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>What I'm wondering is why my question about monist elements in pagan >philosophy is apparently of no interest to academics here; even though >they apparently have *some* basis for distinguishing paganism from polytheism. I'm a Wiccan High Priest (since 1985) and a History MA (since 2006) and interested in both academic and occultist approaches. I'm a straight-up polytheist, personally. I am not personally interested in monism, or the more common duotheistic approaches (at least in Wicca). In my experience the various Goddesses do not reduce down to one, the Gods to one or the Two to One as Dion Fortune's dictum puts it. My area of current academic interest is the sociology of modern neo-Paganism, so a mild historical interest in neoPlatonism (but there were several of them and they differed widely, as did the variety of things called Gnostic etc...)isn't going to make me try to comment on your question. The same lack of background or deep interest might explain why others didn't go with your initial question. Another factor might be that "paganism" is another very broad category and that most versions of neo-Paganism are theologically and philosophically incoherent, or at least inconsistent. Comes with the New Religious Movement territory. Why do you think monism might be important? Why do you want to find out about our opinions? Is there a particular question bugging you? In memory of Hypatia (noted neoPlatonist philosopher, mathematician and teacher, but NOT Pagan), Sam Wagar