Deity Concepts and Traits

Polarity

  Polarity is a concept beyond magnetic and electrical applications.  It touches everyone, every day, in ways so subtle that most people never realize it.  In Paganism, polarity refers to each item, each life, each action or emotion as having it's equal and opposite.  The Chinese symbol of Yin/Yang expresses this in a profoundly simple way: the balance of black & white, each containing a bit of the other, orbiting around each other in an endless cycle.  For virtually every conceivable thing (abstract or concrete) that you can name, you can find a tendency of gender-quality that aligns with male/female, positive/negative, light/dark, cold/hot, moist/dry, fertile/barren, etc.  The list goes on as long as you will.  This is expressed in words such as, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," or, "opposites attract."  The energy created by this interplay of opposites feeds life into the universe.
   Pagans differ on this point: is there one specific Energy-Source, one Godhead, one Supreme Being which manifests this energy, these opposites?  Or is this ultimate Being also divided by polarity?  This is a question that is up to the individual to decipher and interpret.  Most Pagans accept that there is a Source of divine energy feeding the universe, and that energy manifests in polarity, male and female, a Goddess and a God.  Whether you choose to see these two Deities as separate radiations of one Source, or the ultimate manifestation of that same Source, Wiccans and Pagans for millennia have been revering a Goddess and a God.

Animism

  With the passing of time, everything became associated with Divinity.  Healers learned the secrets of medicinal herbs.  Warriors learned the best defenses and found the strongest materials for making weapons and armor.  The simple, primitive human leanred that flint made excellent spearheads and could be used to strike a spark and start a fire.  Trees could give up food, medicine, shelter, fuel.  stones were weapons and building material.  Soil provided food.  Animals provided food, pelts for clothing, companinship and entertainment.  Everything had a power, a purpose, a gift of some type.  The material world was viewed as being imbued with spirit, with power, with an essential energy that took many different forms.
   Animals cycled and reproduced just like humans, so ancient man assumed they had spirits that sparked and enlivened them just like two-leggeds must have.  Nature cycled, also.  Trees surely would seem to have that spirit, that snimating spark of energy as thwy went through their seasonal changes.  This concept of an animating, energizing spark of life being inherent in all things is called Animism.  Most Pagans believe that some spark of life, some sense of order, some residual energy lies in all things: stones, trees, animals, humans, air, fire, water, earth.  And since all things contain that spark of Divine energy, all things are, in a sense, sacred.

Aspects

  Aspects refer to the traits, personalities, individual quirks associated with different Deities.  Aspects are things that help one culture differentiate their Deity or Deities from another culture's
   As ages passed, the concepts of Goddess and God developed in many different parts of the worls.  Matriarchal (woman/mother) and patriarchal (man/father) civilizations developed in areas distant from each other, but with the passing of time, raiders and conquerors lead to the the inter-mixing of traditions and myths.  Conquering invaders tended to adopt a few of the traits and traditions of the conquered (and forcibly inflict their own!), so concepts of Deity became shared among many peoples.
   Humans tend to assign human qualities or faces to Deity to better understand and align ourselves with what could be considered an abstract concept.  Fishing villages needed Goddesses and Gods who were sympathetic to their needs.  Thus, sea-born, deep-dwelling Gods were envisioned to aid the fisherfolf in their daily work.  Mermaids and other mysteries of the deep became inspiration for those desperate to better understand their Deity.  Volcanoes could wipe out small villages in the space of a few hours or minutes, so natives living at the foot of the smouldering craters envisioned a lava Goddess who ruled over the fire in the mountain.  By appeasing Her, life at the village level might be spared.
   Potters needed a Goddess who knew the secrets of earth and clay.  Blacksmiths needed a God who had skill with tools and a forge of His own.  Warriors needed a God of wat.  Expectant mothers needed a Goddess who would ease the pains and danger of birth.  Healers needed Gods and Goddesses who ruled over herbs and would impart the gift of knowledge in the practice of saving lives.
   Pagans see the sacred in everyday life.  They see the Goddess and the God as manifestations of Divine power.  They see the balance of polarity as a source of limitless energy.  These are concepts that you will encounter again and again as you read and research, and contemplate the sacredness of all things.

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