Who is the Goddess?
Diana, Mother of the Earth, known also as Isis, and many other names. The Goddess rules over the earth, sea, and moon. She is known for her nuturing and loving nature. She can be the innocent Maiden, the loving Mother, and the aged Crone. She also has a fourth aspect, which is secret.
She is the huntress running through the forest, the temptress, the comforter, and the all knowing wise woman. In essence, she is every woman. She is birth, death, and rebirth. She is celebrated by the moon, and has a dark side and a light side, as the moon does, and as we all do. The seasons represent the stages of the Goddess in birth and rebirth. She can be felt in the flowing tides, and the waxing and waning of the moon. She is everywhere, and has been for time and all eternity.
Who is the God?
The Horned One, the Sky Father, known by such names as Cernunnos and Osiris. The sun and the sky is His domain. He does not stand in the shadow of the Goddess, He stands with Her, and together they are as One. He is connected with wild animals and may be represented with horns on His head. He gives life, and brings on the new beginnings of Spring with the sun. He is felt in the forrests and in the starry sky, and in the sun’s warmth and light. And, like the Goddess is every woman, He is every man. A fierce warrior, a lusty partner, a loving father, a helping hand, a guide, the love of many lifetimes. He stands with the Goddess for time and all eternity.
Charge of the God
Listen to the words of the Great Father, who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names.
“My law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life andmine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle of rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give thepromise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth.”
Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voicecalls the seasons: “I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all it’s beings. Through me all things must die and and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings.”
Charge of the Goddess
(One version of many) Listen to the words of the Great Mother
Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Demeter, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Brigit, Hecate, Isis and by many other names…
I am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon, and the mysteries of the waters. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold,I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that whichis attained at the end of desire.
Charge of the God
Listen to the words of the Great Father, who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names.
“My law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life andmine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle of rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give thepromise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth.”
Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voicecalls the seasons: “I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all it’s beings. Through me all things must die and and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings.”
Charge of the Goddess
(One version of many) Listen to the words of the Great Mother
Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Demeter, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Brigit, Hecate, Isis and by many other names…
I am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon, and the mysteries of the waters. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold,I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that whichis attained at the end of desire.
SPEAKING TO THE MOTHER AND FATHER… Charge of the Goddess (One version of many) Listen to the words of the Great Mother
Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Demeter, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arianrhod, Brigit, Hecate, Isis and by many other names…
I am the beauty of the green earth, and the white moon, and the mysteries of the waters. From Me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals. Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, mirth and reverence within you. And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold,I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that whichis attained at the end of desire.
Charge of the God
Listen to the words of the Great Father, who of old was called Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan, Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh and by many other names.
“My law is Harmony with all things. Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life andmine is the dish of salt of the earth that is the body of Cernunnos that is the eternal circle of rebirth. I give the knowledge of life everlasting, and beyond death I give thepromise of regeneration and renewal. I am the sacrifice, the father of all things, and my protection blankets the earth.”
Hear the words of the dancing God, the music of whose laughter stirs the winds, whose voicecalls the seasons: “I who am the Lord of the Hunt and the Power of the Light, sun among the clouds and the secret of the flame, I call upon your bodies to arise and come unto me. For I am the flesh of the earth and all it’s beings. Through me all things must die and and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings, for behold all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals. Let there be desire and fear, anger and weakness, joy and peace, awe and longing within you. For these too are part of the mysteries found within yourself, within me, all beginnings have endings, and all endings have beginnings.”
Connecting with Deity: The Wiccan Way
by Douglas Helvie and Anna Meadows As we bow our heads in prayer to our Lord and to our Lady, we enter into a realm that originally was the domain of our ancestors ˆ one of communion and service to the Great Mother of us all and to Her Consort the Horned God.
We are Witches ˆ a High Priest and a Priestess of the Gods of pre-Christian Europe, ministers of the modern religion Wicca, which brings the worship of the Old Ones into today’s world. When many people hear about our faith, they think of spells cast and rhymes chanted by candlelight, of charms and talismans and hexes brewing in cauldrons. It is true that Wiccans believe we have the right to co-create our reality and provide good-quality lives for ourselves and our loved ones via the magickal arts. But enchantment is only the icing on a very thick cake.
In truth, Wicca is a religion that is very focused on Deity, on developing relationship with the Old Gods of our ancestors. Not much has been written about this because we view our personal connections as very private and individualistic ˆ not subject to standardized liturgy ˆ and also because Wicca has historically been practiced very privately. Although there are many spellbooks focused on getting money or a lover, happily, more books about Wiccan spirituality are now being published.
How do Wiccans connect with Deity? Who are these “Old Gods?” First, it is necessary to understand that Wicca takes its picture of the Universe from Nature manifest around us. We believe the Earth is sacred. It is our “holy book” and tells us everything we need to know about Spirit ˆ if we have eyes to read it. We believe that Deity is “immanent,” dwelling within everything, not just “transcendent” or Up There. Just as we see that everything has a mother and father, therefore, so must we in the spiritual sense.
Our Mother is the Goddess, the Lady, the Great Creatrix. She is not limited to Mother only, however. We see Her symbolized in the phases of the Moon. The new crescent expresses the Goddess in Her aspect as Maiden, full of potential and power for Herself. The Full Moon symbolizes the Goddess as Mother, Great Giver of Life and provider of abundance to all Her children. The waning, Dark Moon is connected to the Goddess as Wisewoman, as the Aged Crone, Wisdom Keeper, guardian of life’s secrets. The Goddess is also our Earth Mother and much more.
