| Who Are The Goddess and God?
Our local newspaper ran a story recently with a sidebar listing brief factoids about wicca. One of those bullets said wiccans typically worship a god and goddess. The clear implication, of course, is that we worship a god and goddess, unlike most everyone else, who worship the all too obvious God of the Americas, Europe and the Middle East (polytheistic regions like Asia, India or Africa, are still off the cultural radar for most readers of this particular paper). But do we really worship anyone? And how is it that so many pagans move easily among the pantheons and deities, picking and choosing the identity to which they will address their devotion? Do we really believe in the gods and goddesses? Actually, what does it mean to say we "believe in" any deity? More than the sacred names, these questions are what set the pagan apart from traditional religion. "I could really feel the Goddess’ presence!" I heard a sister exclaim when describing the esbat of the night before. Others have insisted to me that a particular goddess was the one to call upon for a specific need I might have, or even written out a Hindu chant with careful instructions on daily repetition. I certainly had and have no problem with any of these incidents, but at times began to feel I was back in Sunday school with preachers who gave me similar admonitions. Such evangelism borders on mysticism, and mysticism is defined by a very personal one-on-one relationship with God. You may ask me, isn’t that one-on-one relationship what we all long for and seek? Perhaps. But maybe we are really seeking, rather than reunion with God, the healing of our own internal split. As I look back over all the myths I have heard, from around the world and across time, from Isis and Osiris, to Demeter and Persephone, Lord Siddhartha and Jesus, and so many more, I see a pattern of separation followed by healing and unionI might even suggest that we are discovering an intimacy against which ages of culture and institutional religion have built a fortress. The fortress is an imposing one, built with stones called heresy, blasphemy, sinful, proud, deceived, Lucifer, and the like. What concept could be so feared that its taboos transcend all other so-called sins? One myth tells of a lovely garden with a god, a tree, a man, a woman and a snake. The snake tells the woman, "God knows that when you eat from that tree your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God . . ." (Gen. 2:4) Of course, the snake did not trouble to tell the woman that it’s a lot of work being a god, and you don’t have a higher authority at whom to shake your fist when things don’t go as you expected. But snakes have throughout time been a powerful symbol to humans, representing the feminine principal, the subconscious, the unknown, and sexuality - which is really just the bodily fulfillment of the creative drive. -continued |
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