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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
MONISM, One Wiccan Perspective
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."
(American 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 o f
all gods." (American Heritage Second College Dic tionary)
"Polytheism n. The worship of or belief in more than one god." (Ameri
can 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 therefore 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.
One suggestionhas beenmade toadd aword to ourThea/Theo-logi-
cal 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 wor-
shipped, NOT a Deity or deities invented in 1939! (More on this
later.)
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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 Collec-
tibles, Inc.).) Courtesy of David Piper
The Gawain Poet (the poet who wrote Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight in Middle English) used the term 'Dryghtyn' to refer to the
Lord God.
At the start of fit IV -
"Now neghes the Newe Yere and the night passes,
The day drives to the derk, as Dryghtyn biddes."
("Now approaches the New Year and the night passes,
The daylight comes up on the darkness, as the Lord God bids."
or from Brian Stowes verse translation (Penguin Classics, 1974) -
"Now the New Year neared, the night passed,
Daylight fought darkness as the Deity ordained.")
Grendel Grettison, 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. Supporting this
view, the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) word was actually 'dryhtin', meant
'lord, the Lord' and is linguistically related to 'dreogan' meaning
'to perform, to serve'.
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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 elem-
ents. Though this instance does not include Archangels, it DOES
include archaic (and relatively 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?
Jim Taylor, an Eastern Orthodox Theologian, also makes two (to me)
illuminating 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 recognition 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 intellec-
tual 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 "Cthonotheism" 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
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