Wicca Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Monotheism and polytheism==== Gardner stated that beyond Wicca's two deities was the "Supreme Deity" or "[[unmoved mover|Prime Mover]]", an entity that was too complex for humans to understand.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=92}} This belief has been endorsed by other practitioners, who have referred to it as "the Cosmic [[Logos]]", "Supreme Cosmic Power", or "[[Deity|Godhead]]".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=92}} Gardner envisioned this Supreme Deity as a [[deism|deist]] entity who had created the "Under-Gods", among them the God and Goddess, but who was not otherwise involved in the world; alternately, other Wiccans have interpreted such an entity as a pantheistic being, of whom the God and Goddess are facets.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|pp=92β93}} [[File:Horned God.JPG|upright|thumb|right|Sculpture of the Horned God of Wicca found in the [[Museum of Witchcraft]] in [[Boscastle]], [[Cornwall]]]] Although Gardner criticised monotheism, citing the [[Problem of Evil]],{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=92}} explicitly monotheistic forms of Wicca developed in the 1960s, when the U.S.-based Church of Wicca developed a theology rooted in the worship of what they described as "one deity, without gender".{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=93}} In the 1970s, [[Dianic]] Wiccan groups developed which were devoted to a singular, monotheistic Goddess; this approach was often criticised by members of British Traditional Wiccan groups, who lambasted such Goddess [[monotheism]] as an inverted imitation of Christian theology.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=94}} As in other forms of Wicca, some Goddess monotheists have expressed the view that the Goddess is not an entity with a literal existence, but rather a Jungian archetype.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=95}} As well as pantheism and [[duotheism]], many [[Wiccans]] accept the concept of [[polytheism]], thereby believing that there are many different [[deities]]. Some accept the view espoused by the occultist [[Dion Fortune]] that "all gods are one god, and all goddesses are one goddess" β that is that the gods and goddesses of all cultures are, respectively, aspects of one supernal God and Goddess. With this mindset, a Wiccan may regard the Germanic [[Δostre]], [[Hindu]] [[Kali]], and [[Catholic]] [[Virgin Mary]] each as manifestations of one supreme Goddess and likewise, the [[Celtic deities|Celtic]] [[Cernunnos]], the ancient Greek [[Dionysus]] and the Judeo-Christian [[Yahweh]] as aspects of a single, archetypal god. A more strictly [[polytheism|polytheistic]] approach holds the various goddesses and gods to be separate and distinct entities in their own right. The Wiccan writers [[Janet Farrar]] and [[Gavin Bone]] have postulated that Wicca is becoming more polytheistic as it matures, tending to embrace a more traditionally Pagan worldview.{{sfn|Farrar|Bone|2004}} Some Wiccans conceive of deities not as literal personalities but as metaphorical [[archetype]]s or [[thoughtform]]s, thereby technically allowing them to be [[atheism|atheists]].{{sfn|Adler|1979|pp=25, 34β35}} Such a view was purported by the High Priestess [[Vivianne Crowley]], herself a [[psychologist]], who considered the Wiccan deities to be [[Jungian archetypes]] that existed within the subconscious that could be evoked in ritual. It was for this reason, she said "The Goddess and God manifest to us in dream and vision".<ref name="Crowleyarchetype">{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Vivianne |author-link=Vivianne Crowley |title=Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Millennium |publisher=Thorsons |location=London |page=129 |year=1996 |isbn=0-7225-3271-7 |oclc=34190941}}</ref> Wiccans often believe that the gods are not perfect and can be argued with.{{sfn|Pearson|1998|p=52}} Many Wiccans also adopt a more explicitly polytheistic or [[animism|animistic]] world-view of the universe as being replete with spirit-beings.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|pp=95β96}} In many cases these spirits are associated with the natural world, for instance as ''[[genius loci]]'', [[fairies]], and [[elementals]].{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=96}} In other cases, such beliefs are more idiosyncratic and atypical; Wiccan [[Sybil Leek]] for instance endorsed a belief in [[angel]]s.{{sfn|Doyle White|2016|p=96}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page