{"id":1674,"date":"2009-05-01T01:10:28","date_gmt":"2009-05-01T06:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2009-04-27T12:50:36","modified_gmt":"2009-04-27T17:50:36","slug":"new-to-the-craft-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2009\/05\/01\/new-to-the-craft-7\/","title":{"rendered":"New to the Craft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concepts of Deity <\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned last month, divinity can often be a touchy subject.\u00a0 Ask ten different people what their definition of the divine is and you are likely to get ten different answers.\u00a0 Is there a God?\u00a0 Is there a Goddess?\u00a0 If so what are they like?\u00a0 Every soul will ask these questions in their lifetime and either accept established doctrine or come to their own conclusions.\u00a0 Spiritual growth is our quest for understanding of that which is greater than ourselves. And while we may arrive at ideas which are universal, the journey is, by necessity, personal.<\/p>\n

Wicca is not a religion that promotes dogma or rigid notions on what deity is or is not.\u00a0 Instead it offers a general framework of thought that most Wiccans share, but which is by no means written in stone.\u00a0 Like any pagan path, the Craft embraces diversity.\u00a0 The most fundamental concept is that of immanence.\u00a0 In contrast to the monotheistic faiths, Wiccans do not consider their gods or goddesses to be \u201cout there\u201d somewhere.\u00a0 Rather they are here, in the most immediate sense, and in all things including ourselves.\u00a0 Transcendent deity is the common idea of a powerful figure in the clouds far removed and above humankind.\u00a0 Immanent deity is also powerful, but it is not separate.\u00a0 This is difficult to truly grasp because it is beyond the intellect alone.\u00a0 One analogy is just as all cells of your body are part of you, we are all part of the divine.\u00a0 Or to state it another way, we each have an inner God, Goddess, or Higher Self within us upon which we can call because we are part of the whole.\u00a0 Deity is part of nature, or rather is nature, and as natural beings we are constantly in communion with it if we accept that it is so.<\/p>\n

The next basic concept of Wiccan deity is that it is dual: there is a God and a Goddess.\u00a0 There is wide variation and emphasis within the traditions here, but the basic model is that of complementary forces whose combination produces life as we know it.\u00a0 Remembering that these are immanent forces, the God and Goddess are not a superhuman man and woman.\u00a0 We may personify them as such in order to relate to them, but when we speak of Wiccan deities they are first and foremost the most primal of forces in nature.\u00a0 Their interaction is necessary for life, time, and growth.\u00a0 Without the light of the sun or the rain from the sky (the God) the seeds of the earth (the Goddess) would lie dormant and sterile.\u00a0 Though we say God and Goddess there is no gender bias between them.\u00a0 It would be just as accurate to envision deity as twins of the same sex, as many cultures have done, and arrive at the same ideas.\u00a0 The important point is that they are dual in order to express their interaction.<\/p>\n

Beyond the two teachings of immanence and duality there may be little in common for divinities between individuals in the Craft.\u00a0 Everyone will attune to these greater forces in their own way and this is as it should be.\u00a0 Many if not most Wiccans find that they connect with the pantheons of a particular culture.\u00a0 The God and Goddess are seen as universal deities that can be personified and related to more easily as a particular god or goddess from ancient myth.\u00a0\u00a0 For instance, groups with a British Traditional focus may invoke the names of Aradia and Cernunnos.\u00a0 Classical pantheons may choose Diana and Pan, or Demeter and Dionysus.\u00a0 The list is endless.\u00a0 It can also vary with the intent of a particular ritual or magical working.\u00a0 Perhaps I may call on the Goddess as Brigid at the Imbolc sabbat, but as Venus if I am in need of a love spell.\u00a0 All of these gods and goddesses are faces of the larger deity they personify and none are incorrect.\u00a0 Meditation upon the greater forces of God and Goddess is the surest way to find your own connection and know what works for you.<\/p>\n

Besides calling on specific deities it is also popular in Wicca to represent the deities according to the archetypes of the Horned God and Triple Goddess.\u00a0 Both of these motifs were common in ancient mythologies as expressions of fertility and immortality, survival and continuation of life being vital preoccupations.\u00a0 The Horned God rules the wild forests and the animals therein.\u00a0 He is the king of all noble beasts who is born at midwinter of the Goddess, grows to maturity to become her partner\/consort, and gives his life in the autumn so that life may continue.\u00a0 His cycle follows the solar cycles and the harvest, and he is reborn each year as the child conceived by his union with the Goddess.\u00a0 The Triple Goddess reflects the threefold face of maiden-mother-crone, also reflected in the lunar cycles\/phases.\u00a0 The Goddess does not die each year as does the God, but instead shows these aspects in turn as part of the yearly cycle.\u00a0 She is the maiden in spring, the mother after her union with the God going into the summer, and the crone in the waning months of autumn.\u00a0\u00a0 As he is reborn she is also renewed and they are young together once again in the new year.\u00a0 These patterns are mythological expressions of the cycles of nature that we experience, and their popularity in Wicca is understandable given that they aid us in our attunement with them.<\/p>\n

