Is there a such thing as Too much??? [Polytheists only please]?

Question

Gods that is ^_^

I don't feel that one is enough, But does that mean that there can also be Too many?

I personally would never go over 15-20 Gods.
I like to lemit my worship ^_^

How about you, do you worship All of the Gods from your religions Pantheon or just the major deities?

Answer 1

No, you cannot have too many Gods. Personally though I only name a few of the main ones when I am honoring them, and then include all the rest by saying "and all the other Aesir and Vanir".

Answer 2

I tend to work with and regularly worship 5-6 and no more than that. Sometimes I'll do extended work with a new deity I've never worked with before. But I always acknowledge the others by worship of the major deity. I agree that you could spread yourself too thin or overwhelm yourself. Some pantheons are absolutely huge. That's often why so many priests and priestesses of ancient temples often chose a Matron or Patron and served in the temple for that particular deity, even though they still acknowledged the others.

Answer 3

I acknowledge the existence of all gods, everywhere. Even the ones that pagans tend to deny the existence of. But that doesn't mean i worship everyone. I limit my worship to one group of deities. For one thing, not every pantheon is cool with "foreign gods".

Within my main pantheon, I do tend to favor a handful over others. For one thing, sometimes you have to "pick sides". Even within the same pantheon, you get fights between deities. For instance, I am ok with the Fomori, which means Lugh isn't necessarily ok with me. Also, sometimes you have more in common with some deities than with others. Just because some of them are interested in you doesn't mean they all will be.

So I don't necessarily limit my worship by numbers, but more by practicality. And not every deity that I favor is a major deity. (although my Fomori/Lugh comment probably told you that if you know about Celtic mythology.) This is a problem I have with many pagan groups. They tend to favor the major deities, or at least the most popular, and ignore the deities that are less known, but might be a better fit for their members. For intance, Celtic Recons and druids LOVE Brigit for Her healing skills, but what about Airmid, if it's herbalism that you favor? Or in Sumerian crowds, people seem to favor Inanna, but if they're looking for a loving mother goddess, what about Ninhursag, who was also one of the Seven who decree fate, but is less knwon about today?

It was written of somewhere in Germanic mythology (but I got it from H.R. Ellis Davidson) that a patron deity is referred to as the "friend whom you trust", and I think that sums it up pretty well. You might have a lot of friends, but how many can you really trust? Those are the ones in whom you should confide.

Answer 4

Having a lasting, personal relationship with a large number of deities can be a bit unwieldy. But you don't need to interact with all of them all the time. Much the same as there might be a cousin that you talk to once every few years at a family reunion, some of the gods might be ones you don't deal with frequently.

Most folks go with a fairly small number for frequent contact, and reserve the larger numbers for the more occasional contact.

Answer 5

I think there can be too many. Back when I dated a polytheistic pagan, I felt he had too many. He worshipped the Norse deities, but he had so many and he only really needed a few. He always called on Odin, Tyre and Thor (and sometimes Loki), but he swore he worshipped them all. If only four gods worked well, then I didn't think he needed the whole pantheon (and he never used the female gods), but he kept them as part of his worship only because they were Norse.

So, I do think there can be too many. You can spread yourself too thin.

Of course, I'm Catholic and who cares about my opinion.

Answer 6

Indeed at some point actual worship stops, if only because most people don't want to spend all their time praying. I regard every star and planet as a deity, which adds up to a number somewhere beyond several trillion. However, I only have about 4 I have great reverence for - the Earth, the Sun, Shiva and Aphrodite.

Answer 7

Personally I don't believe in or worship any gods. But I've lived with rainforest tribes who believe that each plant and animal has a mother spirit and they worship them all. It's really adaptive for their way of life and in that context they can understand the different applications of medicinal plants, etc. Generally speaking tribes that have come from forests are polytheists while desert tribes tend to be monotheistic.

Answer 8

Wow, 15 or 20 is a lot.
I have one particular matron Goddess with which I work, and some of the other celtic deities as well. But, I have to agree that too much can dissipate the energy if you're trying to work with all of them at once.

Answer 9

I only worship one deity, and that is the Mother of the Gods.

But I do give honor, respect and veneration to Her Children the Dii Consentes of which there are 12 (Jupiter, Juno, Neptunus, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Apollon, Diana, Mercurius, Ceres, Volcanus and Vesta).

I also give respect, honor, and veneration to Janus and Saturnus who are two of the Dii Indigetes.

Of course, worship and veneration are two different things. In worship I always pray to the Mother of the Gods, I observe Her holy days and commune with Her specifically. In veneration, I respect the Dii Consentes and Their dominions and will turn to Them when it is called for but I do not celebrate Their holy days. You could think of it in relation to the Christian Trinity and the Saints.

The other Gods of the Dii Indigetes as well as the Dii Novensiles, Dii Inferi, and Dii Conservatores, I do not give much attention to unless the need truly arises for it.

Answer 10

My private worship is devoted solely to one goddess. We have a very close relationship, and I cannot imagine being able to carry on a similarly close relationship with another deity at the same time--kind of like being married--but some people do. In addition to her, I have household gods, common to both me and my husband. In addition to that, in ritual, my coven calls upon "The Lord" and "The Lady" without names, and that means different things to different people.
You can recognize many gods without actually devoting worship to each of them individually. If you tried to give proper worship to more than a few you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed--just like you would be with many spouses.