Wicca

====Duotheism====

[[File:Horned God and Mother Goddess (Doreen Valiente's Altar).jpg|thumb|right|Altar statues of the Horned God and Mother Goddess crafted by Bel Bucca and owned by the "Mother of Wicca", [[Doreen Valiente]]]]

Most early Wiccan groups adhered to the duotheistic worship of a [[Horned God]] and a [[Mother Goddess]], with practitioners typically believing that these had been the ancient deities worshipped by the [[hunter-gatherer]]s of the [[Palaeolithic|Old Stone Age]], whose veneration had been passed down in secret right to the present.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=86}} This theology derived from Egyptologist Margaret Murray's claims about the [[Witch-cult hypothesis|witch-cult]] in her book ''The Witch-Cult in Western Europe'' published by Oxford University Press in 1921;{{sfn|Murray|1921}} she claimed that this cult had venerated a Horned God at the time of the Early Modern witch trials, but centuries before it had also worshipped a Mother Goddess.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=87}} This duotheistic Horned God/Mother Goddess structure was embraced by Gardner – who claimed that it had Stone Age roots – and remains the underlying theological basis to his Gardnerian tradition.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|pp=87–88}} Gardner claimed that the names of these deities were to be kept secret within the tradition, although in 1964 they were publicly revealed to be Cernunnos and Aradia; the secret Gardnerian deity names were subsequently changed.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=91}}

Although different Wiccans attribute different traits to the Horned God, he is most often associated with animals and the natural world, but also with the afterlife, and he is furthermore often viewed as an ideal role model for men.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=88}} The Mother Goddess has been associated with life, fertility, and the springtime, and has been described as an ideal role model for women.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=89}} Wicca's duotheism has been compared to the [[Taoism|Taoist]] system of [[yin and yang]].{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=87}}

Other Wiccans have adopted the original Gardnerian God/Goddess duotheistic structure but have adopted deity forms other than that of the Horned God and Mother Goddess.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|pp=89–90}} For instance, the God has been interpreted as the [[Oak King]] and the [[Holly King (archetype)|Holly King]], as well as the Sun God, Son/Lover God, and Vegetation God.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=90}} He has also been seen in the roles of the [[Wild Hunt#Leader of the Wild Hunt|Leader of the Wild Hunt]] and the Lord of Death.<ref name="Pearson 2005 9730">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pearson |first=Joanne E. |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |title=Wicca |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion |volume=14 |pages=9730 |publisher=Macmaillan Reference USA |location=Detroit |year=2005}}</ref> The Goddess is often portrayed as a [[Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)|Triple Goddess]], thereby being a triadic deity comprising a Maiden goddess, a [[Mother goddess]], and a Crone goddess, each of whom has different associations, namely virginity, fertility, and wisdom.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=90}}{{sfn|Farrar|Farrar|1987|pp=29–37}} Other Wiccan conceptualisations have portrayed her as a [[lunar deity|Moon Goddess]] and as a Menstruating Goddess.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=90}} According to the anthropologist Susan Greenwood, in Wicca the Goddess is "a symbol of self-transformation - she is seen to be constantly changing and a force for change for those who open themselves up to her".{{sfn|Greenwood|1998|p=103}}