The Book of Shadows of a Broom Closet Dweller *EDITING*

Deities

Witches believe that the ancient gods and goddesses are still present today. Each deity is associated with one or more aspects of life. In addition to honouring them as divine beings, we can ask the gods associated with our goals to help us when performing spells. There are thousands of gods from many cultures to choose from.

Some witches are eclectic, which means that they work with whichever deity is appropriate to their purpose, regardless of pantheon. Others are drawn to one single pantheon.

You are not limited to a pantheon associated with your heritage in this life. It is possible that you were from a different culture in a past life and may still feel an affiliation to those old gods.

You also don't need to work with deities if you don't want to. Some witches are secular and merely work with energies in general without putting a name to them or evoking a specific deity.

While some witches view deities as intelligent anthropomorphised forms of energy, other witches view them as psychological archetypes to help in support of their goals. Whether you view witchcraft from a energy or psychological perspective (or a mixture of both); which deity to work with -or whether to work with them at all- is completely up to you and should not be affected by your heritage, ethnicity, or cultural background.

How deities can assist in your craft

> Providing guidance and advice
> Boosting your spells
> Assisting with personal growth & shadow work
> Increasing your appreciation for nature and the universe
> Gaining knowledge, insight, and enlightenment

Types of Divinity Beliefs

There are lots of different ways to view the nature of divinity. If you've grown up in the context of a particular religion (e.g. Christianity) it can be difficult to understand divinity from different perspectives. The all-knowing, all-powerful, judgemental God you may have grown up with is not the only way deities can be like - there are different perspectives of theism.

Equally, just because you're an atheist doesn't mean you can't work with deities in your craft. I've provided information on some atheistic beliefs around deity work too.

🛐 Theistic beliefs:

Classical theism - The belief that deity is an all-powerful, wholly good, omnipresent being that is separate from reality and transcendent (i.e. they are beyond human understanding and look down at as from above).

Personal God - A deity that is referred to like a person. This is how God is commonly depicted in Abrahamic scriptures; described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person and showing emotion such as anger and pride.

Pantheism - The belief that divinity and reality are identical. Put simply, the belief that God is the universe, rather than God created the universe and is separate from it.

Henotheism - A concept where other deities can appear as "avatars" (or personalities) of a greater/monotheist deity. Wiccan deities are often considered henotheistic; Artemis, Diana, Gaia, etc can be considered personalities of the Wiccan Goddess. (The Hindu deities are also henotheistic).

Anthropomorphism & Immanence - The attribution of human traits to non-human entities is known as anthropomorphism. The Wiccan God & Goddess can be considered anthropomorphised forms of nature (the sun and the moon represent the God and the Goddess respectively). Deities that are immanent are part of the world we live in; tangible and knowable, not just looking down at us from above. Anthropomorphism and immanence tend to go hand-in-hand, as in the belief that divinity is intrinsic to the physical world. This is the opposite of transcendent, although most pagans/witches believe that their deities are both immanent and transcendent.