Overview#
Polytheism is belief in more than one deity. The term identifies a feature of a theology, while leaving many other questions unanswered: whether the gods form a hierarchy, whether they agree, how they relate to the world, and what kind of devotion they receive.
Plato’s Euthyphro provides a classical philosophical discussion in which disagreement among gods creates a difficulty for defining piety through divine approval. The dialogue makes the relationship between multiplicity and religious judgment visible.[1]
Number and relationship#
Several divine names do not always indicate several independent beings. A tradition may understand them as aspects, titles, manifestations, or distinct persons. An account should state the relation asserted by the tradition rather than infer it by counting names.
The reverse is also possible: a person may devote attention to one deity while acknowledging others. Exclusive devotion and belief that only one deity exists are different positions. The distinction concerns the relationship between worship and ontology.
Religious authority#
The Euthyphro asks how divine approval relates to the quality of an action. Its argument is a philosophical question within a specific dialogue, not an empirical survey of every polytheistic community.[1]
For contemporary religion, the question remains useful: does a community regard a deity’s preference as decisive, or does it recognize standards of judgment that require further explanation? Different answers can coexist with the same belief in multiple gods.
Spirits and deities#
A system can distinguish gods from angels, demons, ancestors, or other spirits. Agrippa’s religious magic illustrates a world containing different kinds of spiritual being under a religious account of authority.[2] The existence of many spirits does not itself establish polytheism.
Conversely, a modern devotional account can assign divinity to beings described as demons elsewhere. Connolly’s text provides an example of a particular demonolatrous theological arrangement.[3] The category “demon” must therefore be understood within the source using it.
Theistic Satanist applications#
A Satan-centered religion can be polytheistic if it recognizes other deities as independently real. Another Satanist may treat additional names as aspects of one being or restrict the term deity to Satan alone. Similar ritual imagery can accompany these different positions.
For comparison, describe what the practitioner believes exists and how the beings are related. That gives the reader a clearer account than treating the number of names in an invocation as a complete explanation of the theology.
A contemporary Satanist example#
The Grigorist Temple of Satanael (wiki article in preparation) describes Satano-Grigorism as polytheistic, with devotion to Satanael and the Watchers. It therefore offers an example of polytheism within theistic Satanism.[4]
See also#
References
- Plato, Euthyphro, Benjamin Jowett translation · Primary philosophical dialogue on piety, divine approval, and disagreement among gods. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book III · Primary text on religious and ceremonial magic; reflects Agrippa’s Christian framework. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
- S. Connolly, Modern Demonolatry, author-distributed PDF · Practitioner primary source for one modern demonolatry tradition; not independent verification of its lineage or supernatural claims. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩
- Grigorist Temple of Satanael: official FAQ · Primary source for contemporary Satano-Grigorist beliefs; this is the Temple’s own account. (accessed 2026-10-01) ↩