Wiccan practice revolves around the worship of two gods, a god and a goddess. However, the identities of these deities vary from group to group and even Wiccan to Wiccan, which causes no small amount of frustration in non-Wiccans trying to understand us.
Western religious views are primarily monotheistic. As such, everyone in the religion worships the same god, because it’s understood that only one exists. With that cultural experience, we expect people in other religions, even polytheistic ones, to be united by the identities of their gods.
But Wiccans are united primarily by practice, not belief. Different Wiccans find themselves called by different deities. This is not uncommon among polytheists. Hinduism, for example, recognizes millions of gods. Imagine trying to personally honor all of them! Hindus honor gods most appropriate for themselves, for the time and for the place.
Wiccans have no single pantheon. Instead, individuals draw from any number of historical pantheons, plus some figures who have only modern understanding. So a Wiccan might honor Isis or Apollo or Mars or Freya. The fact that I don’t follow Isis doesn’t mean I find it foolish for others to do so. There are a great many gods or at least the potential for gods out there. They just don’t all call to me.
How does one know who to follow?
Traditionalists follow the gods of their coven. Eclectics – those who pull together their own personal practices – commonly say that their gods found them, not the other way around. It was just a question of understanding the call. Some stories are dramatic; most are not. For me, it came in small stages. First was the sense that someone was there for me. Over time, I started to identify more distinct qualities about them, and eventually I learned names for them.
This process may be totally separate from whom a Wiccan might simply like or identify with. Throughout childhood, for example, I was always fascinated with the Greek goddess Athena when we studied mythology in school. I liked what she stood for, and I still do, but she is not who called me. Spiritually speaking, there is no connection between Athena and me at all.
The God and Goddess
We often talk of the God and Goddess. What we mean can be complicated.
The first Wiccan authors were Traditionalists who had taken oaths to not make the names of their gods public. As such, they used a variety of descriptions, including simply “God and Goddess.”
Since different Wiccans worship different deities, books often continue to use these terms to reflect whatever pair you are personally following. The concepts are also useful in discussing metaphorical concepts revolving around gender.
Some Wiccans simply address their deities as God and Goddess, either because they haven’t found suitable names, or they see them as the sum of other deities: all gods are aspects of one god and all goddesses are aspects of one goddess. For a variety of reasons, this view has become widely popular in Eclectic Wiccan literature, giving many the erroneous impression that it is the only view of deity that Wiccans have.
Who are the Horned God and the Triple Goddess?
These are additional terms adopted by early Traditionalist writers for their gods. They are descriptions, not names, although some Wiccans today have adopted them as names.
Because they are descriptions of specific, publicly unnamed deities, it is not expected that all, or even most, Wiccans would use such terms to describe their gods. For example, the Triple Goddess is a moon goddess, with the phases of waxing, full and waning representing childhood, adulthood and old age. Most goddesses are not moon goddesses, and we are not expected to transform them into such.
Again, there’s also metaphorical value in these figures. The symbolism of the moon phases is something every person can connect with, even if they don’t actually follow a moon goddess.
The Horned God is generally depicted with horns or antlers springing from his head. He represents both hunter and hunted and rules the winter, when food traditionally could only be gathered by hunting. He is also lord of the underworld.
Besides being strongly associated with the moon, the Triple Goddess is also tied to the earth and agriculture and rules summer, when the land is in bloom and can provide sustenance.
What are nature spirits and do you worship them?
“Nature spirits” is a very vague term. To me the term suggests localized entities such as something that resides in a specific tree, rock or river. Some Wiccans believe in them and some don’t. Those who do believe in them may interact with them and show respect toward them, but neither of these actions equate to worship. (After all, I interact with and show respect toward my parents, but no one has suggested that I am worshiping them by doing so!)
The term might also be referring to elementals, non-corporeal creatures composed entirely of one of the four elements (Fire, Air, Water or Earth). Again, some Wiccans work with them, particularly in circle casting, but they not worshiped. In fact, elementals are more often commanded than asked to accomplish something.
Do you worship trees?
No. Trees are just physical shells. Worshiping a tree would make no more or less sense than worshiping a toaster. (We don’t do that either, just to be clear.)
Do you worship “nature,” and if so, how is that not worshiping trees?
Western culture thinks of “nature” as merely being those things that have not been created by man. When we talk of getting “back to nature” we usually mean doing away with some modern conveniences and spending time appreciating trees, rivers, and clean air.
What we can see and touch and smell, however, is just the outer shell of something greater. Nature has a spirit and/or soul as well as a body: there is a spiritual essence residing within the physical shell.
Many of us also hold a much wider view of nature. Nature is all that occurs naturally, which is everything: the planet, the stars, and universe. The motions of all these things ultimately come from the will of the gods. The connection between physical nature and the gods is intimate: the gods did not just create the universe, step back and observe but continue to reside and work within it.
So while some Wiccans speak of nature as a goddess, they are ultimately speaking of a powerful spiritual being, not trees.
I worship Ouranos and Gaia contained with the Cretan Spiral
This is very interesting! I also worship Ouranos and Gaia as a pair! (Although Gaia is also part of the triple Goddess in my beliefs) It’s probably not as rare as I think it is, but I’ve never come across anyone else in the Wiccan community who shares these Deities.
