Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

[chris1987]

Hi, I was wondering does anyone else feel drawn to worship the Moon Goddess and the Horned God and honor other deities such as Buddha and/or Ganesha and/or Athena and Ceridwen or any other Deities? For example I have admired Buddha for a long time and I plan on actually getting a little Buddha and some other deities I love. Do you think it would be okay to put these honored ones on my Altar? I guess this may be a silly question but I was curious

[PsykhikosAnarchosNautikos]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

I do it. Bast and Anubis share an altar with the Four Archangels and above this altar resides Jizo (a Boddhisatva that protects children) surrounded by various precious gems and statues of animals, two Super Saiyans, a gem skull, an Odin (well, I call him Odin) stuffed animal, an alien from a toy vending machine and a Superman key.

On another altar I have Isis and Horus atop a Mother Mary and Christ cards I got from a local church, a Hecate symbol I carved and various other things, such as various blades, a shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and a few gems and things I found in nature- and a bamboo spork.

Basically, my altars range from my favorite and inspirational cartoon characters and deities and objects I find attractive for whatever reason- whether it be for a laugh, artistic inspiration, spiritual uplift, energetic charging/cleansing or things I made or people I love gave me.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

Hi, I was wondering does anyone else feel drawn to worship the Moon Goddess and the Horned God and honor other deities such as Buddha and/or Ganesha and/or Athena and Ceridwen or any other Deities? For example I have admired Buddha for a long time and I plan on actually getting a little Buddha and some other deities I love. Do you think it would be okay to put these honored ones on my Altar? I guess this may be a silly question but I was curious

I do. It helps that I see the Horned God and Triple Goddess as more or less specific deities, not necessarily all-emcompassing godheads. In particular, I view the Triple Goddess as Hekate, and the Horned God as Pan*. So I worship them and other gods as essentially equals. Though I do give precedence to the Horned God and Triple Goddess, since my main religious identity is Wicca and their cult is the one I follow.

*bit of a complex thing; I have a hypothesis that the goddess encountered by early Wiccans was Hekate, given that their description of her matches pretty well to Hekate's identity as a triune goddess of magic (amongst lots of things). I take int consideration Hekate's likely connections to the Late Roman fusion of Diana/Herodias, whose name was bastardised as Aradia--incidentally the name most often recorded as that of Gardner's goddess. But, this is my pet theory and I don't have personal experience in a Gardnerian coven. It's based just on what I've read about the early covens and the way they described their gods, drawing connections and trying to make sense of it all.
Secondly, my experience with the Horned God feels like he's a malleable god--Pan is the "face" he uses to be wild and carefree, as is the Green Man, but Cernunnos is his "serious face", a stoic and powerful hunter-god. They are simultaneously different gods and yet the same Horned One. I mostly worship him as Pan, but occasionally will turn to his more protective but stern alter-ego

I additionally have, at different times, given honour to Hermes, Zeus, Gaea, Mars, Jove, Brighid, Danu, and Lugh. Along with a host of demigods and spirits of various kinds. My chief gods are still paramount, but it's based not so much on who has precedence out there, but on which ones are most important to what I practise and who I am. I practise Wicca, a fertility/nature/mystery cult, and my gods are gods of fertility, magic, and nature.

[PsykhikosAnarchosNautikos]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

Although Hecate is a well known and worshiped Goddess there are many other goddesses that represent the triple aspect (and various other attributes). Morrighana as Morrighana, Babd and Macha (magic, war and death I think). Bridghid also represents Maiden, Mother and Crone like Hecate. Some people also say that Bast, Sekhmet and Hathor are a triple Goddess (Magic, War/Healing, Love). In the Hindu Pantheon there is the Triple Godhead of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Sustainer), Shiva (Destroyer) and the Triple Goddess Head of Saraswati (Speech), Lakshmi (Abundance), Parvati/Kali (Dynamism). Three is an ancient number that represents more things than can be imagined, such as Life-Death-Rebirth, Mother-Father-Child, etc.

