Rose Ariadne's Chitchcraft Blog

Dear Friends,

Nothing bothers me more than seeing a witch, new or old, forget half of the deity coupling. What I’m referring here to in the honoring of the God or the Goddess, without reverence or acknowledgment of the other. A lot of people make this mistake when they first come into this path, and I’m taking a stand against it. Balance is part of life…and it should be part of your path.

Our religion, and indeed this entire world, is based on duality. Light and dark. Day and night. Left and right. Men and women. The earth speaks to duality, and so should your personal relationship with the earth in the form of your religion.

I may be ruffling a few feathers out there, but I’m tired of seeing the Goddess get all the limelight when clearly there should be a balance between both. The God and the Goddess deserve equal attention. They are halves of the same whole. It’s that simple.

When I started thinking about this topic, I wondered where this one-sided focus came from. It happens mostly with Goddess worship. There are even some sects of Wicca that are entirely devoted to the Goddess and ignore the God all together. To me, this never made any sense at all, but I can understand where it comes from.

Most of the worlds major religions focus on the God figure. All representations of female divinity are suppressed and ignored entirely. Strong female figures are all but ignored in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. When people discover the pagan path, they are drawn immediately to the idea that divinity is more than just some white bearded guy sitting on a throne up in heaven. Paganism allows for an exploration of figureheads from many cultures, both male and female. The divine manifests itself in many different ways.

Sometimes when someone comes into paganism, the idea of having a feminine deity is so freeing and so inviting that they worship the Goddess to the detriment of the God. It’s understandable. The divine feminine is so undervalued in other religions, Goddess worship feels very comforting at first. In an attempt to dissociate from your old religion and embrace your new one, you might reject a God figure entirely. God is associated with the God of other religions – the controlling God, the punishing God, the God who demands that he must be the only God. It’s only natural that some people want to devote their entire spiritual practice to the Goddess alone.

Focusing on the Goddess along isn’t only wrong, it’s unwise as well. Think about your spiritual life like a boat that needs to get to shore. If you have only one oar, you’re going to go in circles. You can only make progress when you use both oars – the God and the Goddess.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t some times in your practice when you’ll focus on one specific aspect of the God and Goddess. There are even times you may focus on one particular deity from a pantheon. But you must always honor the other aspect of the diety when you do. Even if it’s just in the form of having a candle lit during your ritual for the God, or an item on your altar representing the Goddess.

Balancing the God and Goddess is easy when you take the time to represent them each on your altar and in your ritual. Any two pairs of items can serve as a reminder of the duality of nature. Some people like to use candles to represent the deities. A gold candle for the God and a silver candle for the Goddess is traditional, but you can use anything you like to represent the deities.

Make sure to choose something that speaks to you on a deep level. If candles aren’t working for you, a representation of the God and Goddess in picture form is a good option. There are many images you can find online, or in books, that can be used to represent the God and Goddess on your altar and in your life.

Even if your particular ritual calls for focus on the God or the Goddess, make sure to acknowledge the other form of deity in your workings. Place a representation of them on your altar. Call to him or her at the start of your ritual and invite them into your space. Although they might not be a central part of that particular ritual, they still need “ringside seats” so to speak.

The point is, don’t block out one aspect of the deity unnecessarily. If you have to identify with one more than another, so be it. But make sure that your practice acknowledges and respects the fact that deity comes in two flavors.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne, Your Warm And Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”