My personal views also entail me being called to Hecate and Hades if my mood and/or the timing is right! Also if they call me themselves.
Thank you for sharing and blessed be
I am new to paganism and I’m not entirely cemented in my beliefs, but I feel a very strong pull towards Gaia, Selene, and Aphrodite.
“which causes no small amount of frustration in non-Wiccans trying to understand us.”
Those few that try to understand, rather than simply saying “It’s not a real religion, you have to find Jesus” (I still get this, after 20 years following a pagan path.)
Sigh…. Now to see (from your “Books to Avoid” page) that many so-called Wiccan authors are doing the same thing both against monotheistic religions, and many branches of paganism. Disheartening.
I have been following my wiccans path for about two years, and I worship the God (father) and goddess (mother) . I haven’t been called to or drawn to any particular deity yet other than these forms.
Good article by the way.
I’m new to Wicca. Thank you for this informative post.
me too
I’m also new to Wicca. The only thing I’m confused about is how do I know which god/goddess is calling out to me? Do I just choose a specific god, or do I look for some sort of sign? …that and making an altar on a very tight budget and while living in a house full of christians
Ryan,
i just spent almost three hours re-affirming (but as Witches we re-bind) myself to my goddess “The Morrigan” Chooser of the Slain and her Celtic counter part (one of them any way) “Herne” The horned God of the Hunt, sometimes called “Cerrunous”.
I suggest that you start reading the “Old” stories back before Christ was even an idea. Before the Catholic Church came along, Oh, there were Gods and Goddesses to behold and run in terror from. Just pick any part of the world we live in today and spin the globe until your finger stops. I’ll bet if you look hard enough you will find a whole Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses.
It is strange how one or two will just latch on to you or feel right somehow.
Not necessarily for some great deed they did or miracle they performed, but they just touch your heart and soul somehow. That’s about the best I can figure and this is coming from a Spanish Ancestral Witch who basically worships my ancestors going back over 800 years. My magick is a gift that flows through my blood and the blood of relative Witches and those long gone but holding our great power for us when we call upon it. The thing is, I’m half Irish, and I can’t go around leaving that part of me to the dogs now can I? In order to add a big Umph! to our slowly weakening Spanish magick, my Great Grandmother Elisida Gallegos (The high priestess of my Grandmothers coven) Needed three of her Witches to Marry each of the three Rael Brothers, who were rich and Noble land owners, Out of one of these marriages would come a child who would do what no woman in ALL the families had never done since the time of remembering. She would grow up and marry outside her race, she would marry a tall, strong Irish man. The woman was my Mother and the man is my Father. That’s why I’m popping with juju!!!
Keep looking for your God and Goddess, some Witches have more than two. Witchcraft, is truly, truly a place for us with the gift. I already know two or three Celtic spells that would spin your head around til you swore you had three.
As for your Altar, start with one white candle, one Black candle, one bottle of altar oil, a nice cloth to lay down first. Look online about “the most basic Wiccan altars”, try and google those words
If you really are a witch but your family follows Christianity. For me it’s an “Oh Well, sorry I caught the Jesus crackers on fire!” OH, H-E-double hockey sticks! Every car alarm in the lot is going off like it’s the 4th of July!! This is not the Church for me!!
Trust me, if you have the gift, they are going to find out and there is nothing they can do about it except maybe an exorcism.
DIEGO
Excellent post, Diego!
Merry Meet!
Great information- thank you. I am a solitary practioner honoring the Goddess.
I worship Hecate and Hades. No I’m not evil, I am simply one of the night.
I am closest to Nyx. I bet people think I’m evil too lol
I named my familiar ‘Nyx’. I love both my familiar and the goddess as well as goddess Asteria.
I think that just because Nyx is supposed to represent darkness or something means that she is evil or you are evil I believe that we should our own relationships the gods or goddess we feel drawn too also I should probably mention here that I am also new to the Wicca practice but suddenly felt an attraction to the practice
I also worship Hecate, but Cernunnos as well. One thing that has me torn is that I’m strongly attracted to Artemis. I learnt about her back in 9th grade and since then, I have this immense admiration. But since Hecate was the name I saw so often during Wicca searches back when I started, I thought that was the name I was to call the Goddess.
Anywho care to help me a little?
Lannah, it really doesn’t matter what you call the Goddess. All female aspects are her. They may be different parts of Her persona, but that is what helps you to identify more closely with her. The same goes for the God. Hope this helped you.
You probably won’t read nor need this comment but maybe someone will find it helpful.
It wasn’t mainstream belief and you won’t find it in most of the mythology books but sometimes Hekate and Artemis were treated as one deity. That’s why Hekate has 3 faces. One is Luna in the sky- moon goddess (which is well known aspect od Artemis) second is Artemis on the earth – goddess of wild nature and third is Hekate in the underwolrd – goddess of magic.
Interesting! I really hope Lannah DID read this X
In my opinion (from what I know and experience) the goddess of the wiccan movement is the same as the hindu goddess Ravirandal Mataji. I hope someone looks into this and takes and interest in this. I just had a moment of clarity and I think that she is over looked.
From one olde Druid.
