Different Pantheons

[MrsLynch]

As someone who doesn't believe in deity, per se, I have been contemplating this for awhile. There are hundreds of different Gods, Goddesses, Saints, Deva, etc from a lot of different cultures, regions, countries, etc. I know people who have jumped from one pantheon to another in their Pagan paths. Pagans talk amongst themselves about their relationship with their chosen pantheon and the Gods within.

So, my questions are these: Do you (Polytheistic Pagans) believe ALL Gods exist? Do you believe every single God and Goddess, from every pantheon and every religion on the face of the planet from the dawn of man and logical thinking until now, has his or her own nook or cranny in the heavens (or wherever they choose to dwell)? If so, how? And how do you explain the overlap of responsibility of some Gods in one pantheon to other Gods in a different pantheon (Gods of War and such)? If not, how do you rationalize another Pagan's belief in a different pantheon?

These questions are by no means meant to be offensive. I'm just curious :)

[Louisvillian]

Do you (Polytheistic Pagans) believe ALL Gods exist? Do you believe every single God and Goddess, from every pantheon and every religion on the face of the planet from the dawn of man and logical thinking until now, has his or her own nook or cranny in the heavens (or wherever they choose to dwell)?
For the most part, yes. With the exceptions of ones that would be logically contradictory; i.e., no deities from a monotheistic paradigms, since that would contradict polytheism.



If so, how?
I dunno. Progeny of older, primordial gods?


And how do you explain the overlap of responsibility of some Gods in one pantheon to other Gods in a different pantheon
Their attributions and responsibilities are qualities we described them having. In some cases, such as things involving more primordial facets of nature, they might be the actual responsibilities of those gods. But in most other things, it's what human societies ascribed to them, and as such reflects the cultures of those societies. War gods are highly prevalent in warlike societies, fertility gods are prevalent in agricultural societies, et al. Or things we ascribed to them based on their personalities. Aggressive deities became war gods, loving deities became fertility gods, and assertive or protective deities became sky gods and such.
But I think there is some reciprocity; they may well have gone on and adopt the responsibilities we ascribe to them.


If not, how do you rationalize another Pagan's belief in a different pantheon?
I think, in the case of neopagan and polytheistic revivalist paths that believe in a limited pantheon, they view other cultures and pantheons as "shadows" or "reflections" of their pantheon. This is, in many ways, a continuation of pagan beliefs from Antiquity. The Greeks saw all other gods are the Greek gods under other names, other cultural lenses.

[MrsLynch]

Beautifully explained. Thank you :)

[Adalai]

As someone who doesn't believe in deity, per se, I have been contemplating this for awhile. There are hundreds of different Gods, Goddesses, Saints, Deva, etc from a lot of different cultures, regions, countries, etc. I know people who have jumped from one pantheon to another in their Pagan paths. Pagans talk amongst themselves about their relationship with their chosen pantheon and the Gods within.

So, my questions are these: Do you (Polytheistic Pagans) believe ALL Gods exist? Do you believe every single God and Goddess, from every pantheon and every religion on the face of the planet from the dawn of man and logical thinking until now, has his or her own nook or cranny in the heavens (or wherever they choose to dwell)? If so, how? And how do you explain the overlap of responsibility of some Gods in one pantheon to other Gods in a different pantheon (Gods of War and such)? If not, how do you rationalize another Pagan's belief in a different pantheon?

These questions are by no means meant to be offensive. I'm just curious :)

Yes, I believe all Gods that ever have been 'created' exist, as well as future Gods. I believe .. that belief gives it form. I believe that most Gods/Goddesses were real people at one point, so yes I think they have form. But I also feel that we can create more. The overlap is just culture in my eyes.

I see religion really as more a culture. Not a true belief system. They all needed stories to explain how they felt, how the world worked, how prayers/shrines/magic worked, and they had stories and visions of what made sense. I believe divinity comes to us how we, each, understand it .. all being a part of the same thing. Which is why religious wars are absolutely ridiculous to me. I think we're all worshipping/honoring/working with the same thing -- divinity. I think we're all part of it .. so while I feel Freya has deep interest in me.. I do not look at another pagan's affinity for the Greek pantheon any less or any more than mine. Maybe its heritage why we feel pulled to one or the other (we pass identical mitochondrial dna from our mothers.. so who knows)... maybe its something in our childhood... maybe its something in a past life... maybe its just our opinions. I don't know and I don't care ;) I feel power/magic/prayer/miracles comes from believing.. at all. It doesn't matter in what, since in my eyes.. they're all the same.

[madness]

I'm an atheist myself but I've had this conversation with enough polytheists to have come away with a "favorite" answer from some.

There are some polytheists that believe all divinity is just energy or power or something like that. It's undefined and that's ok. But that power/energy manifests itself in a plethora of facets. Each culture through the years saw that energy working in different ways and their deities emerged from this. Many gods/goddesses started out as things like a mother bear figure being used as symbol to protect her cubs. Then this morphed over time into a legend of a person who once lived and saved her children and therefore is revered. Finally she might achieve true goddess status. It's all the same energy, just manifested in different ways for a different culture.

So many of the gods are the "same" really. A celtic goddess of the hearth is born of the same energy as a greek goddess of the hearth. They do differ though - they each have their own unique set of energies, but there is much overlap.

When a person jumps from one pantheon to another, they are simply connected better with a way a certain culture felt the divine energy.

I always liked that answer.

[~Runa~]

I often wonder why people believe in one god.

[Louisvillian]

I often wonder why people believe in one god.
Often, they are raised to believe so, and so they interpret things with the mentality and preconception of there being only one deity.
Others have a personal revelatory experience, same as UPG. Just with a different conclusion, possibly as a result of the culture they were raised around.

[perceval23]

I often wonder why people believe in one god.

It's the easiest one to believe in, and argue in favor of the existence of. You simply have to look at Nature, how it's a unifed system. You can look at particles when they're separated, and how they still react to one another no matter the distance between them. Everything is connected. From there, it's arguing that, since we, as individuals have consciousness, there is a larger Consciousness to Creation, as it is all connected. This would be what the Hindus call the Supreme God, the Hebrews call Yahweh, the Gnostics call the One, and Christians just call God. How this being is perceived and understood depends on the individual and the culture they live in.

From there, one can turn to the Hindus for the Gnostic concept of different pantheons. The various Hindu deities all, ultimately, derive from the Supreme God, either being manifestations, aspects, or children of one of those manifestations or aspects. The Gnostic idea applies that to all pantheons, saying they all derive from the One, the individual gods, goddesses, angels, saints, etc, represent different aspects or concepts of the Divine in ways an individual or culture can relate to.

[Gaudior]

I often wonder why people believe in one god.


Well, it depends on how you define "God" really, whether it is a Supreme Reality that is both immanent and transcendent in all things, much like Brahman, or as in spirits of nature and patrons of different crafts.

[Alielle Stormwind]

These are all enlightening and informative answers. For me, I think that there is an original Source (with a capital S) from which originated all the Gods and Goddesses we know, as well as perhaps many more that are unknown to us. I think since the Divine Source is unlimited in scope, then there are unlimited ways in which the Source can manifest itself to us. That's why I'd never ridicule the Gods of someone else's pantheon. Because they all came from the same place.

I do believe, however, that each God and Goddess has his/her own unique energetic patterns which may draw us to them or vice versa, but that's for another dicussion.