This is my personal Book of Shadows. If you find it useful or helpful in any capacity, please consider buying me a Coffee.

My Divine Model

The Divine Model itself is a key and central component of how everything functions. Especially as a multifaceted attempt at syncretizing Ecoregional Pagan Gnosis based in Oklahoma, Ancestral Odessan Ukrainian (and Odessan Ukrainian Ashkenazi Judaism), Mormonism, and Pennsylvania German (Dutch) practices, Traditional NeoWicca, Schulke’s Verdant strains of Sabbatical Craft, minor leftovers from prior Irish Reconstructionist practice, and Masorti (Conservative) Judaism.

My Divine Model

At the head of the Divine Model, is the the Spiritual Landscape formed by and within the Prime Universal Force*.

There's a common misconception that all of Wicca is 100% either Duotheistic or Bitheistic "Because we Worship the Lord and the Lady". But this has never actually ever been the case. Indeed, it's a severe misunderstanding of the polaric model that Wicca uses to connect with the Divine.

Where the misunderstanding came from, I've never been able to pinpoint, personally, because the Elder texts are very clear about this fact; it's not an oathbound secret at all. But in reality, the Wiccan faiths, when properly taught, are more appropriately a form of Pantheistic Bitheism; that is: There is one singular universal Divine force which is then divided into the polaric forces we commune with, which are represented as the Lord and Lady Divine in worship.

Gardner, the father of Wicca, called it "The Prime Mover"; Starhawk eventually named it "The Star Goddess"; Scott Cunningham called it "The One"; others have called it "The All" or "Dryghten". For me, it is HaShem ... The G-d ... The Universe: The Divine Hermaphrodite or Divine Androgyne; the singular, fully unified Creator of All. Whatever name we call it by, however, in Wicca it is all the same being.

Extending from HaShem, through the divine act of consubstantial division, is the Material Landscape in the form of the first bodily creations of Earth and Humanity: The NeoWiccan “Lord” and “Lady” who represent the greatest extremes of earthly and humanic polarity as Adam (G-d the Fist Father; Lunar, Passive) and Chava (G-d the First Mother; Solar, Active)- who, in my faith, are Terrestrial Agrarian / Agrestal First-Ancestor Spirits (not Deities).

Regarding the issue of Gender Essentialism often brought up concerning the common division of "The All" into Binaric Polarities: The world was created in such a way that Divinity is actively ‘concealed' from and therefore unknowable to Humanity in its fully unified state. It must therefore be sought out and discovered by us- and one of the ways this is made easier is through Binaric Consubstantial Division.

Consubstantial means "of or otherwise holding the same substance, nature, or essence as something- though still being different in tangible aspect". Typically it's applied to the Christian Trinity to explain how God can be the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at once. However, I think it likewise accurately applies to the belief that 1. HaShem is (and is one with) the Universe; 2. That the first Human was made "in God's Image" and then given form; and 3. How we may all have a piece of Divinity within us as a result of both — especially when some of the more mystical Jewish beliefs surrounding the creation of Adam and Chava are considered. This likewise paves the way, quite easily, for the elevation of Adam and Chava, our Terrestrial First Ancestors, as the Agrarian Lord and Agrestal Lady; representatives of this Binaric Consubstantial Division within Wicca.

I've written about it in much more depth before, that a part of the point of ritual (which is the gateway through which we experiences the Mysteries as Wiccans) is ultimately to attune with the Left and Right divisions of the Divine, and come to understand the divided polaric forces in all their forms; these individual polaric Mysteries which are represented (and thus taught) by the Lord and Lady. To do so is to eventually reunite them into a singular force and / or face, in order to understand the third mystery of Unity (and therefore understand this Ultimate Singular Divine Force).

Through them, through The Great Rite, is created the Verdant Host (Bright Gnosis; Cultivated Land Spirits), the Rustic Host (Green Gnosis; Wild Land Spirits), and the Elemental Kings (Elementals, Elemental Land Spirits, and Guardians); or: The terrestrially bound Spiritual-Material Landscape, and its various Spirit Inhabitants.

Yes, the Great Rite is a proper, sexually based fertility ritual. It can be performed through literal sex, or symbolically with an Athame and Chalice. It is not a simple base sexual act to be taken lightly, however. It is an important ritual performance (one which, when performed literally, is often done in private and typically only performed by the High Priest and High Priestess of a Coven). And the Wiccan family of Traditions and Denominations are certainly far from the only magico-spiritual religion to practice such traditional sexual rites.

The concepts of "The One" / "The All" / "Dryghten", and The Great Rite Ritual (either symbolic or literal), are present in most forms of Traditional Wicca but rarely appear within NeoWicca. However, I include both in my own practice (even if only in mythopoetic forms in some cases), as I personally attempt to keep my own Traditional NeoWiccan strain as close to Traditional Wicca as I can wherever it's possible and reasonable to do so. Not everyone may do this, though. Especially in Non-Traditional NeoWiccan strains.