Goddess, God, and the other ways to speak

The Wiccan pair is a poetry some people love. It is not a filing system for human bodies.

Modern Wicca often speaks of a Goddess and a God, sometimes as a polarity that is said to structure magic. For some queer practitioners that poetry is genuinely moving: a lunar goddess, a horned god, a dance. For others it has been a door shut with a smile, because someone decided which body in the room was allowed to hold which candle.

Ways to speak that this library recognizes

Grammars
Language	What it asks of you
Goddess and God	Fine, if both are persons or powers, not code for “people we read as women” and “people we read as men.”
Named gods	Better, often. Aphrodite is not a job opening. Read the story page before you improvise a personality.
Many, unnamed	“The powers I do not yet know” is an honest address.
None	A practice of attention, season, and ethics with no deities is still welcome here. You do not have to fake belief to use a candle.
One	If you are a pagan monotheist or a person with a primary patron, say so plainly. Do not require the room to match you.

What we will not do

We will not sort ritual roles by genitals, chromosomes, or the gender a stranger guesses. We will not teach that magic requires a heterosexual couple to “complete a circuit.” Desire is holy enough when it is consensual and adult. It does not have to be a diagram.

I will use the old names when I mean the old names. I will not use them as a costume for my prejudices.

A small practice

Rename the candles

1If you have two candles kept as “the Goddess” and “the God,” sit with them.
2Decide whether those names are still true for you this year.
3If they are, write one sentence about what each name means that is not a body type.
4If they are not, give the candles a rest or rename them for qualities: clarity, courage, hospitality.
5Tell any group you practice with. Private reinterpretation that leaves a friend misgendered in a script is not subtle. It is unfinished.