Blessed be
no mames wuey
The pentagram is a symbol that represents the five fairy peoples of the world. They are not known to us very much but the most common one is called the Neanderthals, They were spread all though out the world and are the natural element of the world. These people are related to the natural world and us though blood. They emerged from the earth and are the earth. The goddess Ravirandal Mataji. Is represented as an avatar of of one of the three foundations of life. From the one came the three and from the three came many. The three are represented in the five fingered hand. The pinkie represents love of compassion. The ring finger represent love of right desire. The middle finger represents love of life and the fore finger represents life from which the other three are formed and created the universe. the thumb represents action or you, its beyond my understanding. This is why mudras work. Ravirandal Mataji is a representive of love of life and is need greatly in this world where people have a problem with life and things that they can’t understand. That is why she was worshiped all thought out the world in early times. I hope you believe in the wisdom that life is sacred and all things are alive and that through wisdom of the love of life all things are pure and life is eternal and undying. This is her wisdom and the three and and the one are beyond just so called human beings and really are important to all thing in this existance and beyond the universe that we know.
Blessing to you for all things are by their nature blessed.
Chris
I am new to the religion, so is there any websites that will tell me factual things? any books? this page helped me, by the way. thank you haha
Please open the Bible and worship Jesus Christ. Please pray to Him and his mother Mary for your soul and conversion for all souls.
thanks susan
4 Real Susan
i only worship the devil, thanks tho “Susan”
Find somewhere else to preach. We are on a spiritual quest here to something older than your 2000 old religion.
Please listen the nature and worship Juno. Please pray to her and her consort Jupiter for your soul and conversion for all souls.
Susan, please reserve your golden turds for people who seek it from you. You came to this website: learn from it, ask questions, or, SHUT UP. If we need to learn about your version of spirituality, we’ll visit a X-tian website. You can’t possibly be so ignorant as to think anyone in the modern English speaking world doesn’t know of the Jesus myths. It’s shoved in our face regularly. Would you “convert” if we shoved our beliefs in your face?
For your information it is CHRISTIAN not X-tian. I find this religion very interesting, and I probably would have been more interested in it if it wasnt for your so called “X” who saved me from this psychotic religion. Trust me this whole gods and goddesses thing is infatuating and i know a lot about it(so dont say im ignorant, because i saw that coming :D), but Im glad to worship the REAL God (with a capitol G)! Not an “X”, unlike you people who are in desperate need of THE true savior.
God Bless you strange people,
Isabella (a daughter of the true GOD)
I agree that the “X” was very uncalled for and immature because you can’t bash one’s religion to validate another, I just wanted to tell you that there are some who worship the three faces of Jesus Christ (God, Jesus, and the holy spirit) but they also worship his female counter part, Marry, much like the Catholic’s do or even Marry Magdalene so some have not lost God. I hope you don’t bash us all for one person’s petty action. The bottom line to Paganism or Wiccan is that you worship a God and his female counter part as an equal, some like me, are more comfortable leaving it as God and Goddess, as where others like to identify their Gods with names from other era’s. I truly hope one person’s misguided barb did not make you shy away from your spiritual path of learning 😀
Blessed be
Why do you think I became a Wiccan, Susan? Because I DID at one time, pray to christ, but it did nothing for me. It felt wrong to me to pray to him, so I decided to seek a new belief, and that’s how I came to be wiccan. And Isabella, Wicca is not a “Psychotic Religion.” Please be more open minded. There is nothing in the world I dislike more than Closed-Minded people.
Fr lol also, the X in Xian/Xtian/Xmas etc. is just an abbreviation, nothing to get so heated about. X is the first letter of the word “Christ” in Greek (Χριστός) and its literally just shorthand. -signed, and ex-Xian who has literally seen other Xians use the abbreviation my whole life.
I just wanted to tell you that there are some who worship the three faces of Jesus Christ (God, Jesus, Christ and the holy spirit) but they also worship his female counter part, Marry, much like the Catholic’s do or even Marry Magdalene, so some have not lost God in the slightest. The bottom line to Paganism or Wiccan is that you worship a God and his female counter part as an equal, and are taught not to do harm, even emotional harm like you just did with your hurtful words. I have God and have never once lost him in my journey. I am a proud Pagan specifically for the fact that your religion requires you to hate and try to convert other religions, to discriminate and dictate to others, and to bend others to your will out of fear. There is no devil or hell in my religion and by the way it is written in your Bible to never worship anyone else but God and only God, so in your religion preying to his Son Jesus Christ or his consort/vassel, Marry is blasphemy
Please, Please learn how to spell before sending your comments. You articulate very well, but the horrible and repetitive bad spelling kills the seriousness of anything you write. This is constructive criticism and in no way meant to be mean spirited. I make many type-o’s and sometimes miss them before I send.
El Brujo Diego
I wish I could meet you.
Really, calling people strange in their own sacred space. They’re doing and focused on their own thing and you should be doing the same thing. It’s called Respect. They’re not strange. You’re rude and ignorant.
Honestly. Just because wiccans don’t push others towards conversion doesn’t mean we’re not firm in what we believe. Stop making an idiot out of yourself and go sell some jesus cookies.
Why Mary? They might not have any Catholic background. Mary was a human not part of the Christianity triad.
I’m curious because in the path that I follow we honour deities as individual from the God and the Goddess. For us, the God and the Goddess are nameless. Yet I’ve seen many people who assign names of deities to the God and the Goddess, which seems odd to me.
