Originally, Mark Taylor did not envision Teela as a "Warrior Goddess", but rather as a Female Warrior, perhaps more in the vein of an Amazon.
The differences between the finished Teela and this early concept is not as big as one might think however. Even though her famous Cobra-staff and armour are nowhere to be found, she is still more or less identical to the Teela we got, without the cobra-motife. Her shield is the same as the finished toy, but a spear with two smaller prongs around the sharp point is her weapon of choice, instead of her standard Cobra-staff.
For some reason, the Teela and Goddess/Sorceress concepts where combined later on in the development, and the finished Teela is both Goddess and warrior-female at the same time.
Image courtesy of Matt Jozwiak and Mark Taylor