Polytheism as the first theological program of contemporary paganism in the West

Abstract

The article looks at the phenomenon of “devotional polytheism” as a theological position defended by some, mostly American leaders of different religions belonging to Contemporary Paganism as normative for the whole movement. The article outlines polytheism as a theological program, which is intended to guide the practice of contemporary Pagans. Pagan “theology” is understood in this context as, following Stanislav Panin, “the gradual systematization, structuring and rational understanding of neo-pagan teachings by their followers”. Devotional polytheism is not bound to any particular modern Pagan religion: it may be espoused by adherents of Pagan traditions as diverse as Wicca, Druidry, Animism or Heathenry. The article aims at sketching the main traits of devotional polytheism as such an ideological program by studying books by authors who avowedly defend polytheism (John M. Greer, Gus di Zerega, Steven Dillon, Kadmus). As we may judge from our material, this program acknowledges multiple deities who are independent separate beings without the presence of a designated supreme deity or fixed hierarchy, the inclusion of deities within an animate Nature, which is a network of entangled interrelations between different agents, and the necessity of “personal relations” between humans and deities as vital for proper functioning of society and civilization, while “monotheism” is blamed for the ecological, social and spiritual troubles of contemporary world. Two concepts stand out as indisputable values in polytheist writings — the individual and diversity. The modern polytheists’ world is not a hierarchical cosmos, but an ecosystem, in which various major and minor agents interact in an infinitely entangled web of mutual connections