Wiccan Attitudes Towards Deity

In Wiccan belief the divine is ultimately seen as one. However, in general, witches believe in the creative polarity of feminine and masculine principles in nature. They therefore commonly think of deity as having a female and male aspect that exist together in a harmonious balance. These beliefs are evident in everything a witch does. They inform the practice of magical arts and are to be seen in the way witches set up their altar, carry out their rites and rituals, and celebrate the stages of the year.
Wicca's view of the balanced nature of deity stands in contrast to other religions that either play down or dispense with the female aspect entirely. This is exemplified by many forms of Christianity, where little part is played by the female in its belief systems or its institutions, as well as other faiths such as Judaism. For witches the dynamic creative tension of female and male is part of what may be termed the general theory of polarity, where all things rely on opposites for their existence. The concepts of day and night, dark and light, content and form, positive and negative, attraction and repulsion, North and South, up and down, each need the other for the opposite to exist.
This Wiccan attitude can be expressed by referring to the Chinese concept of Yin and Yang. Yin is the female, negative, dark aspect of creation where Yang is the male, positive, light aspect. Together they make up a whole. It should be noted here that the terms "negative" and "dark" are not used in a derogatory sense. “Negative” should be seen in the same way as science refers to an electron having a negative charge and dark as merely the opposite of light; they are not value judgements. It will also be noticed that in the Yin Yang symbol the black half contains a white dot and the white half a black dot, showing that in the female there is a part of maleness, and in the male there is a part of femaleness. This interplay of energies at all levels, whether it be divine or earthly, ensures the cyclic flow of creation. Witches believe that over emphasis on one at the expense of the other is merely to ensure sterility and stagnation. That said, the emphasis given to both Goddess and God varies in different traditions and their covens. For Wiccans deity is immanent, meaning that it is to be found in all things and pervades existence. Quite literally the Universe is perceived to be alive and the individual is but one cell in its enormous body. Everything is therefore sacred and this gives witches an enormous respect for all expressions of life. On the other hand, many witches regard the ultimate nature of deity as unknowable, beyond all names and forms and, perhaps, beyond all mortal comprehension. In this respect it is therefore transcendent.
Generally witches believe that goddesses and gods are representative of certain kinds of energy within existence. It is the energies themselves that are perceived as being real. That they are clothed in the form of a goddess or god is a way of making them intelligible to the human mind. Why not then use the language of science to express these forces? There are several reasons why witches don’t do this. On one level they feel that science only provides a partial answer to the question of existence, believing that there is much within the Universe that it knows nothing of. Further, the language of science, in its attempts to express these forces, is incapable of speaking to the human soul (something that many scientists doubt exists anyway). Our spirits thrive on the use of poetic and symbolic imagery that affect us in a more profound way than science ever can. You don’t go to a manual on sex to learn about love -you read Shakespeare. Similarly, for questions of our purpose and meaning in life, you can’t consult a book on biology and get an answer that satisfies the soul, however much it might please the intellect. The fact is that many humans are genuinely deeply moved and motivated by the various images of a goddess and a god, and feel that they have come to a more profound understanding of existence because of them. Further, using such imagery makes the forces knowable to an extent and allows the individual to work with them in their life on the material plane.
Although not endorsed by every witch, the gods and goddesses can therefore be seen to have an existence similar to the Jungian idea of the archetype. For Jung the archetypes were powerful symbols that had a genuine life. They existed in the human collective unconscious, independent of the individual mind, and could include god and goddess types[1]. Jung believed that these archetypes could be worked with to have an effect in the everyday waking world. The idea of a goddess and a god are as old as the human mind itself and are buried deep within all our psyches.

The Great Wheel of the Year
Wiccans see nature as a cycle embodying the polarity of deity, and this is no more clearly expressed than in their ideas of the interweaving of female and male forces in the Wheel of the Year. For Wiccans the Goddess is personified by the Earth and the Moon. She is the always present Great Fertile Mother who creates an immense variety of life from the elemental forces of which she is composed. Green and fresh in the spring, magnificent and powerful in the summer, she has her repose in the latter half of the year where she dresses in more sombre shades of brown and grey. As the Goddess Luna she is the silver, shape shifting Lady of the Heavens governing the tidal forces, as well as the monthly and nightly cycles of life on our planet. The God is embodied in the Sun who travels over the sky in his great chariot of flame. At full power in midsummer he provides the Goddess Earth with the energy to grow strong. From this point he gradually loses ground until he finally dies after the autumn equinox. Born again in midwinter he grows and climbs through the early months of the year to eventually rise triumphant and fertilise the Goddess around the spring equinox. He governs the annular cycles of life and the rhythms of our days.
Some witches have added to these basics, where they have introduced an Oak and a Holly King [2] that help to express the interplay between solar energy and Mother Earth. The Oak King rules the waxing part of the year from midwinter to midsummer whilst the Holly King rules the waning part of the year from midsummer to midwinter. The two compete for the attentions of the Goddess as the seasons ebb and flow and have been incorporated into rituals marking the various stations of the year. The seasonal cycles and the parts played by the Goddess and God are celebrated in the Greater and Lesser Sabbats (these will be discussed fully in later lessons). However, as we shall see, the Goddess and the God are not only thought of as the embodiment of the Earth, Moon and the Sun.

The Deities of the Witches
Each coven or solitary witch will have their own particular goddess or god that they use on a day in day out basis. Some, for example, opt for Aradia and Cernunnos, others for Bride and Herne. A goddess can be chosen from one pantheon, a god from another, and consistency in this respect is less important than the divine forces that they are seen to represent. Below we consider both the divine feminine and the divine masculine as they are perceived in modern witchcraft.

