The God in Wicca: The Nature of the Wiccan God

The God has been worshiped and honored since the beginnings of religion, not simply since the rise of Christianity. He is much more than simply the consort of the Goddess. He is Her equal, and Her counterpart. He is the sun, the skies, and the passion of life. He has many forms, and many different names, and it is this variety that allows Wiccans to connect with him on a personal and powerful level.

Facets of the God

Wiccans often see the God as the brilliant sun, rising and setting in an endless cycle, a cycle which controls the lives of every living thing. The sun is life, since most of the life on this planet would not exist without it. In this sense, Wiccans acknowledge that without the God, all that is on the planet would cease to be. It's believed that without Him, the world would die; this makes Him just as important as the Goddess.

All land that has been untouched by human hands is also the dominion of the God. Also, stars, which are but distant suns, are usually connected with Him, though they may be the dominion of the Goddess in some cases. The God is seen as the master of all wild animals, and as such, he is often seen as the Horned One. These horns represent his connection with the wild animals, the stag in particular. The horns in no way indicate evil, but rather an act that sustains and nourishes. Hunting is usually associated with the God, just as the domestication of animals is usually associated with the Goddess. This is not to say that the Goddess cannot be a huntress. It is simply more common for the God of the Hunt to be masculine.

God Symbolism in Wicca

The agricultural cycle, the growing, harvesting, and sowing of crops, is strongly associated with the sun, since it is the sun that makes this process possible. Therefore, it stands to reason that the eight solar holidays, often called the Wheel of the Year, are connected with the God and fall under His domain.

The God, together with the Goddess, rules sex and the rites of procreation. Wicca acknowledges that sex is a natural and accepted part of nature, and is necessary for the continuance of all species. In this way, sex is considered to be sacred, and it is the God who grants the urge to ensure that the species doesn't die out. For Wiccans, the Goddess is the giver of life, but the God is the spark, that which ultimately makes the entire process possible.

The God has many names, as does the Goddess. Many times in Wiccan thought, he is called Cernunnos, the Celtic Horned God. His symbols are the sword, spear, arrow, and sickle, as well as the wand, the knife, the staff, and many other phallic symbols. His creatures include, but are not limited to, the dog, the stag, the wolf, the dragon, and the eagle.

The God is not to be ignored in Wiccan spiritual practice. Worshiping only the Goddess, and excluding the richness of the God, is just as unbalanced as excluding the Goddess. His appeal rests in his versatility, in His many different forms and names, which allows Wiccans to personally connect to Him. He is as eternal as the Goddess, existing alongside Her, and a connection to Him is wonderful and fulfilling.

The Goddess in Wicca: The Nature of the Wiccan Goddess

Wiccans view the Goddess as everything. She is the consort of the God, She is the earth, the water, and the moon. She has been seen in many different forms, and called by many different names. Her many and varied appearances allow any and all Wiccans to connect to Her in whatever way they feel most appropriate. This allows for an intense and personal connection with this aspect of the divine.

Facets of the Goddess

The Goddess is nature itself. She is the source of all wisdom and fertility for all living things. Wiccans often see her as having three aspects: the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. Sometimes, she will be personified as four aspects instead, to mirror the four aspects of the God: the Maiden, the Lover, the Mother, and the Crone.

These aspects correspond to the phases of the moon. She is the waxing moon as the Maiden, or as the Maiden and the Lover both, young, strong and vibrant, ready to learn, eager for exploration. She is the full moon as the Mother, loving, nurturing, ready to catch us when we fall, and at the height of her power. She is also the waning moon as the Crone, wise in all ways, willing to guide us and advise us, and guarding the gates of death.

The Goddess has many facets. She is all that is nature, so She is both the violent hurricane that destroys life and the gentle spring rain that gives life. She is the bright green and yellow fields in summer and the frost-covered ground in winter. Her gift is life, but it comes with it a price in the very end — death.

