#duotheism

[grimmstar-grimmoire]

Varieties of Theism

Agnostic Theism Whereas atheism and theism deal with belief, agnosticism deals with knowledge. The Greek roots of the term combine a (without) and gnosis (knowledge). Hence, agnosticism literally means “without knowledge.” In the context where it is normally used, the term means: without knowledge of the existence of gods. Since it is possible for a person to believe in one or more gods without claiming to know for sure that any gods exist, it's possible to be an agnostic theist.

Monotheism The term monotheism comes from the Greek monos, (one) and theos (god). Thus, monotheism is the belief in the existence of a single god. Monotheism is typically contrasted with polytheism (see below), which is a belief in many gods, and with atheism, which is an absence of any belief in any gods.

Polytheism Polytheism is the belief in the existence of multiple gods. The prefix ''poly'' means many, so polytheists believe that there are multiple divine forces in existence. The Greek and Roman pantheons are excellent examples of these, as they consist of many gods that govern different aspects of nature and essences of humanity. Some argue that Christianity is a polytheistic religion because of the worship of the Trinity. However, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all aspects of a single God, making it a monotheistic religion.

Deism Deism is actually a form of monotheism, but it remains distinct enough in character and development to justify discussing separately. In addition to adopting the beliefs of general monotheism, deists also adopt the belief that the single existing god is personal in nature and transcendent from the created universe. However, they reject the belief, common among monotheists in the West, that this god is immanent—presently active in the created universe.

Henotheism and Monolatry Henotheism is based upon the Greek roots heis or henos, (one), and theos (god). But the term is not a synonym for monotheism, despite the fact that it has the same etymological meaning.

Another word expressing the same idea is monolatry, which is based on the Greek roots monos (one), and latreia (service or religious worship). The term appears to have been first used by Julius Wellhausen to described a type of polytheism in which just a single god is worshiped but where other gods are accepted as existing elsewhere. Many tribal religions fall into this category.

Pantheism The word pantheism is built from the Greek roots pan (all) and theos (god); thus, pantheism is either a belief that the universe is God and worthy of worship, or that God is the sum total of all there is and that the combined substances, forces, and natural laws that we see around us are therefore manifestations of God. The early Egyptian and Hindu religions are regarded as pantheistic, and Taoism is also sometimes considered a pantheistic belief system.

Panentheism The word panentheism is Greek for “all-in-God,” pan-en-theos. A panentheistic belief system posits the existence of a god that interpenetrates every part of nature but which is nevertheless fully distinct from nature. This god is, therefore, part of nature, but at the same time still retains an independent identity.

Impersonal Idealism In the philosophy of Impersonal Idealism, universal ideals are identified as god. There are elements of impersonal idealism, for example, in the Christian belief that "God is love," or the humanist view that "God is knowledge."

Autotheism The term ''autotheism'' is composed of two parts: the prefix, ''auto,'' and the root/suffix combination, ''theism.'' ''Auto'' means ''self, one's own, by oneself.'' So, autotheism is the belief that one is a god themself. It has also been described as someone who mistakes one's inner voices as God's voice within them.

Kathenotheism The belief that there are many gods, but only one deity at a time should be worshipped, each being supreme in turn.

Ditheism (or Duotheism) The belief in two equally powerful gods, often, but not always, with complementary properties and in constant opposition, such as God and Goddess in Wicca, or Good and Evil in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism. The early mystical religion Gnosticism is another example of a ditheistic belief of sorts, due to their claim that the thing worshipped as God in this world is actually an evil impostor, but that a true benevolent deity worthy of being called "God" exists beyond this world.

Misotheism The belief that gods exist, but that they are actually evil. The English word was coined by Thomas de Quincey in 1846. Strictly speaking, the term connotes an attitude of hatred towards the god or gods, rather than making a statement about their nature.

Dystheism The belief that gods exist, but that they are not wholly good, or possibly even evil (as opposed to eutheism, the belief that God exists and is wholly good). Trickster gods found in polytheistic belief systems often have a dystheistic nature, and there are various examples of arguable dystheism in the Bible.

Animism Animism is the idea that all things—animate and inanimate—possess a spirit or an essence. First coined in 1871, animism is a key feature in many ancient religions, especially of indigenous tribal cultures. Animism is a foundational element in the development of ancient human spirituality, and it can be identified in different forms throughout major modern world religions.

Totemism Totemism is a system of belief in which man is believed to have kinship with a totem or a mystical relationship is said to exist between a group or an individual and a totem. A totem is an object, such as an animal or plant that serves as the emblem or symbol of a kinship group or a person. The term totemism has been used to characterize a cluster of traits in the religion and in the social organization of many primitive peoples.

[reno-matago]

丰

By refining my own definition of Lucifer but above all the practical question of his cult, the way of worshiping him, I am hardly surprised to find that for me he is a new and modern god...and even the God, in the Wicca and Feri meaning of the term. Why?

As a Hellenic polytheist seeking to practice magic, my Lucifer is not the Devil, nor an angel. My ''Devil'' at least the one who shares the chthonic and raw functions of the world is rather Dionysus from the Strix optics, I will come back to this. If Lucifer isn't the Devil, what's the point of worshiping him? Is he an all-light god or a wizard father? is he a personal Daimon? A title? The mask of other deities? An aspect of Hecate, Helios?

Yes, all of that. As in Luciferian WiccaTM (a French branch of Wicca whose name is trademarked) my Lucifer is the god of the dawn and the Morning Star, a modern God I emphasize...and in my system the consort of ''Diana'', a Great Goddess (similar to historical Hekate equated with other goddesses) He's distinct from Prometheus in this case, and closer to the distinct gods Zeus, Helios, & Apollo, Hermès and Antinous.

For me Luciferism must be magical and disturbing, I cannot simply consider Apollo and Helios or Antinous from this angle: they are gods that I also worship but for obvious religious reasons. Hellenic Polytheism has Luciferian aspects but it's two different currents. Lucifer's Feri approach made me too many different gods, now that's clearer. And yes my guy, will have to go back to the wheel of the year too! 😰 (to the rescuers)

SYNCRETISM, CHECK 👍 Sorry Devil, sorry Saint-Expedite! Maybe in another life.

[barncultus]

A post I shared regarding my recent research comparing the figures of Asherah and Mary as continuations of goddess worship in the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean traditions. This is among the first of my academic work which I've chosen to share publicly, in small part due to how much context this study offered me into the modern draw towards duotheism in Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft circles.

[satanourunholylord]

Hello! I'm very new to the idea of The Satanic Temple and looking more into crystals and tarot readings. I've always believed in a magic energy and universal pulls. not so much a "higher being" like in most religions.

family was extremely catholic but i never believed any of that and moved onto other beliefs. im coming from Won Buddhism for its real world reach of ur own enlightenment which i do still believe.

any tips/advice on getting newly acquainted? should i look into other things besides the satanic temple? sry for the long ask!

I'm not a member of TST and I personally don't think very highly of them (excluding their sober faction) due to the founder's history of having white supremacist ties and opinions. I originally identified as a Laveyan Satanist starting out.

From my understanding, TST is purely atheistic and generally rejects all magic energies, crystal powers, witchcraft, etc. and anything that isn't firmly rooted in science, but I've met people who blend magic and witchcraft with TST beliefs just fine, so you do you.

Other branches to explore:

- Church of Satan/Laveyan Satanism (atheistic, but magic is acknowledged and encouraged) (most people would recommend The Satanic Bible as a starting point for reading)

- Temple of Set

- agnostic/theistic Satanism (authors Marie Ravensoul, Rev. Cain are good)

- Chaos Gnosticism (my beliefs would align somewhat with this)

- Luciferianism (can be atheistic, agnostic, or theistic) (focus on enlightenment, knowledge, personal growth)

- Demonolatry (theistic) (I use the demonolatry tarot deck Occult Tarot by Travis McHenry)

- Christian based duotheism/polytheism (generally theistic, but can be atheistic. There aren't rules to what you have to believe)

- Reactive Satanism (again, generally accepted as theistic/agnostic, but anything goes)

- Transcendental Satanism (this might be good if you're coming from a Buddhist perspective and wanting to maintain that aspect, although I've never personally looked much into it or read the book. All I know is an adult film director invented it in a dream)

Avoid (extreme right wing/neonazi):

- Order of Nine Angles

- Joy Of Satan

Crystal/tarot books:

'The Crystal Bible' 1, 2 and 3 are good, also 'The Book of Stones: Who They Are & What They Teach' (A recent addition to my collection which has proven to be quite helpful). 'The Ultimate Guide to The Rider Waite Tarot'

[tempestgnostic]

hey, i’m Taliesin! i’m the cool werewolf down the street. (i’m also the hot snake monster chilling at the bottom of the lake.) this blog is a mix of stuff about alterhumanity and my own identity, creative works from the community, a lot of Queer Shit, and fantastic memes for whenever you need a palate-cleanser.

i’ve got the Spicy Autism and i’ll infodump if you ask me to, though this blog won’t have much of that unless it’s related to my normal content. a couple of my special interests include historical and contemporary kink/BDSM, paganism and magical traditions, anthropology, specific video games (WoW and Destiny 2 are the most prominent), and Homestuck, particularly Classpect analysis (i run the @classpect-crew blog!)

i’m an eclectic pagan and a dedicant of Freyja, though i’ve also worked with Hel and Freyr. if you let me, i’ll talk your ear off about my problems with duotheism and the gender binary in religions like Wicca, or how some reconstructionist pagan groups refuse to see religion as a living, breathing tradition. oh, and if your paganism isn’t a) accessible for disabled people and b) actively opposed to all forms of bigotry, it’s shit paganism.

antisemites, TERFs, white nationalists, and other bigoted shitheels will be blocked on sight.

(additional note: i occasionally reblog posts with uncensored reclaimed slurs. while i don’t personally tag these, the tumblr blacklist feature afaik should allow you to blacklist specific words from posts as well.) i will do my best to tag posts with very bright color contrast/patterns/etc with #eye strain or #tw eye strain

[interlagosed]

Hi Hibi, hope you’re doing well.

I’ve just started my final writing project for uni and I’m trying to write a fantasy religious system. How did you write Revolución and duotheism to be so believable??

First of all, thank you for saying those stories are believable!! I feel like Revolución was a fever dream so I can't really say how that came about because even *I'm* still shocked that happened lol BUT at least with duotheism in TSOR, I can describe my thought process a bit! This is going to be long and possible unhelpful I'm so sorry lol.