The differed dieties that you follow are mere aspects of the God and Goddess. Just as we have differing personalities, so the dieties are the differing personalities of the main dieties. The Goddess represents all women and the God represents all men. They are not only nameless, they are faceless. The differing names are what we use to identify with particular aspects of their personalities so as to ensure that what we desire will resonate with them as we wish. Think about someone coming up to you asking for a favor, you’d be more apt to respond to them if they are humbled or crying than if they seemed angered or condescending, right?
We are brought into this earthly form as feminine and masculine, not just physically but also spiritually. One not meant to dominate the other, but as equals, just as the Goddess and the God, that combine to form the whole,
the All. We have deities that have come to us throughout time, to commune with us in the earthly realm, to help us grasp these concepts. Aphrodite, Isis, Apollo, Zeus, Magdalene and Christ for instance. I remember a passage from Kate West that wonderfully illustrates this theme. Think of one of those mirrored balls you see at concerts or parties. While each mirror on the ball represents a different face, deity, of the God or the Goddess, there is still only one unified Goddess and God, only one ‘ball’.
Would the japanese sun goddess Amaterasu be considered an aspect of the God or the Goddess? She’s a goddess so you’d initially think the Goddess, but she’s the sun and that’s usually associated with the God right? The Goddess is associated with summer though… I’m just really confused because I feel called to Amaterasu instead of a sun god like Apollo or Ra.
She is an aspect of the Goddess. She represents the heat and bounty of the feminine aspect.
Moon V (@moonv_), language is the tool, not the message. Humans observe and assign names/titles/descriptions to the God/desses in an attempt to understand and share that understanding with others, but ultimately, the limitations of human language set in. We can not put the divine in a neat little box. Some human(s), somewhere in history, in a particular scope of culture, experiencing a time and place where you are not, decided Amaterasu was to represent a concept that doesn’t match what you feel, what you’ve been taught. Symbolism is confusing when the symbol becomes the message, rather than simply the messenger. If the symbol Amaterasu calls to you, answer it. Make it your own, because really, that’s all it can be, nobody else experiences the divine in just the way you do, or I do. We are all part of the divine, of nature, of the universe. To quote Carl Sagan: “The cosmos is also within us, we’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos, to know itself.”
I am atheist. I used to be Wiccan. I still have the wonder and deep respect for nature!! I just don’t believe there is a spiritual/supernatural realm. I’ve kept everything else pretty much.
So I believe in Gaia, and I’m a wiccan but iv hear the name Lord chaos any info or care to help. I have a roommate that is wiccan as well he believes that he is a high priest, and he speaks of this ancient library, and he calls him self the black wolf and says his name is Lord chaos. Any help
I believe he is speaking of the Akashic Records when he’s saying of an ancient library. Wolves are guardians, so he may be one of these that were called to guard the Records.
This helps a lot! My friend is Wiccan and she’s always talking about the different beliefs shared throughout the religion, her doing so made me interested and as I researched it I realised that I already believed in most of it. For example, the three-fold law (which I see as extreme Karma because I never knew the name), multiple gods (which I now know are called deities) , the idea that everything associated with nature has a spirit and pretty much all the believes about life after death. So i am thinking about practicing the religion and I plan to do my best with digging deeper into the consequences of my actions (which -as a youtuber- I have tried to do plenty times before) thank you so much!!! I don’t feel as lost anymore.
This is a great article! I have only known the gods as the mother and father but have not come to learn the names of them and was confused why until I read your article, thank you for that.
I know of the Goddess as Sophia, but I also know that the goddesses are all part of her. So I think of the Holy Ghost as the lesser Sophia, the creatrix and the Goddess as the greater Sophia, which I’ve divided by the Maiden Diana (Lucifera), the Mother Inanna and the Crone Lilith. As for the God, I think of Apollon (Lucifer), Tammuz and Samael.
I used to be christian and know full well those deities you mentioned are evil beings put forth by the church with the exception of the virtuous Diana whom i believe is the true Creator Goddess that everyone has been searching for. Personally i would beware of ant deity that was put forth by monotheistic religions and one other thing to note the patriarchal system defamed her by calling Diana a wild huntress and the daughter of Zeus rather than the virtuous Sun/Moon/Sky Goddess that everyone loved.
I work with the Goddess as Sophia primarily, but I still see that to me all names are just given to her aspects by us.
I am only 14 but a wiccan. I’m new to this and I would like to find a teacher that can help me understand better. If there is anyone that can, contact me at 4437866034. Thank you and blessed be!
You really should not put your cell phone number on a website, especially being the age that you are. I’m only two years older but I know that that’s not very safe. Be careful
Is there a place where I can talk with Wiccans that is safe, away from people like Susan above? I am new and looking for a judgement free site that will be informative. I am in my mid twenties. Not that it is wildly important. I just don’t want to be dismissed as a young girl following a trendy, rebellious ideal.