However, in Wicca, death is not oblivion at all, but instead a rest from the toils of physical existence, and a chance to prepare for the next incarnation, whatever it may be. Even though the Goddess is possessed of both light and dark, much as every form of life is, Wiccans worship the side of Her that is love, fertility, and abundance. Her darker side is acknowledged, but rarely worked with directly.

Goddess Symbolism in Wicca

Just as with all gods and goddesses, the Goddess has many different names and titles, and many different forms. In addition to the Triple Goddess, she is also commonly known as the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of the Gods, the Great Mother, and by many other titles. She is present in all pantheons, and has gone by many different names at different points in history: Diana, Isis, Bridget, Hera, Inanna, Hecate, and Dana are but a few examples.

Her symbols include silver (both the metal and the color), the moon, the cauldron or chalice, and those items associated with water, such as seashells, pearls, and the like. She is associated with the earth, sea, and moon, and some of Her creatures include the cat, dolphin, spider, horse, and rabbit. No matter how She is seen, or what is connected with Her, She is eternal.

The Goddess has an integral place in Wiccan spirituality. Her various aspects and facets serve to facilitate a connection to Her, for it is Her versatility that Her greatest strength and appeal is found. She is seen as an ever-present and ever-watching mother, the very essence of nature, and the reason for all life.

Wiccan Cosmology: The Wiccan View of the Divine

All religions are based upon a reverence or worship of a divine being, and Wicca is no exception. Wicca acknowledges an ultimate divine power from which the universe originally came. However, Wiccans believe that this ultimate divine is so far beyond human comprehension that any connection to it has been nearly lost, simply because of the difficulty in relating to it. If one cannot relate to deity, it is very difficult to have a personal relationship with it, and Wicca depends on a very individual relationship with the divine. So, Wiccans link with this divine power through deities, and just like all else in nature, the divine can be divided into two basic entities: the Goddess and the God.

Every god or goddess that has ever received worship upon the planet, at any point in history, exists with the Goddess and the God. The many different gods and goddesses that exist within each pantheon are simply aspects of the Goddess and the God. In other words, every goddess exists within the Goddess, and every god exists within the God.

Honoring the Goddess and the God

The twin deities, masculine and feminine, are a direct result of Wicca's close link with nature. Since most of nature is divided into gender, it makes sense that the deities would follow a similar pattern. In the very early days of Shamanism, when the Goddess and the God were as real as the earth and the sky, rituals and other rites of worship were unstructured and spontaneous. Later, rituals began to follow the course of the sun throughout the year, as well as the moon through its monthly cycle.

Today, these or similar rites are observed by Wiccans. The regular performance of these rituals is one of the ways in which modern practitioners can create a strong connection to the divine and all the powers associated with the Goddess and the God. Keep in mind, however, that it is not necessary to wait for these rituals to be reminded of the presence of the divine. Everything in nature is a part of the divine, and so connection to the divine is all around and within every living thing. Living in harmony with nature makes every moment a part of a grand ritual.

For many Wiccans, simply watching the sun or moon rise or set is its own ritual. Observing anything in nature can be considered a ritual to one who lives Wiccan ideals. Because of this, many Wiccans are involved in ecology to some extent, whether it be saving the earth from destruction or simply by recycling. Honoring the planet is one of the many ways in which the Goddess and the God can be honored.

Wiccan Theology on the Goddess and God

According the Wiccan theology, the Goddess and the God, and their many incarnations, did not exist until those living in ancient times conceived of them. However, their energies certainly existed, since it was these energies that created life as it exists today.

The earliest worshipers personified these forces as the Goddess and the God in an attempt to understand and relate to them. Once they were worshiped in these forms, the Goddess and the God endured. They did not vanish with the rise of Christianity. Though most of the rites have been lost to time, Wicca and other Pagan religions are alive and well.

When the Goddess and the God are envisioned, what is seen will reflect the experiences of the individual involved. Many Wiccans see them as familiar deities from ancient traditions, such as Diana, Isis, Cerridwen, Bridget, or Artemis for the Goddess, and Pan, Osiris, Lugh, Thoth, or Apollo for the God. Most of these deities have rich histories and mythologies, and this serves to enhance the experience of connecting to the divine for many Wiccans.

