Wicca 101: The Lord, the Lady, and the All (Deity Concepts)

Many people have heard of the religion of Wicca but don't know what exactly this brand of Paganism entails. Just what do Wiccans believe in, who or what do they worship? It is mistakenly believed that Wiccans worship nature, but this is just one of many myths about the Wiccan faith. Another myth is that we are all polytheistic. I cannot speak for all Wiccans, only for myself and most I have encountered. Let me attempt to explain a Pagan take on God and diety.

Do you worship nature? No. We believe in respecting nature and all life, taking only what we need from nature, and being kind to the creatures of nature. "Heed ye flower, bush, and tree." Most of us do not worship nature. We worship the Great Mother, also known as Mother Nature, and the Lord, also known as Father Time. Some do worship the spirits of nature, whether they believe them to be nymphs, fairies, or other elementals. Few actually worship the flowers and trees themselves.

Do you worship the same God as Christians, Muslims, and Jews? Well, that depends. I think we do, and so do most Wiccans. We believe that all gods are One, manifested in different ways to different people. Most Christians, Muslims, and Jews would disagree with that, I think, and so would some Wiccans. Truth is in the eye of the beholder after all.

Who do you worship then? I am one of many who believes in the All, the one great power of the universe. It can be creative or destructive, masculine or feminine, loving or hateful; it is everything, and everything came from it. It is so vast that our minds can barely comprehend it, and so we see it manifested it different forms. It appears to me and most Wiccans as the Great Mother and Father, the Lord and the Lady, who are equal and one with each other. They are like two faces of one coin. Some chose to put more importance on one than the other for whatever reason. The God and Goddess can manifest in different forms as well, as demigods, each representing a different, unique aspect of the All.

Are you polytheistic or monotheistic? I suppose we're a little of both. Most believe that there is the All, which manifests as the Lord and the Lady to us, then as lower demigods and demigoddesses. We may call upon any of these representations of the All, depending on which is most relevant to our needs. We believe that there is but one power, one God, which has many moods, roles, and personalities. This is why we believe all gods are one and that there is no one truth, because when you have a god that is everything, no interpretation of this deity can be wrong. As I said before, some Wiccans don't subscribe to the belief of the All and believe that all gods and goddesses are separate, much like the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians viewed their pantheons.

Do your gods have names? Yes, they have many names, all of which are right. Some Wiccans identify more with the Roman pantheon or the Egyptian pantheon. Some aren't partial to any particular pantheon and will simply call on whichever demigod or demigoddess they desire of all the pantheons. You can even create your own god or goddess to call upon, by visualizing the strengths, emotions, and traits of the All that you specifically need to invoke. Some of us, like myself, focus mainly on the Lord and Lady as wholes and rarely call upon specific manifestations of either.

So, it's like one big hermaphrodite god with multiple personalities? *sighs* Yes, I guess you could say that if you like. Think about it, though. Each of us, male and female, have certain traits that are more commonly associated with the opposite sex. We each play different roles. If I came to you for advice about breastfeeding my baby, I'd be asking you as a mother. If I came to you for advice about love and sex. I would be appealing to you as a wife and lover. If we two were talking as friends then we would just be speaking as ourselves, all roles combined rather than focus on any role in particular except maybe the role of friend. We each play so many different roles, and this is what the concept of the All is based upon.