Your Conception of the God and Goddess

[Erise Crewe]

I've been reading up on a beginner's guide to wicca and witchcraft, and the book suggested conceptualizing the goddess. What do you think she looks like? How do you think she dresses? What does she sound like? How about the God? Do you think they look similar or different?

I've been an atheist almost my whole life. People on the forums talk about being drawn to wicca or feeling at 'home' after finding wicca. I don't believe in god as a diety, but I don't lack spirituality. I believe that the changing of seasons, the falling of rain, snowflakes, twilight, nature are in a way divine. I think that if there is a sort of god it's a force, not a person.

But artistically if I were to imagine the goddess she would be dressed in white, with long wavy green hair (because that's the color I associate with nature) and of a renaissance woman type figure (since I consider it to be beautiful, and a little meat on the bones has been used to represent fertility). As for the god, I imagine him as muscular, short brown hair (another earthy color), no shirt and leather pants xd sorry if that sounds like someone on the cover of a romance novel. But the book was talking about how some witches practice 'skyclad' so I had nudity on the mind. And please forgive me if I offended anyone by personifying a diety that I do not worship. I think that's frowned upon by some religions, I hope it's not the case in wicca.

So what do you guys think? How do you visualize the god and goddess? Do you think that deities primarily exist in a human form, or do you think they only take a human form when appearing to mortals? Do you feel like you have a relationship with the deity of your choice?  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

I've been reading up on a beginner's guide to wicca and witchcraft, and the book suggested conceptualizing the goddess. What do you think she looks like? How do you think she dresses? What does she sound like? How about the God? Do you think they look similar or different?

Well, here we come across a fundamental issue with a lot of "witchcraft" books: they're more interested in a form of ditheistic eclectic paganism than they are in witchcraft. Which is fine, but something to be aware of.

Something to be aware of too is once you move past the 101 you see less and less of this sort of ditheism. I mean, I say that as someone practising a ditheistic religious witchcraft! So, when you say something like "What do you think [the goddess] looks like?" the first question for a lot of people will be "which goddess?".

It's also important to understand that that particular book is not about Wicca, and it's unlikely to be speaking about the Wiccan deities.  

[Erise Crewe]

Sanguina Cruenta

It's also important to understand that that particular book is not about Wicca, and it's unlikely to be speaking about the Wiccan deities.

Haha the current book I'm reading is covering a bit of everything. They started off with the wiccan deities now they're covering deities of other religions @_@ Was just now considering starting a topic on the roman vs greek deities tbh, I always thought they shared the same mythology only that they had different names because of different languages. But the book seems to be implying that the roman and greek deities are two different pantheons (a new word I learned from the book xd )  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

Sanguina Cruenta

It's also important to understand that that particular book is not about Wicca, and it's unlikely to be speaking about the Wiccan deities.

Haha the current book I'm reading is covering a bit of everything. They started off with the wiccan deities now they're covering deities of other religions @_@ Was just now considering starting a topic on the roman vs greek deities tbh, I always thought they shared the same mythology only that they had different names because of different languages. But the book seems to be implying that the roman and greek deities are two different pantheons (a new word I learned from the book xd )

No, see what I mean is, most books that say they're about Wicca aren't really.  

[Erise Crewe]

Sanguina Cruenta

No, see what I mean is, most books that say they're about Wicca aren't really.

Ooooh alright. xd Sorry I can be a bit slow sometimes but that makes sense.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

Sanguina Cruenta

No, see what I mean is, most books that say they're about Wicca aren't really.

Ooooh alright. xd Sorry I can be a bit slow sometimes but that makes sense.

Plus, very few of us are interested in serving the Wiccan deities or have experience with them, so asking us for our take on them is sort of weird. wink  

[Erise Crewe]

Sanguina Cruenta

Plus, very few of us are interested in serving the Wiccan deities or have experience with them, so asking us for our take on them is sort of weird. wink

crying Sorry, thought it'd be a good conversation starter. Which deities do you serve if you don't mind me asking?  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Erise Crewe

So what do you guys think? How do you visualize the god and goddess?

