One of the most vexing questions spiritual seekers encounter concerns the “proper” terminology they should use when referring to The Divine, that supreme being and all around swell guy most commonly referred to as “God”. Many new Wiccans immediately reverse their Christian indoctrination by flipping it. “God” becomes “Goddess”. Or, more specifically where Wiccans are concerned, “God” becomes “Goddess and God” or “Lord and Lady” or “Barbie and Ken”. But let’s not torture the point…
The reality is, there is no correct terminology. You cannot define God. Your labels don’t matter in the general sense, so just use whatever word feels most comfortable to you. Around here we call it “The Universe”. Personally, I use to phrase “Great Lady”. But if “God” feels right to you because you used it most of your life during your childhood in a Christian household, who are you harming if you continue to say “God”? Your beliefs have evolved, and you know what you mean when you say “God”. It’s not up to anyone else to approve or disapprove. And if someone admonishes you for not saying “Goddess” or “Lord and Lady” or any other flavor, that person is a fool who’s playing dress-up. Just take my word for it.
Having said that, if you’re more comfortable using the word “Goddess”, that works, too. No worries. You see, you cannot define God with a word. So pick whatever placeholder you prefer and stop worrying about it. You know what you mean. If you want to refer to God as “Bob”, have at it (but be forewarned, there is a Church of Bob).
The one over-riding thought that we try to reinforce here is that you should think for yourself. No one can tell you what terminology you should use when you refer to or reach out to God, because they’re all making it up, anyway. Every religion uses its own terminology to describe the exact same thing. It’s like the PC versus Macintosh debate. Who cares? They’re both computers. Pick the one that you like best and stop arguing about it already.
I can assure you that whatever word you use to refer to God, the Great Lady will answer. What’s important is that you reach out and connect. How you do it and what you call it is a matter of personal preference. Just as you would not let someone else dictate what food you ate or what clothes you wear, neither should you allow anyone to dictate your conception of the God, much less the accompanying terminology.
Whatever you want to call God, you’re right. And they’re wrong. It’s really as simple as that.
Did you just stop writing or run out of anything to say? Never should do that…
Did you? Cause another thing you shouldn’t do is make pointless comments. 😉
I may be different than a lot of people, well saying that made me laugh to myself, I know I am lol. To me though, I usually can tell by the context which “God” they’re talking about. Or in some instances they would say “The God of..” or “The God (insert name)” so Goddess would just be unnecessary. Honestly it doesn’t matter to me what anyone calls anything.
God, Goddess,Lord, Lady, Universal Life Force, Creator ,Spirit our sole responsibility is to establish a loving relationship with our God. I often think of God as Grandmother,Mother Earth. The point is, every culture, every religion has developed its own language to try and explain this incredible bounty we have been given. A bounty to love and care for-not destroy.
I guess it to each its own just as with the discussion about being labeled a witch. God or Goddess is again just a label. I call all my lady friends with the term Goddess such as Goddess Brittney as then they know I am talking to them. If I use the term loosely as goddess it means all of the female members. I do not consider anyone a god except myself as I choose the path I take and do not credit my journey to anyone else so I am the god aspect. Maybe self-centered but as Claire pointed out in her earlier writings some Christians seem to think they are relieved of their ill ways as they find God. God did not change them they did. The decisions I make in my life are based on my beliefs and ideals with the guidance of many gods and goddesses but in the end, the choices I made were made by me and I am held accountable for those choices. I love the Christian belief where when something good happens it must have been a work of God but if something bad happens it must have been Satan. No, it was you that made those decisions and how you live your life. To further explain why I consider myself as a god is just this past year I have been a coach in Little League Baseball as I love to help kids and keep them off the street. I was asked to put together an All-Star team which I did. let me also mention I was on the board for the same league. I chose the boys because of their merit and performance and needed five seniors brought into the 50/70 league to have a team of thirteen. Well, members of the board whose kids did not make the cut felt because they were on the board, their kids should get a spot on my team and behind my back, they conspired to force some of the boys who had made the team could now not play after I told them they made the team. You know office politics. This totally went against my ethics so I quit as a coach, quit the board, and left the league. As a person, I do not hate people but considering myself a god I totally banish people from existence. I do not talk to them, I do not even recognize their existence. In my world, they no longer exist. I hear them say hello but I walk past them as if they had not said a word or even exist. I hope someday they learn their lesson that people have feelings and I know my me banishing them from my world eats the hell out of them. May everyone has a beautiful day.