I've had many people tell me that they feel that men are looked down upon in Witchcraft. That they feel that women are held above men and just like Christians revere the male deity, witches hold the Goddess higher than the God. While it is true that in some traditions of Witchcraft the high priestess leads the coven, both the male and the female are seen as equals. In my coven I am the High Priestess and I lead my coven, but I am the founder of the coven. I have a council of elders who assist me with the inner workings of the coven and help arrange and carry out different things.
There are several traditions, not just in Witchcraft, who hold the female above the male due to the fact that women carry life within their bodies. Women are the nurturers in traditional families and the ones who care for new life. However for me I think it should be equal between both sexes due to the fact that women carry life but life could not have gotten there without the male. The male is also the creator of life just as equally as the female is.
Fathers are just as capable as mothers at nurturing a child. I think some traditions hold the Goddess a little higher due to the fact that women actually carry the life inside their body until it grows and is strong enough to live outside of her then she can also produce life sustaining milk to continue to help the new life grow and develop. A man can't do these things. To me however neither could a woman without the man to help start the life in the first place.
For pagans life is about balance. For every light there is a dark. For every up there is a down. The Goddess is represented by the moon and the night, the God is represented by the sun and the day. In Witchcraft there are different aspects of life that are either ruled over by the Goddess or the God. But fertility is ruled over by both. They both cover different parts and types of fertility. Like crops in the summer, the God provides them with warm sun light to encourage the seeds to reach high and the fruits to ripen, the Goddess provides cool nigh time moisture to relieve the plants of the day time heat and allow them to rest and draw in the dew that collects on their leaves.
As a witch I see life as a balance. Without that balance you can not have life, so it makes sense to me to have both a male and a female deity, because without both the male and the female life can not be created. But in saying this I am in no way commenting on human sexuality. To me humans have the right to three things in life, happiness, peace, and love. People should be allowed to love who they want just as openly as everyone else. Everyone should have the same chance to experience happiness unconditionally. If everyone would see this there would be peace because then there would be nothing to fight over. With that being said to create life you have to have both men and women. However it's created it still requires both. But both men and women in what ever combination they come both make great nurturers.
Blessed be,
Lady Alice