How Do Other Deities Fit into Wicca?

God and Goddess candles by from the Etsy shop FeralGrimoires.

As a Wiccan and Hades devotee, I often get asked how Hades fits into my Wiccan worship. This bleeds into a larger question, which is how deities from other pantheons fit into the Wiccan “duotheism” (a term I’m using loosely, and you’ll see why in a bit). Wiccans are not only allowed, but encouraged to adopt other deities into their pantheons. How can this work?

In order to understand, you first need to learn Wicca’s central theology. The Wicca believe that Divinity exists, but it is so large, so far beyond our mere human understanding, that we cannot comprehend. It is not gendered, not named, neither one force nor many.
When facing this Divinity, people broke down the great force into smaller forces: the moon, death, life, earth, ocean, mother, father. All deities, then, are parts of the larger Divinity. We worship Divinity’s aspects in order to grow closer to the whole. This is also why, in Wiccan view, no religions are wrong. All deities can be worshipped, as each one allows us to understand a little more of Divinity. 
In an attempt to worship as much of Divinity as possible, the Wicca created their own deities made up of ancient archetypes. This is why the Wiccan Gods are both old and new at the same time. The names are new, but the archetypes associated with each deity are old, repeated elements we see throughout all of Paganism. However, even the God and the Goddess can’t encapsulate all of Divinity. This is why other deities are often honored by the Wicca.

I understand that this probably sounds off to a lot of you. In explaining this, I’m not asking you to believe it. I’m not even asking you to accept it. I’m just asking you to understand it. This is how Wicca operates as opposed to other Pagan religions.

This being said, how other deities exactly fit into Wicca varies by practitioner and tradition. There’s much debate on how to approach different deities in the Wiccan sphere. I’m going to expand upon some of the more common ways Wiccans adopt other deities in respect to the God and Goddess. Of course, there are some theories I’m missing, but these few should expand your understanding of what exactly Wiccans are doing.

1. Other deities are separate entities from the God and the Goddess. In my practice, this is how I view Hades. I see Hades as an aspect of Divinity that I can’t connect with through only the God and Goddess. However, this doesn’t exclude the possibility that Hades could be connected to the God, or to the Goddess as well. Wicca embraces the theory that all deities are connected in some way, be it through their symbols or through their energy.
2. Other deities are aspects of the God and the Goddess. In this belief system, there’s a hierarchy: The God and Goddess encapsulate Divinity, and other deities are parts of the God and Goddess. This begs the question: which deity is a part of which God? This question has sparked a lot of debate and friction within both the Wiccan and overall Pagan community. Here are some interpretations of the theory:
   1. The deities are divided by gender; hence all male Gods fall under the God and all Goddesses fall under the Goddess. I’m sure I don’t need to explain why this interpretation is heavily contested.
   2. The deities are divided by symbols. As an example, Thoth would more likely correspond to the Goddess, since they share the same symbols such as the moon, bowls, bodies of water, flowers and birds.
3. The God and Goddess are replaced with other deities.Some people align with the core tenants of Wicca, but don’t feel comfortable worshipping deities that aren’t historically based. In this case, they may replace the God and Goddess with other deities, while still adhering to the core values of Wicca. This is often where variations of Wicca, such as Hellenic or Christian Wicca, come into play. If you’ve ever seen a Pagan author encourage you to get “a matron and a patron”, that comes from a misunderstanding of this interpretation of Wicca.

As I mentioned before, there are other interpretations of how other deities fit into Wicca. In my experience, these seem to be some of the more popular ones. 
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I hope you’ve gained a broader understanding of Wicca. I will politely ask to withhold angry comments from this post. While I am always happy to discuss others’ views, this is an informational post, not an “attack Wicca” post. Feel free to message me if you have any questions, or make your own post.