As San said a lot of people will ask which one? My thought process went from Djehuty to Geb to Nut and then back to Djehuty(kinda stressed right now sorry cat_sweatdrop )

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Do you think that deities primarily exist in a human form, or do you think they only take a human form when appearing to mortals?

Funny you bring this up since I was thinking about something similar last night. Though my thought was since its winter did Tefnut become the snow. But it lead to something like this. I'm still kinda shaky about what I think about this really. I kinda wanna say that they're personifications we see then take human(or semi-human or animal) form. Ask me again in a few days and I'll get back to you on that.

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Do you feel like you have a relationship with the deity of your choice?

I wouldn't exactly say it was completely my choice.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

Sanguina Cruenta

Plus, very few of us are interested in serving the Wiccan deities or have experience with them, so asking us for our take on them is sort of weird. wink

crying Sorry, thought it'd be a good conversation starter. Which deities do you serve if you don't mind me asking?

It's OK! It's just something to be aware of ^_^

I'm a Heathen - a Norse Pagan.  

[Erise Crewe]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Quote:

Do you feel like you have a relationship with the deity of your choice?

I wouldn't exactly say it was completely my choice.

Haha sounds like there's a story behind that one. Are you up for sharing?

And I've always loved mythology, except that I took it more as stories than truth(?) Do believers take the myths as reality, reality on another plane, or are they considered symbolic/didactic stories with only the deities being 'real'? And Sanguina, would you say that you chose your gods or were you lead toward it?  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Erise Crewe

Haha sounds like there's a story behind that one. Are you up for sharing?

I'm always up for story time.

So it was back in May, I was over at a friend's house. He wanted to learn how to see spirits. He's always been interested in the paranormal. I can kinda feel when they're around but I can't actually see them. We were trying most everything we could think of(I say most because I was uncomfortable with the one idea he had cat_stare ). I was starting to get a bit impatient. He wanted to start doing other things but I had only gone over to his house to try to help him with the spirits. I had remembered that some time before my friend had showed me this meditation that was supposed to help you remember past lives. So I tweeked it that instead of asking the spirit guide to show me my past lives I asked for a way to help my friend see spirits. It wasn't until after I got scolded and I lost focus that I realized that it had been Djehuty that I had spoken to. After that I would meditate and go back to the library that I found Him in and began forming a relationship with Him.
Nebet Het was a bit different. I was copying some prayers down and while I was copying the one for Her, She kinda stopped me and told me something. She still has to remind me every now and then. But She was one that kinda stayed there and telling me stuff. I was going through some of my old stuff and I found these bracelets that I forgot I had and had never woren them and out of nowhere I heard Her telling me that She wanted them.

Quote:

And I've always loved mythology, except that I took it more as stories than truth(?) Do believers take the myths as reality, reality on another plane, or are they considered symbolic/didactic stories with only the deities being 'real'?

I think it depends on the person. Like with Christians there's those that believe that the Bible is complete truth and by definition that's technically mythology. Right now I couldn't really give you my personal answer on that. It was something that hadn't crossed my mind yet. It crossed my mind for other beings like demons and dragons and whatnot but never never thought about it for the gods. Though I would have to say to some level it would have to be true with some symbolic meaning to it.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

And I've always loved mythology, except that I took it more as stories than truth(?) Do believers take the myths as reality, reality on another plane, or are they considered symbolic/didactic stories with only the deities being 'real'?

Depends on the myth. We try to take into account when they were written and who wrote them - like the Norse myths were written down in Iceland, a couple hundred years after conversion, and by monks. So they're going to be influenced by area and by who wrote them down and by different ideas that will have crept in over the previous centuries.

And some of them will have several layers - like the myth in which Loki cuts off Sif's hair, I think that actually happened for them, but there's also undertones of relating the cutting of Sif's golden hair to the harvest. Then you have stories like the one where Odin and his brothers create humans out of driftwood, which I think is mostly metaphor - but for all I know the gods did give something exceptional to humanity very early on so that we ended up evolving in the direction that we did. Still metaphor, but it's something extra to muse on. And with the Norse myths particularly there's the whole end of the world deely with Ragnarok, which could have been metaphor for the death of the Norse religion, and subsequent rebirth.... or, maybe it's a metaphor for a supervolcanic eruption.