TL;DR: what is the central tenet of the religion (if you had to boil it down, what is the elevator pitch of the religion?); what are people's motivations to follow the religion?; if the religion is successful, why is that (either geopolitically or individually)?; if the religion is a niche/persecuted religion, why?; if people leave the religion, why?; what are the consequences of leaving the religion?; and how does this serve the story? Another thing I would consider: is the religion/are the deities "real" within the universe?

I don't think this is dispositive at ALL but it helps that I myself am religious so I can put myself in characters' shoes and think "Okay, what would need to exist in a religious system that would compel basically an entire continent to follow a religion?" And then, the second question: "What would compel heresy to such an extent that an entire country would leave the religion?" Religions are super simple at their heart: what is the core tenet? There tend to be a few common organizing principles, and I thought it would be cool to play with the idea of balance as the core principle of my religion. Monotheism would look too similar to real world religions, and I didn't want to deal with the complexities of a pantheon, so I figured a two-deity religion would be both unique and well-positioned for balance. But I also didn't want to have it be as simple as light/dark. I wanted to think about balance as something other than a scale. So I created the Goddess first, as a deity that is much more like familiar to us: all-powerful, containing multitudes, but also capable of being basically what each individual worshipper needs her to be (which is why Charles sees her as a mother figure, but Carlos, for example, would see her as an Amazon warrior). But to make her more fallible, I gave her the trait of needing to be worshipped in order to protect her faithful, and of then manifesting that through a chosen family that would basically assure her worship.

The Unknowable One comes in as the left hand of the Goddess, basically. The way They manifest balance in Duotheism is by intervening to maintain the Tapestry (or fate). So the Goddess is much more grounded in the day to day of worship, and of human lives, whereas the Unknowable One has a macro view of the entire universe and all of time. They work together, but to very different ends. So the Goddess has her chosen family, and the Unknowable One is much more reclusive. They do not need worship in the same way—but they need individual agents with whom they can work to keep the general throughline of the universe straight. Hence Lando and Blanca, as the two heirs of the Duotheist countries, being chosen as the Unknowable One's agents.

Everything else just sort of came together as I wrote the story. Because it's fantasy, I could make things more magical, which is always fun! But I wanted to keep actual magic limited to the Leclercs instead of spreading the magical elements too thin. Other stuff is fantastical, but only the Leclercs are magical. Also I'm a geopolitics girlie so I really enjoyed thinking about how religion would work in this context.

As for the Heresy, it was as simple as looking around the world and being able to say "Some people will abandon their deepest held convictions for a shot at power" and also "Some people love their power so much that they mistrust anything that brings about change in their status." It's just a matter of thinking through how those qualities can be manipulated by politics.

NO CLUE IF THIS IS HELPFUL. I added the tldr questions up top hoping they'll actually be useful to you. GOOD LUCK AND KEEP ME POSTED.

[mask131]

Green spring: The Wiccan deities

THE WICCAN DEITIES

Category: Wicca

Wicca is without a doubt the first name that pops up when people speak of things such as “neo-paganism”, “new religion of the 20th century” or “modern witchcraft”. Wicca however is actually a very broad and large term that covers as much a religious movement as a school of esoteric and occultism, mixing a lot of different influences both ancient and modern, and just like any religion it covers a wide set of different branches, sects, interpretations and sub-types of “Wicca practice”. There are many different forms of “Wicca”, but they all at least agree on one point: there is a duo of deities that is at the central of the Wicca worship.

I) The divine couple

Wicca started out as a duotheistic religion, centered around two deities: the Goddess and the God, also known as the Lady and the Lord. I say “started out” because, as said previously, Wicca is a true religion with many different conflicting branches and traditions. Almost all of them however have this duotheistic focus on the Lord and the Lady – however it can range from a theist point of view worshipping the divine couple as literal gods, existing powers in the world ; to more atheist interpretations that rather interpret the God and the Goddess as symbols and archetypes, not as actual beings.

However a certain branch of Wicca (which with time seems to have grown in size, presence and influence) rejects a pure duotheism to rather embrace a form of henotheism – a refusal to deny or refute the existence of other deities. This form of Wicca decides to “include” or at least make “contact” with other mythologies and religions by considering that all the goddesses are actually just facets, aspects or incarnations of the Wiccan Goddess, the same way that all gods are just alternate names and identities of the Wiccan God. As a result you will have numerous Wiccans who consider that Kali from Hinduism, Eostre from Germanic mythology and the Catholic Virgin Mary are just different faces of their Goddess ; and others who will explain to you how and why Dionysos of the Greek myths, Cernunnos of the Celtic religion and the Judeo-christian Yahweh are all one and same God. Gardner himself (see below) compared the two to the duo of Isis and Osiris in Egyptian mythology. This is notably why the Wiccans adopted the denomination “Great God” and “Great Goddess”, to differentiate their deities from the “smaller” or “lesser “deities, which are just fragments of the “great” ones – others prefer the term “Universal Goddess” and “Universal God”.

There is also an actual current of polytheism among the Wicca branches, a small category of Wiccans deciding that yes, the other “lesser” gods do actually exist, even though they are all just “under” the main two deities – or all born/manifested out of the divine couple. This can even range into a fully animistic views, but that’s another topic.

The God and the Goddess embody a fundamental dualism: he is the masculinity, the force and the sun, where she is the femininity, the form and the moon. Their interactions are what made the world, nature is born out of the balance between them, and to understand the universe one must understand their union. The deities are manifested in the Wiccan religion by a High Priest and a High Priestess.

