So I am sort of new to Wicca. I have been interested in it for a long time, but just recently decided to practice. However I am still unsure about the God and Goddess aspect. There is The God and The Goddess. What about the others? Do we only call them when we are dealing with specific situations like in spells?
For example, I have always been interested in the goddess Artemis. How would this fit into everything. Can I have Artemis as a personal goddess, while still recognizing The Goddess? Or is this wrong?
That's fine, just makes you eclectic. Some people pray and give offerings to the Horned God and Triple Goddess, but might call on Hathor when casting a beauty spell. Others just call on a God and Goddess like Zeus and Juno instead of the Horned God and Triple Goddess, and some only pray to them and no other deity. It's personal. If you call on other deities it just means you follow 'eclectic Wicca' instead of 'Alexandrian Wicca' for example. There are many types of Wicca, the basic difference is what you pray to. [There are others but that's the main difference for many branches]
Re: Gods and Goddesses By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 4 Oct 21, 2014
When I was very young, and being taught witchcraft, I was told the story of the Oak God and the Holly God.
The story is that the Oak God and the Goddess were lovers, and the Goddess became pregnant by the Oak God. But the Holly God was jealous, and captured the Goddess, and hid her underground. And the whole world became dark and cold.And all the plants "died", except for the few loved by the Holly God. Then the Oak God rescued the Goddess, and the Goddess gave birth to her daughter, Flora, the Goddess of Spring. And all the world bloomed again, and became warm and light! And this was all the magic!
It is, of course, the seasons of the year; explained to a boy of six years old.
i've heard a similar tale Brysing. the tale of the Oak and Holly king i know and follow however is they do battle on the solstice. The Holly king rules from Midsummer to Yule, bringing the colder seasons. he is then defeated by the Oak King at Yule who brings the summer. and he is defeated at Midsummer by the Holly King and on and on and on.
i believe the Wiccan tale about the God is he is born at Yule with the sun, grows in strength into a young man, marries the maiden Goddess at Beltaine, rules the land, dies with the crops at Mabon [some say Samhain] and is reborn at Yule with the sun.
I use Freya and other Norse gods sometimes in my spells. But its all connected in some way for some wiccans believe in all goddesses as aspects of one also with the god. The god and goddess can be separate deity's are together they form one god head. It really depends Wicca is controversial at times.