Here’s a really great forum/group that has helped me tremendously.
http://www.wiccantogether.com/
I mainly work with deities from the ancient Egyptian and the sadly-obscure ancient Armenian pantheons; I started out as a Kemetic Neopagan but branched into Armenian paganism later as I learned more about it (and I’m Armenian by blood so it interested me). Wicca sort of gives me a structure to go by as I follow the pagan gods of my choosing. My Matron Goddess is Anahit and my Patron God is Anubis, I see them as sort of surrogate astral parents. I’m also interested in the Urartian (pre-Armenian) pantheon and have honored their gods too, though there’s not much information on it.
Enter your comment here..im very int in tehe WICCA MOVEMENT ,can sbody plse contact me . Charlmaree03@gmail.com .
i have a question, i have a deep connection with my goddess but i have yet to feel the presence of a god, to be wiccan is it so necessary to have a god as well as a goddess? i am new to Wicca and would love some tips! thank you.
I’m not to sure about Wicca but i for one don’t worship any god because i recently renounced christianity because every time i prayed to god i was surrounded with evil. I am sure glad that i cried out to any deity who was real to help me because she immediately helped me even though i didn’t know who she was at the time. Truth be told I feel so much better when i discovered the true Creator Goddess and after watching sailor moon i found the perfect name for her Serenity which literally means the peaceful one
I believe that all gods are aspects of the God and all goddesses aspects of the God. I do want to find my matron goddess and patron god though. Any tips how to go about this and can someone go in more detail about patron deities and possibly give me a link to a website where i can find a list of deities? Thanks!
Google is your best friend. Type in Wiccan/Pagan goddesses and gods.
I was raised a catholic but never felt anything for it except for being forced. Then my family after a divorce where kicked out of the catholic church and instead became associated with my stepdad’s religion, Christianity. Even then I didn’t feel any type of pull towards the religion. Don’t get me wrong I do believe in angels and demons but for some reason I don’t associate them with “God”. Recently I have been praying to the moon goddess after reading about her from books either witch related, geek mythology, or werewolf/vampire. Although, I know you can say its childish but I felt like for once I had a connection. I can’t explain it but I feel like for once someones listening and that for once I can truly worship and believe in something. The only problem is I don’t know how. Is what I believe in Wiccan? Or is it just simply the moon goddess herself? I knew for a long time that I had a connection with the moon and would gaze at it whenever I could and every time I did it looked as if there was a lady on the moon. Her long hair flowing and I feel calm whenever I look there, as if the moon holds the answers to all my questions. I love nature and the water and above all I love how connected they all are to the moon and even the sun. So I guess my question is am I weird for feeling this way? And why for once can I tell others how I feel about a religion of sort without caring if I’m ridiculed?
Now here’s a thing… I ring church bells, I conduct a church choir, I believe in SOME of the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) particularly the parables which have a personal meaning to people and can be explained through paganism. I am a Pagan… I believe and follow the Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother and Crone – Phases of the Moon) and the Triple God (Son, Father and King – Phases of the Sun) I believe the many Gods and Goddesses, Saints, Prophets, whatever you want to call them, all over the world can basically be a group of spirits in charge of certain things, for example… Fertility, music, war etc…. and they just have many many names.
I do Wiccanings, Handfastings, Funerals and a eucharist involving food and drink blessed by the God and Goddess and for all to share as the bounty of the earth that has been provided for and by us through the gifts that we have been given by the God and Goddess with help from the other deities, I guess I identify with the other deities in the same way Patron Saints are seen in Christianity.
The Triple Goddess (moon) and The Triple God (sun) who join as one on the eclipses to become the Sacred Spirit.
I don’t know perhaps I’m talking rubbish haha. It’s where I am anyway.
I was raised Jewish, and have no desire to leave my traditions/culture behind. However, I can’t stand organized religion. I’m still new and learning and studying (thank you for this article) so I’m not sure if I’m going the Wiccan path or just Eclectic Pagan. My deities are Asherah (Astarte) and Yahweh. Asherah had her own cult and was Yahweh’s consort (or the other way around) so it made sense to me. I have always believed in a “Mrs.God”, so for me, I found her. I also believe firmly that all the goddesses and gods are all the same just different manifestations for different people. I also invoke Hecate and have made an altar to Hestia when I needed her specific expertise. However you find peace and spirituality aka “god”, that’s great.
Take it from me i wouldn’t trust Yahweh/Jehovah at all. You see i was raised christian and i know full well how malevolent the god of the bible really is which is why i left christianity. That said i feel much more peaceful praying to the Creator Goddess Serenity/Selene whom is also known as the pure hearted virgin Diana. Note i believe in the virgin Creator Goddess not the wild huntress version that was dreamed up by the patriarchal faiths in order to defame her character.
“The elements are mostly commanded”? No, no and no. As soon as you start commanding any of the elements, you are Pagan and have gone too far from the rede.
The rede means advice.
Elementals, not elements. Elementals are simple beings, incapable of comprehending anything aside from themselves. Therefore, they must be commanded, as they will not understand requests. It’s not in the nature of a gnome, for instance, to understand anything watery.
Think about this for a second. Different deities call to you and represent either a Father or a Mother based on your own spiritual path. You give your worship to the deity that best matches you “for the time and for the place”.
