Witchvox Article

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Posted: October 3rd. 1999
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The subject of this essay reminds me of the story about four blind men and an elephant. When asked to describe the animal, each touched a different part and based his description on what he felt. The one who touched the creature's side said it was like a wall, the one who embraced a leg said it was like a tree, the one who held the trunk said it was like a snake, while the one who grabbed the tail said it was like a rope. Each man was correct in his own way, while unable to see the "big picture".

Kabbalah teaches that the ultimate deity, called "Ein Sof", is beyond our ability to comprehend or describe except in the vaguest terms. Since one of the main purposes of any religion is to connect with the divine. Doing so with Ein Sof would be extremely difficult, since we best understand, identify with and are drawn to that which is in some way familiar. Many different cultures and religions have different gods and goddesses which have meaning to them. As Pagans, we are free to choose those deities which resonate most strongly with us. I believe that all goddesses and gods are basically one and calling them by different names is no more inappropriate of inconsistent than the namy names to which we answer. To many people each day, I am the mail carrier. At home, I am dad and "honey". To other relatives, I am son, uncle, brother, and cousin. But regardless of what someone calls me, I am still one person.

The Universe is for the most part, orderly and consistent, with animals and plants existing as male and female. The sun never rises in the west and a dropped apple never floats away into the sky. If all deities were completely separate, wouldn't there be confusion, chaos, and inconsistencies as they went their own ways with nobody in charge? Even though the division between Goddess and God is not sharp, it represents the reality of life on earth. Gods and goddesses from many cultures and times differ in behavior, aspects, and appearances, but share common traits, which careful analysis will reveal.

While I was comparing deities, trying to figure out which were Goddess traits and which were God traits, I noticed that this was easier within a pantheon than between cultures. For example, the Celtic god of grain is Lugh, while to the Romans She is Ceres, and to the Slavs Babi Yaga. Cernunnos is the Celtic god of wild places and animals, while Artemis has a similar association to the Greeks. Could this be a reflection of different gender roles among cultures? The answer is best left to an anthropologist, but I suspect there is truth in it.

There were two cross cultural parallels that I found particularly striking. First, the Earth and nature are referred to as feminine, even in contemporary speech (Mother Nature, Mother Earth). The second was a belief in a feminine trinity that wove humans' destinies and cut the cord of their lives. Their decisions could not be overruled even by the Gods. This trio is best known to us as the Greek Fates, but to the Vikings they were the Norns, Germans called them the Sisters of the Wyrd, and Russians referred to them as the Zorya.

About twenty years ago on Saturday Night Live, Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) gave a talk on the evolution of God. This idea is more real than it may sound. I'm not saying that Deity evolves in our understanding of the concept. Rather, humans' concept of Deity evolves with philosophy, religion, science, medicine, society, and the needs of the people.

Before science and medicine, every event and sickness was thought to be the will of the Gods. Advances in these areas and others have greatly increased our understanding of out world, but have yet to explain everything. Perhaps many people today are turning to spirituality because pure science and technology cannot answer the deep questions such as "why are we here?" and "what is the meaning of life?".

Even in the past, gods and goddesses changed, appeared, combined, and even split into new identities within pantheons. As empires fell and new religions superceded old ones, no one believed in many of these deities anymore. Does a deity with no believers cease to exist? What kind of existence would He/She have? I don't think that a separate entity could simply vanish because nothing in our universe has ever ceased to exist, it simply changed in some manner. If all gods are one god, would this be a form of evolution?

One of the problems with a essay such as this one is that it is so abstract. Many people, including myself, understand such concepts more easilyif they can be compared to concrete examples. Perhaps this is why parables have been effectively used by numerous teachers and many cultures have myths which can explain simple to complex concepts. This is why I started this essay with a parable and end it by drawing parallels between the abstract and concrete one more time.

We Pagans tend to experience the Divine in nature and I saw Her/Him in the workings of the universe since I was about ten. Science tells us that the universe started as one formless indescribable unity, barely comprehendible to us, then in the Big Bang began to evolve into what it is today. Myths speak of a formless void or egg which was the beginning of the universe. Also, Ein Sof (meaning limitless) is a unity which is extremely difficult for us to describe or understand. Out of the Big Bang emerged two forms, matter and energy. The world is full of pairs such as consistency and change, day and night, male and female, positive and negative, etc. Each of these can be interpreted in different ways and is not mutually exclusive. The theory of Relativity explains that matter and energy are two different manifestations of the same thing and every observation is relative to something else. As the universe expanded, both matter and energy took on different forms. Despite the great diversity that exists today, we still have one universe where everything is connected and there are no rigid divisions. I believe that in a very similar manner, despite their differences, all gods are one God, all goddesses are one Goddess, and the God and Goddess are one.

David J. Mehling

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