Most Wiccans also revere God, the Lord, with an equal number of aspects. First, He is the Divine Child of the Goddess, the young Sun/Son born at Yule. He transmutes into the Lover and then Husband of the Goddess as the Sun grows strong and days grow long, begetting Himself. And, as the days grow short again, He is symbolized by the falling grain, and we think of Him sacrificing Himself to give us sustenance (only to rise again in the Spring). Finally, in the winter He is the Stag Lord of the Hunt who rides with the wild animals in the forest, and the aged Sage, the Wisdom Keeper. He is also the Horned God, shepherd of the flocks.
Our sense of Goddess and God comes directly from our Eurasian ancestors. There is clear evidence, in art, of the Great Mother Goddess and the Stag Lord being worshipped in Europe from Paleolithic times. As foraging gave way to farming, people’s concepts of Divinity evolved along with the agricultural cycle of the year.
All the old cultures of Europe and Asia, and indeed throughout the world, had many names for the Lord and the Lady, names familiar to us through myth and legend. Isis, Osiris, and Horus. Zeus and Hera and Demeter and Apollo and Pan. Bridgid and Lugh and Rhiannon. Diana. Venus. Mars. In Israel, thousands of votive plaques have been discovered with the inscription “To Yahweh and His Asherah.” Asherah was a name of the Goddess in Semitic culture before it became monotheistic. The multitude of Names does not confuse us because many Wiccans believe that ultimately “all Gods are One God and all Goddesses are One Goddess.” From Asia, the Taoist concept of “Yin” and “Yang” is very close to how Wiccans picture “female energy” and “male energy.” So are the Vedic concepts of Shiva and Shakti.
It is ironic that many people understand the Lord and Lady via Eastern cultures rather than their own ancestral traditions! This is because the political Church of medieval Europe co-opted Native European images of Goddess and God in an attempt to destroy lingering pockets of Pagan worship. For example, they started saying that our Horned God was really their Devil. In reality, the Bible doesn’t depict Satan with cloven hooves or horns! As for Satan, Wiccans do not believe in Satan or any Satan-like deity. We are not a dualistic religion. We acknowledge that evil exists, of course, but it comes from human folly, not from some grand God of Dark who is eternally opposed to a God of Light.
Many Wiccans pray directly to the Lord and the Lady, addressing them by title, e.g., “Great Mother” or “Lord of the Hunt.” Others worship the Lord and Lady via one culture’s pantheon and myth cycle. Some base this on their ancestry. Doug has Norse/Germanic ancestry. On four days of the week, he performs devotion to the Norse Gods: Tyr on Tuesday, Woden on Wednesday, Thor on Thursday, and Freya on Friday.(Notice a pattern? Every day except Saturday is named after one of these Germanic Gods.) When Doug performs his devotions, he recites a poem of praise, gives thanks for the blessings he has been given, states his current needs, and gives offerings of bread and ale (or wine). The Gods do not require bread or ale, of course, but we provide them as signs of respect.
Anna’s first experience praying to the Lady came several years ago in a public park. A panicked duck could not figure out how to get through the rail fence into the water and was beginning to hurt itself. For some reason, Anna exclaimed “MOTHER! Help me help that duck!” The bird instantly calmed down long enough for Anna to pick it up and put it in the water. After that, Anna began praying privately to the Mother and experienced great transformation in her life.
On Saturday nights, we jointly honor the Lord and Lady of our Anglo-Germanic ancestors, using the old Goddess names of Dame Hyldor and Queen of Elfhame, and God names such as Herne and Robin Goodfellow. We perform a “cakes-and-ale” ritual. In this, the Lord and Lady are invoked and praised. Doug’s ceremonial knife (known as an athame) is placed into a chalice of ale or wine. We both say,
“As the athame is to the God
So the Chalice is to the Goddess
and conjoined They bring blessedness”
This symbolizes the Lord and Lady’s Sacred Union, which gives forth all Life. After that we bless the bread, which represents the fruit of their Union. We each partake of the bread and wine and offer the rest to the Lord, the Lady, and our ancestors. We give thanks and we ask for the usual things everyone asks for: healing, prosperity, ease of troubles for friends and family, etc.
At our biweekly Church services, we always provide quiet time for members to approach the altar and commune with the Lord and the Lady. We encourage individual prayer work among our Church members. And, of course, we pray as we go about our daily lives. For example, when Anna sees a stray animal alongside the road and she can’t stop to help it, she invokes the blessing of the Lady upon it and asks that it be brought to a place of safety and nourishment.
The act of praying brings us closer to the Goddess and God that dwell within each of us. Like all acts of prayer in every religious tradition, the spiritual benefits are indescribable and cannot be numbered. Our prayer this Samhain: “May the Lord and Lady richly bless each one of you and help you understand the mysterious world of the Wicca a little better. Blessed Be!”
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Douglas Helvie is Lord High Priest, founder, and minister of the Eternal Harvest Tradition of Wicca in New Bern and a professional psychic and Runemaster. Anna Helvie is Priestess and minister with the Eternal Harvest; professionally, she practices astrology and teaches Traditional Usui Reiki.