Why do some Pagans prefer to be dianic?

Question

Why do some Pagans prefer to be dianic?

Answer 1

You mean with only female deities?  Many of them feel divorced from their feminine spiritual side (often because of what they see as male dominence in Western religion today) and are seeking to reconnect with it.  Some view it as specifically empowering (particularly if the practitioner is a woman).  And some simply believe that the ultimate conscious in the universe is female and thus honor it as such.

Answer 2

First off, not all Pagans are Wiccan.

Secondly, it's understandable obtaining a faith in the feminine force and goddess archetypes. I mean, look at how far we have declined since the institution of patriarcal monotheism...it's atrocious. It's true that some feminists are Dianic Wiccans, BUT some aren't and some just want to obtain that sacredicity of the female organism that has been beffuddled since the beginning of Christianity.

Answer 3

I have never understood that myself honestly.

Answer 4

Many of us view the female as the bringer of life and it seems quite normal for her to be the creator.

After all, pregnant men are only in the movies and in The National Enquirer, right next to the story about the feral boy raised by bats.

We are all familiar with Mother Nature, Mother Goose, Lady of the Lake, just to name a few. The male counterparts might be: Father Time, Father Goose, the Man in the Moon.

I could never believe in a Deity who was male only and who tried to subjugate the females.

Only a man would think that women are the weaker s*x.

If men were the ones to give birth, families would have only "one" child, the pain would be too much for them to handle, a second time.

Answer 5

answer: I guess their lives were so filled with oppressive religion and oppressive men, that's what they need to claim their freedom and find spirituality.

Answer 6

This is an issue I am quite familiar with. My religion worships

the Great Mother Goddess, who is the original and oldest deity

known. From Her, many of the second-generation goddesses

such as Diana evolved.

Our followers include persons of all genders, just as they

always have for 8000 years. I have condemned the practice

of various Dianic and other Goddess groups of excluding

people on the basis of gender. That is historically inaccurate

and spiritually wrong.

You ask why they do it... well, they say they need some

"women-only space" and that they can't worship properly

with men around. That makes no sense at all, in view of

our history, and the fact that all persons are children of the

Goddess.

I'd just have to say, women do have some justifable grievances

concerning social abuse and domination by men, however they

would be making a serious mistake to react by excluding them

from their temple. This is the practice of some particular groups

like Z Budapest or the Covenant of the Goddess, who gives

both the worship of Diana, and feminism a bad name. However

it should be noted that there are other Dianic groups that do

welcome men.

At a genuine Goddess temple, nobody is ever excluded due to

their gender, or for any other reason.

Jean

Answer 7

Just to correct some earlier misconceptions, there can only be Dianic pagans - NOT Wiccans.

One of the main tenets of Wicca is that male and female are both equal parts of the divine.

One cannot be a Wiccan that only recognizes a female deity any more than one can be a Christian who denies the existence of Jesus.

Denying the male god means that what one is practicing can no longer be called Wiccan.

ADDITIONAL:

Dianic paganism is a direct outgrowth of the Women's Rights movement.  Feminists founded it, encouraged it, and the most ardent creator of it, Z Budapest, now freely admits that she was wrong to call it Wicca - and now calls it strictly Dianic paganism.

The truly funny thing is the name came out of Margaret Murray's work (now recognized as being vastly flawed) and the term referred to the God Dianus - NOT Diana, and it was not in reference to any Hellenic deity whatsoever.

Answer 8

Well, there are Dianic Wiccans, and there are goddess-worshipers (generic pagans).

As far as I know, there are no "dianic pagans" because Dianic specifically refers a sect of Wicca that generally worships only the Goddess. Many people say that Dianic Wicca is not really Wicca, because they ignore the most core belief of Wicca - that deity is both male and female, equal, without one above the other.

As far as why goes, some goddess-worshipers, be they a generic form of pagan, or Dianic Wiccan, simply belief that there is only a female deity, or that only a female deity is deserving of worship. Some goddess-worshippers believe this is so because they have a feminist outlook - some just believe it to be so, without a feminist background.