There are Celtic, Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Native American and other various pantheons. There is the Goddess and the God. There is the Maiden, Mother, and Wise Woman (or Crone), and in the other gender, there is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is The One True Divinity. So who do Wiccans worship?

In my honest opinion, I think we worship them ALL. This may seem far-fetched, but stick with me on this one.

In my belief, and this is what many Wiccans agree with, there is one divine source, which I will simply call The One here. Now The One can't be described as a mass of love or hate because It is every emotion, but not really emotion. The One is a part of everything, yet also detached. And of course, The One is both male and female, but is also neither. These contradictions are not generally something we can understand. It's a multi-faceted Yin-Yang that isn't faceted and isn't a Yin-Yang. Confusing enough?

That's why we, as humans, put The One into human terms. We give the divine emotion, gender, tangibility, a voice, etc., that The One really doesn't have. The One is not only the creator of the Universe (which is why I think It is both male and female...creation is an action that requires BOTH), but The One IS the universe.

This idea takes a while to think about and comprehend, but once you get that far, you can understand why Wiccans worship both, a God and a Goddess.

Many people understand the concept of the Trinity provided from Christianity. God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all in one. Why? Because God represents the young, middle-aged, and old all at the same time. Remember the Riddle of the Sphinx from Greek and Roman mythologies? The riddle is "What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?" The answer is man (or humans, to be PC). We crawl on four legs in the dawn of our lives, walk on two at the peak of our lives (the sun is at it's peak at noon), and we use a cane, or third leg, as we are old and come to twilight. Well, who says God has a "day and night"? Time in our terms has no meaning to a God that is eternal, so God can be all at the same time!

Another analogy: Imagine God as an American penny. Look at the side that says "In God We Trust." Mark three equal divisions on the penny (but do not cut it), one to represent the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. All three divisions are made of the same material: the same amount of shiny copper, the same amount of tarnish. Apart, the penny has no value. You can make those markings in any way, any shape you wish as long as they are the equal. The Three represented in the Trinity are equal in the same way. This is a concept that most Christians can grasp.

But what about the tails side? To Wiccans, that is the Goddess. The penny can be divided into three the same way (Maiden, Mother, Wise Woman/Crone), it's still made of the same copper and tarnish, and if the pieces are separate, the penny has no value. But most importantly, the penny also has no value without the tails side and the heads side together. Both of the sides together make the One that I discussed earlier.

So why bother putting names to different "Gods" and "Goddesses" if they are all one? The names pulled from different pantheons are simply used to call on a certain aspect of The One. Much as I wouldn't want to use my skills for making web pages when I'm playing my flute, people call on a different God or Goddess to stress different needs in their lives. If I wanted to do a spell or say a prayer for protection of a new herb garden, and I chose the Greek pantheon, I would certainly prefer to call upon Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest rather than Ares, the God of War! The pantheon a person chooses depends on what that person prefers and knows. I don't know much about the Norse deities, so I don't do much work with those names.

Personally, I think it's so much easier to just say the God, the Goddess, or The One. Wicca doesn't stress which pantheon a person should use, or use one at all. To me, it stresses that a person should understand that we are worshipping the same One as Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc., no matter what name we put on It. And for this reason, I think that insulting the God of another person is the biggest blasphemy against your own religion!

Now before you go any further, if you *do* choose to follow a pantheon, make sure you do some research first. A good place to start is The Encyclopedia Mythica. It has short articles on numerous different cultures and their mythologies. But don't stop there...go to your local library or bookstore and spend some time with books on mythology. Learn everything you can, then learn some more. In the end, you may or may not choose to follow a pantheon or deity in particular. And don't rush it...most people claim that they didn't choose their deity. Their deity chose them!