Dou Mu Yuanjun, the ‘Primordial Sovereign Mother of the Big Dipper’, occupies a revered position within the Taoist pantheon and is venerated as the Mother of all the Stars of the Big Dipper. Her divine responsibilities encompass healing, fetal protection, fertility, and the expulsion of evil and darkness. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Dou Mu Yuanjun is conflated with the bodhisattva Marici (fig.), who is also revered as the mother of the Dipper.

She is typically portrayed with three eyes, three faces, and eight arms, symbolizing her all-seeing wisdom and manifold divine powers. Her pedestal is here adorned by the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac (fig.).