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The Witches' God
Exploring the Masculine Principle of Divinity. This companion volume to The Witches' Goddess re-establishes the ancient balance between God and Goddess. Part I covers the many concepts of the God examined, including: His faces throughout history; The Son/Lover God; The Vegetation God; The War God; The Anti-God; and more. Part II gives a close look at 12 individual gods of history with an appropriate invoking ritual for each. Part III presents a comprehensive dictionary of over 1000 gods from many world cultures, past and present. The Farrars are among the best-known authors on the Craft, and in The Witches' God have written what is likely to become the standard work on the masculine god aspect. Over 30,000 sold!
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
44 people are currently reading
1403 people want to read
About the author
Janet Farrar
47 books144 followersJanet Farrar, along with Stewart, is author of many books on witchcraft, and a well known witch who has appeared frequently in the media. She currently lives in Ireland and regularly tours the U.S.A. giving lectures and workshops.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 11, 2016
The witches God has assumed many guises throughout history. Man's first perception of deity was that of Goddess. After all they saw women give birth but were unaware of the male role in the whole thing. As time marches forward and man becomes more aware of the male role in procreation the male God begins to enter their picture. Like Tammyz or Osiris, the god becomes a vegetative God who guaranteed the crops would grow. He was also the God who fertilized the Mother Earth with suns penetrating rays. As men become hunters the God becomes lord of the hunt. Guaranteeing capture of animals for food. He appears as horned and antlered. As society becomes more warlike with the inclusion of patriarchal invaders the image of a defending warrior looms larger. Mars the Roman god of war is a prime example. He was first an agricultural God and then morphed into a God of war. During the Christian Era the horned God would become a blue print for the devil or the good gods antithesis.
The next two sections give the reader a history of twelve different gods plus rituals to go along with and connect to those deities. The third section is painfully long glossary that lists every God from
Every culture that you can think of. The appendices at the books end tell you how to open and close both Wiccan and Egyptian rituals,
The book is filled with all sorts of good information on the various gods, so it is readily apparent that they have done a good amount of reading. The book is told from a Wiccan perspective which states that the Goddess was around first and was driven out by patriarchal invaders. Modern scholarship has since debunked this point of view. Society has always been patriarchal with the male God supreme. Some of their facts about the middle east were wrong. I may not know much but if they made one mistake who knows what they got wrong on the things I do not know about. Gotta be careful about Wiccan or Neo Pagan scholarship.
The next two sections give the reader a history of twelve different gods plus rituals to go along with and connect to those deities. The third section is painfully long glossary that lists every God from
Every culture that you can think of. The appendices at the books end tell you how to open and close both Wiccan and Egyptian rituals,
The book is filled with all sorts of good information on the various gods, so it is readily apparent that they have done a good amount of reading. The book is told from a Wiccan perspective which states that the Goddess was around first and was driven out by patriarchal invaders. Modern scholarship has since debunked this point of view. Society has always been patriarchal with the male God supreme. Some of their facts about the middle east were wrong. I may not know much but if they made one mistake who knows what they got wrong on the things I do not know about. Gotta be careful about Wiccan or Neo Pagan scholarship.
March 5, 2016
If the reader is looking for the masculine side of Pagan deities, this is a good book for that. I recommend it for the curious male looking into Wicca and/or Paganism.
April 2, 2018
A great resource/research book that should be on every Pagan's shelf (along with the Farrars' companion book, The Witches' Goddess), and I highly recommend it for F/SF writers, too. The book lists Gods from around the world, their forms & traits and what they rule over. While it's not comprehensive, Farrar does cover a huge range of cultures and deities; it's NOT white-Euro-centric at all.
Please note, as with "The Witches' Goddess" this book is NOT a be-all, end-all resource, nor does it go into any depth about the various gods -- it's just a Who's Who listing of names & basic traits, enough to give you a starting point for further, deeper research.
Please note, as with "The Witches' Goddess" this book is NOT a be-all, end-all resource, nor does it go into any depth about the various gods -- it's just a Who's Who listing of names & basic traits, enough to give you a starting point for further, deeper research.
April 17, 2009
This book is a great start and reference to learning who's who.....
January 31, 2008
Definite must read for all withes along with it's sister.
December 15, 2008
Good companion to the Witches' Goddess. This should be a foundational text for masculinity studies.
February 15, 2014
a classic, and important book on the subject, recommend reading.
December 16, 2015
I love , it is the best book .
February 24, 2017
It is a very nice book but it does have incorrect information in it
December 16, 2019
Gostei muito, aborda o sagrado masculino e as diversas faces do Deus em diversas culturas pelo mundo
March 28, 2019
engaging
April 1, 2025
part II.
This is an excellent reference, if you want to learn about many gods, for many reasons across many pantheons. if you are curious about the Gods, then this is the book set for you.
This is an excellent reference, if you want to learn about many gods, for many reasons across many pantheons. if you are curious about the Gods, then this is the book set for you.
October 29, 2021
Truly a dumpster fire. A steaming pile of garbage. We have massive cultural appropriation, many typos, and factual inaccuracies. They misgendered Khaos/Chaos, whom has never been male. They call some trans Deities, "bisexual". They insist a ritual with Loki be done with a man despite the fact Loki is trans themselves.
They used swastikas as symbolism with zero context. Not everybody knows the history of it, so yes, context is required. One of the three worst occult books I have ever read. They are so poorly researched that I would not recommend any of their books if this is how they conduct themselves. They are untrustworthy, lack any notion of credibility.
They butcher very basic things that Pagans/Polytheists of said actual religions know on a basic, fundamental level. This is what happens when you take things from their ethnic roots/religions/cultures and decide they mean whatever you decide they mean. You cannot rewrite history and it is unethical to contort other peoples religions to suit your narrative.
They used swastikas as symbolism with zero context. Not everybody knows the history of it, so yes, context is required. One of the three worst occult books I have ever read. They are so poorly researched that I would not recommend any of their books if this is how they conduct themselves. They are untrustworthy, lack any notion of credibility.
They butcher very basic things that Pagans/Polytheists of said actual religions know on a basic, fundamental level. This is what happens when you take things from their ethnic roots/religions/cultures and decide they mean whatever you decide they mean. You cannot rewrite history and it is unethical to contort other peoples religions to suit your narrative.
March 13, 2016
Another great read
As with the witches goddesses, great information. I particularly like the ritual plays, both entertaining and thought provoking. Great reference work.
As with the witches goddesses, great information. I particularly like the ritual plays, both entertaining and thought provoking. Great reference work.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews