THE GODDESS AND MAGICK
THE WICCAN GOD
In Wicca the God is perceived as an emanation of the Goddess. Created by Her, the God is the Goddess' son. Created from Her, the God is the Goddess' brother. United with Her, in the embrace which creates and sustains the Universe, the God is the Goddess' lover.
On the level of Personal Deity, the God and His many forms are Deities Who can be accessed and worked with just like the Goddess. On the more abstract level, the God represents the principle of manifestation. The Goddess is the Creator, the God is the Creating, together They are the Creation. Goddess is essence, God is form. Goddess is Spirit, God is Matter. Goddess is eternal, God is temporal cycles. Goddess is Life, God is Living. The union of the Two produces the world we know.
The God is the moving essence of the Goddess.
Because the God is connected to physical manifestation He is often associated with Light for the physical world is made of energy, or light, slowed down in frequency and vibration. Often therefore the God is represented by the Sun, while the Goddess is represented by the Moon.
The God governs the quality of Time. For this reason Goddess and God are sometimes thought of as Mother Nature and Father Time. It is as Lord of Time that the God is considered Lord of the Dance of Life Time, the sequencing of events, is what allows the Dance. It is through Time that energy can be slowed enough to become matter. The nature of Time is illusory, being more a matter of perception than reality, but through it events are structured and take on ordered meaning allowing change and growth to occur. In the Vangelo Delle Streghe the Wheel of Fortune (Fate and Karma) is described as the Goddess spinning wheel the Goddess spinning the thread, but the God turning the Wheel. This is because the Universe proceeds from the Spirit, but is carried forward by Time.
In this same way the God governs the Wheel of the Year the Goddess gives it form, but the God moves it forward. As Lord of the Year the God has two basic forms: the Young God of Life, Lord of Summer and of day, and the Old God of Death, Lord of Winter and of night.
God of Summer, Lord of life, strength, and creativity, the Young God represents the Sun at the height of its powers in the Light Half of the year, and the God in His evoluted or outward turning state, when he focuses on growth and expansion.
God of winter, Lord of death, dreams, and magic, the Old God represents the Sun in its waning state in the Dark Half of the year, and the God in His Involuted or inward turning state, when He turns from physical to spiritual pursuits.
In ancient times people pursued farming in the Light Half of the year, under the Patronage of the Young God (Who embodied the fertility of the fields and the nurturing power of the Sun). In the Dark Half of the year people had to rely on their stored food, and upon what they could catch by hunting, under the Patronage of the Old God.
The Wheel of the Year eternally rotates between these two principles.
In mythology the God is sometimes portrayed as a single figure Who grows from the Young God to the Old God, spending Summer as the Young God with the Mother Goddess in the land of the Living, and Winter as the Old God with the Crone Goddess in the Otherworld As in the myth of Adonis Who spends Summer with Venus but Winter with Persephone, or Tammuz Who spends Summer with Ishtar and Winter with Allat. Sometimes He is portrayed as two separate figures, with the Goddess being the One to spend part of the year with the Young God, and part with the Old God: as in the myth of Blodeuwydd Who spends Summer with Lugh and Winter with Hafgan. Both variations tell the same story: in the Dance of Life the soul is moved forward through a continual cycle of Death and Rebirth.
Beyond this these two aspects of the God further breaks down into four archetypes. The Young God breaks down into the Hero and the Lover, while the Old God breaks down into the King and the Sorcerer. All forms of the God will fall under one or more of these four archetypes, just as all forms of the Goddess fall under either Maiden, or Mother, or Crone.
The Hero is the Champion Who overcomes all obstacles and embodies creativity, vitality, and self expression (Astrologically: Mars).
The Lover is the Consort of the Goddess, the Dying and reborn God Who embodies all virtues (the Sun).
The King is the God of justice and cosmic order, prosperity and expansion (Jupiter).
And the Sorcerer is the Divine Fool, the Magician Who rules over magic, prophesy, and the Otherworld (Mercury). The Sorcerer is also called the Horned God, because He is often shown with horns or antlers, and is identified with the forest (as a symbol of the Otherworld).