Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner-Ch. 2
← Mentorships
All religions are structures built upon reverence of Deity. Wicca is no exception. The Wicca acknowledge a supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate, from which the entire universe sprang.
The concept of this power, far beyond our comprehension, has nearly been lost in Wicca because of our difficulty in relating to it. However, Wiccans link with this force through their deities. In accordance with the principles of nature, the supreme power was personified into two basic beings: the Goddess and the God.
Every deity that has received worship upon this planet exists with the archetypal God and Goddess. The complex pantheons of deities which arose in many parts of the world are simply aspects of the two. Every Goddess is resident within the concept of the Goddess; every God in the God.
Wicca reveres these twin deities because of its links with nature. Since most (but certainly not all) nature is divided into gender, the deities embodying it are similarly conceived.
In the past, when the Goddess and God were as real as the Moon and Sun, rites of worship and adoration were unstructured—spontaneous, joyous union with the divine. Later, rituals followed the course of the Sun through its astronomical year (and thusly the seasons) as well as the monthly waxing and waning of the Moon.
Today similar rites are observed by the Wicca, and their regular performance creates a truly magical closeness with these deities and the powers behind them.
Fortunately, we needn’t wait for ritual occasions to be reminded of the Gods’ presence. The sight of a perfect blossom in a field of bare earth can instill feelings rivaling those of the most powerful formal rite. Living in nature makes every moment a ritual. The Wiccans are comfortable in communicating with animals, plants, and trees. They feel energies within stones and sand, and cause fossils to speak of their primeval beginnings. For some Wiccans, watching the Sun or Moon rise and set each day is ritual unto itself, for these are the heavenly symbols of the God and Goddess.
Because the Wicca see Deity inherent in nature, many of us are involved in ecology—saving the Earth from utter destruction by our own hands. The Goddess and God still exist, as they have always existed, and to honor them we honor and preserve our precious planet.
In Wiccan thought, the Deities didn’t exist before our spiritual ancestor’s acknowledgement of them. However, the energies behind them did; they created us. Early worshippers recognized these forces as the Goddess and God, personifying them in an attempt to understand them.
The Old Ones didn’t die when the ancient Pagan religions fell to upstart Christianity in Europe. Most of the rites vanished, but they weren’t the only effective ones. Wicca is alive and well and the Deities respond to our calls and invocations.
When envisioning the Goddess and God, many of the Wicca see Them as well-known deities from ancient religions. Diana, Pan, Isis, Hermes, Hina, Tammuz, Hecate, Ishtar, Cerridwen, Thoth, Tara, Aradia, Artemis, Pele, Apollo, Kanaloa, Bridget, Helios, Bran, Lugh, Hera, Cybele, Inanna, Maui, Ea, Athena, Lono, Marduk—the list is virtually endless. Many of these deities, with their corresponding histories, rites, and mythic information, furnish the concept of deity for Wiccans.
Some feel comfortable associating such names and forms with the Goddess and God, feeling that they can’t possibly revere nameless divine beings. Others find a lack of names and costumes a comforting lack of limitations.
As stated earlier, the Wicca as outlined in this book is “new,” although built upon established rituals and myths, firmly rooted within the earliest religious feelings which nature aroused within our species. In these rituals I’ve used the words “the God” and “the Goddess” rather than specific names such as Diana and Pan. Anyone with special affinity with particular deities should feel free to adapt the rituals in Section III: The Standing Stones Book of Shadows to include them.
If you haven’t studied non-Western polytheistic religions or developed a rapport with divinities other than those with which you were raised, start by accepting this premise (if only for the moment): deity is twin, consisting of the Goddess and the God.
They have been given so many names they have been called the Nameless Ones. In appearance they look exactly as we wish them to, for they’re all the Deities that ever were. The Goddess and God are all-powerful because they are the creators of all manifest and unmanifest existence. We can contact and communicate with them because a part of us is in them and they are within us.
The Goddess and God are equal; neither is higher or more deserving of respect. Though some Wiccans focus their rituals toward the Goddess and seem to forget the God entirely, this is a reaction to centuries of stifling patriarchal religion, and the loss of acknowledgement of the feminine aspect of Divinity. Religion based entirely on feminine energy, however, is as unbalanced and unnatural as one totally masculine in focus. The ideal is a perfect balance of the two. The Goddess and God are equal, complmentary.
