Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

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James122
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Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

Post by James122 »

This is going to sound stupid since I've been practising Wicca and learning for a while but this is a great cause of confusion for me.

Currently I just call them God and Goddess but I'm confused as to whether this is the right thing to be doing since so many sources I've read seem to suggest polytheism and many names but it having one patron God and Goddess in a polytheistic structure is going to present difficulties when sabbats come up completely unrelated to them.

During ritual spell work and prayer am I meant to have a name for a the God and Goddess or do I simply just call them God and Goddess?

Does anyone on this forum not call the God and Goddess by different names and only go by God and Goddess?

I'm terribly confused on how to address this situation, is there just Great God and Great Goddess to respresnt to masculine and feminine divine in the universe or is it polytheistic where I must have a patron diety.

This has been troubling me all day and it would be really helpful if someone here could give me an idea of how this is supposed to work
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Bychan Wulf
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Re: Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

Post by Bychan Wulf »

Wicca offers a lot of freedom. It can be monotheistic, duotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic and even atheistic.

You seem to believe in a God and Goddess, so your belief system could be duotheistic or henotheistic ("Wicca is henotheistic =belief in a single main deity among many: "Many Wiccans view the many ancient deities as being aspects of the Lady and Lord, and view the latter as the male and female aspects of "The One." "- source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_intr.htm

You can give your God and Goddess a name (ex: Cerridwen and Gaia) or you can just call them Lord and Lady. If you look at the spells or prayers written by wiccans, you will see many versions.

The way you call your Deities is up to you! ;-)
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SpiritTalker
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Re: Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

Post by SpiritTalker »

It just isn't a one size fits all answer, but what makes most sense to you, of what you can get your head around. There is no "ought to" or "supposed to" rule for beliefs.

Generally, plain vanilla Wicca from the Gardnerian 1950's era, accepted a Goddess and a God. Gardner used Diana as a goddess name, taken from Charles Leland's research as being still in use in the 1890s, supposedly surviving from old cults. Other cultural influences have introduced lore of Pantheons of deities. So no, there is no one agreed upon god and goddess because each culture - each group of civilizations - has evolved with different lore, beliefs, and names. If you don't have a pantheon you work with, God/Goddess, Lord/Lady are fine.

There are hypotheses for the origins of religion. I happen to be reading a summary ("Handbook of Magic & Witchcraft" by C.W. Oliver) written in 1928 with all the biases of that era, but the theories on origins of religion in man don't change. It depends on how far back in history you want to go. He supports a one-creative force, fluctuating between active and passive. The force is non- gender, but the active is perceived male and the passive is perceived female when observed by us human beings. The active/male creative principle became the god, and the passive/female creative principle became the goddess.

In my personal practice, I'm pretty comfortable being flexible, and try not to mix cultural energies. I might use a title for a god-force of Nature like Cernunos (horned one) & Elen as the horned reindeer goddess, or use a name like Diana when addressing the Moon-force, &Gaia as Earth-mum. But these are synonyms to me of forces of Nature. Names dont mean much to me beyond identifying perception of roles. What I perceive of as Deity is what lays behind Nature. For this I have no name, only an inkling of Holy Intelligence or All-One. I suspect there is more to it that I don't grasp. I'm ok with that. There are a lot of things I don't know. :lol:

As to how it works...what do you call upon your concept of deity for? And how do you communicate and interact? You make the decisions by what conveys your intention.
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manicpixidream
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Re: Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

Post by manicpixidream »

I can only tell you what I do. I worship mainly Persephone and Dionysus as matron and patron deities. On different Sabbats I honor different deities within the Greek pantheon and hint Selena on Esbats. I simply work within my pantheon when needed, asking Persephone or Dionysus to introduce me to the deity in question. I would consider myself a "duohenotheist."


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Re: Is Wicca polytheistic or duotheistic?

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

Wicca is an orthopraxic religion. That is based on right practice. It is not an orthodoxy or based on right belief. This is why you get varied beliefs within the system.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
- Devi
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