Page 406 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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The ‘Queen Mother of the West’ was the great fairy goddess who dwelt in the legendary
Kunlun Mountains. There are many tales about her, summarised here by Marcel Granet:
‘The Supreme Ruler is said to dwell in the Kunlun; but the only deity who receives visits
there is Xi-wang-mu. She is a man-eater, with a leopard’s tail and a tiger’s jaws from
which comes a tiger-like roar. She spreads plague. Like a witch with wild hair she lives in
the depths of a cave. She is a goddess of death, and yet it is from her that one gets the
herb of immortality. Sometimes she gives feasts high up on a jade tower.’

Xi-wang-mu on the phoenix

Around two thousand years ago, she was supposed to have a male partner – Dong-
wang Gong, the King of the East. But in the centuries that followed, this male partner cut
less and less of a figure, while Xi-wang-mu herself remained powerful. In outward
appearance, however, she changed quite a lot. ‘Later art portrays her as a stately Chinese
lady, finely balanced between maidenly delicacy and matronly opulence’ (Ferdinand
Lessing).
In ancient times, so we are told, Xi-wang-mu often exchanged visits with Emperors.
When she came from the West (the Gobi Desert is often named) she brought with her
valuable gifts, especially fine white jade, since white is the symbolic colour of the
West.