Who are pagan gods?

[moonraingirl]

I'm reading this book https://www.amazon.com/World-Full-Gods- ... _TE_M1T1DP
It's the first book about polytheism that I've come across. I confess that I've skipped some passages because he gets quite boring sometimes.
Greer basically claims that pagan gods really do exist. His argument is based on the fact that anything that causes spiritual experience in humans can be called a god. Because there are many distinct religious experiences, there must be many gods. He also claims that it is against the logic to claim they are all only aspects of One God. In the real world, when you meet a black, orange and white cat, you won't suppose they are all different versions of One Cat, but assume there are 3 different cats.
I still haven't finished the book but it's already thought provoking for me because until now, I haven't met anyone who really believes in polytheism.
My question is what do gods mean to you and who/what are they? Real deities? Omnipotent and omniscient, or more human-like? Are they all representations of One Divine Being? Or are they archetypes, hidden parts of human psyche?

[SpiritTalker]

Yes, all of the above. All your suggested possibilities are true. Gods - in my consciousness, so far - are not this-or-that equations. This-and-that and more is more appropriate.

When did Man first conceive of deity? What awoke? We are still awakening as a species...in spite of recent news events, evolution is going to happen with, or without, our consent. That has to include our concept of deity.

Edit: as to what it means to me...deity is life, inhabiting and experiencing all forms. Each of us, and every Thing, is deity expressed in this form, in this consciousness. That's where I hang my hat when I think of deity. Today.

[Xiao Rong]

I really enjoyed A World Full of Gods; it's a great resource for polytheists, although I think he is more interested in the theology than discussing what that means for us. I think you will find that a LOT of Pagans are polytheist to some degree or another, in that they acknowledge the existence of many different kinds of deities (although the meaning of "deity" can vary from person to person). I have variously experienced the gods as real deities, as parts of a single Divine Source, and as archetypes. I don't believe that they are omnipotent or omniscient, though -- I don't think anything is. Even the Divine Source (whom I call the Goddess) is not omnipotent. I see her as the soul of the Universe (and we, and everything else in the world are her body), but we still have agency. We co-create with the Goddess. And many deities are very powerful, but still aren't all-powerful. Even the ones like Zeus or Odin were still fallible and had limitations.

Personally I think that all things have some kind of spirit or consciousness -- everything ranging from individual atoms, to trees and rivers, to plants and animals, to mountains and oceans, to solar systems, to the Universe herself. I think deities are some of the older and greater spirits, evolving in part from how we as humans interact with them over time. So I see polytheism as a natural outgrowth of animism.