Rhyd Wildermuth posted a really insightful piece at the Wild Hunt entitled The Multitude and The Myriad. (And I’d just like to take a moment to thank Jason Pitzl-Waters for making an effort to cover polytheist news and activities as well as giving a voice to a number of polytheist authors in recent months.)
Predictably enough Gus diZerega felt the need to chime in:
A great deal of traditional Wicca has no resemblance to the duotheistic caricature you present. I imagine some Wiccans might have such a view, but none I have ever known in over 25 years have expressed such a position.
Thankfully Rhyd had a quote handy:
Traditional Wicca focuses on female-male duality along with the cycle of life and death. However, male deities are usually relegated to a secondary but still very important status. Traditional Wicca therefore attends to the Goddess and the God and their rituals usually include both a priestess and a priest. (Gus diZerega, Fault Lines pg 170)
To which Gus shot back:
Written LONG before the present controversy and not addressing this issue because we had not yet been plagued by it. If Christians had accused us of duotheism I would have addressed it. But my book was written to contrast general Pagan to general Christian belief.
Amazon claims that Fault Lines was released on October 14, 2013 but I did not point that out to him. Instead I wrote:
What’s the present controversy? Because if you’re talking about the desire of polytheists to distance ourselves from Wiccamorphic paganism that was already well underway when I got online in 1999. Hellenic polytheism in the States got its start in the 70s and really hit its stride in the late 80s to mid 90s. Most of the arguments circulating now had already been raised by then.
Note: I actually got online in 1998. I got active in the online Hellenic polytheist community in ’99. Hence the mix-up.
Huffily, Gus replied:
It was not a public issue back then in Pagan circles of which I was aware. But a good way of avoiding the issues I raised. When people claim to be polytheists and deny to those of us who identified as such long before they were involved, it is hard for me to take them seriously.
To which I responded:
Do you affirm the existence of many gods? Then I consider you a polytheist. I don’t see what’s so complicated about that – it’s right there in the name: πολύ “many” θεοί “gods.” And that’s all that it means. I know plenty of Wiccan polytheists and polytheists who draw on ancient cultural traditions as well as ones who just make stuff up and every religious methodology in between – hell, I even know a couple heterodox Christian polytheists. Anyone who feels the need to qualify that statement about the existence of many gods, especially those who would posit an underlying unity that erases the autonomy and identity of said gods, ought to find a more accurate term for their beliefs. We’re not saying they’re wrong – just different. Why is that so problematic? What do such people gain from these dishonest attempts at appropriation? I’d think they would want to associate with people who share their own theological beliefs instead of creating constant friction by forcing their way in.
And the move away from Wiccamorphic paganism was motivated by more than just theology – many of us realized that we held differing ethical beliefs, performed ritual in different ways, valued different cultural elements, etc. I have great respect for the Wiccan trailblazers who opened the way for us in the 50s through 70s – but since then we’ve been developing our own traditions. As long as the default model and understanding in paganism is informed by Wicca there is no room for us under the pagan umbrella. This shift already happened and strident attempts to impose uniformity and telling us that we really are one of you are only going to increase acrimony and further the divide between us. There are still plenty of issues we can work together on – but that must begin with a recognition and respect for our inherent differences.
To which Gus shot back:
I affirm Their existence and have given Them thanks and prayers by name for many decades. I have personally encountered several. I am also a Monist of sorts. So are a great many Pagan thinkers over several millennia. We have no difficulty in combining that with appreciating individuality.
Helpfully I explained:
1 + 1 + 1 = 3 not 1.
You cannot equally and simultaneously assert both the plurality and unity of the gods. One may claim that they start as one and progress to the other; one may even hold that they move back and forth between the two positions. But these are mutually exclusive categories of being. To emphasize the one, one must de-emphasize the other. This is basic math, folks. I don’t see why it’s so hard to grasp.
Tagged: paganism, polytheism