THE GODDESS
The Goddess is the universal mother. She is the source of fertility, endless wisdom and loving caresses. As the Wicca know Her, She is often of three aspects: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, symbolized in the waxing, full and waning of the Moon. She is at once the unploughed field, the full harvest and the dormant, frost-covered Earth. She gives birth to abundance. But as life is Her gift, She lends it with the promise of death. This is not darkness and oblivion, but rest from the toils of physical existence. It is human existence between incarnations.
Since the Goddess is nature, all nature, She is both the Temptress and the Crone; the tornado and the fresh spring rain; the cradle and the grave.
But though She is possessed of both natures, the Wicca revere Her as the giver of fertility, love and abundance, though they acknowledge Her darker side as well. We see Her in the Moon, the soundless, ever-moving sea, and in the green growth of the first spring. She is the embodiment of fertility and love.
The Goddess has been known as the Queen of Heaven, Mother of the Gods that Made the Gods, the Divine Source, the Universal Matrix, the Great Mother, and by countless other titles.
Many symbols are used in Wicca to honor Her, such as the cauldron, cup, labrys, five-petalled flowers, the mirror, necklace, seashell, pearl, silver, emerald…to name a few.
As She has dominion over the Earth, sea and Moon, Her creatures are varied and numerous. A few include the rabbit, the bear, the owl, the cat, dog, bat, goose, cow, dolphin, lion, horse, wren, scorpion, spider, and bee. All are sacred to the Goddess.
The Goddess has been depicted as a huntress running with Her hounds; a celestial deity striding across the sky with stardust falling from Her heels; the eternal Mother heavy with child; the weaver of our lives and deaths; a Crone walking by waning moonlight seeking out the weak and forlorn, and as many other beings. But no matter how we envision Her, She is omnipresent, changeless, eternal.
THE GOD
The God has been revered for eons. He is neither the stern, all-powerful deity of Christianity and Judaism, nor is He simply the consort of the Goddess. God or Goddess, they are equal, one.
We see the God in the Sun, brilliantly shining overhead during the day, rising and setting in the endless cycle which governs our lives. Without the Sun we could not exist; therefore it has been revered as the source of all life, the warmth that bursts the dormant seeds into life and hastens the greening of the Earth after the cold snows of winter.
The God is also tender of the wild animals. As the Horned Gods He is sometimes seen wearing horns on His head, symbolizing His connection with these beasts. In earlier times, hunting was one of the activities thought to be ruled by the God, while the domestication of animals was seen to be Goddess-oriented.
The God’s domains include forests untouched by human hands, burning deserts and towering mountains. The stars, since they are but distant suns, are sometimes thought to be under His domain.
The yearly cycle of greening, maturation and harvest has long been associated with the Sun, hence the solar festivals of Europe which are still observed in Wicca.
The God is the fully ripened harvest, intoxicating wine pressed from grapes, golden grain waving in a lone field, shimmering apples hanging from verdant boughs on October afternoons.
With the Goddess He also celebrates and rules sex. The Wicca don’t avoid sex or speak of it in hushed words. It’s a part of nature and is accepted as such. Since it brings pleasure, shifts our awareness away from the everyday world and perpetuates our species, it is thought to be sacred. The God lustily imbues us with the urge that ensures our species’ biological future.
Symbols often used to depict or to worship the God include the sword, horns, spear, candle, gold, brass, diamond, the sickle, arrow, magical wand, trident, knife and others. Creatures sacred to Him include the bull, dog, snake, fish, stag, dragon, wolf, boar, eagle, falcon, shark, lizard and many others.
Of old, the God was the Sky Father,, and the goddess, the Earth Mother. The God of the sky, or rain and lightning, descended upon and united with the Goddess, spreading seed upon the land, celebrating Her fertility.
Today the deities of Wicca are still firmly associated with fertility, but every aspect of human existence can be linked with the Goddess and God. They can be called upon to help us sort through the vicissitudes of our existences and bring joy into our often spiritually-bereft lives.
This doesn’t mean that when problems occur we should leave them in the hands of the Goddess. This is a stalling maneuver, an avoidance of dealing with the bumps on the road of life. However, as Wiccans we can call on the Goddess and God to clear our minds and to help us help ourselves. Magic is an excellent means of accomplishing this. After attuning with the Goddess and God, Wiccans ask Their assistance during the magical rite that usually follows.
