“Really, really real”
Here and there in the tiny echo chamber that is the Pagan blog-o-sphere, I am once again hearing repeated the false dichotomy of archetypes vs. “real gods.” As in, “My gods aren’t just archetypes. They are real…literal, distinct, independent gods.”
With the recent premiere of the series American Gods (which is awesome, by the way), I anticipate we’re going to be hearing a lot more talk like this–especially considering the influence the publication of the book American Gods had on the growth of Pagan polytheism.
[Click here to read the rest of this essay at HumanisticPaganism.com.]
The Allergic Pagan 
What a fantastic read! I did want to let you know, though, that I had issues opening up the page using the link provided. When I clicked on it, I got the 404 Error message. However, when I went to the site manually I found your article very easily. Just thought you might want to know that.
I’ll be honest with you – I’m not a pagan. My faith is often looked down upon by others because I don’t worship a god, but rather the life force that fills the universe. I belong to the Jedi faith, and we recognize many of the themes discussed in your article, particularly about interconnectedness and the illusion of separation. I very much enjoyed your cleverly worded argument about the apple, and when we would consider the apple separate from the tree or even as a part of ourselves – I found that to be quite a compelling point. With your permission, I’d like to share that with my peers.
Overall, I felt that your work was neat and orderly, easy to follow and understand, and even offered a new view of paganism that I was not aware existed. I thank you for that. Even more, the way that the conclusion offers a solution for other pagans was a flawless end to the post. I wish you and all other pagans the best of luck moving forward, and I applaud your efforts.
Thanks!