SYLVAN

WICCA /SHAMANISM

 

LESSON 9B

 

Lesson Nine: The Deities (Part 2)

When I work with students, I don't promote a goddess from any particular

pantheon.

During that portion of the instruction, we either explore the gods and

goddesses the

student's ancestors followed or consider the deities from a specific

culture that the

practitioner feels particularly drawn to. If a practitioner connects with

a specific deity,

the deity is normally only called upon in solitary practice. Within group

work,

instruction, and much of our discussion, we use an archetypical Goddess

and God.

The Goddess we focus on is considered to embody the aspects of Maiden,

Mother,

and Crone, similar to the Christian concept of the Trinity

(Father (God), Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit).

In much the same way, the three phases of the Goddess are

considered to be held within one deity. As we'll soon examine, we don't

consider these

aspects to be separate entities and this concept of the Goddess is a

powerful tool in

understanding personal growth and development cycles.

In magickal work, the Goddess is generally associated with the moon.

Certain ritual

tools can be seen as corresponding with the Goddess; these are typically

circular in

shape, are able to hold materials in a womb-like receptacle (like a bowl

or round dish), or

are curved without sharp lines or angles. For group ritual work,

the Goddess is associated with the left hand side of the altar.

The first aspect of the Goddess which we focus on is the Maiden.

Practitioners often

visualize her at any age from a young girl to a young woman.

We associate many of the

same qualities with the Maiden that we would to a stereotypical

woman in the same age group: She is young and vibrant,

sees the world as full of discovery and excitement,

and is often associated with the absence of pain or darkness. As specific

aspects of the

Goddess are often associated with specific phases of the moon, we

typically connect

the Maiden with the waxing moon, from a point just past new until just

before it is full.

This is because the Maiden's energy is seen as young and vibrant, as it

is still rising

toward it's peak. There is no criteria to what the Maiden must represent.

She can be a

warrior, a huntress, a carefree child, a playful lover; the key is that

the Maiden's energy

is associated with very little responsibility for anything other than

herself and her own

life. It's a phase devoted to newness, life, and exploration of the world

within and around you.

As we'll consider a little later, the Goddess follows a natural cycle

from Maiden to

Mother, from Mother to Crone. The Mother aspect of the Goddess is

typically

associated with two types of energy. First of all, she is often

represented by a pregnant

woman or by Mother Earth, corresponding to the Mother's fertile nature,

her ability to

give life, and her abundance of productive energy. But she is also

represented by a

Mother who already has children of her own, and in this aspect she is

seen as nurturing,

caring, strong, intelligent, and growing in wisdom. Like the Maiden, she

can take many

forms. She can be a warrior protecting hearth and home, a huntress

bringing food to the

table, a gentle mother caring and nurturing her children, or a wise woman

taking the first

steps to train a new generation of Witches. What's important is the

specific energy that is

associated with her. The Mother is normally associated with the full

moon, representative

of her abundant energy. It's not as vibrant as the Maiden's energy which

is still rising

toward it's peak. But it is strong, a combination of the Maiden's passion

for life and the Crone's endless wisdom.

The third phase of the Goddess we look to is the Crone. She is often

pictured as an old

woman, her wisdom drawn in the wrinkles which cover her face, and is

generally

associated with the waning moon as her energy is beginning to fade.

However, we must

remember that at this point, the waning moon has observed the preceding

lunar month

and has learned from the phases that came before. More than any other

trait, the Crone is

associated with wisdom. Knowledge is often added to this, but the Crone

is normally

honored for her wisdom, occasionally in exclusion of other traits which

she is also

associated with (such as perspective and vision, the ability to see

cycles and work

magick, and the understanding of death and the otherworld). Like the

other phases of the

Goddess, the Crone can be many things, but the vibrancy of her energy is

fading, like the

waning moon she's associated with, and her path often explores the power

of wisdom that is slowly developed over the decades.

 

Exercise Nine: Discovering the Goddess

Sit quietly, much the same way that you did with the observation

exercise

for the Exercise One: Learning to Listen. If you feel it's

appropriate for your

meditation, you may consider lighting a candle, burning some

incense,

and/or putting on some soft music. Make sure that you won't be

disturbed

(the ringer is turned off on the telephone, etc.) for at least five

minutes, but for no longer than a half-hour.

Sit quietly and clear your mind. Your eyes may be open or closed.

As your

mind clears imagine that you are sitting on a large moss-covered

boulder

near a forest path. As you begin to visualize the forest around you,

the

Goddess will come. She may come in a specific phase, or may appear

as all

three at once. She may walk down the path toward you or emerge from

the

woodlands around you. If you'd like, feel free to speak to her in

your mind,

but it isn't necessary. Simply observe if that's all you feel led to

do.

If the Goddess comes to you in a specific phase, experience her

presence

for as long as you'd like then visualize her next phase appearing.

Do this

until you have seen each phase, Maiden, Mother, and Crone. If all

three appear at once (or as one) this step is unnecessary.

When you have completely experienced each phase, thank the Goddess

for

appearing to you and for her presence in your meditation. If you'd

like, feel

free to ask her to guide you as you grow along your magickal path.

When you've completed the meditation, open your eyes and sit

quietly.

Think about your experience. Are you comfortable with what you saw?

Surprised? Why do you think the Goddess initially appeared to you as

she

did? Are there any parallels between the Goddess's appearance and

your life?

The key to working with the deities isn't to learn what they are

from a book

and then cater your practice to how you believe they should be. The

power

of that connection for you will lay in exploring how you connect

with both

the Goddess and the God. Repeat this meditation as necessary or

whenever you have the desire to do so. As you grow more comfortable

with the visualization process, trust your instincts and expand or

change the meditation as you see fit.

Each aspect of the Goddess can be called upon for the same reason. The

key is to cater

the way you visualize the different aspects to the strengths of the

various phases. For

instance, if you were calling upon the Goddess for protection, you could

call upon the

Maiden as a brave warrior-woman, the Mother's fearless ferocity in

protecting her

children, and the Crone's sharp wit and cleverness in defeating a

challenger with her mind.

While each of these can be called on individually, they can likewise be

combined into a

single visualization as the Goddess is three-in-one. If you have need to

call upon the

Goddess's energy, simply visualize her as she came to you in your

meditation. You'll

already have a connection established to reach out to her.

The First Cycle course is written by Graelan Wintertide

and is © 1999 All Rights Reserved