Welcome to Gaia! ::

I am a hard polytheist. I believe that each deity is a living, breathing entity with an independent mind, soul, etc. But, I also believe that there's sort of like a "spiritual DNA" that all the gods have in the same way as we have it.... I believe in two Creator deities, and that in some sort of way all the gods are descended from Them. If you turn to someone in Circle and say "Thou Art Goddess", for example, you're saying the Goddess is in them. Similarly I think there's an element in each deity of what one might term their Ultimate Divine Parents.

But yeah, the pizza slices thing is a fair analogy.

The idea of, for example, "All gods are one God, all goddesses are one Goddess" is soft polytheism. It can be done well, but I have a slight disapproval of it myself as it leads far too many people to treat the gods and their cultures without the respect they deserve. Not saying everyone does that, just too many people do that.

"Animus" is Latin for "mind" ^_^ "Anima" is Latin for "soul". You could have two, one male and one female mrgreen

I've researched that Animus means Breath, Air, Life, Soul. Similar to spritus. Yet, I do find myself with two gods I especially look up to. My ruling deities are Thoth and Minerva.

I've never heard of 'soft' polytheism, but maybe I should look into that. Maybe I've got that, with a hint of pantheism. Thank you.

The idea of humans becoming gods gives me some more ideas to think about. Thank you too smile

I'm not 100% about how it is I communicate with Minerva and Thoth. I guess I'm prone to see things similar to Plato's concept of forms, and that we are all the same energy, and that we are all one. So I theorize, for now anyway, that they are as independant as the rest of us, and that they more directly created me. Meanwhile, being a form, I also see them as an archetype of one energy. As you can see, my view is certainly not complete. That is why I am curious of other viewpoints.

I find that you are correct about Anima vs. Animus. They are synonymous with subtle yet significant differences. Yet, I feel good about my decision in name. Thank you for your clarification though.

My diety concept is very left field and I am not sure just what you would call it. Soft polytheism with a twist, perhaps?
I basically beleive that there is a divine energy that runs through everything, a silvery thread of spiritual energy, that is part of everything.
A connectivity. As it is difficult to relate to a silver thread, I chose to see worship it as a male and female entities. I use many names to call them by depending time of year or need. The names I use have nothing to do with ancient mythologies, though some of the names were inspired by liturature, they all have one thing in common, I chose them because they are names that instantly conjure for me the essence of the God and Goddess I know, it is merely the name that helps get me to the spiritual place I want to be.

For Winter and early Spring I call on the White Lady Alowen (not sure where I got the name just works for me) She is both death and birth, she is the healing, restorative slumber of death and the joy and innocence of childhood. Late Spring through Summer is Dahaun The Lady of the Green Silences, a mother, nurturer, healer, protector. She is every changing her hair, eyes and skin in constant flow between all the races of humankind. Shimmering quality. She is based off of and named for a Character in a book called Songsmith. In Late Summer Early Autumn we move on to Gunnora, the Amber Lady (not really a character but referenced in Songsmith) she is my crone goddess, that of wisdom from experience, the grandmother, the hag, she can be dark and cruel, or sweet and kind depending on what is needed at the time.
For my Gods
Late Winter and Spring is Karsh, again the name is just one I heard that suits the energy. I see him as a brash, young, energetic sometimes arrogant young man. Full of vigor and drive. Strong emotion, good for getting things going. Not so good for thinking ahead.
Summer is Kyllyan, he is a father god, protector who stands side by side with Dahaun. Strong warrior, but more settled, and cautious than Karsh.
Autumn and Early Winter is Kizzney the wise (a**) old man, the sage. He has a quirky sense of humor, an odd way of teaching lessons, very powerful, and likes to sit back and marvel and chuckle at the headstrong ways of youth.
These are all based off of archetypes and I by no means wrote the entire descriptions I have for them, (I spent three years working on this, I have two journals dedicates solely to them.) I chose to do this way so as not to disrespect the many wonderful cultures of the world or their Deities. (My adopted brother is Lakota Sioux, and in his quest to reclaim his heritage one of the things he learned was that the leaders of his tribe were not fond of the neo pagans who were taking bits and pieces of their culture and using it out of context. When I started on this path I kept that in mind.) This is what is right for me, and I don’t claim it to be right for anyone else.
I know, I am crazy. Thank You and Goodnight.

I do it as Pantheism/Polytheism/Monotheism because I feel it is similar to light.

On the one hand, I believe there is one energy, but that this one energy is within and around everything, including reality. This would be like the white light. Truly it is the most pure, and the brightest, and I do look to just that white light sometimes. However, If you slow it down to look at it, the white light only has all of its glory because of the many colors it is made of. My intention is to be closer to what I believe and understand as divinity. Thus, I feel like I have to know it in every place the spectrum can be. Granted, it is obviously infinite, but I feel that I have a better understanding when I can see all the parts and the whole as well.

It is a matter of relating to it better, but it is more a matter of understanding the characteristics thoroughly and individually.

Also, I believe it would be like an alien looking down at the earth. To look down, you can grasp the structure of human nature fairly well, but unless you experience a corrupt city, a peaceful monestary, a fisherman's boat, a tribe, etc... you only see the bare bones, and not the true intricacies.

In a nutshell, I don't believe the whole is equal to the sum of its parts.

Thanks for the suggestion.

If you are looking for a book to rock your world, I would recommend The Holographic Universe. biggrin

And by the way, you just made me stumble into a website that is AMAZING. In fact, it will give me muuuuuuch, much more to meditate on.

[edit] Oh no, I just wikipediaed that book, and some of the ideas sound dead-on to what I'm thinking... so I have homework now smile

Yeah I was hoping that you'd get something out of it! It seemed like something down your path.. Which website did you stumble upon?