So, your gods could change from year to year and you would still be a part of the same religion. In most mythologies, gods became jealous and angry when people would not direct their worship towards them. What consequences do you face for leaving Odin, Kali, or Zeus high and dry? I’m sure there aren’t any, but stop for a second and ask yourself why not. Whole literary epics were composed about the wrath of the angered gods, so why doesn’t that happen today? This concept isn’t difficult for me to understand and logically work through, so it shouldn’t be hard for you either. Think about the questions this raises. If you accept the existence of non-human spirits, what’s stopping them from putting on as a deity that was entirely fictitious? Will your gods physically appear to you to offer advice, like they did so often in the past? If you worship a god that demanded human sacrifice in the past, would you go through with it today? If not, why not? What separates you from the ancients? Think about this idea for more than ten minutes and all manner of problems will appear.
I’m just stating to learn about Wicca. I feel that I need to learn so much more. I really don’t know where to begin.
Hello, I am a currently working on a project in my world religions class on religions that we did not get to cover over the course. I was wondering if anyone could help me understand the religion as a whole. Anything would help, thank you.
About a year ago i renounced christianity because it always felt like an evil presence materialized every time i prayed or read the bible. You see i had been raised christian nevertheless i finally realized that saying those prayers was inviting evil spirits into my life. Thus i realized for the first time the bible is not the word of the Creator and that’s when i began some very serious soul searching. Just looking at nature made me realize the true Creator of the universe was most certainly a Goddess. Further research caused me to discover that this Goddess was somehow associated with the sun and the moon. I discovered personally that many cultures spoke of a pure hearted virgin Goddess with a kingdom on the moon. According to history the stories of this virtuous deity called Selene, Diana, or Serenity was replaced with some wild huntress who wasn’t faithful to anyone. What happened? It wasn’t until some time later that i realized it was the patriarchal monotheistic system that changed the story’s around in order to demonize the divine feminine in order to push their jealous father god of time Cronus/Yahweh. Or to be more blunt it was the church that was responsible for destroying the original manuscripts and replacing them with the male oriented bible.That said i have been living a much more serene life ever since i discovered who my Creator is and that said my heart will always have a place for Serenity within it.
Hi. So, I am one of those confused individuals who wants to understand wiccans but am at a loss.
Im trying to understand and learn two things.
One: Why did the goddess create the god(My understanding is that everything comes from the goddess including the god)?
Two: Where did humanity come from?
Three: Does ANYONE know if there is any group trying to band believers in Magic (yup I said the M word) together to try to do something about the state of the world?
Thanks!
Sincerely Keith James, Chicago IL
I don’t know about a “band of believers”, however, Reiki Masters world wide do a once a month distance Reiki prayer to invoke world peace. It’s a specific day in the month and at a specific time for each time zone so all will be in sync at exactly the same time. I just feel there are so few of us and so many of them…
I am just learning Wicca and have felt a close relationship to the Mood God Maní and the goddess Freya from Norse mythology. It confuses me though since I worship a Moon God and not a Moon Goddess. Like, tonight I wanted to do a drawing down the moon for the full moon, but how do I do it or is it even necessary since my goddess is not a moon goddess? Or would I do that for a moon goddess anyway? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
I am very new to Wicca only a few hours actually. I don’t really get how you form a connection with certain gods/goddesses I do really want to find mine but I don’t understand how.
They’ll find you eventually. But I think the best way to start, at least from my experience, is to look into the mythology of your direct ancestors, whatever nationality you may be. Then again that’s only a starting point.
I am a Pagan and worship all gods, but i am also wiccan, i have a deep love for nature. On one side of my family we have always kept with what my family calls ‘the old religion’ because paganism is one of the oldest as the entire world did practise paganism at one time, on the other side of my family they have been witches for centuries.
i find it hard in Wicca to connect with mainly two gods considering being pagan. but i have found i am deeply connected to two goddess that being Artemis and Hekate, i am not sure which male god will find me.
You just described Pantheism.
I am a Brujo and a Currandero (Spanish Witch and Curse Breaker) It is a very long story from a very large, extended Spanish Family that made me the chosen (one with the Gift) of Emilia and Eusebio Rael Giron de la Brujeria. Three Great Aunts gave me three black boxes when I was very young and not allowed to open them until that particular Gran Tia (Great Aunt) had died. My Tia Lola died first when I was 14 and I opened that box. Inside was a stone. Later after much training from my Abuela (Grandmother) and my other Gran Tia (Great Aunt),I had that stone made into a large ring. Just silver and the stone, and this magnified my natural abilities to new and unreal heights. The same thing happened when my Abuela (Grandmother) died. I made her stone into a very Native American looking pendant. My divination and spiritual summoning is unrivaled so far. My Gran Tia Adonilia (Great Aunt Adonilia) is still alive and I am thankful for having her in our lives everyday.
.There is so much to this history. Our family “Libro de Sombras” (Book of Shadows), which is huge, old and starts out in Latin, moves on to Spanish, then recently Spanglish, which I use to add to it when I’m in a hurry.
Let us suffice it to say that my Witchcraft (Brujeria) has little to do with Celtic, Egyptian, Norse or other Pantheons of Gods and Goddesses.
I use the MOST powerful object a Witch can have on their altar. A Complete and whole HUMAN SKULL. This was mine since I can remember. It travels with me all over the world and If my house was on fire, he is the only thing I would save.
MY SKULL (who has a secret name) amplifies the magick that surrounds us all hundreds of times. It makes it visible to all in the circle and the spells, curses & healings come on fast.
