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by Ankhorite on February 13th, 2007
Most standard Wiccans believe in a goddess and a god. Wiccans may choose to honor their deities by many names -- for instance, the Goddess may be referred to as Isis, Astarte, Inanna all in one line of a single prayer -- but Wiccans understand each of these names to be the name by which their goddess (always the same in herself) was honored by various cultures; likewise with their god.
Now, for pagans in general, that question is just about unanswerable. The definition of "who's a pagan" varies wildly depending on who is doing the defining.
Some people adopt the whole Greco-Roman pantheon; some the Egyptian; some the Norse; some adopt the pantheons of cultures other than those three; some pick and choose among many cultures until they are satisfied. It's impossible to quantify the numbers of deities pagans worship unless you go pagan-by-pagan and ask. :)
by AntigoneRising on February 13th, 2007
Wiccans and Pagans do not share the same beliefs. All Wiccans are Pagans, but not all Pagans are Wiccans. Just as all Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics.
The Deities worshipped vary by tradition, coven, and practitioner.
For all intents and purposes, the number of deities is infinite, and Pagans and Wiccans draw from a variety of pre-Christian religions. Certianly, we do not all worship the same Deities.
Wicca itself has the concept of the Goddess and God. The tradition may follow a specific pantheon (I'm of the Isian tradition). The practitioner has one (or more) patron Deities, but will recognize many others.
Most Wiccans recognize the idea of the "One" - that ALL is divinity. That the creation isn't separate from Deity. It gets rather complex, so let me give you a link to my site that gives more detail.
www.witchoftheeast.com/divinity.html
We certainly cannot say, from the common viewpoint, that all Wiccans or Pagans worship the same deities. However, the idea that all prayers go to the same place (although they may go through/to a specific Deity) is a common one.
by wyldefyre on July 11th, 2009
Also, even though most Wiccan's believe in duality/unity (god & goddess, as one), Dianics often believe in trinity/unity: mother, maid/en, and crone, often as one; the male aspect is not the primary (nor even secondary) focus in this situation, rather as a third or tertiary aspect...often to counteract the prevailing societal sexism (esp. western, and xian) ramming the god into primacy.
The grand/mother aspect is the primary aspect in the unity view, with (I know many are thinking - what about the man?) the man and all men, and all women, contained within her...like Mother Earth holds us all, as an analogy.
-Just to express yet another neo-pagan/wiccan belief.
by Langenschwert on April 2nd, 2009
Technically, paganism refers to Pre-Christian indigenous European religion, specifically those from the area once controlled by the Roman Empire. The reason for this is the term "paganus" is Latin for a country dweller, who was less likely to have converted to Christianity. By extension, the term can be applied to European pre-Christian religion. By further extension, it can be applied to any polytheistic religion, or modern religions such as Wicca.
Now, getting back to paganism as a more narrowly defined term, one can observe European paganism as a version of the Indo-European pantheon. As a general rule, there are about a dozen "main" deities, give or take. One can see the same deities in differing pantheons. For example, Thor in the Norse pantheon is quite obviously Indra in Vedic Hinduism, and likely is Teshub in middle-eastern paganism. There's not always a one-to-one ratio though, so these comparisons have to be taken with a grain of salt. Hope that helps.
by Im Alec has abandoned this account on May 15th, 2007
See other answers for Wiccans. BUt pagens iin general tend to have many gods, of locations and aspects. Sometimes they will say that some are but others under a different name, sometimes that they are all aspects of a sing divine presence. But across pagans generally (including historically), the number of gods is large and variable.
by branciforte3241 on March 13th, 2007
One. Usually thought of in terms of two aspects (male and female). Much the same way that the Christian god has three aspects.
You could also say that there are as many pagan gods as there are pagans, much the same way that a unique Christ spirit exists in each Christian.
by Wickels on March 13th, 2007
Most follow a Goddess and a God. I have found that in Rituals and spell work when communing with Deity practitioners will use personifications from different Pantheons (Roman, Greek, Norse etc) for the aspect they wish to bring to thier ritual or spellwork or meditation or prayer. They are numbered if you were to add up every Goddess and God ever personified, but since many use only a Goddess and God without a name they sort of create thier own personification and there is no way to know how many of those aspect are on someones path.
