Ben Gruagach
April 17th, 2005, 12:08 AM
I've seen some people on the web claim that Gerald Gardner was a "hard polytheist" and believed that each god and goddess is distinct and individual and should not be considered to be facets or aspects of a greater deity. (These same people bring this up to justify their claim that "real Wiccans" reject the idea that all gods could be different faces of one God, and that all goddesses could be different faces of one Goddess.)
This doesn't quite make sense to me since Gardner also makes a point in "Witchcraft Today" of quoting the beginning of the Charge of the Goddess, where the Goddess says She has been known by many names in many different places. Gardner says that the Charge is so important it's recited as part of the initiation ceremony that all Wiccans are expected to go through. If Gardner didn't believe in the idea of different gods and goddesses being facets of a larger deity, it would seem to me that he'd downplay the Charge, especially that part at the beginning, rather than emphasize it the way he did.
I'm also confused about why Gardner would go to such lengths discussing such a wide range of gods and goddesses from different cultures and tie it back to the god and goddess of Wicca if they are not supposed to be different manifestations of the same essential male and female deities.
Another bit of evidence that confuses me about this is the Dryghten Blessing Prayer that Patricia Crowther gives in her book "Witch Blood" (an autobiography about her involvement in Wicca.) She provides the Dryghten prayer as something that she says Gardner recited during her first degree initiation ceremony. The Dryghten prayer is on the web at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos302.htm Like the Charge of the Goddess, it starts off with a section that sounds an awful lot to me like it's reinforcing the idea that all gods are facets or manifestations of a larger supreme deity.
Can anyone provide more information on this for me? I'm hoping for some references (book titles with relevant page numbers would be ideal) that either reinforce or debunk the idea that Gardner agreed with the idea of deities being facets of a larger God.
This doesn't quite make sense to me since Gardner also makes a point in "Witchcraft Today" of quoting the beginning of the Charge of the Goddess, where the Goddess says She has been known by many names in many different places. Gardner says that the Charge is so important it's recited as part of the initiation ceremony that all Wiccans are expected to go through. If Gardner didn't believe in the idea of different gods and goddesses being facets of a larger deity, it would seem to me that he'd downplay the Charge, especially that part at the beginning, rather than emphasize it the way he did.
I'm also confused about why Gardner would go to such lengths discussing such a wide range of gods and goddesses from different cultures and tie it back to the god and goddess of Wicca if they are not supposed to be different manifestations of the same essential male and female deities.
Another bit of evidence that confuses me about this is the Dryghten Blessing Prayer that Patricia Crowther gives in her book "Witch Blood" (an autobiography about her involvement in Wicca.) She provides the Dryghten prayer as something that she says Gardner recited during her first degree initiation ceremony. The Dryghten prayer is on the web at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos302.htm Like the Charge of the Goddess, it starts off with a section that sounds an awful lot to me like it's reinforcing the idea that all gods are facets or manifestations of a larger supreme deity.
Can anyone provide more information on this for me? I'm hoping for some references (book titles with relevant page numbers would be ideal) that either reinforce or debunk the idea that Gardner agreed with the idea of deities being facets of a larger God.