I am not trying to put you down, just pointed out other triple aspects that Wiccans could have based their path on. Brighid and Hecate seem the most likely, though. The only reason I would say it wasn't Hecate specifically is because she is a chtonic goddess and proto-god (a Titan Goddess). Not only is she the Goddess of magic, but is often equated with a fierce aspect (Cerebrus being her dog might have a lot to do with it) and Wiccans are the furthest thing from fierce from what I have seen. Brighid would seem to be a better fit for Wicca as she is a Goddess of healing and beauty, but I know very little about Brighid compared to Hecate.

[Jera]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

I don't see any problem with honouring deities other than the "standard" Wiccan Moon Goddess and Horned God. There are so many other aspects and archetypes to explore, it would be a shame if one felt limited to only honouring those deities. It appears that most gods and goddesses have more than one aspect or identity, representing the many faces of human nature and Nature itself.

[WinterTraditions]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

There's no problem with this at all! Because there are very few male deities of traditional polytheistic branches that I connect with, I tend to have an Archangel in their masculine form take the place as Sky Father.

[chris1987]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

For me, I see the Horned God as Cernunnos and the Moon Goddess as Brigid since I feel the connection with them so they are my focus most times. Then there are many other deities that I would like to honor ranging from a Greek background to Japanese and every culture in between and I feel a pretty strong connection to some of the deities in particular. Thanks for the input guys. You've been very helpful

[Louisvillian]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

Although Hecate is a well known and worshiped Goddess there are many other goddesses that represent the triple aspect (and various other attributes).

Most of what I've seen of scholarly looks at the triple goddess concept is that it's not very applicable to most of the goddesses claimed to be them. Most of them are really three separate goddesses with associations or connections between them. Like, as you mentioned, Morrigan, Babd, and Macha being goddesses pertaining to war and carnage. They have a similar focus, and are associated with each other, but they're separate identities.
Brighid might apply, but her triune nature is ambiguously portrayed. Hekate is unambiguously depicted as having three "faces" or forms, tied to her singular identity, each of which corresponds to a phase in a woman's lifespan.

The only reason I would say it wasn't Hecate specifically is because she is a chtonic goddess and proto-god (a Titan Goddess). Not only is she the Goddess of magic, but is often equated with a fierce aspect (Cerebrus being her dog might have a lot to do with it) and Wiccans are the furthest thing from fierce from what I have seen. Brighid would seem to be a better fit for Wicca as she is a Goddess of healing and beauty, but I know very little about Brighid compared to Hecate.

Hekate has other aspects besides her ferocity (good word to use there, btw) and severity. She was considered by her cult in Greece as a goddess of medicine and healing, and a virginal/maiden figure while paradoxically being a goddess of childbirth and fertility. Her image as a "dark" figure mainly stems from the Athenian preconceptions about practitioners of folk magic. Other regions, and other groups, had different views of Hekate even in Ancient Greece.

The other aspect of the connection is the comparisons between Hekate, the Roman conflation of her with their own goddesses, and the subsequent conflation of those goddesses with the semi-mythological, semi-apotheosised figure of Herodias in Italy. The mediaeval legend of the Herodias cult, while almost surely a fiction, strongly influenced the Witchcraft revival in the early 20th century and, by dint of that, the development of Wicca in the 1940s.
I suspect that when the early practitioners called upon a goddess of witchcraft that reflected the legends, Hekate answered. But again, this is just my suspicions and conjecture. There are actual connections between Herodian legends, modern Witchcraft, and Hekate's mythology are there; but a scholarly look at the evidence points to them being loose connections. Deeper connections require a leap of faith.
And as far as Wicca and its tendencies, one must remember its origins in the 19th century Occult revival. It took a lot of influence (and a lot of ritual structure and symbolism) straight out of Thelema and the Hermetic Golden Dawn. It has quite a few influences that aren't exactly bubbly and nice, especially when it first got started.

[Maria de Luna]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

I can see where someone could get the idea of Morrighan, Badb, and Macha being the same deity, they are refferred to as the Morrigna, (along with another one, but I do not have my refrence material handy) and sometimes the names are used interchangeably. It could be how the lore was finally written down, and when, which is why it did not matter. also there are some very different myths from different parts of Ireland, and they do not all fit comfortably together. (Morrighan is not the only god/ess for which this happens.) I think part of the modern perception of certain goddesses as being tripple goddesses, is more machinated, or more seen because they want it to be there, rather than it being there.

