The Goddess

 

By Robert H.

Who is the Goddess of the Wicca? Ask this question of ten initiates, and you will receive eleven answers. What follows is my own answer to this question, given through my own perspective, and through my own experience.  It is not an “official” position, for such do not exist in Wicca.  It is, but my own, personal view.

For me, the Goddess is half of the universe, the other half being the God, which is discussed in another article. The two are complementary opposites. One cannot exist without the other.

The Goddess is the creative life force of the universe.  She is the soul of nature, the Great Mother from whom all things proceed, and to whom all things return.  Her’s is the Cauldron of Creation.  Her’s is the womb from which all life comes, and the tomb to which we all return.

She is symbolized by the Moon and the Earth and the Sea, but she is much more than these.

She is often described as a triple Goddess, Maid, Mother and Crone.  In recent years, this has given rise to some debate.  Triple Goddesses feature in many ancient cultures.  In classical mythology, we find Hecate, the triple Goddess of the cross roads and witchcraft.  There are the fates, the nine muses (nine being three tripled).  We are also told that the same Goddess was called Luna in Heaven, Diana on Earth, and Proserpine (or Hecate) in the Underworld.  Although they are not considered deities, even the Gorgons are three, namely Medusa, Stheno and Euryale.  Among the Norse, we find the Norns who spin the Web of Weird, called Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, and, in Celtic culture, triple deities abound.  It seems that among the Celts, to show a deity in triple form was to emphasize their super-human power, in the same way that Indian deities are shown with multiple arms.  So, among the Irish Celts, we find Bride (or Bridget) in three form, as Goddess of the hearth fire, the forge, and inspiration. The Morrigan, daughter of Ernmas, is shown to be three Goddesses (or three aspects of the Goddess) named Babd, Macha, and Anu (or Nemain).  We also find three other daughters of Ernmas, named Eriu, Banba and Fodla, of which, Eriu would come to give her name to Ireland (Eire). Among the Romano-Celts of Britain and Gaul, we also find the three Matres. 

What we do not seem to find in ancient mythology, however, are triple Goddesses who are described specifically as Maid, Mother and Crone.  Rather, what we find is that the three aspects, or forms of the Goddess are usually described or represented as all about the same age.  Statues of the triple Hecate, for example, show her as three mature (not old) women, standing back to back, so as to look in different directions where three roads meet.  The most notable exception to this  is perhaps the Morrigan, who can appear as an ancient crone, a blood-thirsty Fury or a magnificent Queen, but this can best be explained by the fact that the Morrigan is a shape-shifter, who takes on any shape that seems appropriate or useful to her.  She also appears as a crow, a wolf, a hornless red heifer or an eel.

So, where does the concept of a Triple Goddess who is Maid, Mother and Crone come from? As best as we can tell, this concept was developed by the writer Robert Graves in his book, “The White Goddess”.  Graves himself claimed that this book was not a work of history, but of inspiration and poetry.  In this book, Graves makes many assertions and connections that cannot be collaborated by history or archeology.  Many of Graves concepts would eventually become common elements in the modern Pagan movement.  For example, almost everything that we “know” about the Celtic Tree alphabet, the Ogham, comes from Graves’ imagination.  The Ogham alphabet is indeed old, tracing back to at least the fourth century CE (possibly before), but the connections between the letters and trees are tenuous at best, and the connection to a calendar is entirely a creation of Graves.

Does this mean that the concept of a Maid, Mother and Crone Goddess needs to be jettisoned?  Not at all.  If the concept is theologically significant to you, then by all means, use it.  The Goddess is, if nothing else, a shape-shifter, and if she appears to you predominantly in these forms, so be it.  In an article written by Gerald Gardner or Doreen Valiente (the authorship is not certain), the three aspects of the Goddess are said to correspond to Life, Death, and Love.  The concept of Love was very  important to Gerald Gardner, and it is often not emphasized as much now a days.  Gerald had a special place in his heart for the Goddess Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, and in his first novel, “A Goddess Arrives”, written before he joined the Craft, Aphrodite takes on a central role.  Love is the force that binds the Universe, and binds the Goddess to the God.  It is the force that turns the wheel of Life, Death and Rebirth, and ensures that we are reborn with loved ones.  Indeed, Gardner believed that through love, Witches would be reborn under circumstances that would allow them to return to the Craft, and in this way, the Craft itself would survived from generation to generation.  It has even been suggested that Gardner spent so much energy promoting the Craft and ensuring its growth, to make sure that he himself could be reborn into the Craft in a future life.

Please note:  The proceeding article are the views and opinions of the author only.  There is no established dogma or theology in Wicca, and all Wiccans hold different, and equally valid views.  

For a more complete “Biography of the Goddess”, I strongly recommend Jack Chanek’s book, Queen of All Witcheries, Llewellyn Publications, 2023.

The God

 

By Robert H.

