UPG, SPG, and VPG

In your research of deities, spirits, and the craft, you have likely come across terms like UPG, SPG, and VPG. As a beginner these can look overwhelming, but they are actually quite easy to understand! Having a good grasp on this terminology will prove very beneficial to your craft and research skills.

Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG)

Unverified Personal Gnosis is an assertion that a practitioner has that cannot be backed up by research and is not a commonly shared belief. You may find that you believe one herb has a specific connotation and usage, but when you look it up, you can’t find any sources to back your belief up. Here’s another example:

Let’s say you work with Artemis. You sometimes like to offer her cups of oolong tea. She seems to be receptive to this offering, and so you decide that she must like oolong. Yet when you mention it to other folks who work with her, none of them have had that experience.

Does that mean your experience is invalid? Not at all, but it serves as a good reminder that deity work (and other forms of spirituality) can be deeply personal. You cannot push your own unverified beliefs about a deity onto another and vice versa. UPG is not a bad thing, but you should be careful to take it with a grain of salt when it is being presented to you as a hard fact.

If your UPG contradicts what is commonly accepted, you may want to reexamine the belief. To understand clearly what is consensus, your best bet is to cross-reference while researching. Cross-referencing is a skill that only grows stronger the more you do it, and with things like UPG it is an extremely valuable tool to ensure you don’t make mistakes. 

Shared Personal Gnosis (SPG)

So, hearkening back to the Artemis example, let us say you instead told a group of her devotees that she likes oolong tea, and they all agreed with you based on their own personal experiences. This is Shared Personal Gnosis. SPG is when a group of people can agree one thing is true based on shared experiences, but it is still not a historical or widely accepted fact.

Although SPG is shared, it is not automatically more valid than UPG. It is still unverified in the grand scheme of things. A coven can agree that lavender is a useful ingredient for curses, but that doesn’t change the fact that its widely accepted associations are with things like peace and protection. 

When deciding to adopt SPG into your own practice, it is essential for you to be considerate of why you are doing so. Does it actually align with your own beliefs, or are you feeling pressured to accept it because you’re seeing people agree with it? Don’t forget that SPG is still ultimately unverified by reliable sources and extensive research. 

Verified Personal Gnosis (VPG)

You associate Zeus with lightning. You use rose quartz in love spells. You put a picture of a dove on your altar to Aphrodite because she loves doves. These are examples of Verified Personal Gnosis.

VPG is when you have learned or experienced something personally, and it can be backed up by research. If historical fact and credible resources confirm your UPG, then it becomes VPG. 

Having a good grasp on these concepts will be greatly beneficial for your craft. By knowing the difference between UPG, SPG, and VPG, as well as knowing how to cross-reference and properly research, you can save yourself from making easily avoidable mistakes like using ingredients that go against your spell's purpose, making inappropriate and even offensive offerings, and more.