Why Do Wiccan Practices Differ?

Most of us learned about the greek and roman myths in school. Some of us were read fairy and folk tales as a child. I learned about Aphrodite and Zeus and the Goose Girl and Snow White at my Mom's knee. I also learned about Atilla the Hun (because my Mom's family came from Hungary) and Brünhild and Siegfreid and Baba Yaga. When I first came across Wicca it was obvious to me why the practices differed. However, not everyone hears or reads these stories as my Mom and I did. Certainly, the indigenous people's didn't have so many myths and legends from other cultures available at their fingertips as we do today.

On the FAQ page I have already explained that we have taken the largest Being and split that Being into what we know best -- male and female. But how do the other splits occur? Most of it comes from cultures and what they knew. So, the easiest way for me to explain it would be for you to treat it like a recipe. you may make something from scratch -- say beef stew. So do a lot of people. Your beef stew isn't all that different from the beef stew a friend makes in Chicago. But she likes more cumin than sage and you like more pepper and salt. So the flavor ends up being different. But it is still beef stew.

I worship a Goddess named Freya. In one legend She is the moon -- inconstant and unlucky. Friday is Her day and Friday the 13th the unluckiest day of all. One tradition could be built around this legend. (Not for me, I got engaged on a Friday the 13th!) In another legend She is the moon, but She is the nuturer and the bringer of Love. Friday is still considered Her day, but Friday the 13th is thought of as an auspicious day to be married. This could be the basis for a second tradition of worship. Still another legend says She is not only the moon, She is the sun that shines on the ocean during the day. This makes a tradition that might need to be practiced near the seaside. One legend says She married the god Odin, another says She did not. This detail can make a very huge difference in how one practices the spring and summer holidays. One legend says She is the sun and Odin is the Moon, and that He is Her defender when Her sacred necklace, Brisingamen, is stolen and taken to the Land of the Dead. This, again, is yet another way of adoring Freya.

And this is just one Goddess! From all the legends I just stated above I could have six different sets of practices from one Goddess alone. So now you can imagine that having access to every version of every myth from every culture can create widely varying practices.

And yet the same basic techniques and steps used within our ceremonies are common to all Wiccans. We have a common "recipe", it is just the flavoring that differs.

With all the myths and legends available why use only one Goddess? Some don't. But it is like that old joke, "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time!" Each name for the Goddes is a "bite", a simpler way of understanding the Whole. For Wiccans are heard to say, "All Goddesses are One Goddess."

And comprehending something so grand is better done one bite at a time.