A last important part of the Wicca belief is the idea of the “manifestation” of the deities. Wiccans believe that the God and the Goddess, be them actual deities or psychological archetypes, can actually “manifest” to people in various ways – and while some believe in actual physical manifestations, others rather believe more in manifestations through dreams, or through the possession of Wiccan priesthood.

II) The Great Goddess

When it comes to the Wiccan deities, the most common name/appearance/characterization of the Wiccan goddess is “The Triple Goddess”. However it wasn’t how she started out…

You see, Wicca was formed and influenced in its early days by many early 20th century/late 19th century researches about prehistorical religion, and the “truth” behind the “witch-cults” of Europe. And the thoughts of people such as Margaret Murray or Gerald Gardner was that in the Stone Age, people worshipped a primordial duo of deities known as the Horned God and the Mother Goddess – a simple worship that was replaced by the most complex ones of Antiquity, but that still survived in Europe under rural cults that were considered to be “witches” by the Christian church and persecuted as such. It was these “primordial deities”, considered to be the “tribal deities of the British Isles”, that Wicca tried to re-include, rehabilitate and restore in their religion, and so the Goddess original form was the one of the Mother Goddess, a deity of life and fertility with a particular focus on springtime, an “ideal of feminity” who was the goddess of the “gatherers” of the hunter-gathered duo of the Stone Age, and the feminine power worshipped by “witches”. Gerald Gardner, who was the man that established the Wiccan core tradition and made the movement public in the 50s, claimed that the true names of the deities had to be kept secret – before an “leak” revealed that the rites of the Gardnerian tradition worshipped the goddess under the name “Aradia”. This promptly led the name of the deities to be changed, in order to keep the secret. According to Gardnerian Wicca, the Mother Goddess, also called the Great Mother, is the one who offers love to the living, and regeneration/rebirth to the dead – she is simultaneously the Eternal Virgin and the Primordial Enchantress, and she is connected to the moon, the stars and the sea. In other mythologies and religions she is known as Brigit, Hecate, Diana or Gaea, and she is said to “conceive and contain” all life within her – which is why Wiccans held life itself to be sacred, and consider all living beings to be divine. As a Moon goddess, she is also considered to be the goddess of menstruation.

However, this original characterization of the “Mother Goddess” promptly got fused/replaced by another “identity” that is the most famous one today: the identity of the Triple Goddess. A goddess that manifests as a trinity identified as Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, representing respectively virginity, fertility and wisdom (though the Gardnerian influence still kept the “Mother” facet the most important and prominent of the three). On top of representing the three “ages” of the “female life”, the three “faces” of this Goddess also represents the three aspects of the Moon: the Maiden is the waxing moon, the Mother is the full moon and the Crone is the waning moon.  This triple nature also allows the Goddess to rule over the three realms of the world: heavens, earth and the underworld. Through the three processes of sexuality, pregnancy and breastfeeding the women “embody” the Goddess or make their own bodies sacred to her. The Triple Goddess is a force of change and a symbol of self-transformation. The Maiden embodies birth and youth, enchantment and beginnings, inception and expansion ; the Mother is sexuality and stability, power and life, ripeness and fulfilment; as for the Crone, she is repose, death and endings.

The concept of the Triple Goddess doesn’t actually originates from Wicca, but from other writings of the early 20th century. Most notorious and influential of them being Robert Graves’ works, his two books “The White Goddess” and “The Greek Myths”, which proposed a personal and “poetic” re-reading and re-interpretation of the Greek myths, in the light/in comparison with Celtic myths, leading notably to the creation of a reconstructed divine figure, the “Triple Goddess”. This poetic and literary theory was taken back by other figures of myth studies and comparative mythology, such as Jane Ellen Harrison, Marija Gimbutas or Karl Kerenyi, defending the concept of a Triple Moon Goddess worshipped by early European cultures and that manifested the most clearly in Greek mythology. Indeed most of the “manifestations” and “proofs” of the Triple Goddess come from Greek mythology: the Charites (Graces), the Horae (Seasons), the Moirai (Fates), the goddess Hecate (a triple-deity), the trinity of Demeter/Persephone/Hecate, but also a local cult of Hera as “Girl, Adult woman and Widow”… Though the construction of the Triple Goddess also included non-Greek elements, such as the Hindu Tridevi. Of course this was a very controversial take and idea, that based itself primarily on poetic systems and literary evidence while being contested by more cultural/historical/archeological elements, but it was nonetheless a concept popular and influential enough to reach both Carl Jung (who made it one of his famous “Jungian archetypes”) and the Wiccans.

III) The Great God

As said above, according to the theory of the “Stone Age duo”, the Wiccan Lord was (and is still) most widely and commonly interpreted as the Horned God, worshipped by the hunters of the hunter-gatherer duo, and who was the so called “dark goat/devil” worshipped by the cults persecuted during the witch trials. And unlike the Mother Goddess, who got replaced by the Triple Goddess, the Horned God stuck around and didn’t change much.

He is the perfect complement of the Mother Goddess: he is the god of nature and death, an “ideal of masculinity” with a particular focus on animals. He is the Garnerian god of hunting and magic, connected to the sun and the forests, who rules over the paradise known as the “Summerlands”. He is a force of sexuality, wilderness and life cycles who is usually depicted as a man with horns or antlers, embodying the “union of the animal and the divine” and carrying the souls of the dead away from the world of the living.

