77%
Confidence
Belief overview
Goddess and God
Many currents work with a symbolic or devotional polarity between divine feminine and masculine.
3
Supportive
0
Contrary
1
Neutral
What it is: A large number of Wiccan traditions speak of Goddess and God as principal forms of expression of the divine.
How the tradition understands it: This language can indicate ritual duotheism, functional polytheism, faces of a greater reality, or archetypal structures, depending on the current.
Textual basis and context: The divine polarity appears in liturgies, invocations, and formative materials since the early developments of modern Wicca.
Debates and variations: Not all Wiccan practice formulates theology in the same way; there are divergences about literality, the centrality of the Goddess, and multiplicity of divine names.
Documentary evidence
Supportive
Doreen Valiente, Charge of the Goddess
A widely used liturgical text about the presence and voice of the Goddess.
Reference: Doreen Valiente, Charge of the Goddess.
Content: This liturgical piece invokes the Goddess and articulates themes of ritual freedom, nature, love, and mystery.
Use in debate: It is one of the best-known sources for devotion to the Goddess and for the idea of the immanence of the sacred.
Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Witches’ God
A complementary work on masculine figures of the divine.
Reference: Janet Farrar and Stewart Farrar, The Witches’ God.
Content: The volume explores names, symbols, and functions of masculine forms of the divine in modern ritual context.
Use in debate: It is important for the Goddess-God polarity in various currents.
Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Witches’ Goddess
A work about the names, forms, and attributes of the Goddess.
Reference: Janet Farrar and Stewart Farrar, The Witches’ Goddess.
Content: The book gathers material on multiple expressions of the feminine sacred in modern pagan practice.
Use in debate: It is useful for the theological diversity of language about the Goddess.
Neutral
Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon
A landmark academic study on the history of modern British paganism.
Reference: Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon.
Content: The work investigates the historical formation of Wicca and contemporary paganism through a critical academic approach.
Use in debate: It is central to discussions of history, origin myths, and the modern development of the tradition.