She is worshipped with the object
of reaching and realizing higher and higher levels of consciousness and
knowledge.