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Masculine/Feminine inequality

Something has been gettng on my nerves a lot lately, and it's how excluded Males are from the public image of Witches and/or Wicca/Witchcraft. I've heard probably three times today, that "Wicca is a Goddess religion". Wrong. Wicca BELIEVES in A Goddess, but hey, there's another aspect to that, the God. No offense to the Goddess (I know she understands what I'm saying), but I always hear, "Goddess this" and, "Goddess that", but in public Wiccan conversations, one very rarley hears a squeak about the God. It just seems to me as though we're being no better than various other religious traditions, just instead of a Male dominating figure, a Female one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the Goddess is dominating, because I know as all you do that both the God and the Goddess are ultimately equal, and that one couldn't exist without the other, but it's just it doesn't seem that we treat them as equal, and that irritates me. I came to this path seeking equality on all levels, and yes the beliefs DO show exactly that, but I just find that a large amount of the people (at least the ones I've met) actually following this path, do NOT show this idea of equality, although they say they do, and then they say "Goddess bless you" or "haha Goddess knows...", nevermind the idea of "Lord and Lady bless you" or "Lord and Lady know...", another example would be if you were to go to google images, and type in "Wiccans" and nearly all of them are Female, when I know for a fact that the ratio of male to female in the Wiccan community normally stays around the middle give or take a few percent in either direction. And please don't think that I'm trying to offend anyone, as that is my last intent, actually the entire reason i decided to post this discussion which seems to have turned into a rant, is to see if anyone else out there has noticed this too?
ANYWAY!
Thanks for reading this little rant, if I offended you I'm VERY sorry (again wasn't my intent), but please give me your opinions and/or observatioins!
Thanks!

Blessed Be!

-Thodwen

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Suman on November 30, 2011 at 1:59am

OMG (as in oh my God lol) you are so right! I never really thought about how much I do that, for myself I think I often do it because I have so much negative feelings towards many of the Christian beliefs I was fed through my life- talking in reference to God still feels like I'm referring to those beliefs.
I think it's a bit like when feminist groups, for eg. formed, it was easy to get carried away in breaking away from the male domination!
Also I get a bit confused at times on this so I followed the crowd I think, but I thought in speaking about the Goddess we are referring to all, as before creation the Diety was more Feminine in nature/vibration, but contained all= both God and Goddess? I still refer to both God & Goddess when I communicate them, I just felt to use I name to described the whole, Goddess is most appropriate? But for the sake of balance especially I think your right so I'll try to get in the habit of referring to God and Goddess. BB

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Permalink Reply by Sparrow on November 30, 2011 at 2:06am

Light and dark, Night and Day, Yin and Yang.

"How does one see the the bright stars in the sky without it being complemented by a Beautiful Dark Canvas"-Lao Tzu

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Permalink Reply by ranjit prasad on November 30, 2011 at 2:21am

MM
the celebration of goddess is an religious requirement because all abrahamic religions, siddartha's buddhism, jainism, zoratrerism etc, all major religions have the god for worship and godess for consort or mother. (not hinduism where the godess are celebrated for thier own powers). so this requirement has beem specifically addressed in neo pagan religion, because male and female are equal and opposite sides of the indivisible whole existance of living beings
blessed be

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Permalink Reply by Nine Lives on November 30, 2011 at 4:14am

Actually I completely understand. I started a forum post along the lines of what you're talking about:
http://www.witchschool.com/forum/topics/can-t-seem-to-fit-in-with-o...

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Permalink Reply by Opal Adya on November 30, 2011 at 4:50am

Haha! At least there is one religion that has more female thing to it. No offense from me too. lol
Actually, when you come to a religion things are never perfect, what with lot of people putting their beliefs to it. Wicca is not an exception. We humans can't understand the concept of one eternal formless God. If you ask experienced Wiccans they will acknowledge this. The fact of God and Goddess is for simplicity. With time, we see them coalesce into one formless adorable God who is neither male not female. But the choice is yours. If you are closer to feminine aspects, you will find yourself close to Wiccan definition of Goddess. If you are dominated by masculine aspects, you will find yourself near to Wiccan God. But most people follow blindly the concept of Goddess as depicted by others when emphasized more is to be attained through self.
And then very little is written about Wiccan God.

By the way please let us females enjoy some popularity here (NO OFFENCE!)

P.S. I am not Wiccan.

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Permalink Reply by Drakill Tannan on November 30, 2011 at 9:22am

onon the other side, that others don't give the god his correct value doesn't mean you can't do so. You treat Lord and Lady as equal and you'll be fine.

that is unless you're in a coven, in that case, you should coment this with the coven.

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Permalink Reply by Rachael Sue Rubin on November 30, 2011 at 10:41am

it is all personal and who you want to practice on your own.

It is probably because of the feminist movement of the 60's, and 70's.

Alot of woman will not pray to the god they are basically goddess oriented.

It is their choice, and they do not wish to "be balanced" that is not their goal in goddess worship.

And alot of men only pray to the god aspect.

There is no right and wrong in wicca, it is all personal choice.

Write articles on this subject and submit it to Witchvox, draw attention to it, so the views will change.
http://www.witchvox.com/xmap.html

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Permalink Reply by Rachael Sue Rubin on November 30, 2011 at 11:28am

just to let you know i connect more with the "god" and masculine aspects of deity.

I had a hard time in the beginning to connect with the goddess (feelings of anger toward my mother), i have gotten better, but mostly i connect with it, because i am a person, who takes care of herself, depends on herself, and generally gets along better with men. I do not need a knight in shining armor to save me, or protect me. Inbalanced, maybe, but it is me, and i am fine with it.

I raised my children by myself, and still depend on me to do everything, i am annoyed at my boyfriend when he trys to be "manly" and step in and do things or try to take control. I am very aggressive, and not a bit shy about anything, so not all woman connect with the goddess and her aspects, just as all men do not connect with the god and his aspects.

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Permalink Reply by Phoenix Rising on December 1, 2011 at 1:19pm

LOLOL!! I hear ya, Rachael! All my life, most of my friends have been guys - I'm the oldest of 7 kids, and five of them are brothers. my one sister is years younger, and we never have had much in common~ I've been trying to address this imbalance, and am making more female friends, at this point in my life, but I'm still more innately comfortable around men~~

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Permalink Reply by Drakill Tannan on December 1, 2011 at 2:05pm

Yeah, it's a darn shame the femnisit movement "Adopted" wicca. To this day many still think wicca is an extention of the feminist movement that seeks to replace "God" with a "Godess". Between them feminists and them hippies, many people misunderstand it.