The Horned God’s correspondence in other pantheons include Cernunnos (Gaul), Lugh (Irish), Herne the Hunter (English), Pan (Greek), Faunus (Roman), Brân (Welsh), Wayland the Smith (Germanic), Tubal-cain (Biblical) and Pashupati (Indian). In fact, Cernunnos was the initial “secret name” of the Lord, just like “Aradia” was for the Lady, before its public revelation led to the keepers of the Gardnerian tradition to change his secret appellation. Other used and known name for the God are mostly deformations of “Cernunnos”: Kernunno, Janicot, Karnayna, Atho… The Horned God is also recognized by Wiccans as being the Leader of the Wild Hunt (often said to take place at Imbolc, 1st of February), which he leads as the “Lord of Death and Resurrection”.

The most common consideration among Wiccans is that where the Goddess is triple, the God is double: he has a “dark” and a “bright” faces representing the duality of nature – night and day, summer and winter. Alongside the three faces of the Goddess, the two faces of the God makes the Wiccan Pentagram, and Wiccans associate it with the folkloric figures known as The Holly King and the Oak King, male seasonal embodiments said to each rule over a different part of the year (the hot and sunny part of the Oak King, the cold and dark part for the Holly King). A lesser tradition rather considers that the God should be equal to the Goddess and thus have also three faces representing the “ages” of a man’s life – these Wiccans worship the God as the Youth (or the Warrior), the Father and the Sage.

The Lord is at the same time the lover and the child of the Goddess, the “spark of life and inspiration” within her (which is why alternate titles and identities to “The Horned God” are “The Son God”, “The Lover God” or the “Divine Child”, associated with the worship of the Christ Child). It is said that the Lord follows a seasonal life centered around the Goddess, according to the series of festivals and holidays known by the Wiccans as “The Wheel of the Year”. The Lord is born in winter out of the Goddess, grows in spring, becomes the lover of the Goddess in summer, and after impregnating her dies in autumn, before being reborn the next winter. That being said, the exact dates of each of the God’s life-events are up to debate: for example Wiccans debate whether the God dies on Lammas (August 1st), on Mabon (the autumn equinox) or in Samhain (October 31st).

A last debate about the God is about the… let’s say “alternate identities”. You see, the idea of the God/the Lord being identified as the Horned God isn’t favored by all. Some Wiccans will drop other names. The Divine Child or the Sacrificial God have been talked about before, but two identities notably stood out from the others: The Vegetation God, tied to the Oak King/Holly King duality and representing a Wiccan appropriation of the Green Man figure; and the Sun God, considered to the at the center of the Wiccan holiday of Lughnasadh/Lammas. And while some people consider these identities to be just alternate names/faces of the Horned God (who is associated with the sun and the forests), others argue that these might be distinct deities… And this range from people talking of them as separate male gods existing alongside the Horned God, to either the Green Man or the Sun God being actually the “true” Lord/Great God, not the Horned God. But usually, it results in the three figures being mixed together (it isn’t uncommon to see Wiccan imagery have a Green Man with antlers or a Horned God crowned with sunrays).

- - - - - -

While I said the Wiccan religion became more and more polytheistic as time went on, another side of the Wiccan religion also became more and more monotheistic as time went on. This is notably due to one of Gardner’s original stance, which made the Wiccan religion slightly agnostic: he was certain that beyond the two Wiccan deities existed a Supreme Deity, or Prime Mover, which was too complex for humans to understand. Gardner claimed it was a divinity in a purely deistic form, and that had created the “Under-Gods”, such as the Lady and the Lord, but who hadn’t done anything to the world (isn’t ruling it, didn’t create it, just created the “Under-Gods”).

This interpretation was also popularized among Wiccans under a more pantheistic perception, some claiming that the God and the Goddess were actually the two faces of one same being, the same way all the “lesser gods” were just aspects of the Lord and the Lady, making it so that all the gods and goddesses are one deity ; other rather invoking “The One” as being more of a great impersonal force from which the Lord and the Lady manifested.

Now, Gardner deeply hated and criticized monotheism (he notably invoked the “problem of evil” as one of the biggest ways to break down monotheistic religions), and yet in the 60s and 70s a strong monotheistic current formed itself among Wiccans. A monotheism focused over the Goddess, and rejecting the existence of the Lord or any “supreme entity” beyond the Lady. To talk about a precise example, the most commonly accused is the “Dianic Wicca” branch, a group of Wiccans who formed in the 70s as an all-female cult, centered entirely around feminine experience and female power, and who only considers one Goddess and no other deity (this branch is heavily influenced by the book “Aradia, or the Gospel of Witches” and keeps its traditions that the “witches” of Europe were part of an all-female cult and secret matriarchal society worshipping a goddess who was at the same time Aradia, Diana, Aphrodite and Herodias). Dianic Wiccans are very different from “traditional” Wiccans, and in fact many of the “traditional” Wiccans actively criticized and rejected the Dianic Wiccans by accusing them of merely being “Christianity reversed”, replacing all the “Him” and “His” by “Her” and “Hers”.

But the Dianic Wicca itself is actually part of a much wider movement of neo-paganism of the second half of the 20th century commonly referred today as the “Goddess movement”, a huge wave of different Neopaganism cults, beliefs and philosophies that rejected dominant masculinity and the patriarchal mindset.

