The Green Man
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
vegetation realm. He is the divine essence in the world of trees
and flowers. He is health through the plants and fruits we eat.
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. Although
he is a less challenging and direct form of Pan, the horned God.
This leafy god-form was embraced by Christianity, while the same
church had done away with Pan by proclaiming him to be the devil.
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 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.
In all cases his lovely image represents the great solar god; the
one that arises in spring, blooms in summer, declines in autumn
and dies in wintertime, to be reborn the next spring again.
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.
Taken from Anja Heij http://realmagick.com/
Click on thumbnail to see larger picture
More information on the Green Man
The Green Man, the male spirit of nature; a fertility deity representing
the cycle of life. He is thought to have his roots in Egypt's vegetation
god, Osiris, and Greece's wild woodland god, Dionysus.
The green Man First appeared in Britain in Arthurian Myth, in the
tale of Gawain and the Green Knight
Folk customs occur all over Europe where a man dressed in foliage
is ceremonially 'put to death' to bring about regeneration. Similarly
Jack-in the-Green is 'executed' to 'renew the world'. This takes
place during the Pagan festival known as Beltane (1st May) and celebrates
the coming of spring and the rebirth of the earth. In Hastings an
annual ceremony is held where Jack-in-the Green in the form of a
towering framework of leaves, which a man inside carries accompanied
by a figure known as 'Black Sal' and a team of men who support him.
The climax to the ceremony comes when Jack is 'killed' to release
the spirit of summer. This type of folk custom occurs all over Europe
where the central character is a foliage clad man.
When you discover the Green Man for the first time you may have
a feeling of recognition, as if he is part of our psyche. There
has been an upsurge in interest in the Green Man perhaps due to
the realization of the damage we are causing to the environment
and the many species - including us- who inhabit our planet. Whatever
his true meaning, if you delve into the subject in more detail you
will discover many theories some Pagan, some Christian, some bizarre.
Back
|
