Did early pagans or do you see your gods as being gods in the strict sense or are they more like angels, spirits, etc? Did early pagans or do you believe in any kind of unifying force or 'one God to rule them all' or something along those lines?
It depends on which group / culture you're talking about.
Remember, "pagan" can mean anyone who follows a non-Abrahamic religion (something other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam). More specifically, it
usually refers to someone who follows a revived form of a dead religion (such as Hellenic reconstructionists, or Asatruar), or a modified form of an extant non-Abrahamic religion (such as Vedic [Hindu] pagans, people who perhaps follow neo-pagan practices but worship Hindu gods or incorporate Hindu practices, but wouldn't technically be Hindu - traditional Hindus generally object to being called pagan), or an earth-based religion that may be more modern (such as Wicca). (Ask 10 pagans the definition of paganism, get 10 different answers. It's hard to define.)
No matter what your definition, that's a
wide range of cultures. And if you're talking "early pagans" as in "early non-Abrahamic peoples", that spans the entire globe. The ancient Norse had very different views from the ancient Greeks, who had different views from the ancient Sumerians or Celts or Mayans. A modern pagan might follow
any of those cultures/pantheons, or something else entirely. All cultures did not have the same view of deity.
With that covered, I can speak on what I know, which is Kemet (Egypt).
Kemetic belief is of "the One and the Many"; it's a form of monism or monolatry (depending on your favorite definition for each word). There is an infinite, vast All that Kemetics call Netjer; this is so vast that mortal minds cannot comprehend it. Netjer is broken down into the Netjeru, more personified pieces that are easier to interact with and, as a result of being more finite, are also able to focus on and care about humanity (rather than being concerned with the EVERYTHING that is Netjer and such).
It's like God has multiple personalities. Each Netjeru is a full, distinct, individual being with His/Her own desires, plans, thoughts, and actions; but each Netjeru is also part of that greater whole.
Or, to use a different analogy (though I prefer the multiple personalities one, myself), Netjer is like a business corporation, and the Netjeru are the different employees and owners and such of that corporation. (That's a more hard-polytheistic view; I take a slightly more soft-polytheistic view.)
It's like the concept of the Trinity in Christianity. God is one in three and three in one; three separate beings who are at the same time one singular being. With Netjer, it's one in many and many in one; the Trinity-concept expanded.
Then there's also the concept egyptologists call "fissioning" and "fusing"... different Netjeru can "fission", or split apart into even more specific Names (such as Heru [Horus] fissioning into His aspects of Heru-Wer [Horus the Elder], Heru-sa-Aset [Horus son of Isis], and Heraukhty [Heru at Dawn]). Different Netjeru can also "fuse", or join with other Netjeru to become a different being (such as Bast and Mut fusing to become Bast-Mut, or Ra and Amun fusing into Amun-Ra, or even Heraukhty and Ra fusing into Ra-Heraukhty).
The Netjeru are fluid beings. Each one is very distinct and individual, to be sure; but in some ways it's like having a large supply of clay. That clay can be shaped on its own, or can be broken into pieces and then each piece shaped as well, and then two pieces can be put together and shaped into something else.
Despite all this, the Netjeru are
still individual entities. I know I've said this several times, but it's hard to grasp sometimes because the Netjeru
are part of the greater whole, so some people go the neopagan Wiccan route of "Oh, Aset (Isis) and Yinepu (Anubis) are just part of the larger whole, so they're interchangeable, they're like the same being! So I can behave with Aset as casually and informally as I behave with Yinepu and it'll be just fine!" Except that Aset is well-known for Her strictness involving respect and formality and purity, while Yinepu is
much more easy-going, and to treat Aset like Yinepu will probably get you the cosmic slap across the head.
Perhaps it'd be better to describe it like an ecosystem. In a (healthy) ecosystem, you've got a balance of predators and prey, plants and insects, water and air and earth. All of these things are made up of atoms, of the building blocks of matter. All of these things are unique and sometimes even in apparent conflict with each other, as the herbivores eat the plants and the carnivores eat the herbivores, but in that conflict is balance and harmony, however savage that harmony may sometimes be. In the end, all the living organisms end up as carbon and nutrients, so they all become the same sort of thing. But you wouldn't treat a wolf or a wasp the same way you'd treat a plant or a rabbit. All of these pieces, these niches of the ecosystem, make up this living dynamic entity we call "ecosystem". Netjer's kind of the same way.
(I'm sorry this was so long. It's just that it's an odd concept that's sometimes hard to understand and I want to make sure it's understandable. ^^" )