As a departing thought: while the idea of the Triple Goddess as “Maiden/Mother/Crone” as adopted and popularized by Wiccans is the iconic iteration of this trinity, in the books that started it all, Robert Graves’ books, the identities of the Triple Goddess as much less clear cut… As I said before, these books proposed a “poetic” reinterpretation and reading of the Greco-Celtic myths, Graves himself being a poet. He firmly opposed the “scholarly” readings and analysis of the myths, claiming them to be too much “prose”, and rather wanted to return to the “poetry” of the Greek texts… But poetry being poetry, Graves never had anything set in stone. He laid out three different “trinities” that could represent the Triple Goddess. One is the iconic Maiden/Mother/Crone, but another focused on the woman’s sexuality towards the man is “Maiden/Nymph/Hag”, and a third one centered around the role of a woman in a man’s life is “Mother/Bride/Layer-out”. He also evoked the moon goddess as manifesting through the Maiden (New Moon), Nymph (Full Moon) and Mother (Old Moon)… He even complexified the system as a “three-in-three” deity at some points, claiming that the Goddess manifested as the goddess of the underworld, the goddess of the earth and the goddess of the heavens, each with its own three sub-faces: the goddess of the heavens is the New, Full and Waning moon ; the goddess of the earth is Spring, Summer and Winter ; the goddess of the underworld is Birth, Procreation and Death. I mention that because many non-Wiccan neo-pagans grew dissatisfied with the idea of the Triple Goddess, thinking the Maiden/Mother/Crone concept to be stereotypical, reductive or even offensive, and returning to Graves’ books and writings to find more suitable “aspects” or “faces” of the Goddess.

[virovac]

Been thinking ways to refresh Unicron

I dislike the multiverse/duotheism take on him and Primus that developed compared to the out-of-context problem. I think its cooler if Primus and Unicron are for all their power just one of many wonders in the universe. Sure they may have had a role in the universes formation, but building on their first origin of being opposing sides of an army fighting over a new universe, I’d imagine many entities are drawn to new universes for own reasons. Lovecraft aesthetics are overdone, but a cool thing was the implication in his Dreamlands stories that the Outer Gods, which were the “GOD” gods, had larvae , reproduction cycles and an ecosystem on a scale or nature we can’t comprehend.

Instead of generic primal evil vs good, I’d imagine that their reasons for coming to the universe might be incomprehensible to us. But whatever their reasons for coming their goals were incompatible. And like the Marvel comics, Primus won.

In this take, Unicron would be well a ghost and Primus (or the trace left behind on the new universe) past their divine reproductive stage and an elder struggling with lack of purpose.

And coming back to this take, I have the idea that Primus helped multiple mechanical worlds be created with the assistance of precursor civilizations...only for one to develop to become planetcidal and merge with/reincarnate into Unicron as upgraded themselves.

Combine technological horror with rage of a god denied.

Imagine Unicron keeping some inhabitants of destroyed planet alive as symbionts to deal with parasites and intruders.

[traegorn]

Kind of related to an ask you answered earlier today, and apologies if this is something you've mentioned on your podcast before (been awhile since I've listened to a lot of them). You listed belief in the Wiccan God and Goddess on your Wiccan 'checklist', but I'm curious what you think of hard polytheist Wiccans vs the usual duotheism? Specifically hard polytheism, since I know some kind of soft polytheism isn't unheard of in giving the God and Goddess specific faces

So that checklist is my personal set of evaluative criteria, and while I advocate for it -- I'm not actually in charge of everyone (regardless of what my TikTok says). 😆

I don't know man. Like the version that isn't hard polytheism ("[X God or Goddess] is a face of The [God/dess] and so that's how I worship them") is compatible with my list, but that's not what you're asking about.

So while I would never say they couldn't call themselves Wiccan, I'd definitely want to have a conversation about it with them? Like it's a perspective I'd want to hear in a corner of a quiet bookstore.

(And also it's entirely possible to believe in the Wiccan God and Goddess and also think other pantheons gods are real in some way. Shit gets complicated when you start asking what makes something a "god")

[sovaghoul]

Theism

The main Wiccan view of Deity is that of the Union of the Horned God with the Great Mother Goddess. Yes, this view engages with the traditional cisgender binary, and also heteronormativity. I’ll comment on those issues in another post.

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This Union is related to the Sabbat (holiday) celebrations throughout the year; the God is born at Yule, grows in strength till Midsummer, declines during the Fall months, and is reborn again. He lives and dies for the sake of the people and the land, growing with the seedlings and dying with the harvest. The Goddess is either Mother or Wife to Him, depending on the moment in the cycle. This is not, however, an incestuous relationship, but part of the Mystery of the Divine Union. The Goddess is specifically honored during Moon rituals, called Esbats, with the Full Moon seen as the height of Her power.

The names of the Gods honored in Gardner’s original rituals are Oathbound, so when word of this path began spreading, the names were replaced with titles such as, “the God and Goddess” or, “the Lord and Lady.” The use of these titles, however, was misinterpreted as meaning Wiccans believed their Gods were THE Gods, Deities Most High the way the God of Abrahamlic faiths is thought of. However, the actual intention was the same as saying, “I’m going to the doctor today,” a linguistic place holder for a proper name.

