Story Page

By Okelle

It is hard to describe the difference between the masculine and feminine principles of divinity without slipping into dangerous generalizations. I myself often have difficulty with the words that some Wiccans use, because it is far too easy to extrapolate those differences onto individual men and women. When I say that the Goddess is the earth itself, and the God is the wild thing that runs on the earth, I am not saying that all women are like the earth and all men are like wild animals. Each of us carries a mix of the masculine and feminine within them. The God and the Goddess are present in all of us.

I also question whether looking at divinity in terms of God and Goddess is a false dichotomy. We have been trained to think of things in terms of either/or. But modern gender theory has called into question whether or not there are actually two genders.

More importantly, the essence of the Divine transcends gender just as it transcends race, nationality, or even religion. God/dess is too big to fit into any of those boxes. We simply place upon God the mask that suits us best. The God of your understanding may be different than that of your neighbors, but it does not effect the true nature of the Divine. It doesn't even touch it.

Some Christians will tell you that God has no gender. Yet most Christian rituals constantly refer to Him as the the Lord and the Father. And Christianity is not the only religion that looks at divinity through a masculine looking glass. Many women feel excluded, not fully part of a tradition that does not present the Divine in a face that they can relate to. Recognizing divinity in its feminine aspect is important because it affirms the divinity in women as well. It's no coincidence that the Virgin Mary is a major figure in the Catholic Church -- she filled the Goddess-shaped hole left in the hearts of the converted.

The Dianic tradition is important because it creates a safe space for women to explore their spirituality. Practitioners of this female-centered tradition devote their energy solely to the Goddess and usually do not allow men in their circles. Some women who are just discovering the Goddess will find these circles a wonderful place to grow. Lesbian and bisexual women may also find them a welcome oasis in an oppressively heterosexist society.

Just as a feminine Godhead is important for women, so is a masculine one important for men. Many pagan groups hold women's and men's circles that allow members to better commune with members of their own gender, and to concentrate on God or Goddess.

The transgendered among us also deserve a Godhead they can identify with -- and indeed, many deities, especially those involved in creation myths, have demonstrated an ability to cross gender lines.

Blessed be,
Okelle

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Creating Religion
By Alaine VioletMoon

Wicca is often called the Old Religion, because it is based on the teachings of the old, pagan religions and
the old art of witchcraft. The Wheel of the Year, our symbols (Yule log, jack-o-lanterns, the pentagram,
the circle etc.) and our beliefs are all hand-me-downs from the Druids and other European pagan
traditions. Wicca, in its current form, is the revival of the old beliefs in an attempt to bring people closer
to the earth and subsequently closer to each other.

Because Wicca is a bona fide religion, it does adhere to certain beliefs and practices, and does embrace
folklore and tradition all its own, and its practitioners do share things in common. However, it angers me
whenever I hear, "Wiccans do this" or "Wiccans do that" without adding the fact that many Wiccans may
not "do that" at all. For example, I once read that "Wiccans worship skyclad", or nude. The first thing I
thought was, "Oh really? I should remind myself of this the next time I don my Wiccan Robe. For I always
thought I was a Wiccan, but I almost never practice skyclad!"

The truth of the matter is that although Wicca is a reincarnation of an older religion (or perhaps several
old religions), the truth is that Wicca is an infant religion, and therefore is enduring growing pains, and
continual change. Every time a new person adorns the title of a Wiccan Witch and initiates herself into the
religion of the Goddess, she carries with her new beliefs, new practices, and new ways of doing things. She
brings with her a breath of fresh air, and because of it, she changes our religion. Wicca is a religion of
action, not of pure belief. For example, just because you believe in the Goddess doesn't make you a
Wiccan. In order to be Wiccan, you must act on your actions. You must learn, you must teach, you must
give thanks, you must integrate yourself with nature and the earth. And every new person that does these
things changes what Wicca is.

Many traditionalists don't like this idea. It upsets them that any person could alter the religion of Gardener
and give it a new dimension. But if they had their way, Wicca would die. Wicca would become all action
and no meaning, and when this happens, religion simply becomes dogmatic and it dies. Wicca is fluid, and
it is metamorphic. When we practice Wicca we are allowed to come into it and plunge our hands into it and
change it from the inside. Wicca does not contain the dreaded "Look but don't touch" philosophy.
Whenever we come together to worship, we may add new phrases or images that may change our minds
about how we envision the Goddess, and when we do that we change our religious beliefs without
completely changing religions. It is for that reason that Wicca is so accessible. As long as we continue to
accept the basic tenets of Wicca, we can add to it almost anything we want. We don't have to name the
Goddess Diana, we don't have to worship skyclad, we don't have to cast a circle and we don't have to
believe in reincarnation. Wicca is as we are.

