Wicca and the Idea of Duotheism

[rug]

March 26, 2014
By Jason Mankey

I have always defined myself as a polytheist and left it at that. I think that the magick and mystery of the gods is so above my mortal comprehension that breaking my polytheism down into sub-categories is a self defeating exercise. I worship the gods as distinct beings, and have always thought of them in that light. I also don’t discount the idea that they might all be linked in some sort of way. Every living thing on this planet is linked genetically (we share some of our DNA with trees for instance) why would the gods be any different?

Over the last couple of months I’ve read in several different places that Wiccans are “duotheists” meaning that they acknowledge only one Universal Goddess and a God. That Wiccans are a varied and diversified lot rarely figures into the discussion. Wicca is probably best defined by its rituals, not its theology. As yewtree commented on my Why Wicca post: “Indeed, Gus, in my experience, most of the Wiccans I know are polytheists or animists or pantheists or atheists or ‘I don’t know how it all works but I worship the great mystery’.” My experiences are similar.

Traditional Wiccan groups generally work with two deities that vary from tradition to tradition and/or coven to coven. Away from circle, individual coveners are free to honor, worship, and work with whatever deities they choose. None of those groups would ever make the claim that the different gods honored by a different tradition are somehow “not real” or “invalid.” In Outer Court settings traditional groups often use the terms Lord and Lady because the names of the gods in specific traditions are for initiates only. Eventually the terms Lord and Lady became more than mere placeholders for specific names, Lord and Lady became names unto themselves.

Personally I have always honored a multitude of different gods along with honoring the idea of the Lord and Lady. Use of one doesn’t preclude the use of another. There are times when ritual calls for a specific deity and times when it calls for something more general. The titles Lord and Lady are an easy way to sum up all the various deities that have been honored by Wiccan Witches over the last seventy years. There are also moments when I’ve split the difference between the two in ritual, perhaps by using titles like Goddess of Death or Lord of Light. Ritual is a nuanced thing.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2014/03/wicca-and-the-idea-of-duotheism/

[DetlefK]

1. The ancient Jews were duotheists before their reformation in persian exile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah

They worshiped Jehovah alongside the canaanite sea-goddess Ashera. Her altars were poles or holy trees.

It was during the persian exile that all the sacred texts were bundled into one coherent book - the Torah. This reformed version of Judaism traced the misery of the jewish people down to worshiping other gods beside Jehovah and so worshiping Ashera was condemned in hindsight.
(Plus, they committed some editorial mistakes, like retelling a story with a camel in it, when there hadn't been camels in Judea.)