Who is the God?  As I wrote in the article about the Goddess, I see the God as one half of the Universe (the other half being the Goddess herself).  An excellent symbol for this concept is that of the Taoist symbol of Yin and Yang, where we have a circle divided in two halves, one half being black (Yin) with a white circle inside, while the other half is white (Yang) with a black circle within.  The smaller circles illustrate that each polarity contains its opposite.  In the same way that the God and the Goddess are contained within each other.

It is said that the ancient Celts divided the year into two halves; the summer months starting at Beltane (corresponding roughly to May 1st) and the winter months, starting at Samhain (which corresponds to Halloween).  In the early days of Wicca (1940’s to 1960’s), this division of the year was emphasized, and it still is in many covens.  During the Summer half of the year, the Goddess is seen a having dominance, as Goddess of Life.  During the Winter half, the God, as Lord of Death reigns.

But the God is far more that the Lord of Death.  Remember, I said that each contains their opposite, and just as the Goddess of Life is both the womb from which we come, and the tomb to which we return, so the God is the Giver of Peace when we die, but also the one who prepares us and guides us for rebirth. Indeed, in our seasonal Sabbat cycles, we find that the God makes the same journey as we.  Born at the Winter Solstice in the form of a Sun God, he matures, makes love to the Great Goddess, and eventually dies to travel back to his realm in the Underworld, only to be reborn again from the Goddess as his own son.  A more complete exposition of the Sabbat cycle is presented in another article.

In a sense, I see the Goddess as representing the more permanent, yet changing, aspect of nature (the only constant is change!), while the God reflects it’s more transient, yet renewing nature.  She is ever present, changing aspects (or rather, showing different aspects) to fit what is necessary, while he is continually coming in and going out of existence, moving between Life and Death.  

So, where do we find the God?  In a sense, he is a Sun God, born at the Winter solstice to warm the Earth.  As he grows in strength, his light and energy is absorbed by nature.  The plants feeding on his rays, and in turn, animals (including us) feeding upon these plants.  For this reason, he is also the Corn God or God of the crops, as they partake of his strength and essence, and are, in a sense, an extension of him.  He is also the God of the Forest and the Wild, for it is not only cultivated plants which feed off the Sun, but wild plants as well, and by extension, he is the Lord of Animals, both wild and domestic.  He is also us, for we partake of his nature too.

The God of the Wicca is often referred to as the Horned One, for he is usually portrayed with a horned helmet or with horns growing from his head.  In Wicca, he is usually portrayed with the antlers of a stag.  This ties him to his role as the Lord of Wild Animals, as the stag is a creature that we find in the wilderness, but it also ties him to his role as Lord of Death. This is because, according to lore, ancient hunters would wear the skins and antlers of stags to lure deer during the hunt.  Eventually, a man covered in stag skins and wearing horns would become the representative of the God of the Hunt, and by extension, the Lord of Death (and also Life, for the tribe would die if they did not have meat from the hunt to feed on).  The God may also be represented with other types of horns to represent different aspects.  The horns of a bull may denote him as the God of domestication and farming.  The goat horns of Pan show him to be a god of lust and fertility, straddling the fence between wild and domesticated.  The horns of a ram, on the other hand, may emphasize his power and strength, as is the case when Alexander the Great is portrayed with such horns.

Whereas the Goddess is usually portrayed with three main aspects, Maid, Mother and Crone, the God if often portrayed with two main aspects, namely, the Lord of Death and Rebirth.  These five aspect in total can be tied to the five points of the pentagram.

So, who are the God and the Goddess in relation to each other?  They are complementary opposites.  She can be seen as Life and he can be seen as Death (although one cannot exist without the other, so even she has a Death aspect, and he has a Life aspect - remember the symbol of Yin and Yang).  She is to him what the Moon is to the Sun, or the Earth to the Sky.  She is to him what Summer is to Winter, or Form to Force, etc.  In short, they are the embodiment, or personification of polarity itself.  I find that lists of “this is him, and this is her” less than useful.  Remember that there are also solar goddesses and lunar gods in world mythology, but it is perhaps better to say that she is to him, what this is to that.

Collectively, the God and the Goddess are the sum of all.  They are, together, what could be called the Prime Mover, or “the One”, which incorporates all polarities and is beyond them.  The fullness of this One is beyond full human understanding, and is therefore never represented as an icon.  It is comparable to the Kether, or even the Ain Soph of the Kabbalists.

Mythologically, that is to say, symbolically, the Goddess and God are Lovers, they are Mother and Son, and they may also be seen as the Mother and Father of the Universe.

Please note:  The proceeding article are the views and opinions of the author only.  There is no established dogma or theology in Wicca, and all Wiccans hold different, and equally valid views.  

For a deeper look at the God, I highly recommend Jason Mankey’s book, The Horned God of the Witches, Llewellyn Publications, 2021.