Some may feel more comfortable relating to a nameless being, and so worship a generic Goddess and God, instead of a specific incarnation. Either approach is correct, depending greatly upon personal preference. The divine will take whatever form is needed, whatever form we can be most easily related to.

For those completely new to polytheistic religions, it can be difficult to accept the fact that the divine exists as both masculine and feminine. More than that, they are considered equal; neither is higher than the other. Though some Wiccan traditions focus so much on the Goddess that they seem to forget the God completely, this is a reaction to centuries of male-dominated religions. However, religion based solely on the worship of the feminine is just as unbalanced and unnatural as one which focuses totally on the masculine. The ideal is a perfect balance between both male and female — the Goddess and the God.

Shamanism and Wicca

Shamanism is the oldest religion, according to most modern anthropologists. In its pure form, it is the precursor of all Pagan religions (including Wicca) and is the root of most of the neo-Pagan movements found in society today. Shamans, both male and female, held the power in their cultures, because they had the knowledge, and they used it. Knowledge was power, just as it is in the modern world.

Early Shamanic Practices

The earliest Shamans gained their knowledge, their power, through altered states of consciousness, brought on through many different tools. These included fasts, trances, meditation, pain, and even hallucinogenic substances. The specific method used was generally controlled by what the end goal of the shaman was, and the geographical location of the shaman. Through these 'altered states,’ all magickal and spiritual knowledge was obtained. This knowledge was gained through communication with spirits, animals, and even deities. Only some of this knowledge was shared with the general populace, while the rest was reserved for the Shamans themselves.

As time went on, Shamans developed new tools to obtain 'altered states' of consciousness. The introduction of such things as music, dance, and chanting was the very beginning of ritual magick, the practice of which continues today.

In fact, the most effective of magickal rites, even in modern times, are often a combination of the natural and the artificial. Flickering firelight, steady music, darkness, and chanting are still usually more than enough to bring about an 'altered state' and allow modern pagans to access vast amounts of natural energy, the same natural energies once used by the ancient shamans. Ritual is not only found in pagan religions, but in all religions throughout the world. One has only to attend a Catholic service to see that ritual is alive and well in even the most organized or religions.

The very first Shamanic ritual practices gave rise to all 'magickal religions’, including Wicca. It follows, then, that Wicca is a Shamanic religion, despite the fact that it is considered by most to be a ‘new religion’. Though modern Wicca has, for the most part, abandoned the use of pain and hallucinogens, the use of ritual magick allows the same results: a spiritual connection with the divine.

Reincarnation in Wicca and Shamanism

As with most pagan traditions, Wicca embraces the idea of reincarnation, much as the ancient shamans did. It is important to note that, in general, Wicca teaches that we are reborn into another human body, unlike some Eastern philosophies, which hold that we can be reborn into many different forms. There are some exceptions to this rule of Wicca, but they are few and far between. Ancient shamanistic cultures also differ in their view of reincarnation.

Wicca, like ancient shamanism, holds firm to the idea that reincarnation should not be a subject of 'belief.' Rather, through tools such as meditation and past-life regression, reincarnation should be studied until it can be accepted as more than belief, but as an undisputed fact.

For the most part, Wiccans do not believe in destiny or fate. Instead, Wiccans take responsibility for their actions, or lack thereof. In addition, Wiccans take responsibility for their reactions to those things done to them, but certainly not for the actions of others.

Many of the basic beliefs in Wicca come from shamanism, including reincarnation and the use of ritual magick. Though no direct line between ancient shamanistic practices and modern Wicca exists, the striking similarities cannot be denied. While it would be inaccurate to say that Wicca is a truly ancient religion, it is easy to see how it could be said that Wicca, as a modern religion, does indeed include the basic elements of Shamanistic practice.