I am confused about diety in Wicca..will you help explain it to me?

Question

I know there is a God(Horned One) and Goddess(Great Mother) but what about the other Gods and Goddesses? Triple Goddess?

Is the first dude telling the truth :o

Answer 1

All the Gods and Goddesses by name are basically aspects of "the divine spirit" and the invocation thereof is usually an effort to channel the energy that they represent. IE: Odin...wisdom.....Eros......love/sex and so on.
Triple Goddess represents the 3 stages of womanhood....Maiden (child) Mother (of child bearing years) and Crone (post menopausal)

Answer 2

Ok, the triple goddess is still the goddess. They are just the three aspects of her. Maiden, Mother, Crone. They represent the three main phases of life, as well as the phases of the moon. There is the triple god as well, Lad, Father, Sage. These also show the stages of life.

Now, you mention the others. How is this for a simple explination: Each god and goddess, regardless of what their role is, is just a different aspect of THE god and THE goddess.

Does this help?

Answer 3

Greetings!

Wicca is part of Neo-Paganism (mostly) and the idea of Diety is usually a personal one-in other words, you are free to choose the God, Goddess, Spirit, Ancestor, or the Aspect of those that calls to you-

Finding your Family Tree will help in that Journey-

/!\

Answer 4

Wicca includes what's called soft polytheism, the idea that all Gods are one God, and all Goddesses are one Goddess. Most pagans who aren't Wiccan don't agree with this; rather, they're hard polytheists, believing that each deity is a separate individual, rather than a facet of the whole.

The soft polytheism thing is a modern invention. Pre-Christian pagans were hard polytheists.

Answer 5

((((((Lupa)))))) Good to see you!

Different Pagans have different views of Polytheism.

In some traditions of Wicca, all Gods are One God, and all Goddesses are One Goddess -- so all the different Gods and Goddesses are seen as different aspects of the Lord and Lady. The Triple Goddess is one of Her names.

Now, in other Neopagan traditions, each God and Goddess is a sepereate individual being, and should be related to as such. This is called "Hard Polytheism." The ancient Pagan cultures were Hard Polytheists, though the Romans often tried to lump foreign gods in with their own.

I personally consider myself a Hard Polytheist. I worship several gods, and believe in many more, though I do have a patron whom I pray to daily. (Your patron reveals him/herself to you when you are ready.)

Answer 6

Gardnerian Wiccans follow a horned god and a triple goddess, sometimes addressed as great mother. They have names, but they are not public. Other Wiccans follow other deities. Generally a Wiccan has a patron god and goddess that they primarily follow, but their identity varies depending on the tradition and the Wiccan. One of the joys of polytheism is there there's no expectation that you worship every deity that you believe exists. I have a working relationship between myself and my patrons, just as I have working relationships with certain people, but certainly not all people. Our patrons may or may not be horned, mothers, or have anything to do with the moon. Those details are specific to certain distinct deities.

Answer 7

Wicca is a 20th century creation, based off attempts to reconstruct European pagan traditions to varying degrees of scientific success. I tend to think it grew out of 19th century "Noble Savage" theory. So, often it depends on which history you read, or which specific culture's traditions you're trying to aim at. I believe the first attempt at Wicca was with Celtic mythology, which is even harder than most because the little we know about Celtic Mythology comes from Celtic Christianity and outsider's opinions. (Old Roman texts) More success is gotten often by Italian Witches trying to recreate their pagan religion. Some are monotheists and believe only in a Goddess, believing she was usurped by "God" as man moved from Hunter/Gatherer to Agriculturalist. Some duo-theists and believe in a god and a goddess in equality, I tend to think this migrated from Oriental ying/yang philosophy. Still others are pure polytheists trying to recreate one specific pantheon, or just generally many pantheons, or even archtypes. (Hero-God, Wizard-God, Crone-Goddess, Virginal Goddess, etc.. etc..) It's very confusing because it's not just one religion, but thousands of people's own seperate opinions. (Most of which think their own is superior than everyone elses!!)

Answer 8

What exactly are you confused about? You know the polarities of male and female (God and Goddess), others have now explained the Triple Goddess; representing phases of the moon and the phases of life. Are you having issues with the idea of pantheons? Read into other aspects of deity- Carl G. Jung used deities as archetypes for us to guide through our ideas of perfection, self improvement, etc. I see a trend with some of your questions- you need to find your own path and definitions of basic spiritual ideas, you can adjust them as you develop yourself. Feel free to e-mail me and we can better discuss and narrow your questions, I've studied many different paths of religion and on my book shelves are many books filled with info you may like to have.

Answer 9

As Mike w sort of explained it, that is close to being how it goes.

Let's start of with Goddess. Her names are many but ALL are some aspect of the Triple Goddess (goddess in the 3 ages of a woman, Maiden, Mother and Crone), So, Diana, the HUntress would be seen as Goddess as Maiden/mother, strong, determined, freewilled, nurturing, etc. Godess as Hera, would be seen as Crone, wise, expereinced, skilled, knowledgeable and hard to [ull a fast one over on. Now many of the Godesses of Britain and the Celtic lands DO actually have the three ages as part of their deity already. The NOrse too have their triple Godesses. The BEST know of the Triple Godesses are the Fates, Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho. Atropos, draws the thread, Lachesis measures the thread and Clotho cuts the thread of our lives (beginning, middle and end). There are similar Fates in the Germanic pantheon (the Vulds) and in Scandinavia (the Norns). Similar views of Godess are seen in the Hindu with the three faced Godess (I forget her name for the moment), and in the Inca/Mayan of the Americas as well.

NOW to God's portrayal by many names. The many names of the God are based on the time of year. Summer is the time of planting, nurturing of the gardens/fields as so we would have a God with a Harvest God's name. Additionally, that God's name would be chosen based on the NEED of the Witch, Pan for love and lustful rites, Lugh for nature rites, etc. For teh winter months we would choose a Hunter name for God, agfain based on need, Mars for Strength against enemies, Cernunnos for hunting skills etc.

It is possible and permissible to Mix Gods and Godesses from different Pantheons. for example My version of God is Lugh, from the Britannic pantheon and Shandara of the general Hindu Panteon. They BOTH fill MY needs and Work for me to illustrate MY concepts of What and HOW God and goddess aid and guide me.

Your choices should be made after meditating on YOUR needs and YOUR concetps fo what and who God and godess are for YOU. You can ALSO make your OWN name for God or godess up out of thin air and as long as the CONCEPT of God and Godess is held sacred, the names are irrelevant. In my case, Shandara is NOT a recognized Hindu Godess name, However she DOES have many of the qualitites of MY concept of a female Hindu Godess and closely resembles the female aspect of Chandra (A hindu God who has BOTH Male and Female attributes0 to me Shandara is ONLY the Female aspect of Chandra and hence has her OWN name as oppsosed to the bisexual aspect of Chandra. This was based on a God naming meditation that I undertoook many years ago.

I would recomend that YOU too, conduct a God Naming meditation and come upi with the names for YOUR specific God and Godess. Such a Meditatin takes the regular meditation format but you intentions are clearly specified before you bgin and you hold THAT as your mantra throughout the meditation. Good luck with that and I know that when they are ready and YOU are ready God and Godess WILL tell you what they want you to address them by, until then My Lady and My Lord work VERY well, until you have crystallized your concepts of them.

BB,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 10

More than that - it is pagan and has multiple versions of several deities plus nature spirits. If you want to read a pleasant protrayal in the guise of an alternate history novel, look for Dies The Fire by SM Stirling at the library. Two more books after that continue the story. Wicca is faith of half the major characters.