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This thread is for any discussion on Wicca, especially concerning any of the stickies. All discussion must remain congenial. When insults start flying and crap hits the ceiling, this thread will be locked and another will be open and so on and so forth.

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I've seen this mentioned by someone before. Gardner mentions some deities, notably Isis, as being ancient cultures' understandings of his goddess. But the individual in question (can't for the life of me remember who it was) pointed out that it's not all goddesses he's talking about here. Just a few; mostly European, Near Eastern and Egyptian - but again, not all of these goddesses. My personal understanding of Crowley's writing was along these lines also.

Personal understanding of the theology seems to depend largely on one's experiences in Circle. So you'll get a fair few hard polys but a fair number of soft polys too. Personally I'd be interested to see whether the hard/soft split correlates to other Pagan practices, the hypothesis being that soft polys would be less likely to also practice a recon faith.

But regardless of the interpretation, the goddess of the Wica is still a specific goddess. I was under the strong impression that she was invoked under one guise only, that being the one known to the Wica, and under one name. So I'm unsure on that matter, unless some covens use other names in addition (as we known one can add but not take away) on the basis that the other name is a different understanding of their goddess.

We also can't forget that a lot of Wiccans out there depend a lot on what they've been taught lore-wise about the origins of their faith and completely ignore the actual reality of the situation. This sort of ignorance annoys me, particularly since it's their own faith and not someone else's. The lore is nice and all, but you can know your lore and also understand the objective reality of the situation. Denying it to cling to your lore is... silly.