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☀️🪦 The Wiccan God is the Lord of Nature, the Sun King, and the Horned One of Death. He embodies both passion and solemnity, the brilliance of all life under the Sun, and the stillness of the darkest depths of the Underworld. He inspires heady revelry, and leads the Wild Hunt. We see Him in animals, forests, and the blaze of the Sun. He dances in the flames of candles and bonfires alike, and we hear His voice on the wind.

🌙🌎 The Goddess of Wicca is the Mother of all life and the deep, abiding love that gives us to rebirth. She is Queen of the Heavens and of the Faerie Realms. She is Wisdom and Mystery, Wife and Virgin, Queen and Witch. She is reflected in the light of the Moon and the waves of the oceans. She is the warmth of the Earth and the glittering of the stars.

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Many words can apply to my personal view of the nature of Deity, that may or may not be shared by others;

Monism: I believe that, ultimately, all Divinity and existence stem from a single source of “God stuff,” that both encompasses and transcends name and form (this differs from monotheism, in that I do not claim there is one God, but instead that all is One, and that All is God/Divine). This Source defies and transcends all Its divisions, having both no and all genders, both darkness and light, and all the shades between.

Duotheism: I believe in the Divine Union of Masculine and Feminine energies, and that all life and Divinity spring from this Union (the Union itself being a dualistic manifestation of monism, as was explained above. It is a more simplified explanation and understanding of that Oneness).

Polytheism: I believe there is more than one God and more than one Goddess, that the names and faces recognized by other cultures and paths are further expressions of the unified Divine. However, this does not mean I view all those manifestations as wholly interchangeable. Zeus is a very different God-King from Odin, for example.

Pantheism: I believe the physical universe itself is Divine, and thus infuses all forms of existence with Divinity, with that “God stuff.”

Panentheism: I believe there is more to the Divine than the physical universe, that Divinity is comprised of, encompasses, and transcends this physical plane simultaneously.

Animism: I believe all entities have their own spark of Divinity that is uniquely theirs, yet all made up of that same “God stuff.”

Henotheism: I believe all views of the Divine are valid, even if they differ from my own; I contend that all God-forms exist and that They are real and valid, even if my specific practice does not focus on Them.

But perhaps the most important term is Nondualism: I believe all these views are not only valid, but accurate, and not at all in conflict with each other. I don’t see the nature of the Divine as either/or, but rather both/and.

For clarification’s sake, think about the concept of Divinity as being like the ocean. In the ocean, there are innumerable drops of water, and those drops can be broken down further into molecules and atoms even. Each atom, each molecule, each drop is indeed an individual entity unto itself. However, they are all still simultaneously part of the ocean, are made up of the same “ingredients” as the rest of the ocean, and can also take on different forms (it can evaporate into vapor, or freeze into ice). It’s all still water, but can be viewed and appreciated in its other forms as well.

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There are those who practice what has come to be called “hard polytheism,” believing that every Deity is separate and individual unto Themselves, without a monistic, pan- or panentheistic idea of a higher source. My view, in contrast, can be described as “soft polytheism,” since I do see the Gods as separate, yet still pieces of something greater, and in that way united.

To me, it’s all a matter of scale. When we talk in terms of humans, do we mean each individual person, or humankind as a greater whole, unique upon the Earth? Each person is independently alive, but so is each cell that makes up a person. So, are the gods as individual as “humanity,” or as a single person, or as a single cell? And how “individual” is that, when looked at on a grander scale? These are rhetorical questions, the answers to which depend on your view, your gnosis, your experience, and the situation at hand. But it’s something to think about.

In most practices though, it doesn’t matter if all involved agree on the “true” nature of the Divine’s existence, as long as they can agree on the specific God forms being honored. If all participants in a ritual can agree that the God and Goddess they are calling on are, say, Isis and Osiris, and it’s understood what these Gods represent, it doesn’t matter if one person views Them as wholly individual and another believes They are part of something greater.

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In closing, here is a quote from the novel “Lord of Light” by Roger Zelazny, that struck a chord with me the moment I read it. It struck me as truth, and one of the most concise and beautiful descriptions of the condition of Godhood I‘ve yet encountered:

“Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being. One does not achieve it merely by being immortal […] Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken. […] Being a god is being able to recognize within one’s self these things that are important, and then strike the single note that brings them into alignment with everything else that exists. Then, beyond morals or logic or esthetics, one is wind or fire, the sea, the mountains, the rain, the sun or the stars, the flight of an arrow, the end of a day, the clasp of love. One rules through one’s ruling passions. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, ‘He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love.’ […] they do not call themselves gods. Everyone else does, though, everyone who beholds them.”

Next post: Magick

[lowkeynando]

traditions.

Wicca is typically duotheistic, worshipping and/ or working with a Goddess and a God. These are traditionally viewed as the Triple Goddess and the Horned God, respectively. These deities may be regarded in a henotheistic way, as having many different divine aspects which can in turn be identified with many diverse pagan deities from different historical pantheons. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as the "Great Goddess" and the "Great Horned God", with the adjective "great" connoting a deity that contains many other deities within their own nature. Some Wiccans refer to the goddess deity as the "Lady" and the god deity as the "Lord"; in this context, when "lord" and

"lady" are used as adjectives, it is another way of referring to them as a divine figure. These two deities are sometimes viewed as facets of a greater pantheistic divinity, which is regarded as an impersonal force or process rather than a personal deity. While duotheism or bitheism is traditional in Wicca, broader Wiccan beliefs can encompass polytheism, pantheism, monism, and Goddess monotheism. Others view them as the Universal God and Goddess Who proceed from the One.

