Sylvan Circle

The Duality of Male and Female

Because the duality of female and male are expressed by so many different species in Nature, this duality is also a central theme in Wicca.

Think about it. When a male and female come together in sexual union, the resulting offspring is a brand new creation. Neither gender could do it alone. But by bringing together polar opposites and blending the best of both, a creative act of magical synergy occurs. And poof! Something new is made.

So it's not surprising that the faces of our Deities in Wicca are both female and male as well.

Deity - Many Faces of The One

Wiccans believe that Deity manifests itself to us with more than one face. Celebrating the duality of female as well as male in Deity, this makes Wicca a duotheistic religion at its core. But in reality, most Wiccans don't just worship one Goddess and one God, they worship many. So most people consider Wicca to be a polytheistic religion.

Though note that there are always exceptions to the rule. For example, there are some feminist all-women covens that only worship Goddess. Likewise there are some all male covens (generally gay) that tend work exclusively with Gods.

So which Gods and Goddesses do most of us worship?

There are many different pantheons -- which is a group of Gods and/or Goddesses of a particular mythology considered collectively - throughout the history of all the cultures of the world. And when it comes to pantheons, Wicca definitely does NOT "respect copyright". We borrow freely from any religious pantheon that speaks to us. Whether that's Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu, American Indian, you name it. If it speaks to us, we use it.

But we also believe that all of these faces are really just different expression of a single energy. When you think about it, Deity really HAS no face -- but faceless Goddess or God is a little hard for us to understand and relate to. So we give Deity different faces to help better tap into the different aspects we need.

We see Deity as being like a multi-faceted diamond. Each face is a different Goddess or God, like a diamond reflects different colors in the light.

Just imagine all the many different aspects of Deity this makes available to you!

We believe that all different religious paths ultimately lead to this central location, this single force of Deity, "The One". So in many ways, it really doesn't matter what religion or spiritual path you follow, as long as it works for you. Because ALL paths lead to The One.

And it's not just Deity that is part of The One - ALL things are part of The One.

And within this great web of life, Deity is no more important than we are. Nor are they less important. The great God Ganehsa is equal in importance in the great web of life to your pet dog or cat.

Because everything in the web of life has it's own unique and special reason for existing.