Pagans: Do you believe that all Gods/Godesses are different faces of the God/Goddess or do you believe them...

Question

to all be completely different Gods & Goddesses? ;]]

Answer 1

I believe them to be individual, separate entities.

BTW; permission to slap "simply fabulous"? If she thinks that I don't exists I guess the slap will come from nowhere...
*whistles innocently*

Answer 2

That's a good question. I think different pagans will answer differently. I personally believe they are different frequencies or spiritual personalities. Some are small and playful, others powerful and even dangerous to interact with. At some level, everything in the Universe is most likely an expression of some sort of primary, all-inclusive energy field. I refuse to regard that as a trap back into monotheism, which is a very reductive, intellectually and emotionally limiting spiritual belief system. The individual "gods" and "goddesses", if that's what you want to call them, are individual at least to the same degree that individual human beings are individual.

Answer 3

This is one of the many things that every Pagan path and to a degree every Pagan has a different view on.

If you mean me personally well I am a Celtic Pagan and I believe all the Celtic gods and goddesses are totally seperate beings.This makes me what some people call 'a hardcore Polytheist'.

Answer 4

I believe all the goddess and gods are different faces of the Great Mother and Great Father.

Answer 5

I believe that each and every god and goddess is a separate, individual and unique entity. (okay, yes i acknowledge that the Roman gods are just the Greek gods with Latin names, but beyond that). The idea that thery are al the same leads to confusion and detracts from the uniqueness of the cultures and more importantly the religions that are associated with the various deities.

Answer 6

Welllll....yes and no. Mostly no.

One can say that, as an example, all Mother Goddesses share some characteristics. One can say that all Gods of the Hunt share some characteristics.

One could even say "Great Mother, called by many names" - but those "many names" would not likely include Diana, or Brigit, or Persephone, or Durga or Sekhmet

And certainly Gods of place are *very* different from each other. Gods of place often become tribal Gods, and when they do their specific, individual characteristics tend to remain, so that tribal Gods of one people *are different from* tribal Gods of other peoples.


Is there an amorphous "Divine Feminine"? Is there an amorphous "Divine Masculine"?

Maybe so, but for me, that very amorphousness makes it difficult to build a relationship - and a *relationship* with the Gods is what I'm after. So whether it's from my own intellectual, cultural, or other limitations, I prefer to have a relationship with Gods/Goddesses *who reveal themselves to me* (and They do that as individuals) than with a concept.

Answer 7

Well, I personally believe that the gods and goddesses are all completely different from each other.

Answer 8

Hard polytheist, so I think they're separate and discrete.

I beleive that they may have a number of names within cultural groupings (such as Ireland's Lugh and Wales' Llew). Likewise, I have seen some reasonable arguments for analogs between *certain* gods of similar cultures (Greek's Athena and Rome's Minerva, or the Celtic Tanaris and the Nordic Thor), but in lieu of direct information from the gods, I'm going to continue to treat them as individuals until they tell me otherwise.

Answer 9

Yes I believe that there is one Creator Spirit who is both male and female. This has to be so because all of life must be held in balance at all times. We are all able to see different faces of the one God at different times and in different states of need and God is all things to all people. Every soul on Earth, whatever their race or religion, has a picture of 'God' in their mind and every picture is different.As an older Pagan I often spend time with the Crone aspect of the Goddess, the dark and wise Mother of all creation. This is the face that I see at this time in my life and it strengthens me and gives me peace.

Answer 10

A while ago, I sort of believed in the "all are one" thing. However, things evolve, and so do my beliefs. I've become less pantheistic- I think that one can symbolize several deities by referring to them as "the god" or "the goddess", however I still think that individual deities are still separate and unique.

Answer 11

As Forn Sidr/Norse Heathen, I view the gods and goddesses as separate and unique individuals with distinct power and roles within the 9-world multicosm.