Beyond this, the Goddess and God can help us change our lives. Because the Deities are the creative forces of the universe (not just symbols), we can call upon Them to empower our rites and to bless our magic. Again, this is in direct opposition to most religions. The power is in the hands of every practitioner, not specialized priests or priestesses who perform these feats for the masses. This is what makes Wicca a truly satisfying way of life. We have direct links with the Deities. No intermediaries are needed; no priests or confessors or shamans. We are the shamans.
To develop a rapport with the Goddess and God, a necessity for those who desire to practice Wicca, you might wish to follow these simple rituals.
At night, stand or sit facing the Moon, if it is visible. If not, imagine the fullest Moon you’ve ever seen glowing silver-white in the inky blackness, directly above and before you.
Feel the soft lunar light streaming onto your skin. Sense it touching and mixing with your own energies, commingling and forming new patterns.
See the Goddess in any form that you will. Call to Her, chanting old names if you wish: Diana, Lucina, Selena. Open your heart and mind to the aspect of Goddess-energy manifested in the Moon’s light.
Repeat this daily for one week, preferably at the same time each night.
Concurrently with this exercise, attune with the God. Upon rising in the morning, no matter how late it is, stand before the Sun and soak in its energies. Think about the God. Visualize Him as you wish. It might be as a mighty warrior rippling with muscles, a spear upraised in one hand, the other cradling a child or a bunch of dew-dripping grapes.
You may want to chant God names, such as Kernunnos, Osiris, Apollo as with the Goddess.
If you don’t wish to visualize the God, simply attune to the energies pouring down from the Sun. Even if clouds fill the sky, the God’s energies will still reach you. Feel them with all your magical imagination.
Let no thoughts but those of the God disturb your revery. Reach out with your feelings; open your awareness to higher things. Call upon the God in any words. Express your desire to attune with Him.
Practice these exercises daily for one week. If you wish to explore the concepts of the Goddess and God, read books on mythology from any country in the world., Read the myths but look for their underlying themes. The more you read, the more information you’ll have at your fingertips; eventually it will merge into a non-structured but extremely complex knowledge bank concerning the deities. In other words, you’ll begin to know them.
If after seven days you feel the need (or the desire), continue these exercises until you feel comfortable with the Goddess and God. They’ve been in us and around us all the time; we need only open ourselves to this awareness. This is one of the secrets of Wicca—Deity dwells within.
In your quest to know the Gods, take long walks beneath trees. Study flowers and plants. Visit wild, natural places and feel the energies of the Goddess and god directly—through the rush of a stream, the pulse of energy from an old oak’s trunk, the heat of a Sun-warmed rock. Familiarizing yourself with the existence of the Deities comes more easily through actual contact with such power sources.
Next, when you’ve achieved this state, you may wish to set up a temporary or permanent shrine or altar to the Goddess and God. This needn’t be more than a small table, two candles, an incense burner and a plate or bowl to hold offerings of flowers, fruit, grain, seed, wine or milk.
Place the two candles in their holders to the rear of the shrine. The candle on the left represents the Goddess; that on the right the God. Colors are often used to distinguish between the two; a red candle for the God and a green one to honor the Goddess. This ties in with the nature-associations of Wicca, for green and red are ancient magical colors linked with life and death. Other colors can be used—yellow or gold to honor the God, and white or silver for the Goddess.
Before and between these candles place the incense burner, and in front of this the plate or offering bowl. A vase of seasonal flowers can also be added, as can any personal power objects such as crystals, fossils and dried herbs.
To begin a simple ritual to the Gods at your shrine, stand before it with an offering of some kind in your hand. Light the candles and incense, place the offering in the bowl or plate, and say such words as these:
Lady of the Moon, of the restless sea and verdant Earth,
Lord of the sun and of the wild creatures,
Accept this offering I place here in Your honor.
Grant me the wisdom to see Your presence in all nature,
O Great Ones!
Afterward, sit or stand for a few minutes in contemplation of the deities and of your growing relationship with them. Feel them inside and around you. Then quench the flames (use your fingers, a candle snuffer, or a knife blade. Blowing them out is an affront to the element of Fire). Allow the incense to burn itself out, and continue on with your day or night.
