The gods in mythology are powerful beings no matter what kind of mythology you are talking about. As a Wiccan I do believe in a lot of these ancient Gods that the ancient world believed in and because of the History of Ancient Greece, Native America...
Wicca is a modern religion that came from the old religion Paganism. I am a Wiccan. I started my Wiccan journey in 10th grade and I feel more at peace and I am even more of a feminist because of it. There are different types of Wicca and maybe I will also start a Wicca 101 story to explain what Wicca is and all those different sects of Wicca. But for this work propose I will only talk about the Gods and Goddesses. I'm going to start with The Goddess.
In Wicca, the God is seen as the masculine form of divinity, and the polar opposite, and equal, to the Goddess. The God is traditionally seen as the Horned God, an archetypal deity with links to the Celtic Cernunnos, English folkloric Herne the Hunter, Greek Pan, Roman Faunus, and Indian Pashupati.
Wicca is a neo-pagan religion that emphasizes love and respect for nature. Nature is invariable personified in Wicca in the form of a god or goddess. The two most common deities in Wicca pantheon are the Horned God of the Forest and a three-part fertility goddess, often refered to collectively as the Goddess.
There is some debate within Wicca regarding the nature of the Goddess. Some Wiccans see her as the all-encompassing divine force, that which brings all other gods and goddesses into existence. This interpretation calls into question the polytheistic nature of Wicca. Many other Wiccans see the Goddess, or several individual goddesses, as being equal to and independent from the gods; this interpretation is distinctly polytheistic.
Wicca's emphasis on feminine power and on the primacy of the Goddess in religious devotion is perhaps its most distinctive feature. The Goddess is often understood as being of three parts, representing the three phases of the moon. In another sense, the Goddess is seen as a universal who has been known by many different names throughout time. Wicca often describes the Goddess as being both one and many; in this sense, the Goddess resembles the pantheistic tendencies of Hinduism. In all of her forms, the Goddess is seen as benevolent and closely connected with the female capacity to bring life into the world.
The triple goddess is Maiden-Mother-Crone. This includes the Greek goddesses Demeter, Kore-Persephone, and Hecate.
Not all Wiccans worship many Gods and Goddesses. I do but there are different types of Wiccan sects like I have mention before. There are some that only believe in one God or one Goddess. They can be from polytheism to patheism or monism, even to Goddess monotheism.
There is an array of groups and beliefs that fall under earth religion, such as paganism, which is a polytheistic, nature based religion; animism, which is the worldview that all living entities (plants, animals, and humans) possess a spirit; Wicca, which hold the concept of an earth mother goddess as well as practice ritual magic; and druidism, which equates divinity with the natural world. While I am a Wiccan, my boyfriend Josh is an animism which I think is so beautiful that we share similar believes in nature. Side note: Not all Wiccans practice witchcraft. Witchcraft isn't a religion, it's a practice. Wicca is the religion.
In some newer forms of Wicca, such as feminist or Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is given primacy or even exclusivity. In some forms of traditional Witchcraft that share a similar duotheistic theology, the Horned God is given precedence over the Goddess.
Wiccan Goddesses are part of the nature orientated religion followed by a diverse group of modern witches and some pagan groups. While individual covens and solitary practitioners may have specific names for their delities, these names are usually closely guarded secrets, and so it's conventional to use "The God" and "The Goddess" when discussing the Wiccan deities generally. I am a Solitary Wiccan. I don't belong to a coven.
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While there is a light Goddess there must also be a dark Goddess. Darker Goddesses are not evil. Dark goddesses travel where others fear to tread. They move through the veils between the worlds and into the shadows of powerful magick. They bravely venture into the Underworld and dive into the areas that other shy away from like death, transformation, protection, rebirth, prophecy, and shadow work.
