The Boogieman of "duotheism": An invention of ignorant reconstructionists

There is a reoccurring silly movement in some reconstructionists, to exclude Wiccans from their rites at all costs by prohibiting or limiting the practice of "duotheism" in their presence or making other such goofy statements. Often, this is simple prejudice, and more often than not when one seeks the source of it, it's the result of hearsay, or blatant lies. I could even relate the story of the ignorant "reconstructionist," who went on to post a giant rant on his blog when some Wiccans "hiding" (his word) on a reconstructionist list had the AUDACITY to correct him when he posted a screed comparing reconstructionism to Wicca in which every line of "what Wiccans believe" was wrong...oh, teh nose! teh Wiccans is lurking! Teh Wiccans! Teh Wiccans who was invited to join when teh organization was just starting and were here from the beginning! teh Wiccans are in-full-tratin us! oh, teh nose!

At this point, I won't get into how far from reconstructed a rite would be that had a belief litmus test for members. Most forms of reconstructionism are reconstructing civil religions that were practiced at the city (town, city-state) level, and welcome to anyone who believed in said gods, regardless of what individual cult movements they belonged to...

I'll also leave off here on the easy discussion of how lame it is to spend your whole time as a member of group A lying about what group B teaches. This is lame whether it's an ignorant reconstructionist lying about Wicca, an ignorant Wiccan lying about Christianity, whatever. Same stuff, just as lame...

The lie I'm going to discuss, and I don't care who is lying, whether it's the person coming up with it in the first place or his/her minions spreading it, is that there is a such thing as duotheism, and that it's what Wiccans believe, and that it's not polytheism...

Actually, let me back up for a minute, and say how this was at the start...

In the early days of (Non-Germanic*) Reconstructionism, the ignorant claim about Wiccans from those Recons who set themselves up as experts on how reconstructionism differs from Wicca claimed that we Wiccans believed that ALL GODS WERE ONE GOD.

The problem with this claim is that you can pretty much see immediately in the Wiccan liturgy, the published BOSs, the rites all around you, that we have, at the least, both a god and a goddess.

So, the "we're the real polytheists and Wiccans are not," thing went from "all gods are one," to "all gods are one god, and all goddesses are one goddess."

Now, I am certain there are some Wiccans who believe that all gods are one god and all goddesses are one goddess. There are some people who believe just about anything. This view, however, is still polytheism (poly=multiple.)

But let's talk about the "proof" for duotheism versus the 'proof' of Wicca being polytheistic:

'Proof' of Wicca's duotheism The Charge of the Goddess says the Great Mother has many names.

Proof of Wicca's Polytheism Gardner says Wicca's god and goddess different from the Christian God, implies Xtian god also exists. (at least 3) Oak King and Holly King + any goddess=3 Fates invoked as "three sisters." In descent of goddess story, goddess' mom not in underworld when she is, god in underworld not her dad (at least 4.) Maiden-Mother-Crone (itself not in all Wicca) given different names. Different Early Wiccan groups with different local gods working together invoke all, not just "different names." etc.

That's right. The sole proof that Wicca is not polytheistic, but "duotheistic" comes from a piece of liturgy that doesn't find its way into Wicca in the form it is being criticized for until fairly late in the game... and we don't all even use that form...and it only implies, sort of, one goddess....not one god.

"Duotheism," is a myth. It is a boogieman that only pops up when people want to criticize Wiccans.

Instead of sticking a (fake) label on a people, why not call them what they call themselves. Revolutionary idea, no?

*Asatru pre-dates all of us and is not involved here. There have been more than their fair share of Asatru screeds making claims about Wicca, but these come from a slightly different perspective I'm not going to discuss here.