So it depends on the myth, and your reading of the myth, and even then it will probably have several layers of interpretation that might all be equally true.

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And Sanguina, would you say that you chose your gods or were you lead toward it?

I don't know, I mean, it was sort of a slow movement. I'd definitely have to say they chose me because I felt pulled towards researching them in the first place, and I was only really planning on researching for interest's sake and knowledge's sake and then next thing I knew I was all caught up.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

Sanguina Cruenta

Depends on the myth. We try to take into account when they were written and who wrote them - like the Norse myths were written down in Iceland, a couple hundred years after conversion, and by monks. So they're going to be influenced by area and by who wrote them down and by different ideas that will have crept in over the previous centuries.

And some of them will have several layers - like the myth in which Loki cuts off Sif's hair, I think that actually happened for them, but there's also undertones of relating the cutting of Sif's golden hair to the harvest. Then you have stories like the one where Odin and his brothers create humans out of driftwood, which I think is mostly metaphor - but for all I know the gods did give something exceptional to humanity very early on so that we ended up evolving in the direction that we did. Still metaphor, but it's something extra to muse on. And with the Norse myths particularly there's the whole end of the world deely with Ragnarok, which could have been metaphor for the death of the Norse religion, and subsequent rebirth.... or, maybe it's a metaphor for a supervolcanic eruption.

So it depends on the myth, and your reading of the myth, and even then it will probably have several layers of interpretation that might all be equally true.

I like this better than my answer.  

[Erise Crewe]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

So it was back in May, I was over at a friend's house. He wanted to learn how to see spirits. He's always been interested in the paranormal. I can kinda feel when they're around but I can't actually see them. We were trying most everything we could think of(I say most because I was uncomfortable with the one idea he had cat_stare ). I was starting to get a bit impatient. He wanted to start doing other things but I had only gone over to his house to try to help him with the spirits. I had remembered that some time before my friend had showed me this meditation that was supposed to help you remember past lives. So I tweeked it that instead of asking the spirit guide to show me my past lives I asked for a way to help my friend see spirits. It wasn't until after I got scolded and I lost focus that I realized that it had been Djehuty that I had spoken to. After that I would meditate and go back to the library that I found Him in and began forming a relationship with Him.
Nebet Het was a bit different. I was copying some prayers down and while I was copying the one for Her, She kinda stopped me and told me something. She still has to remind me every now and then. But She was one that kinda stayed there and telling me stuff. I was going through some of my old stuff and I found these bracelets that I forgot I had and had never woren them and out of nowhere I heard Her telling me that She wanted them.

xd It's cheesy but I love listening to you guys. Did you end up giving her the bracelets? and how do you give an offering to a god (or goddess) when you do does it disappear, or is it only symbolic and the item remains behind?

On a random note, one of the reasons why I haven't been talking to anyone about my interest in witchcraft, no matter how tempted I am, is because either they're complete nonbelievers and politely find ways to try to tell you you're crazy emo or they end up trying to get you to do favors for them that're out of your comfort zone (i'm nowhere near that level yet). But with my wiccan friends back in school I was always really careful not to pry to much or ask anything inappropriate (probably why I don't know as much about it today haha) Nothing wrong with doing your own research though I'm enjoying the reading. I wonder if this is my 'pull' towards witchcraft. Up until now I have been perfectly content with not knowing, but then real life turned a corner to and now I feel powerless and think I need to find a way to protect myself via witchcraft. Would this count as a calling? I don't have any feeling of being 'at home' but I do feel compelled to continue learning.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Erise Crewe

I wonder if this is my 'pull' towards witchcraft. Up until now I have been perfectly content with not knowing, but then real life turned a corner to and now I feel powerless and think I need to find a way to protect myself via witchcraft. Would this count as a calling? I don't have any feeling of being 'at home' but I do feel compelled to continue learning.

Nope, it sounds like ordinary-everyday curiosity, coupled with an understandable desire to protect oneself in a difficult situation. My own coming to witchcraft was just ordinary curiosity, the same curiosity in the occult I'd had since childhood, and no different than the curiosity I had in medieval torture or dinosaurs.