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MONISM, One Wiccan Perspective
Copyright 11/24/92
Durwydd MacTara
"Henotheism n. Belief in one god without denying the existence of others."
(American Heritage Second College Dictionary)
"Monism n. philos. A metaphysical system in which reality is conceived as a
unified whole." (American Heritage Second College Dictionary)
"Monotheism n. The belief or doctrine that there is only one God." (Amer-
ican Heritage Second College Dictionary)
"Pantheism n. 1. The doctrine identifying the Deity with the various forces
and workings of nature. 2. Belief in and worship of all gods." (American
Heritage Second College Dictionary)
"Polytheism n. The worship of or belief in more than one god." (American
Heritage Second College Dictionary)
"To witches, deities manifest in different ways and can be
worshipped and contacted through any form suitable to local
conditions and personal needs. Wicca does not believe, as
do the patriarchal monotheisms, that there is only one
correct version of God and that all other God forms are
false: the Gods of Wicca are not jealous Gods. We there-
fore worship the personification of the male and female
principles, the God and the Goddess, recognizing that Gods
are aspects of the One God and all Goddesses are different
aspects of the one Goddess, and that ultimately these two
are reconciled in the one divine essence."
(Vivianne Crowley, WICCA: The Old Religion in The New Age,-
pp. 11-12)
Vivianne Crowley, a very capable spokesperson for British Traditional
Wicca, identifies the core belief of Wicca (at least BTW) as Monism in the
piece quoted above. However, she also opens the door to defining Wicca as
duotheistic in principle with the subdivision of the monist reality into
the praxis of worshiping both Lord and Lady.
However, there is yet a THIRD level of obscurity in Wiccan Praxis! Most
Wiccans worship a threefold Goddess (Maid, Mother, and Crone) and many also
worship at least a twofold God. So, are the Wicca REALLY polytheists or
perhaps pantheists or even modified Henotheists as some have claimed? Or,
perhaps, a new category altogether needs to be invented to accurately
describe Wiccan belief and practice.
1524
One suggestion has been made to add a word to our Thea/Theo-logical
lexicon, perhaps "Cthonotheism" (provided we MUST have a "Theism") to
describe "Theistic Wicca". One advantage is that it makes the assumption
of worshipping that which was there to be found and worshipped, NOT a Deity
or deities invented in 1939! (More on this later.)
The following is the only published copy of the (Gardnerian) Blessing
Prayer that I know of.
"In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence,
Who was from the beginning and is for eternity,
Male and Female, the Original Source of all things;
all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful;
changeless, eternal.
"In the name of the Lady of the Moon,
and the Lord of Death and Resurrection.
"In the name of the Mighty Ones of the Four Quarters,
the Kings of the Elements.
"Blessed be this place, and this time,
and they who are now with us."
("Witch Blood! The Diary Of A Witch High
Priestess!" by Patricia Crowther in chapter
four (paperback edition 1974, House Of Col-
lectibles, Inc.).) Courtesy of David Piper
Airmid (aka Erynn Darkstar), a contemporary craft scholar and researcher
says of this new (to most of us) name of Ultimate Deity:
"Dryghtyn is also the name used for JHVH in some old
English bibles. I think that was where the term ac-
tually originated. I think I saw a passing reference
to it in some boxed comparative translated text in "In
Search of the Indo-Europeans."
Grendel, an Asatruar from Seattle suggests the "Dryghtyn" may be an
alternative spelling of the Teutonic "Drighten" meaning "Lord". I admit
this is interesting, to me, as the closeness of the linguistic link between
the Old English and Old German languages has been a scholarly "fact" widely
known for many years.
As a side issue, this might be some evidence that runs contrary to the
thesis put forth by Aidan Kelly that Gerald Gardner "manufactured" Wicca in
1939. From personal experience, I have found that one unique distinction
of the non BTW strains of Witchcraft (some times called "FamTrads" of
Family Traditions) is the incorporation of old Christian Imagery, often
including ArchAngels for the four directions or elements. Though this
instance does not include Archangels, it DOES include archaic (and rel-
atively unknown) Christian terminology. If Gardner did discover a remnant
of the Old Religion upon which he based his modern reconstruction effort,
it is this sort of linguistic "artifact" which would have survived.
Perhaps a more scholarly investigation than mr. Kelly's will "turn up" more
evidence?
1525
Jim Taylor, an Eastern Orthodox Theologian, also makes two (to me) il-
luminating statements, concerning "The Dryghtyn Prayer":
1. "'In the name of Dryghtyn, the Ancient Providence,
Who was from the beginning and is for eternity,
Male and Female, the Original Source of all things;
all-knowing, all-pervading, all-powerful;
changeless, eternal.'
This would be, entirely, an acceptable way of describing God, both for most
Jews and for most Christians."
AND
2. "'In the name of the Lady of the Moon,
and the Lord of Death and Resurrection.'
The Lord of Death and Resurrection would seem, to any Christian to refer to
Jesus Christ."
This evidence of a possible mixing of an older (unrecorded) Christian
Prayer may lend further credence to Gardners' claims of building on an
older, hidden, traditional remnant.
I, personally, also agree with Mr. Taylors' statement that "the idea of
Wicca being 'manufactured' in 1939 is far too pat, and ignores a great deal
which ought not to be ignored. At the very least, some degree of recog-
nition should be accorded to the obvious fact that most Wiccan practices
and attitudes predate Wicca by considerable periods of time--possibly even
millennia".
The existence of Monism, Duotheism, and Polytheism simultaneously in the
belief structure of Wicca is one good example of one of the Five Mysteries
of Wicca, that of Union. Wicca is a mystery religion, a PARTICIPATORY
religion, and much of its symbology must be lived and practiced to have
meaning because much of the real (some say hidden meaning is based on the
knowledge of experience and not the intellectual knowledge of mere logic
and conscious thought processes.
I am an eclectic Wiccan with strong ties in my beliefs and practice to
British Traditional Wicca. I am a Monist, yet I have had strong direct
experience with Brigid, Danu, and the Morrigan as well as the Earth Mother
and the Horned Lord of the Forests. So my personal answer to the question
of "What kind of Theism fits Theistic Wicca?" is "several, or none; it is
not really a valid question in those limited terms"! But perhaps the
concept of "Chthonotheism" would give a better label to this concept when
attempting to discuss the idea of the peculiar theism unique to Wicca?
Blessed Be,
Durwydd MacTara
1526
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