Concepts of the Divine in Neopaganism As to who or what our deities are, you will get nearly as many answers as there are Witches, spoke Ilyana Moonfire who led the Samhain ritual at the Onion. Consensus opinion seems to be that there is a transcendent Divine, the sum of what is what was, and what will be. However this divinity is more than the mind can conceive. Therefore, the idea of divinity has been broken down into many pieces. These pieces are conceived of in many forms. One of the primary forms Divinity takes is the Goddess or the Divine Feminine. She can have many names and many functions. Some Neopagans even worship only the nameless single Goddess, others worship her under all the names by which she has been known to other ancient faiths: Ishtar, Diana, Ceridwen, Athena, Venus, Hecate, Isis, Demeter, Brigantia and more. Although there are many Goddesses and not all worship the same ones, they can usually be seen in three aspects: the Maiden, who is representative of youth, self sufficiency, and often love, the Mother who is nurturing and provides fulfillment, and the Crone or the Wise Woman who is responsible for wisdom, mystery, initiation, and death and rebirth. The Crone was a center of focus for Ilyana Moonfire who is a part of the Reweaving group of Neopagans, and she wore a small Crone pendant on her neck. It seems that the Goddesses are chosen according to personal need or developed through the elements of nature. There is also a representation of the female divine in the directions. In ritual, practitioners do what is called casting a circle, which ensures a safe and whole worshiping area. They invoke the energies of the North, East, South and West. Each of these directions represents a human emotion and element of nature. For example the East is the feminine Mother Nature. East represents nature and land, and the human characteristics associated with her are loving and nurturing. The Moon, the Sea and the earth can ...
