The Green Man/Cernunnos |
Who is this mysterious face in the leaves, commonly known as the Green Man? He is the personification of the spirit of nature itself in its vegetation form; the living heartbeat in every cell of a plant, shrub or tree, and the divine essence of the seasons.
In fact the Green Man is the great nature-god Pan or Cernunnos of the vegetative realm. He is the divine essence in the world of trees and flowers. He is health through the plants and fruits we eat. And he is the ongoing cycle of the year, the infinite wheel of life. The druids, known for their vegetation cult, received prophetic messages and inspiration through communication with the Green Man.
The Green Man usually has a human face, surrounded by leaves or grapes, and he sometimes has the ears of a goat like Pan.
In other versions leaves sprout from his mouth, eyes, ears or nose. It is said that he is naked, but actually no one really knows, since the leaves and branches that surround him clothe this spirit. Often his face is surrounded by oak-leaves; that's why he is given the name Oak-King, master of the heavenly king-of-trees.
From old he is worshipped in regions covered with trees and woods, like England, Holland, Germany, France and Italy in Europe (the Romans already depicted him); but he is also known in India and Malaysia. You can find many carvings of the Green Man in southwest England, like in the fantastic Exeter cathedral. I have visited this part of England and was struck by the old and mystical oak-woods, which seem to be his homeland.
You can find his image on churches, cathedrals, bars and country-houses.
The Green Man is a less challenging and direct form of Pan, the horned God. He lacks the unabashed animal sexuality of this important Greek god of nature, but emphasizes the fertility, regeneration and different life/seasonal phases as shown by the world of vegetation.
This leafy god-form was embraced by Christianity, while the same church had done away with Pan by proclaiming him to be the devil. The great forces of nature will find a way to come to the surface anyway, and if the animal form is declared inappropriate, it will resurrect in another form. And so the masculine energy has reached us as the Green Man, the Green Knight, the Old Green Man of the Woods, Jack in the Green, or Green George as he is also called.
In all cases his lovely image represents the great solar god; the one that rises in spring, blooms in summer, declines in autumn and dies in wintertime, to be reborn the next spring again. He is the great fertilizing force of the land, which results in colorful paintings of flowers and rich harvests. He is our long-lasting youthfulness by consuming large amounts of fruits and vegetables. But he is more: he is the great masculine life-essence, the God, the Father, the Shepherd, the Lord of Light and the Lord of Darkness, and the other side of the receptive Goddess-energy of nature.
Therefore the Green Man has become of major importance to many men today as their return to their natural and divine core - and I believe they are right. They regard the Green Man as one of the various forms of the strength, boldness, independence and creativity of the God, and they derive enormous power from this archetype.
Scientific evidence proves that deprivation from natural surroundings, for instance staying in submarines, drives people crazy or makes them at least highly stressed. When natural materials or imitations of such are added, people feel much better.
Nature is life, and the face in the leaves not only reminds us of that, but also gives many men back their dignity of being a significant holographic part of the regenerative and nurturing, wild and abundant life-force.
Embrace a tree, and I mean this very literally.
Hail Oak-King!