The Divine Feminine
For ancient humankind reproduction was the central mystery of existence. Woman was the giver of life and the gateway of birth. She was able to bleed profusely every month, changing like the Moon changed, and yet somehow could incredibly self heal, survive and return to the same state completely unscathed. From her body sprang life giving milk that every woman and every man was raised on. She was a walking miracle, mysterious and inexplicable. No wonder, then, that goddesses of fertility have been venerated and revered throughout human existence and frequently allied with the Moon. The Goddess was often depicted as a triple deity with the aspects of Maid, Mother and Crone, which not only represented the different stages of female existence but also echoed the waxing, full and waning aspects of the Moon. Today modern Wiccans feel that all three of these characteristics need to be portrayed if a representation of psychological wholeness is to be maintained.

The Maid
As the Maid the Goddess is young, fresh, magical and enchanting. She is bursting with the promise of new life and is especially associated with the spring. She caresses and explores the new landscape, and with her natural curiosity enquires into the new experiences of the world. Coupled with this inquisitive and carefree nature is a vital streak of eroticism that is fascinating and enticing to the opposite sex. When respected and cherished she is full of joy and elation. Make no mistake though, this young woman is not to be crossed and can be dangerous when treated poorly. She is portrayed by goddess figures who are maidens themselves, such as the Greek Persephone, daughter of the corn goddess Demeter, without whom spring cannot exist, or Aradia, daughter of Diana, who came to Earth to teach the art of her mother’s witchcraft.

Mother
Upon reaching motherhood the Goddess becomes the creator of life. Within her and without her she is responsible for giving it form and ensuring its growth. Through the placenta, the mother's nourishment transfers to the unborn babe; her milk feeds it during the early stages of childhood and her arms form a soft loop of protection that none may breach. With far reaching vision she is able to see all life before her and moulds it to her will and her desires. She is both emotionally and physically tough with an utterly ruthless destructive side that can stir with seeming unpredictably when any threaten or harm the things she loves. Powerful and authoritative, she is a giver of sound advice and counsel, and is the very heart of the family and her community. She is the mother and lover of the male, providing a balance for his masculine energy, and able to see deeply within his soul. It is she who shows him the initial ways of the world and sets him on the path of Manhood, it is she who arouses the ecstasy of the adult God and uses his seed to create new life. The Great Mother is the embodiment of fertility, but fertility on all levels with an overall plan that is both harmonious and balanced. In this sense she is the goddess Karma who keeps equilibrium regardless of our human notions of morality or fairness. Commonly in Wicca she can be seen as the Welsh goddess of reincarnation, Arianrhod, or the Canaanite fertility goddess Astarte. Other times she is worshipped as the powerful Roman goddess Juno or the huntress Diana, but perhaps most especially she is depicted as the goddess Isis, the greatest of all female deities.

The Crone
Finally she is the Crone. By those that are cruel, this stage of femininity can be depicted as the suspicious, dried out, ugly old hag of no worth. Even for many women she is a figure of fear and loathing, as everything is done by way of cosmetics and surgery to avoid the perceived descent into a hideous old age. Yet such a way of thinking ignores the true value of this phase in life. For Wiccans she is the Crone or wise-one, richly clothed and decorated by life’s experiences. She is a wonderful repository of valuable knowledge and experience, as she has lived through all the ages of femininity. A baby sitter for the Mother, a watchful eye on the Maid, a counselor to the male; she still has valuable roles to play. And yet she is a terrible reminder of decay and death, the inevitable end of life on this world. Once vibrant and sexy, once matriarchal and powerful, she shows that all things must return to the Earth from whence they came. In our modern 21st century such things are hard to contemplate, too awful almost to be true. But she can show us the way, by being our guide in how to meet our fate with dignity, and our leader through the veil of death. In this respect she is often depicted as Hecate, dread goddess of the Moon, the Underworld and magic.
Another less popular way of representing the divine feminine within the Craft is to show the triple aspect through one particular female deity. Such a goddess is the Greek Hera who at Stymphalus had three temples dedicated to her as the child, the wife and the widow goddess. Another would be the Hindu Bhavani, referred to as the Triple Universe. She is shown as a young crowned woman who has the forces of creation latent within her, as a mother with the Sun and the Moon at her breasts, and as the dark and terrible figure of death and transition with a necklace of skulls.
Because Wicca’s concept of the Goddess has these three distinct phases it is able to provide women with a deity that reflects back their own personal experiences of life and gives them something that they can clearly relate to. Moreover, the various goddesses provide womankind with purposes and roles that are not dictated by modern societal groups. They thus show what it means to be female in various stages throughout life, regardless of social conditioning. And further, allow women to reject oppressive values and beliefs, giving them the freedom to realise their true selves at all levels and phases of life. For the male the Goddess provides a way to explore femininity. On one level this works by allowing him to recognise the female aspect of his psyche. This can be a liberating and a mind expanding experience as he comes to appreciate that he is, in fact, so much more than typical gender stereotyping allows. On another level the Goddess lets him explore femininity outside of himself, providing a true model of the female, that diminishes the impact of society’s image, and helps him to appreciate and interact with women as they really are, rather than in how he has been led to believe they should be.

Footnotes
[1] Such a view can be built from C. G. Jung, Man and His Symbols, Picador, 1978, p.58, 69, 78, 85, 87 and 90.
[2] This was originally added into Wicca by the Farrars in Eight Sabbats for Witches, Hale, 1992, pp. 24-7. The Oak and Holly King were based on ideas in The White Goddess, A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, by Robert Graves, first published in 1948.