However I can honestly think of at least 2 places in lore where Badb is used as a name for Someone else, At one point for Morrighan, and then later, (Much later) for Macha. I think that is where alot of the tripple goddess interpretation comes from. If you go deeper into the Ulster Cycle three sisters, Macha, Badb, and Morrighu, are refferred to as the Morrighna, which is itself a plural word, and they were revered by their little sisters, but loosely, because the women are completely unrelated elsewhere in myth, and again interchangable in others. It varries quite drastically regionally in Ireland. Thats the only real place I have any experience though. I have some awesome Myth text translations for the 3 mythelogical cycles of Ireland if anyone is interrested, it is great infomative and personal material.

Paqrt of this is why I have personally moved away from any hard form of polytheism, I think the divine is more immutable than I can understand, and will appear to different people... differently. It is always nice to be able to name what you may be experiencing, or worshiping.

[Clive]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

There's nothing wrong with what you're describing. However, my rule when it comes to this is, I do not invoke or share altars between deities who would conflict with one another. For instance, I would consider it unwise to invoke Ares and the Morrigan into the same Circle. Their historic worshipers were at war with one another, both are vicious war deities...bad things could happen. In short, it depends on the deities/beings involves.

[anunitu]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

I personally see no problem with mixing gods and goddess's,being eclectic I do that all the time. The graphic in My sig is Quan Yin a goddess figure from Chinese mythology. Here is another depiction of her.

Follow this link.

http://www.holymtn.com/gods/kuanyin.htm

There are many spelling of her name. One thing I found fascinating about this Goddess is she used to be a male God figure and somewhere along the line changed genders.

So what ever works for you should be ok,at least that is my take on the matter.

[wisp]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

There's nothing wrong with what you're describing. However, my rule when it comes to this is, I do not invoke or share altars between deities who would conflict with one another. For instance, I would consider it unwise to invoke Ares and the Morrigan into the same Circle. Their historic worshipers were at war with one another, both are vicious war deities...bad things could happen. In short, it depends on the deities/beings involves.

Relating to this, I've been drawn to both Arianrhod and Lugh. Would you consider their history to be too volatile to work with one another at once? I've been debating this ever since I felt drawn to them.

[Louisvillian]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

Relating to this, I've been drawn to both Arianrhod and Lugh. Would you consider their history to be too volatile to work with one another at once? I've been debating this ever since I felt drawn to them.

I don't really see why they would be volatile when put together. From what I'm reading, Arianrhod is the mother of the Welsh form of Lugh. It would seem they would go well together. Though, I suspect, not in the same way as Wicca's god and goddess do, since those are consorts.
Granted, in Welsh mythology, Lleu represented her humiliation and so she contended against him from time to time. But I would consider that, as well as any other anthropomorphic depictions of conflict between gods, as a fable that does not necessarily represent the reality of the divine.

[wisp]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

Granted, in Welsh mythology, Lleu represented her humiliation and so she contended against him from time to time. But I would consider that, as well as any other anthropomorphic depictions of conflict between gods, as a fable that does not necessarily represent the reality of the divine.

Those stories are where my concern came from. A lot of the stories have Arianrhod trying to keep Lugh from some sort of advancement. But your answer makes sense to me. Annnd..maybe I should just outright ask them as well, I suppose Thanks.

[Clive]

Re: Worshiping the God and Goddess and honoring other deities

I don't really see why they would be volatile when put together. From what I'm reading, Arianrhod is the mother of the Welsh form of Lugh. It would seem they would go well together. Though, I suspect, not in the same way as Wicca's god and goddess do, since those are consorts.
Granted, in Welsh mythology, Lleu represented her humiliation and so she contended against him from time to time. But I would consider that, as well as any other anthropomorphic depictions of conflict between gods, as a fable that does not necessarily represent the reality of the divine.

I'll second this one. I'm not very familiar with that pantheon, but can see honoring two deities who have a parent-child relationship. There are things to be learned from all sorts of relationships.