Wiccan celebrations encompass both the cycles of the Moon, known as Esbats and commonly associated with the Goddess (female deity), and the cycles of the Sun, seasonally based festivals as CLONES

[reno-matago]

[Creation of my own Wiccan Tradition]

THOUGHTS - PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY

Erikapaios (Orphic God, the Lord, Lucifer) & Nyx ( The Lady Night ) ''give birth'' by Spirit (Blue Fire) to/ or incarnate as - Eros and Tanathos (Divine Twins of Feri) & to all divinities (of Hellenistic Polytheism), including the Witch Mothers (Circé, Hecate, Nyx, Séléné, Medea ~ traditional witchcraft). This Wicca is duotheist (of course) and very Polytheistic.

The Gods are also the Divine Twins, (Feri Tradition) Pillars of the Wild (The World described in Strix Craft) & the Civilised (Helpol), Artémis & Apollo, The Dioscuri..but also the Red and the Green Man of Blue Rose Feri: Pan & Dionysos. Gender is fluid.

The Blue God is Eros. Arddhu is Tanathos.

Quacoralina is Nyx.

Lucifer, the God, is Erikapaios/ Phanes. (Luciferianism), but also Apollo and Helios. He's may be Abraxas.

Lucifera is also Hekate, Séléné, or Hestia (fundation of the cult amongst human).

Being Luciferians, these Gods remains separate individuals: Hekate is not Nyx, Helios is not Erikapaios. Hestia is not Hecate !!

The goddess of the Esbat is Selene. Hecate is honored by the Deipnon. Dionysos, Aphrodite and Pan, Hermès, Apollon, the Kharites, are important, with Artémis (1st Goddess who visited Gaul) ( Zeus, Asclépios, Hadès ,etc) Primal Gods, Titans and Olympians are worshipped. Heroes too.

The Wheel of the Year is informed by Strix Craft. The calendar incluses also famous greek festivals. There is a myth close to Traditionnal Gardnerian Wicca but only as a formula of invitation of the Goddess and the God: the ''Sabbats''honor individual Gods (Hestia : february the first, etc)

There are other festivals for the Theoi and the Witches.

The Queen of Witches is Circé who also represent ontological anarchy (Chaos, Hakim Bey), the Black Heart of Innocence.

She's the (spiritual) daughter of Hekate & She's a Goddess.Witchcraft is informed by the Land spirits and french folklore can be invited as long as it stays under the patronage of Hecate, the Queen Circé, (to be continued) Hecate bears the Witch Fire and Kirke is the one I chose to transmit it. Some special Tools.

The Divine Initiate is Antinous (the Blue Lotus)

There are 3 types of Ancestors.

This Wicca is dynamic equilibrium between duotheism and polytheism in my own tradition. It names Orphic Gods but isn't initiatory and accessible to all. It's not ''Orphic''. It is the Wiccan Twin of Strix Craft. It is Luciferian.

Respect to Traditionnal Wicca: • Circle: insist, but all spells do not fit well with a Circle casting (powder-spells, etc) • 4 Guardians: _______• Elemental workings • Tools •

Death - Hermes Psychopompe > the Garden of Persephone.

There are 3 souls, 3 Worlds, et 4 main categories of Divinities and spirits : Red, White, Glas, Black. The Witch Can work with many spirits (Médusa, Helios, etc) : this Wicca is deeply informed by Feri, but is not Feri.

This Wicca has 4 focus: Relationship (The Gods and the Self) , Nature (spirits) , Witchcraft and Community (Wicca, Helpol, Witches, Strix Craft)The Goddess Can manifest by the Pentacle of Iron, The God by the Pearl Pentacle (or the other way) etc

Values: to be continued. No Threefold Law.

To be continued.

That's all, folks!

[theupsidenews]

Adelaide Fringe Review: Angellis Taliuu: Duotheism – A Dark Sound Bath – The Lab, 2023

It was a wonderful show to watch the audience as most drifted into meditative states, allowing the perfectly harmonious sound and the immersion of the 360 imagery that drifted between tense and calm.

A place of calm, and thoughtfulness in a month filled with loud shows, colours and noises. Angellis Taliuu slows his audience down for an hour of immersion in ‘solfeggio’ frequencies which are said to offer a range of physical and mental health benefits, helping to synchronise brain waves to bring about a deep state of relaxation. The pairing of Angellis Taliuu and The Lab was a perfect match…

[seasonofthewitvh]

please, if any of you have any information on Dianic Wicca, send it to me over ask! It’s for a piece of writing not personal craft, but I’m interested in gathering your knowledge. It will be anonymous!

[draftarrowconjury]

Title: “As Solve, So Coagula”

Collage on 12x16 canvas by Tracy Jordan Furrow 2018

Materials: · Xacto knife · Mod Podge · Books · Magazines · Calendars · Tarot Cards · Canvas

[bemvindosaofim]

[ As Três Religiões ] UNOTEÍSMO (Crer em um Único Deus): Judaísmo ‒ 1ª Religião Cristianismo ‒ 2ª Religião Islamismo ‒  3ª Religião (Dentro da Crença do Deus Único) DUOTEÍSMO (Crer em Dois Deus): Bestianismo ‒ 3ª Religião (Fora da Crença do Deus Único) #TerceiraReligião