The reason that Wicca allows us to do this is because the Goddess is within us. Most people come to Wicca
of their own free will; very few of us are actually born into it. Because of this, those of us who come to
Wicca and remain here do so because something inside us was drawn to this religion: somehow, we are
supposed to be Witches.We cannot ignore that calling, and we cannot push it away. So we come to Wicca
and embrace it as our own, and change it to make it fit. The Goddess has chosen us to walk this path, and
because she chose us, she accepts our changes to her religion. The Goddess defines what religion is
(because all belongs to Her), but because the Goddess is within us, we aid that definition. We are the
changers; we are the creators. When the Goddess works, she works through us. She gives us the power, and
because of it, no Grand Council of Witches, regardless of their lineage, can manipulate the religion of
Wicca. No one can stop Wicca from growing and changing. What the Goddess wills of us will come to pass.

The immanence of the Goddess is central to Wicca, and when I talk about "immanence of the Goddess" I am
not talking about the idea of Goddess--I am not talking about Diana, or Hecate, or Isis or Inanna. I am
talking about what Goddess represents--growth, fertility, creation, invention, imagination. Because this
energy is an integral part of who we are, it validates us and our beliefs. I have often been asked, "Who am
I to comment on the philosophies of Wicca? Who am I to write my own Full Moon Ritual? Who am I to
teach another the way of the Craft?"

When I come across this person, I immediately challenge them with, "Who are you? Who are you, period?"
They often fumble, confused, searching for the "right answer". They may answer, "I am Julie. I'm an
artist. I'm a woman. I'm an American." Or they may answer, "I'm no one."

Both answers are insufficient of course, though the latter is far worse. That person who answers "I am no
one" is the very person who most desperately needs to comment on the philsophies of Wicca, or to write
her own ritual, or to teach another the way of the Craft. The reason is because doing makes it so. When we
create or give thought to what we believe, we are examining ourselves and understanding who we are. We
are, after all, not much more than what we love, believe and dream. If a person answers, "I am no one",
she doesn't understand her own self worth, or at least she doubts it. But if she makes herself answer the
questions above, she affirms her own self worth. She becomes able to define herself.

But the main reason these answers are insufficient is because it shows that somewhere along the line they
have missed the point of Wicca. When I ask them "Who are you?" I don't mean "What are your functions in
the mundane world?" I mean for them to examine their place within their religion. They are children of the
Goddess. They are priests and priestesses, they are witches, and most importantly, they are the Goddess.
That gives them the right, that gives them the power to create ritual, to teach their Craft, to create
religion.

Too many times, we witches doubt ourselves. We say to ourselves, "I'll never get that spell to work" or we
worry that we have fallen out of favor with the Goddess. We fail to understand that immanence means
never having to say "I can't", because immanence grants power, and as long as we are willing to use that
power, we always can. All we have to do is ask ourselves, "Who am I?" and when we answer back, "I am
the Goddess", nothing can stop us.

Creating religion means accepting your self worth enough to contribute to your belief system. If you don't
believe that your philosophies are worthy of sharing, then you cannot shape your religion, and it will die.
Human beings, like the universe, are interactive: we take in images and impressions from our environment,
and they shape who we are, yet at the same time, we constantly change our environment. This process is
eternally on-going, and as long as we live, we change the world and it changes us. But if none of us adds
anything new to our world, the world cannot change, and neither can we. We must be willing to share our
beliefs, to change our environment, and to grow.

Creating religion does not mean opening up a blank book, writing down ten rules that all your followers
must adhere to and then charge three hundred dollars for a weekend session. Creating religion does not
mean inventing gods or a new set of ethics. Creating religion means turning philosophy into passion.
Someone once told me that "anything you feel passionately about becomes religion." Simply going through
the motions, lighting candles and dancing around the may pole is not practicing Wicca. Wicca is religion,
and religion requires passion. And yet whatever we feel passionately about will change us, and in turn we
will change it. Remember, that which you hold, holds you. We're all in this together, so the price might as
well be worth the reward. Therefore, creating religion means turning a mundane philosophical belief
system into a tangible, metamorphic lifestyle, rather than maintaining a static form. Creating religion
means making your belief the whole of your life--living by what you preach, and leading by example.
Creating Wicca means pairing deeply rooted and deeply loved philosophical beliefs with the magick,
turning the mundane into the spiritual, and turning the mystical into material.