We live immersed in a culture that for millennia has been shaped by Abrahamic traditions, its influences are so profound and pervasive that we often don't even recognize them, yet they shape our way of thinking, feeling, and even imagining the sacred; for this reason, when a person approaches paganism, they bring with them an idea they consider an absolute and indisputable truth: that the relationship with the Divine is one of subjection in which the human being is a servant and the Gods are masters.
If we approach paganism with this lens, we risk misunderstanding its deepest essence, transforming it into a sort of disguised monotheism, populated by many names of Deities but governed by the same hierarchical structure; this is an understandable error due to the context in which we grew up, but it distances us from the true essence of what paganism was and what neopaganism can represent today; to fully understand the relationship between man and the Gods, we must journey back in time, far back, to the eras preceding writing and the great empires, to the Neolithic.
In the most ancient paganism, that which had not yet been shaped by dynamics of power and wealth, the relationship with the Divine was not at all vertical; the Deities were not perceived as distant authorities seated on celestial thrones watching the human being from above and passing judgment, they were instead immanent energies endowed with consciousness who walked alongside us on Earth, they were not interested in controlling human moral conduct, did not impose laws through prophets, and did not distribute rewards or punishments based on behavior; but how can we be certain of what I have just written if no written sources from those eras have survived? The answer comes to us from art, Neolithic art is a window into the spiritual world of the communities that preceded us, and what it tells is profoundly different from the vision we are accustomed to.
In Neolithic depictions, the Gods do not sit on celestial thrones judging the world; the famous Venuses, as well as the male figures of Hunter Gods, are depicted here, on Earth, often alongside animals and human beings, their power is not distant and inaccessible but is rooted in the world itself, they do not wield scepters to command but are shown standing, sitting, or lying on the ground, symbolizing that their strength is immanent; it is important to observe that in the scenes in which they appear alongside men, the latter do not prostrate themselves in fear or submission but stand or sit with attitudes of respect, wonder, and gratitude.
One of the most extraordinary examples of this horizontal vision comes to us from Valcamonica, where thousands of rock carvings recount the spiritual life of the Alpine communities from thousands of years ago, among these stands out the figure of the Horned God, linked to fertility and the regeneration of nature; he is an imposing figure, with two horns on his head and a large beak like that of a bird of prey, but his posture is not threatening, he holds no weapons, he does not sit on a throne, and the human figures surrounding him are neither kneeling nor imploring but look at him as one looks at a teacher or a guide; this image is precious because it shows us that the relationship with the Divine was not experienced with reverential fear but as a bond between student and teacher, not between servant and master; other Neolithic paintings that help us understand this relationship are the oranti, depictions of human beings dancing with their arms raised in a gesture of veneration and thanksgiving; here too, they are not kneeling, they stand with their bodies erect in an attitude of praise, awareness, and participation.
If we compare the most ancient pagan art with that linked to monotheistic religions, a significant contrast emerges, let us think for example of the famous Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarroti on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; in this fresco, a transcendent God suspended in heaven leans toward man, who still lies inert on Earth, the gesture is vertical and asymmetrical, the Creator gives while the creature receives, man's life is in God's hands, but the most powerful symbol of this relationship is the distance between the two index fingers, which are separated by just a few centimeters, that gap is not accidental, it represents a separation between human being and Divinity that, in the worldview of revealed religions, can never be bridged except through submission and obedience; it is the perfect image of a vertical and hierarchical relationship between a sovereign and a subject awaiting the gift of life.
For those approaching paganism, it is essential to abandon the vision of the Divine tied to monotheisms, to succeed in this it can be helpful to look to other spiritual traditions that have developed similar visions, such as those of the Native Americans; although the historical paths are completely different, scholars recognize a notable structural analogy between the spiritual world of Neolithic Europe and that of the native populations of North America; in their vision, the Great Spirit is not a celestial judge scrutinizing human actions but a power that permeates the world, an energy that flows through flowers, wind, rocks, animals, trees, everything is sacred; observing their ancient paintings, we note the same tendency found in ancient Europe: the Divinity was not depicted as a human ruler seated on a throne with a scepter in hand or in the attitude of imposing laws, but as a living and present force in all things.
Learning to see the Divine without the glasses of monotheistic culture at the beginning of the journey may not be easy, but it is essential to free ourselves from the idea that the relationship with the Divinities is one of subservience and instead learn to consider the Gods as traveling companions and to express gratitude and appreciation to them for the energies they give us without asking for anything in return, because without them our existence would be devoid of that spark that makes it alive.
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