The story of how the world began is as follows: Long ago there was nothing. But then there was a spark of life, the spirit. The spirit divided itself in half. Half was the lady, and the other half was the lord. The lady took parts of herself and shaped them into the planets and moons, and she made water. The Lord took parts of himself and made them into the stars and he made fire. They were so happy with their creations they danced, and in dancing started they set the world into motion. The sun formed and the Earth and other planets were drawn to it and started to dance around it. As the universe formed and changed the lord and lady watched their creations grow and change, and they continued to dance. As time went on the lady realized the Earth was ready for life, and she put little bits of herself (the spirit) and made them into plants. The Lord also wanted to make living things and he took bits of himself and made them into animals. They were overjoyed and loved their creations. They continued to dance, and to watch over their creations as they grew and changed. When one of their creations died it came back to be a part of the spirit, and was released again to have another life.
I tell you this story first so that you can better understand the lord and the lady. God is male, and therefore only half of us are represented. So there is also the Goddess, who is female. For whatever God is the Goddess is his opposite and when they are together they encompass everything. When they are together they are called the spirit or the all. We are all part of them and they are part of us.
When we do a spell, ritual or pray we often refer to a specific spirit or God/Goddess. A religion’s set of spirits, Gods and Goddesses is called their “pantheon” and each being in the pantheon is called a “deity” (pronounced de-ity). When a Wiccan prays to Athena, they are praying to an aspect of the spirit – the aspect that has the characteristics of Athena. We use the pantheons and their deities to narrow down what energies we are calling to help us. If we pray for love and only invoke The All then we get all the energy that exists – which may sound good at first, until you realize that compassion and cruelty are trying to find you love. The way some of the dark parts of the spirit work may bring you a love that will hurt you in the end. This is why you may instead ask the lady or any deity that you feel would do a good job assisting you.
Because of this you may ask; do Wiccans believe in every god and goddess from every religion? Yes and no. Using Athena as an example still, we can say that Wiccans don’t believe Athena is a real Goddess. Instead, we believe that Athena is a part of the lady. We only use deities as a way to channel our energy. It is hard for many people to picture the lady and describe all of her characteristics. For that reason we use Athena and other goddesses to try and picture the female goddess better. For example, the lady is to Athena as the ocean is to a specific beach. It is much easier to understand and deal with one beach rather than the whole ocean. In the same way it is easier to understand and deal with one goddess rather than the whole female spirit (the lady).
That said, there are three forms of the lady and eight of the lord. The lady’s forms are also called “faces” since they correspond with the three main faces of the moon. When the moon is waxing (getting larger) it is called the maiden. This represents youth, new love and new beginnings. When the moon is full it is the lady in her prime, sometimes called the mother. This is the best time to do most spells, and symbolizes bounty, fertility, mature love and motherhood. When the moon is gone, the new moon, it is called the crone. The crone is an old woman and symbolizes wisdom and death. The lord’s forms correspond with the Sabbats (holidays) and are therefore discussed in chapter three.
Now that you understand our gods and goddesses it will be easier for you to understand the spirits and other magical beings we believe in. The three big ones are ghosts, guardian angels and fae (fairies). Ghosts are people who have died but have not accepted their death or have something that is stopping them from moving on. The best thing to do if you see one is to talk to it to try and help it cross over. If this does not work and it is not bothering you just leave it alone. Ghosts can travel from place to place through mirrors, but most of the time they stay near a place that is important to them (where they died, were born, lived or where loved ones live). Guardian angels are actually similar to ghosts, but they have accepted their death and crossed over. If a person dies they can choose to guard over someone before they are reborn. They usually guard over someone with something in common with their last life.
The fae, commonly called sprites or fairies, are complex beings. Like the deities, we use them as a tool to understand the little bits of spirit that move the natural world around us. There is tons of folk lore to go along with them though. They are thought to be in charge of things like frost, leaves turning in fall, when flowers bloom and little things like that. They are beautiful, intelligent, cunning and very easy to offend. They fly and are like tiny little people, usually living in an outside setting with lots of plants. They are very hard to spot as well. Usually you have to be careful to be extremely polite and call them fair ones or fae, don’t use their nicknames. The only time beginners should deal with fae is if they come to you first or if you need help with a garden. You can leave them gifts of honey and milk. Usually they are only around at night and early morning. They also live in another realm (the land of the fairies) and can trick you into following them there, which will lead to your eventually going crazy.
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