Knowledge of the divine is a goal of any religion.\u00a0 Wicca may acknowledge deity as an immanent duality, but that cannot answer the question of what the experience of divinity is.\u00a0 If my deity is immanent, is it a force outside of me or just a higher part of me?\u00a0 Does calling on the divine entail reaching outside to the universe or within myself?\u00a0 Are their gods\/goddesses\/angels\/fairies\/etc in the world or are they my projections?\u00a0 I make no claim to have any answers to these questions as I am still seeking answers myself.\u00a0 And I have a feeling that the answers I arrive at can be different from yours, and we can both be right.\u00a0 To a certain extent it doesn\u2019t really matter.\u00a0 Whether the forces we work with in Wicca are inside us or out in the world, we have the ability to harness them for ours and other\u2019s betterment.\u00a0 In that sense the God and Goddess are most definitely \u201creal\u201d because we can see their effects every day.\u00a0 I like to think of them as forces I may never comprehend, but that I can work with when in need and learn from at all times.\u00a0 My Goddess is not above me in judgment, but I sit at her feet in deference as a student to a wise teacher who would seek to learn great wisdom.\u00a0 May she grant me the understanding that I may prove a worthy pupil.<\/p>\n

Journal for the Month of April: <\/strong><\/p>\n

I am gearing up for Beltane at the end this month, and the flowers are finally starting to bloom!\u00a0 This is truly a beautiful time of the year (excepting my allergies), and I am really aiming to stop and smell the roses so to speak.\u00a0 Even in hard times there is so much beauty in nature that we can enjoy for free.\u00a0 Sometimes I find it even more important to see these things when things are tough, because it helps me to remember that there is a greater world out there and maybe my problems aren\u2019t as long-lasting as they feel at the moment.<\/p>\n

Anyways, I should have more to report next month, I have a vacation coming up in which I plan to cram as much reading and meditation as possible.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll throw a little bit of gardening in there too; my herb stocks are quite low!\u00a0 Here\u2019s wishing a merry Beltane to all!<\/p>\n