Oh yeah, I read about the spelling of the word magic. The only reason I began spelling magic with a “K” is to differentiate between “Stage” “Magician” type magic and the Magick Witches use to cause change on the physical change through the use of spells, incantations, herbalism, potions and High Magick.
My Gods and Godesess are all ancestral Witches going back over 800 years and a little bit of their power is held in the skull of my Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great Grandfather
I have a question, can someone help me?
Do wiccans believe that there are really greek gods and goddesses on mount Olympis, or do you think that the different gods and goddesses are spiritual energy, each with it’s own reason and purpose?
The great thing about Witchcraft and/or Wicca is that we draw our “Will”, “Spirit”, or “Magick” (These are all represented by the top point of the pentagram) from different sources that empower us on an individual or sometimes group basis. Some Witches find that they are drawn to the Gods and Goddesses from different pantheons such as the Greeks or Romans. Others connect with the Gods of the Norse, such as Odin, Thor, Freya, Loki etc.
I myself am a Witch of Heritage going back at least 800 years or more. I align and worship my ancestor Witches that can be traced back to before the dark ages. Our Family Book of Shadows is over 300 years old, 6-7 inches thick, bound in leather, falling apart, most in ancient Latin, moving into Spanish, Italian, Spanglish, Some Translations of the Latin, Spanglish and then my Spanish and English. BUT……I am half Irish (this was made possible by my High Priestess Great Grand Mother), in order to add power to our bloodline and I got it. So I am on a path to find my Goddess and God from my Irish descent. As Goddess I think that “The Morrigan” speaks to me truly and she is Noble as well as beautiful for a Goddess of the Slain. Although she frightens me terribly, I know that in her battle crow form, she will take me gently to Summerland when my time comes. As Irish Gods go, I am torn and still waiting for one to touch my soul.
As for your question again, Yes, these Gods and Goddesses live, care for us, empower our own inborn magickal gifts. They do expect to be worshiped and remembered most of all. Stories told of their battles, tricks, immortality and songs of their glory and power.
It is we Witches who keep them alive. I know this. I know this because all it takes for me to talk to my Abuelos (Grandparents) is a handful of graveyard dirt and some of my blood over my family Skull and I can speak to them like they are sitting in my living room. I talk to my Big Brother quite often. My Mother, my Favorite Aunt, close cousins and long dead relations I never got to meet before I was born.
If you are a Witch with the Gift, honor it, relish it, care for it, and above all USE IT WITH KNOWLEDGE AND REVERENCE.
EL BRUJO DIEGO
Very interesting I wish my family would have taught about my ancestors
Thanks for sharing that.
I’m very new to Wicca and I’m very interested so any tips are appreciated and I thought this was an very informative post. I have one question, do I have to be a certain age to start practicing Wicca?
Caitlin,
I have no idea how old you are, BUT, when you create actual Magick at home, school, brushing your teeth, texting about how gross the guy you actually want to stick your tongue down his throat is…………it happens…it just happens…..yeah that just happened and you can’t tell anyone, cuz that would be soooo lame, BUT, NOW you can start practicing Wicca or rather Witchcraft. If you just want to practice Wicca, then just buy some candles and a spice rack. If you want to be a Witch….totally different story, but both are valid, I guess……………………
DIEGO
am i allowed to be wiccan if i dont adhere to the “aspects of god/dess” thing or if i only follow goddess(es)?? i am going through a small spiritual crisis and i think wicca might be good for me but im still trying to find my footing.
Thanks for sharing you story . I wish my family would have taught me more but for some reason it is all a mistery.
Okay, so my mom is super against Wiccans and has basically forbidden me from practicing it because of our family history. But I’ve been on a spiritual journey for the past 6 years and find that wicca is the only religion that sort of clicked with me so I’m going to keep worshiping the God and Goddess. But I’m not completely sure how to do that properly to show my respect and love for the god and goddess. How would a beginning wiccan do that? And is there anything else a beginning wiccan should know?
Hello, I am actually looking into Wicca. I feel it is the path that I should take. Is there any advise that you can give that can help me get started? I already have my book of shadows and right now I am looking into the pantheons and the dirties involved.
I am a crone. I have been a Wiccan since high school (approx 50 years). Although I do not cast spells, there were times where I would offer sacrifices to the Moon Goddess as payment for the health of my sister. She answered my prayers and gave me more time with her. There could not be a cure. I have always been drawn to diana because of my connection with animals and my sensibility to nature. (I feel things) But I am uncomfortable with her position as “Hunter”. I feel that I need to protect them. (an unbelievable challenge to say the least) I have offered my afterlife to being the caretaker of all animals who were unloved and taken tragically. I see myself, with them, in a forest with a wide open lush space and open blue skies. Although I am someone who cannot be taken too far from the ocean, I don’t see water around us there. I am still looking to find the right deities that fit my personality and needs. Could anyone help?
Is it strange to have your matron goddess and patron God from two different pantheons? While I venerate many goddesses such as Nyx and Lakshmi, I figured out my matron goddess was the Greek goddess Hecate.
However, I’ve been trying to figure out my patron God…yet out of all the patron gods I think are right for me…none of them are Greek. I used to think Cernunnos but I’m starting to leak more toward the Egyptian God, Thoth.