If you wish, go before the shrine once a day at a prescribed time. This may be upon rising, just before sleep, or after lunch. Light the candles, attune and commune with the Goddess and God. This isn’t necessary , but the steady rhythm set up by this cycle is beneficial and will improve your relationship with the deities.
Return the offerings left on the shrine, set it up each time you feel the need to use it, then store the articles away. Make the placing of the objects on the shrine a part of the ritual.
This simple rite belies its powers. The Goddess and God are real, viable entities, possessing the force that created the universe. Attuning with them changes us forever. It also sparks new hope for our planet continued existence upon it.
If this rite is too formalized for you, change it or write your own. This is the basic thrust of this book: do it your way, not my way simply because I’ve set it down on paper. I can never fit my feet into someone else’s footprints on the sand. There’s no one true right and only way in Wicca; that thinking belongs to monotheistic religions which have largely become political and business institutions.
Discovering the deities of Wicca is a never-ending experience. They constantly reveal themselves. As the shamans say, “Be attentive.” All nature is singing to us of Her secrets. The Goddess constantly draws aside Her veil; the God lights us up with inspiration and illumination. We simply don’t notice.
Don’t worry what others might think if they knew you were attuning with a 20,000 year-old Goddess. Their feelings and thoughts concerning your religion are of no consequence. If you feel the need to shelter your experiences from others do so, not out of fear or embarrassment, but because we’re truly all on separate paths. Everyone isn’t suited to Wicca.
There are some who say that we are worshipping Satan. Not that we know it, of course; Satan is too tricky for that, according to these experts.
Such people can’t believe that any religion but their own can be meaningful, fulfilling and true to its adherent. So if we worship the God and Goddess, they say, we’re denying all good and are worshipping Satan, the embodiment of all negativity and evil.
Wiccans aren’t so close-minded. Perhaps it’s the greatest of all human vanities to assume that one’s religion is the only way to Deity. Such beliefs have caused incalculable bloodshed and the rise of the hideous concept of holy wars.
The basis of the misconception seems to be the concept of a pristine, pure, positive being—God. If this deity is the sum of all good, worshippers believe that there must be an equally negative one as well. Thus, Satan.
The Wicca don’t accept such ideas. We acknowledge the dark aspects of the Goddess and the God as well as the bright. All nature is composed of opposites, and this polarity is also resident within ourselves. The darkest human traits as well as the brightest are locked within our unconsciousnesses. It is only our ability to rise above destructive urges, to channel such energies into positive thoughts and actions, that separates us from ass-murderers and sociopaths.
Yes, the God and Goddess have dark aspects, but this needn’t scare us off. Look at some of the manifestations of Their powers. From a ravaging flood comes rich soil in which new plants thrive. Death brings a deeper appreciation of life to the living and rest for the transcended one. “Good” and “evil” are often identical in nature, depending on one’s viewpoint. Additionally, out of every evil some good is eventually born.
Any and all religions are real, the genuine article, to their practitioners. There can never be one religion, prophet or savior that will satisfy all five billion humans. Each of us must find our ideal way to attune with Deity. For some, it’s Wicca.
Wiccans emphasize the bright aspects of the deities because this gives us purpose to grow and evolve to the highest realm of existence. When death, destruction, hurt, pain and anger appear in our lives, we can turn to the Goddess and God and know that this is a part of them too. We needn’t blame a devil on these natural aspects of life and call upon a pure-white god to fend them off.
In truly understanding the Goddess and God, one comes to understand life, for the two are inextricably entwined. Live your earthly life fully, but try to see the spiritual aspects of your activities as well. Remember—the physical and spiritual are but reflections of each other.
When I give classes, one question seems to come up frequently: “What is the meaning of life?”
It m
ay be asked with a laugh, but this is the one question that, if answered satisfies any others we may have. It is the problem every religion and philosophical system has struggled to solve.
Anyone can find the answer through the simple technique of living and observing life. Though two people won’t find the same answers they can find them together.
The Goddess and God are of nature, both the delightful and the dark. We don’t worship nature as such; some Wiccans probably wouldn’t even say that they worship the Goddess and God. We don’t bow down to the deities; we work with Them to create a better world.
This is what makes Wicca a truly participatory religion.
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