Hmmm interesting question.
The Heathens do indeed feel that the gods are individual and unique. Frigga is NOT Isis or Athena. They are not a part of another pantheon. That we are the literal descendants of our Elder Kin.
I DO know some Heathen who feel its VERY disrespectful to think that Frig and Freya are the same as any other Goddess and are under one title of Goddess.
I am of the mind that the Gods can stick up for themselves. Just don't be surprised if you say that Freya is an "aspect" of the goddess that you get some heated answers. LOL
Of course, I do. They are all individuals in their own right, and deserve to be worshiped as such. The whole idea they are all one deity or a pair of deities is just monotheism in disguise, a clinging to Christian concepts in my opinion.
Most heathens I know view the gods as their elder kin. How would you feel if I insisted that your grandmother was my grandmother, too? That's the same sort of feeling heathens get when someone from a different cultural family co-opts one of our kin as being "the same" as theirs.
For example: I'm a white American male who has an office job and drives a car. That doesn't make me the same person as all the other people who fit that description. Just because we share similar traits doesn't make us identical beings. I'm not an aspect or reflection of them, nor are they of me.
Many heathens believe it is exactly the same way with the gods. Odin, Zeus, Quetzalcoatl, and Osiris may well know each other. They may even get together to drink whiskey, smoke cigars, and play Texas Hold'em now and then... but they are not the same being.
As to the "part of one divine couple" perspective, that is also a gross oversimplification. If you don't personally feel deeply connected to any individual culture, fine. If the way you conceptualize and interact with the divine is as some great pan-galactic gestalt, that's your biz. But do not insist that my gods are just facets of yours. That's ignorant and disrespectful.
I don't feel offended. I find it slightly ridiculous, but hey, everyone is entitled to their belief and as long as they leave me alone and don't try to cram it down my throat, they can believe that all their gods are the Easter bunny, for all I care.
I have my own personal relationship with my Gods and somebody Else's opinion doesn't affect that.
Whether I find it wrong, laughable, stupid.. or not.
Yes, because that's not what we believe. If you want a god/goddess hermaphrodite, try the Greek Abraxas deity or make up some god of your own. Don't try to sell us false ideas about our own beliefs. Besides, it's pretty stupid to go out of your way to offend someone you probably has a large collection of swords, spears, and axes.
If it was my wife i wouldn't because its her fitting me in to her beliefs just like I fit her into mine. (which is easier because threes no "be live in me or suffer for eternity" clause in Astra)
But Yeah that would piss me off. I'd have a hard time not punching you in the face if you said that to me. Its not offended, its agitation. Thats essentially ignorance. because if they know enough to know that Asafolk worship more then one god, they should know that worship is not the correct term. This is Kind of like someone walking around saying "god is a woman", or "Jesus had a wife", or "What you be live is wrong".
its hard to describe becuse thats really an asafolk only problem. (well and the greek/roman pantheon, and the egyptian pantheon. But to my understanding there arnt a lot of them running around.
Asatru/Heathens; do you get offended sometimes when people?
