Merry Meet,
As expressed by Melissa, and others who agreed with her, I also see divinity as the One, the All, the Divine and the IS that IS �� It is an ever present spirit with both masculine and feminine sides. To my non-Wiccan friends who have been curious I find it easier to explain using the example of ��the force�� in Star Wars. It is something that is everywhere, in everything, that everyone can use, even if some connect with it faster/better/easier than others. A harder concept to explain is polarity of masculine and feminine. I have found that using Kat��s example of a coin really helps people to understand what I mean. It helps to clarify that one can not really be present without the other, even if only one is focused on. Most people (I say most as atheists don��t believe in anything) believe in some form of divine power, or force. Some believe they found their God/Goddess, and others believe they were chosen by that particular God/Goddess.
In a way the divine power, i.e. the gods, reaches out to us. People in many situations have ��felt�� a power reach out to comfort them, heal them, help them etc. I believe this is a case of the divine reaching out. Many people just feel the divine in a sunset, moonrise or beautiful creature. The divine power makes itself known to basically every human or maybe even non-human beings. Hence in one sense the divine chooses us, we are chosen to be, and feel the divine spirit.
It is however up to us to decide which facet of the divine power we feel that we connect with best. It is on this basis that people choose Matron/Patron deities. Many people often identify with the pure, strong, musical etc aspect of the divine. So hence they choose a deity that embodies one of these qualities. By choosing the aspect of the divine we best attune with we can change our beliefs as our lives change. For instance I know a Wiccan girl that was raped, and for 2 years she identified most with any of the warrior goddesses. After she received counseling she starting also identifying with goddesses of music (she was a musician). She now has chosen a musical goddess as her Matron. She has realized that although at the time she thought she would always identify with a warrior goddess, she identifies more with goddesses of music and feels that this is a truer attunement to the divine. So hence, humans choose what facet of the divine they best attune to, but the divine power originally chose humans to be apart of the experience of the divine.
I would also like to make some comments regarding Nemesis. It is great to find that she is mentioned in All One Wicca, she is an integral face in the practice of Wicca. Finding balance in my life has been important for a very long time, my boyfriend does say sometimes that I take it to the extreme and apply it to everything, but why shouldn��t basically everything be balanced? �� Recently I have been researching mythology on Nemesis, and she is the inspiration toward part of my new craft name. My craft name is not concrete yet, I am still working on getting it to fit with my birth date. Having Nemesis as part of the inspiration toward my new name will serve to remind me of balance in myself, balance in the world, and the ethics of karma.
BB Miw Sheri (name change coming soon after many months of decisions!)