I'm a Norse pagan. Norse paganism is polytheistic. There are many gods and goddesses, perhaps over a hundred if you include lesser spirits and deities. I've been a Norse pagan for a very long time and it's perhaps because of my perspective or understanding that makes Norse paganism the right "way" for me. I guess it depends on your point of view really.
Because it is a very old conglomeration of folkish beliefs and stories that have been handed down from generation to generation until being collected and put into writing, there is no such thing as the pagan canon. Nothing is fixed, which is the idea. No two pagans have the same exact beliefs. This applies to any two Norse pagans as well. There is a lot of independence and freedom to believe whatever you want to believe. This generally works good because pagans don't go around preaching and talking about their gods as much as the monotheistic religions tend to do. Instead, pagans have a more personal relationship with their gods, and often keep quiet about it except during public feasts or holidays, wherever you might find a pagan community.
Polytheism itself tends to imply that a pagan must believe in something greater than themselves. But this isn't necessarily the case. You will rarely ever find a Norse pagan arguing with an atheist. That's because they have more in common than one might expect. The gods themselves are sometimes viewed, not as gods at all, but as natural forces of the universe. It is not uncommon for pagans to worship their own possessions, or even their own appearances rather than a multitude of high ruling deities. In this light, their polytheism involves gods which represent some aspect of their own spirits or souls, or perhaps the spirit of a sword, or a necklace, rather than some higher god in the heavens.
Polytheism tends to be more mundane and down to earth than monotheism. Pagans don't look up and reach for the heavens, but instead look down and worship the very Earth or ground that they are walking on. Earth is the final destination, rather than some invisible kingdom in the clouds. Pagans worship very "real", very tangible gods. By that I mean that they are not dead, but living gods which are physical and can be seen with the naked eye. One good example of a Norse pagan god is Thor, the storm god, who is the son of the earth. Thor's name means "Thunder" and he is literally the thunder god. When you see a thunderstorm, you are literally looking at Thor on his flying chariot, and when you hear thunder you are literally hearing the god Thor himself. So polytheistic belief systems tend to have more personal, tangibly physical or observable gods which act as representations rather than actual literal personifications like many people think. Rather than having some all-knowing, all-powerful, all-encompassing God, none of which seeming very realistic, polytheistic deities tend to be more human-like with feelings and emotions, who make mistakes just like human beings, and who aren't necessarily immortal, but who can die, just like any living thing.
This actually makes more sense according to the physics of our visible universe. To me at least. I see no strict adherence to order in the universe. In fact, I see the opposite. I see total chaos, where not everything is working together as it should be. I see no evidence at all of a supreme God maker or creator. So to me polytheism makes more sense. But that's just me.
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