Until next month, blessed be! )O(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concepts of Deity As mentioned last month, divinity can often be a touchy subject.\u00a0 Ask ten different people what their definition of the divine is and you are likely to get ten different answers.\u00a0 Is there a God?\u00a0 Is there a Goddess?\u00a0 If so what are they like?\u00a0 Every soul will ask these questions in their lifetime and either accept established doctrine or come to their own conclusions.\u00a0 Spiritual growth is our quest for understanding of that which is greater than ourselves. And while we may arrive at ideas which are universal, the journey is, by necessity, personal. Wicca is not a religion that promotes dogma or rigid notions on what deity is or is not.\u00a0 Instead it offers a general framework of thought that most Wiccans share, but which is by no means written in stone.\u00a0 Like any pagan path, the Craft embraces diversity.\u00a0 The most fundamental concept is that of immanence.\u00a0 In contrast to the monotheistic faiths, Wiccans do not consider their gods or goddesses to be \u201cout there\u201d somewhere.\u00a0 Rather they are here, in the most immediate sense, and in all things including ourselves.\u00a0 Transcendent deity is the common idea of a powerful figure in the clouds far removed and above humankind.\u00a0 Immanent deity is also powerful, but it is not separate.\u00a0 This is difficult to truly grasp because it is beyond the intellect alone.\u00a0 One analogy is just as all cells of your body are part of you, we are all part of the divine.\u00a0 Or to state it another way, we each have an inner God, Goddess, or Higher Self within us upon which we can call because we are part of the whole.\u00a0 Deity is part of nature, or rather is nature, and as natural beings we are constantly in communion with it if we accept that it is so. The next basic concept of Wiccan deity is that it is dual: there is a God and a Goddess.\u00a0 There is wide variation and emphasis within the traditions here, but the basic model is that of complementary forces whose combination produces life as we know it.\u00a0 Remembering that these are immanent forces, the God and Goddess are not a superhuman man and woman.\u00a0 We may personify them as such in order to relate to them, but when we speak of Wiccan deities they are first and foremost the most primal of forces in nature.\u00a0 Their interaction is necessary for life, time, and growth.\u00a0 Without the light of the sun or the rain from the sky (the God) the seeds of the earth (the Goddess) would lie dormant and sterile.\u00a0 Though we say God and Goddess there is no gender bias between them.\u00a0 It would be just as accurate to envision deity as twins of the same sex, as many cultures have done, and arrive at the same ideas.\u00a0 The important point is that they are dual in order to express their interaction. Beyond the two teachings of immanence and duality there may be little in common for divinities between individuals in the Craft.\u00a0 Everyone will attune to these greater forces in their own way and this is as it should be.\u00a0 Many if not most Wiccans find that they connect with the pantheons of a particular culture.\u00a0 The God and Goddess are seen as universal deities that can be personified and related to more easily as a particular god or goddess from ancient myth.\u00a0\u00a0 For instance, groups with a British Traditional focus may invoke the names of Aradia and Cernunnos.\u00a0 Classical pantheons may choose Diana and Pan, or Demeter and Dionysus.\u00a0 The list is endless.\u00a0 It can also vary with the intent of a particular ritual or magical working.\u00a0 Perhaps I may call on the Goddess as Brigid at the Imbolc sabbat, but as Venus if I am in need of a love spell.\u00a0 All of these gods and goddesses are faces of the larger deity they personify and none are incorrect.\u00a0 Meditation upon the greater forces of God and Goddess is the surest way to find your own connection and know what works for you. Besides calling on specific deities it is also popular in Wicca to represent the deities according to the archetypes of the Horned God and Triple Goddess.\u00a0 Both of these motifs were common in ancient mythologies as expressions of fertility and immortality, survival and continuation of life being vital preoccupations.\u00a0 The Horned God rules the wild forests and the animals therein.\u00a0 He is the king of all noble beasts who is born at midwinter of the Goddess, grows to maturity to become her partner\/consort, and gives his life in the autumn so that life may continue.\u00a0 His cycle follows the solar cycles and the harvest, and he is reborn each year as the child conceived by his union with the Goddess.\u00a0 The Triple Goddess reflects the threefold face of maiden-mother-crone, also reflected in the lunar cycles\/phases.\u00a0 The Goddess does not die each year as does the God, but instead shows these aspects in turn as part of the yearly cycle.\u00a0 She is the maiden in spring, the mother after her union with the God going into the summer, and the crone in the waning months of autumn.\u00a0\u00a0 As he is reborn she is also renewed and they are young together once again in the new year.\u00a0 These patterns are mythological expressions of the cycles of nature that we experience, and their popularity in Wicca is understandable given that they aid us in our attunement with them. Knowledge of the divine is a goal of any religion.\u00a0 Wicca may acknowledge deity as an immanent duality, but that cannot answer the question of what the experience of divinity is.\u00a0 If my deity is immanent, is it a force outside of me or just a higher part of me?\u00a0 Does calling on the divine entail reaching outside to the universe or within myself?\u00a0 Are their gods\/goddesses\/angels\/fairies\/etc in the world or are they my projections?\u00a0 I make no claim to have any answers to these questions as I am still seeking answers myself.\u00a0 And I have a feeling that the answers I arrive at can be different from yours, and we can both be right.\u00a0 To a certain extent it doesn\u2019t really matter.\u00a0 Whether the forces we work with in Wicca are inside us or out in the world, we have the ability to harness them for ours and other\u2019s betterment.\u00a0 In that sense the God and Goddess are most definitely \u201creal\u201d because we can see their effects every day.\u00a0 I like to think of them as forces I may never comprehend, but that I can work with when in need and learn from at all times.\u00a0 My Goddess is not above me in judgment, but I sit at her feet in deference as a student to a wise teacher who would seek to learn great wisdom.\u00a0 May she grant me the understanding that I may prove a worthy pupil. Journal for the Month of April: I am gearing up for Beltane at the end this month, and the flowers are finally starting to bloom!\u00a0 This is truly a beautiful time of the year (excepting my allergies), and I am really aiming to stop and smell the roses so to speak.\u00a0 Even in hard times there is so much beauty in nature that we can enjoy for free.\u00a0 Sometimes I find it even more important to see these things when things are tough, because it helps me to remember that there is a greater world out there and maybe my problems aren\u2019t as long-lasting as they feel at the moment. Anyways, I should have more to report next month, I have a vacation coming up in which I plan to cram as much reading and meditation as possible.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll throw a little bit of gardening in there too; my herb stocks are quite low!\u00a0 Here\u2019s wishing a merry Beltane to all! Until next month, blessed be! )O(<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}