I dislike "the Lady" as a title for the Goddess as in Wicca and in SM Stirling's The Sword Of The Lady. It is too close to "Our Lady," a term applied to the Virgin Mary in Catholicism. A Wiccan friend told me today that he was not brought up in Catholicism and therefore does not share my history with the phrase, "Our Lady."
To me, the Goddess personifies female beauty and sexual experience. The Triple Goddess is maiden, mother and crone, not miraculous mother and maiden. Neil Gaiman's Endless, anthropomorphic personifications of aspects of consciousness, include the androgynous Desire, who is bad news, and Death who defines her opposite, life, and therefore appears not as the Grim Reaper but as a beautiful young woman.
The Goddess, however conceived, is with us - manifested in people we know.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with you in disliking how the "The Lady" was used in Stirling's Emberverse books. It smacks too much of the Christian "Our Lady," referring to the BVM. "Real" pagan goddesses of the past were generally and simply called by their names. That said, it was Stirling's choice, I grant.
I know Stirling said neo-pagans were heavily influenced by 19th century Theosophy, early 20th century esotericism, and Gerald Gardner, in working out the Wiccan religion. But the neo-pagan gods never seemed quite convincing to me
Sean
Sean,
My Wiccan friend refers to "Lord and Lady."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
It still feels fake to me, neo-pagan gods. Probably because the Wiccan gods seemed too NICE compared to the grim and amoral pagan gods of the past.
Sean
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