Quick answer: Limitless in number, and no it is not the same for everyone.
by Ankhorite on February 13th, 2007
Wicca is a specific religion with only two deities.
Pagan beliefs come in many varieties, and each pagan pretty much decides for herself or himself which ones, and how many of them, she or he believes in.
by paganwatcher on October 2nd, 2009
here is a list of some of the more popular names
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/gods.htm
by paganwatcher on September 16th, 2009
if you consider all the religions or practices that are considered ' pagan' then there a several hundred if not actually thousands of gods, goddess, and extra...
by FaceNthaBackground on July 26th, 2009
There are more than to 2,850 non christian gods out there. Those who believe in any of the gods are considered pagan. Most pagans have a patron god or goddess that they focus on. And Wiccans believe that there is a god and a goddess and they are the archetypes of all of these gods.
by eternal0void on May 15th, 2007
Wicca is a religion with as many gods and goddesses as the individual member desires, including zero.
by Anonymous on January 16th, 2010
Anhkorite said, "Pagan beliefs come in many varieties, and each pagan pretty much decides for herself or himself which ones, and how many of them, she or he believes in." This is not true. Wiccan pagans believe in a single Goddess and a single horned god. Their Goddess has multiple manifestations. Non-Wiccan pagans practice any of a variety of pagan religions with specific pantheons of distinct, separate deities. They do not decide for themselves to worship Isis and Thor and Coyote. Mixing pantheons is purely a Wiccan concept. A Norse pagan might focus on Odin and Freya, for example, but believes in the entire Norse pantheon of deities.
by Anonymous on January 16th, 2010
Wicca is a duotheistic religion (the exception is Dianic Wicca which is monotheistic and has a Goddess only). The deities are Goddess and the horned god (capitalizing god creates the impression that the Judeo-Christian God is involved which is not the case). Although there is a single Goddess, Wiccans believe that She can have many manifestations and be called by many names. This distinguishes Wicca from polytheistic pagan religions which have multiple, DISTINCT deities that are NOT manifestations of a single deity. Although Wiccans may draw the names of the manifestations of their Goddess from pre-Christian pagan religions, Wicca, itself, is a purely modern religion and does not trace its origin to any pre-Christian pagan religion. Someone mentioned that the concept that all prayers go to one place, albeit through different deities, is a common Wiccan/pagan belief. This is not true for non-Wiccan pagans. The use of the word "prayers", rather than spells or rituals, is also strange. It is also not true that Wicca can have no deities. That would be tantamount to calling oneself a Christian and not believing in the Christian God. Are there people who call themselves Wiccans and do not believe in any deities? Sure, but it's an absurd bastardization of the religion.
by Anonymous on January 16th, 2010
Im Alec said, "...pagens iin general tend to have many gods, of locations and aspects. Sometimes they will say that some are but others under a different name, sometimes that they are all aspects of a sing divine presence. But across pagans generally (including historically), the number of gods is large and variable."
Non-Wiccan pagans--note the spelling--do not consider their deities to be aspects of a single divine presence. They consider their deities to be distinct individuals, not aspects or manifestations of any single divine presence.
by luthaneal on December 17th, 2009
Wicca is a specific religion with just one God and one Goddess.
Other Pagan religions have a large variety of different Gods, for example, the Gods of Greece, Rome, Egypt, the Celts and the Norse.
by Phoenix on October 2nd, 2009
Im not sure, so as a guess...I'm going to assume that most of them are in some way planetary? Possibly running along the way of the Greek & Roman Gods and goddesses as well?
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Comments
i dont quite understand,most likely
since im not involved or close to a Wiccan or Pagan, but, thank you.
by Norman_Outside the lines on February 13th, 2007