Question for Pagans.
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
November 21, 2010 10:42pm CST
I read of the deities of the various paths of paganism. The gods are about forces of nature, emotions, activities, phases of life.. etc. My question is, do pagans believe these dieties are actual beings? Or are they more like the symbols representing the force the diety invokes?
2 people like this
2 responses
@hvedra (1619)
•
22 Nov 10
It really depends on the path and worldview therein. Some pagans are "hard polytheists", who believe that the various deities they worship are individual beings.
Others might take a more pantheistic world-view where natural forces can be personified as deities.
Of course, a lot of pagans are also animists who worship a variety of spirits not all of which would be classed as "deities" for some definitions but are still viewed as individual beings.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
22 Nov 10
Thank you.
I posed this question because I started thinking about a guy I knew in the US Army. I can't remember what he called his spiritual beliefs, but they were basically based on the Norse gods... Thor, Odin and such. I remember talking to him, since religion and culture are hobbies of mine. He followed these deities because they were a warrior class.
I don't know if he believed Odin and Thor really exist, or if he just looked to them as the ideal of what he wanted to be.
2 people like this
@catriana13 (245)
• United States
9 Sep 11
The nice thing about paganism is that everyone can believe things on a level that suits them. For one person, the Gods can be as individual and "human-like" as we are ourselves. For someone else, they can be an energy-based being who is far superior, and yet for others, a simple concept of an ideal that brings energy to a working.
Myself, I believe that various deities share aspects of all of the above. Each deity, though individualistic, is also part of a greater whole, just as we are.
I have had experiences with deity on a personal spiritual level that gives me this perspective, as the deities which have presented themselves to me have had obvious identities, traits, and personalities that were all their own. They also have extremely individual energies, and a presence that lets you know that they are more than just a random entity or being.


