Deity

de?i?ty
Pronunciation: 'dE-&-tE, 'dA-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Middle English deitee, from Old French deit?, from Late Latin deitat-, deitas, from Latin deus god; akin to Old English TIw, god of war, Latin divus god, dies day, Greek dios heavenly, Sanskrit deva heavenly, god
Date: 14th century
1 a : the rank or essential nature of a god : DIVINITY b capitalized : GOD 1, SUPREME BEING
2 : a god or goddess <the deities of ancient Greece>
3 : one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful

di?vin?i?ty
Pronunciation: d&-'vi-n&-tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Date: 14th century
1 : THEOLOGY
2 : the quality or state of being divine
3 often capitalized : a divine being: as a : GOD 1 b (1) : GOD 2 (2) : GODDESS
4 : fudge made of whipped egg whites, sugar, and nuts

god?dess
Pronunciation: 'g?-d&s also 'go-
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : a female god
2 : a woman whose great charm or beauty arouses adoration

god
Pronunciation: 'g?d also 'god
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German got god
Date: before 12th century
1 capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2 : a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality
3 : a person or thing of supreme value
4 : a powerful ruler

As far as I know, there are very few religions or valid spiritual paths that do not acknowledge some form of Deity.? Whether it?s the elemental worship of unknown forces (such as early human beings are thought to have done, by instinct perhaps) or the structuralized, ritualized worship of the Judeo-Christian God, reverence for the Buddha or Native Americans? faith in the Great Spirit, it seems to be a common thread among us, in some form or other.? Our Path is one that embraces all others? approaches to the Divine as being equally valid.? We believe that honest seekers will find that for which they are earnestly searching, that God/Goddess/Supreme Being/Great Spirit/Universal Consciousness/Creative Entity ? or whatever a person chooses to call it ? is not hidden, distant, transcendent, unrecognizable, or even unknowable.? It is here, all around us? here, within us.? It is part of us, and we are part of it.?? We will talk about this ?immanent? view of God/dess quite a bit more, as we go on.

So what is our ?Deity??? Who do we revere and exalt as divine?? To whom do we attribute the creation of our earth, our universe, ourselves?? What do we recognize as being worthy of our worship, our faith, our acknowledgement as being the embodiment of the ultimate reality?? A Christian can answer, ?Jesus Christ.?? A Jew would say, ?Yahweh.?? A Muslim may point to ?Allah.??? But what about us?? If we say that we believe that everything in Creation contains Divinity, then who or what do we ?worship??? Who, or what, exactly, is our ?God??

As you meet other Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, etc., you will hear them speak of the Goddess quite frequently, in a generic reference.? Less often, you might hear about ?The God.?? A few will mention a particular name, such as those who follow the path of Dianic Witchcraft, worshipping the Goddess Diana.? You know that I, in particular, consider myself to be primarily a follower of the Morrigan.? How this came to be is a story for another time, but for now, the question becomes, is SHE the answer to that question, ?Who is your God??? Or is it something more than this?

I?ve raised more questions here than I?ve answered, so far, for a reason.? Although I am teaching you what I believe, and for your apprentice period, you will, for all practical purposes, be living out my faith, there will come the day when you will decide the answers to these questions for yourself.? When the time comes for you to consider Initiation into my tradition, you will have to ask yourself these very questions, and see if the answers that lie within your heart, that resonate in your soul, that make sense in your mind, that give joy to your spirit, are the same as mine.? In this sense, I believe every responsible, thinking Pagan is essentially solitary in their beliefs.? Unless a person is a ?sheep,? blindly following, believing, and practicing the ways of another without searching themselves and taking responsibility for the Path they walk, we each must ultimately come to these answers on our own.? Even someone who belongs to a coven, even if it is one that follows a more established, mainstream tradition such as Wicca, answers eventually to himself or herself for these questions.?? I want you to remember, even as I share MY truth with you this next year, to keep asking, keep searching within yourself.? Challenge my words with the experiences we share.? Think about how my explanations make you feel.? Test to see if the principles work for you.? This is my ultimate goal, even in this most intense phase of training: to guide you towards being a thoughtful, deep, and powerful woman who is in control of herself, sure of herself, rooted in her own knowledge and experience of what is Divine, and responsible for her own actions in accordance with this knowledge and experience.

Questions

1. List some of the ideas of ?God? that you have noticed are prevalent in the people you know.? How do people seem to see Him/Her?? Do they love him?? Are they afraid of him?? Does he seem like a father, or a stern judge?? What are your impressions of these views of God?

2. Think about how important it might be to you to find a path that leads to a relationship with God/dess that actually affects your whole life.? Do you think it is enough for a person to go to church once a week, or have circle eight times a year, or to do ?prescribed? things?? Or do you feel like a real presence in your everyday life is realistic, and, more importantly, something that you desire for yourself?

3. Go to http://www.google.com or other search engine and see how many names for God or the Goddess you can find.? Why do you think that over the course of humanity, there have been SO many representations of Deity?? Which of these, if any, cause a reaction when you read about them?? Good or bad, which ones ?speak? to you, make you feel something?

Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

http://www.m-w.com