PAGAN THOUGHTS / WHO ARE THE GODS

To find the gods, many eyes turn to the sky in search of entities separate from the world, distant and transcendent, yet the gods are not to be sought outside because they already reside within us. The divine is not a refuge in another world but the very foundation of this one.
The Universe in its entirety is pervaded by two great cosmic forces endowed with consciousness, eternal and perpetually united: the Goddess, often honored in her triple aspect as maiden, mother, and crone, and the Horned God. Their polarities are not in conflict; they are like the harmonious opposition that holds the poles of a magnet together.
The Gods are benevolent entities bound by infinite love, which is the very engine of creation. Their bodies are not made of flesh and bones but of pure essence, of vital energy, and are as vast as the cosmos itself. we are immersed in their presence, interpenetrated and surrounded by them; night and day they dwell in us as in every living and inanimate creature, which is why separation from the Gods is impossible, our existence and theirs are inextricably intertwined.
All the male deities that various cultures have worshipped, such as Zeus, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Odin, are the many faces of God; like every human being, he has a creative aspect, a warrior aspect, an aspect of profound wisdom, and so on. Similarly, goddesses such as Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Freya, and Isis represent different aspects of the one Goddess.
We neo-pagans who walk on this harsh yet prosperous Earth do not believe in the Gods out of faith or because they are mentioned in ancient sacred texts; we believe because we feel and experience Divine energies in the power of our actions and in our feelings. we perceive the ambition of Zeus when we run towards a goal, the righteous anger of Mars when we rebel against injustice, the overwhelming power of Eros when we fall in love.
The Gods are the principles of existence. They are not the architects who decided to forge the Universe in the distant past, but rather the world that spontaneously generated itself from their unquenchable love. Since the dawn of time, the Gods have made reality possible. They are the center of life; without them, nothingness would reign supreme.
By manifesting the energies they give us, we become creators of our own reality, we give life to new possibilities, we enhance our emerging qualities and expand our abilities, we discover with amazement and wonder inner treasures we never knew we possessed, managing to surpass ourselves. Thanks to them, the doors of dreams swing wide open; they are the greatest of all assets.
However, in order to approach a genuine understanding of the Divine, it is necessary to clear the field of two concepts which, although deeply rooted, are foreign to paganism: the idea that the Gods punish or reward us based on our behavior, and that they grant our requests in exchange for a few prayers.
The gods are not our judges; the image of a deity who scrutinizes our every action in order to reward or punish us according to a rigid moral code dictated by him is a cultural construct that became established with the rise of monotheistic religions, according to which concepts such as heaven and hell are systems of reward and punishment that place human conduct at the center of a final judgment. in ancient paganism, the association of God as judge has always been absent; the gods are not arbiters of human morality nor dispensers of justice, they do not sit on a heavenly throne ready to pass judgment on what is right or wrong; the responsibility for creating just and fair laws and ensuring their observance rests entirely with the human community; delegating the role of supreme judges to the gods means attributing to them a task that does not belong to them, thereby demeaning our own responsibility.
Another widespread belief, often fueled by superstition, is that the gods are omnipotent entities ready to intervene in human affairs to grant wishes or solve problems; the image of Aladdin's genie, capable of granting any request, is mistakenly associated with the gods, fortunately by few people; in reality, the gods are not wish-granting machines or miracle-workers on demand; observing the world, we realize that the gods do not change the course of events based on the number of our prayers; their existence is not intended to serve mankind.
So we ask ourselves, what is their nature in our journey? The Gods give us themselves and nothing more, and in return they want nothing. They offer us their energies, and it is up to us, with our free will and awareness, to decide what to do with this extraordinary gift.
Our relationship with the Divine should not be utilitarian. We should not worship the Gods to curry favor with them and get something in return, but for their very existence. We should gratefully acknowledge their immanent presence in the world and their greatness. Honoring them means recognizing that they have already given us the greatest gift they could give. They are here with us and within us, and their energies are at our disposal to grow, create, and live fully.