Wiccan Gods and Goddesses from Around the World
Who are the Wiccan Gods and Goddesses? Well, in fact we don't actually have many of our own. What we do have is a complex and wonderful blend of Divinities adopted from other spiritual traditions. How Can We Get Away With That?
The reason goes back to Wiccan history. There is no exact lineage from Wicca to the nature worshippers in pre-Christian times. (Not that it matters how far back a religion dates. Every millennia-old spiritual tradition once was a new-fangled upstart. And it's inappropriate to judge spiritual matters on material fantasies like "time.") Even if we know some of the ancients' Goddesses and their Gods and their festivals, we are really guessing about what it meant to them. Their lives and basic assumptions were so different from ours that even if we understood, it would have little relevance for our spiritual practice today. So Wicca worships a new blend of Deities. The Ancient Gods and Goddesses?The names and faces of the ancient Pagan Gods and Goddesses can be found in only a few documented sources. The Celtic and the Norse Goddesses and Gods were mentioned in some records. How accurate the portrayals are, we have no way of knowing. But there is plenty of cause for uncertainty, considering that it was conquerors and competing religions that documented them. How accurately would a Christian monk be able to explain a Wiccan God or Goddess? His whole perception would be altered by his Christian filters. It would be wise to take such information with a great deal of salt - like a whole salt-lick! Plus, living in a non-agrarian society, few of us have the connection to the Earth and the cycles and elements that our foremothers and forefathers had. That makes it more difficult for us to directly perceive Pagan Gods and Goddesses. Remember, it seems that each tiny area had their own versions of Deity, specific to their region. Are New Gods And Goddesses Valid?Wicca today is not a nature religion to the degree it once was. It has become more universal and of higher frequency than patriotic loyalty to the local manifestations of Divinity. We could accurately consider modern Wicca as more a reincarnation of nature-worshipping religions and Goddess spirituality. Nothing dies forever! In modern Wicca, we have found Gods and Goddesses from various spiritual traditions who speak to us, and we adopted them. Some branches of Pagan religion stick to one cultural tradition as their source, like Druidism with the Celtic and Asatru with the Norse. Not surprisingly, these have relatively well-catalogued deities and rituals. (Of whatever credibility... remember the monk!) Other Wiccans are open to Gods and Goddesses of various backgrounds. With so much information available about other spiritual cultures, and Goddesses and Gods who have long spiritual traditions, we have no need to create new ones. Besides, Deities with millennia of devoted worshippers are charged with a very high energy! How Are Wiccan Gods and Goddesses Chosen?When Wiccans or Pagans need a Goddess who represents compassion, say, there are already a few out there, with...
Why reinvent a perfectly good wheel, just because it was made out of the country? As Wiccans, we understand that all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the One Divine Source. So to honour the Deities of another culture feels respectful and true. Stealing from Other Cultures?When we adopt anything from cultures that have been dominated, we run the risk of cultural appropriation. Pagan adoption of the First Nations' Deities, for instance, is sometimes felt to be stealing on yet-another level... stealing the only thing the First Nations can still call their own: their culture.Cultural appropriation involves a power dynamic. It's something that happens between dominating and dominated cultures. This is something that we as Pagans must be aware of and responsive to. Many Pagans resonate to the teachings of the First Nations spirituality, but have adopted few of their Goddesses and Gods - out of respect for the damage the First Nations peoples have suffered in centuries of colonization. Those who do worship Spider Woman or the Great Corn Mother, for example, must be careful to do so with utmost respect. And this respect must extend to the First Nations peoples as well, manifesting as action to support them. Adopting Other Mothers and FathersWhether we resonate with a panorama of Deities from many cultures or follow the inherited Deities of our forebears, we are in essence adopting the mothers of fathers of other people. And there is naturally some evolution, some change of the Goddess' and God's nature, in translation to a new culture. This is where intention is critical. As long as your intention is to respect the Deity, and care is taken to understand Her cultural meaning, little harm can be done. They are all One Goddess, after all. In addition, as spiritually-educated people, we can see a deeper reality. We can observe how all the Deities have changed over centuries. This kind of evolution is as inevitable for the Deities as for mortals. The Triple Goddess who represented the multi-faceted feminine aspect of the Divine, has been sundered. Certain Goddesses were kept and honoured -- those that fit or could be made to serve the new dominating regime. Those that were challenging to the new power structure were denied, like Hecate the Crone. (There's no room for powerful old women in the power-hungry old patriarchal paradigm!) So it's obvious that any representation of divinity is filtered through the culture's needs and fears and hopes. And as Wicca emerges as a 21st century spiritual path, those false distinctions become increasingly inane. So in Wicca we have Goddesses and Gods from diverse cultures . . . and find no disharmony between them. All Gods and Goddesses are One. Next Article on Wiccan Gods and Goddesses
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