Is this bizarre? Is it strange for the matron goddess to be Greek and the matron God Egyptian?
Recently every day at work there is a collared dove that sits on the fence every day. I have gotten extremely close and it seems to appear a minute or two after I’ve walked outside. I’ve recently been going through a lot of stress trying to over come some of my obstacles and I am having a lot of trouble figuring out what this specific dove represents and which deity may be trying to help or influence my current situation. There is a lot going on with a lot of changes. I know October is going to be full of upheaval but I feel my strongest and most centered during fall.
I was born into witchcraft. The tradition goes back several hundred years in my family. What I see today among popular and trendy beliefs is an out of balance worship of the God and goddess. Most modern practitioners have elevated the goddess over the god resulting in an unnatural feminist based movement. I have also encountered God heavy sects , usually run by men seeking power that also is unnatural. These were not the paths that the ancients paved for us. The god and the goddess cannot exist without each other. Both have the power of life and death. The male form has the seed and the female the womb. The female may carry and give birth to life but without the seed , she has no power. Without the female the make could never be. Only in perfect balance can we achieve anything. This is a mere drop in the bucket but I think I’ve proved my point. Seek true enlightenment. Love and light.
Can someone worship the moon?
Question… I’m new to Wicca, and I’m very interested in practicing, but I don’t want to do anything that’s out of my belief system for the sake of following a religion. Wicca resonates with me in the sense that I do believe in an outer realm/spiritual entity, and that I do believe in the power of nature, but I don’t know if I believe in a particular God or Goddess. Like… I suppose I believe in the God and Goddess as the representatives of male and female energy, but I don’t believe in any of the Greek gods or anything like that. I wouldn’t know how to go about ‘choosing’ which ones are right for me, since I don’t truly believe in their existence. I guess I’m ok with that, but I’m just wondering if that makes me any less Wiccan? If my definition of the God and Goddess is too loose for the Wiccan construct?
Absolutely not! You don’t have to name your deities as an ancient god or goddess. You can just honor the God and the Goddess in whichever way you feel they should be honored.
They can also be seen as the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine.
Imagine you have a destination you’re striving to reach. You may meet a cattleman from Montana. He’s dusty and a bit gruff, but he’s what you need at that moment and he takes you there. Or. maybe you meet a young woman in New York City, in a prim and proper business suit with a latte from Starbucks, and she’s what you need at that moment, and she takes you there. Those are mirrors of our spiritual diety. All beings have a purpose…
I am relatively new, only for about a year but I have found comfort with Odin and Freya. I am in the military and the God of battle of Goddess of war and love have always called greatly to me. I keep a pendant of Freya always around my neck so that she may always guide me.
I am not sure if I believe that my deities are individuals or if they are all aspects of one? how do I figure that out? do you view your deities as symbolic or real?
Can the God and Goddess you worship be from two different belief systems like one Norse the other Greek?
Hey, I’m new to Paganism and I’m still trying to figure out if I’d be classified as Wiccan or just Neo-Pagan. You talk about following one God and one Goddess, but does it have to be that way? I follow Apollo, and I’m still trying to figure out whether or not Anubis has been reaching out to me. But assuming that he has,
I’m curious about whether worshiping both him and Apollo would still be considered Wicca (by the way, are there any ways of confirming that? So far all I have to go on are 1) I’ve always been drawn to him, 2) I know that one of my patron Gods is a god of death, destruction, and/or rebirth, 3) I went to a Wicca shoppe and I felt very drawn to Anubis while I was in there, to the point where I was compelled to buy a figurine of him, and 4) I was looking at some plush versions of Egyptian gods. I went to pull one out and, despite not touching it, the Anubis plush fell from the shelf and landed right by me. Sorry this is so long…)
I am new to Wicca. I’ve been reading and reading and reading some more. One question. Can I worship Cernunnos and Luna? I feel the strongest connection with these two. I just dont know if its appropiate since Cernunnos is celtic and Luna is Roman. Is this insulting? I dont feel it is since all gods are one god, and all goddess are one. Please correct me if Im wrong. Thank you.
There are many dirties in our pantheons. We are free to choose those that either suit us personally or that challenge us. Many choose to go back and forth in order to better what we feel are flaws or failings. I personally am an Egyptian pagan and I follow Baster and Thoth.
Never fear that you are following the wrong path so long as it is your path.
Blessed be brother.
I call God na Goddess different names depending on what aspect I want to conect with, but I believe they are all one in the end. If I want to be braveI might call to Odin Thor or Athena. If I want something that takes femininity I call to Aphrodite, or Sif( espeically if you want good hair!) But they are all my dieties.
I too have a great connection with Artemis but my relations to her are complicated…
If you are willing to, may I talk to you about thin things regarding Artemis
hello i am new to wicca and am confused,where do i start with gods and goddesses?
How do I know what good or goddess of calling to me?
As followers of a natural path which comes with a lot of judgement because of the unknown it is our responsibility to educate people and let go of the hate and ignorance of others.I’ve been practicing my Faith for 20 plus years now and I have learned tolerance and empathy for the uneducated or just plain ignorant when it comes to religion. Don’t waste your time and energy replying to the haters.Brightest Blessings