different names for the divine.

[addy]

okay so I have recetnly come across that when I say goddess and God I feel different. I do belive the universe and everything else has a female and male polarity, and that they are everything inside of us and out of us. I just dont like calling it the Goddess and God. I belive there is a one source and if you were to split that in half , it would be male and female parts. (or goddess and god) and then theres the different aspects of that, that we created. anywho is there a way that I can call the divine something else? like one single word that means both male and female. Like how the native aborgionals call theres the creator (or great spirit) Thank you and blessed be. Also one more question, does the Goddess and god (or male and female parts of the one source) inhibit the moon and sun? or is that a symbol we as humans gave to help relate since the divine isnt really on our plane in human form. Thanks and blessed be <3

[Katefox]

okay so I have recetnly come across that when I say goddess and God I feel different. I do belive the universe and everything else has a female and male polarity, and that they are everything inside of us and out of us. I just dont like calling it the Goddess and God. I belive there is a one source and if you were to split that in half , it would be male and female parts. (or goddess and god) and then theres the different aspects of that, that we created. anywho is there a way that I can call the divine something else? like one single word that means both male and female. Like how the native aborgionals call theres the creator (or great spirit) Thank you and blessed be.

Thesaurus time?  No, really.  Try looking up synonyms for "god", "divinity", &c, and see if one of them fits how you view the Divine well enough to use as a name.  Unless you want the name(s) for the Divine of a specific religion, tradition, or path?  Although you didn't specify such...  I don't, off the top of my head, know a non-specific English word to use beyond "the Divine" or "Divinity", which I get the sense is not exactly what you are looking for?

Also one more question, does the Goddess and god (or male and female parts of the one source) inhibit the moon and sun? or is that a symbol we as humans gave to help relate since the divine isnt really on our plane in human form. Thanks and blessed be <3

The problem with positing that is that in different cultures, I'm pretty sure, the sun is viewed as female, and the moon as male*, or quite probably, as not being inherently masculine and feminine at all.  If we could say for sure that God and Goddess inhabit the sun, and moon respectively, I'd expect there to be a uniformity across cultures of the sun being viewed as male, and the moon as female.


* Fun language fact: In Old English, the word "sun" was grammatically female, and the word "moon" was grammatically male, although grammatical gender is not the same as actual gender.  But it does not seem a far stretch to think there are cultures that associate feminine energy with the sun, and masculine energy with the moon.

[Jenett]

The problem with positing that is that in different cultures, I'm pretty sure, the sun is viewed as female, and the moon as male*, or quite probably, as not being inherently masculine and feminine at all.  If we could say for sure that God and Goddess inhabit the sun, and moon respectively, I'd expect there to be a uniformity across cultures of the sun being viewed as male, and the moon as female.

This.

There's also the part where looking at inviting one singular male deity and one singular female deity in modern Pagan practice is a sort of extreme simplification of traditional Wiccan practice (they invite two very specific deities, who have names, specific wishes, desires, passions, whims, and everything else like any two people might, but whose names are kept private within the tradition, so they're called "Lord" and "Lady" or "God and "Goddess" in public conversation.)

If you look at historical Pagan cultures, though - you see a lot of models of gender presentation. There are men, and there are women - but most pantheons also have deities who are children, or adolescents, and many have deities whose gender does not fit into male or female categories tidily in varying ways.

(Beyond that: I'm an ardent polytheist: I invite deities by name, and while I think there might be a universal sacred source somewhere way back at the root of the universe, that's not the thing I'm mostly calling to be present in ritual, any more than I'm calling on the creative power of the Big Bang when I make dinner. I mean, yes, it's relevant, or I wouldn't be around making dinner. But it's not the thing I'm focusing on.)


* Fun language fact: In Old English, the word "sun" was grammatically female, and the word "moon" was grammatically male, although grammatical gender is not the same as actual gender.  But it does not seem a far stretch to think there are cultures that associate feminine energy with the sun, and masculine energy with the moon.[/QUOTE]

[RandallS]

* Fun language fact: In Old English, the word "sun" was grammatically female, and the word "moon" was grammatically male, although grammatical gender is not the same as actual gender.  But it does not seem a far stretch to think there are cultures that associate feminine energy with the sun, and masculine energy with the moon.

 
There are such cultures. The most well-known is probably that of Japan. The Sun Goddess is Amaterasu while Tsukuyomi is the God of the Moon (and brother of Amaterasu).

[SatAset]

* Fun language fact: In Old English, the word "sun" was grammatically female, and the word "moon" was grammatically male, although grammatical gender is not the same as actual gender.  But it does not seem a far stretch to think there are cultures that associate feminine energy with the sun, and masculine energy with the moon.

 
For the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) pantheon, the goddesses were solar, the sun was a male god and there were a few moon gods (all male).  And the earth was a male god and the sky was a goddess.  Hehe.

[NibbleKat]

For the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) pantheon, the goddesses were solar, the sun was a male god and there were a few moon gods (all male).  And the earth was a male god and the sky was a goddess.  Hehe.

 
Sequana, the Gallic goddess of the Seine River, is linked to the sun via her duck boat, since ducks were considered solar entities by the Celts. So, there's a solar goddess for you.

[hufflee]

Sequana, the Gallic goddess of the Seine River, is linked to the sun via her duck boat, since ducks were considered solar entities by the Celts. So, there's a solar goddess for you.

 
Olwen is a Welsh sun goddess, or is more accurately translated as Golden Wheel, which insinuates her being a sun goddess.