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The Greenman

 

The Greenman is the legendary pagan God who roams the woodlands. He usually is depicted as a horned man peering out of a mask of foliage, usually the sacred oak. He represents the spirit of vegetation which returns to the Earth in Spring and flourishes in Summer.  He is present wherever crops are grown and harvested. He is there when animals mate and give birth. He is there when the season's change and the Sun shines. We worship the spirit of the Green Man in which we recognize the mystic energy of nature and vegetation.


The Green Man is also known by other names such as "Green Jack, "Jack-in-the-Green" and even "Robin Hood".  In Spring Pagan Rites he may be called Green George and is represented by a young man dressed head to foot in greenery, who leads the festival procession.

Since the colour green is a faerie colour, I believe that they share an affinity with the Green Man.  In the British Isles faeries are called "Greenies" and "Greencoats", and some are believed to have green skin.


During the Middle Ages, stonemasons carved the Green Man's likeness into the walls and arches of the finest cathedrals; there are thousands of Green Man heads carved across Europe.

The Green Man's wisdom is that of the eternal truths, cycles, and passages. He embodies the cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth, and teaches us the sacred truths of nature.  He is a magickal bridge between nature and ourselves for he is both vegetable and animal at once.  From him, we learn the mysteries of all growing things, and he is present in all things green and growing. His energy fills the trees that make the oxygen we breathe.  At harvest, he surrenders himself for the good of the tribe, to sustain them through the long cold winter.  In the spring, his seed is planted in the warm moist earth and the Green Man is reborn.  

 

 

Green Man Correspondences

 

Colours - Green for growth and vegetation,  White or Light Blue to represent Air,  Yellow for the light of the Sun

Symbols - Growing plantS, a branch, fruit,  a small bowl of earth, leaves, berries and acorns or nuts

Herbs - Oak leaves, grains

Incense - Patchouli

Essential Oils -  Vetivert, Cinnamon, Sweet Birch, Oak Moss

 

 

 

A Green Man Invocation



I call to you now, spirit of nature, strong and free
Come and teach me, I am ready to honour you
I celebrate your gifts; I am ready to learn your truths,
As my ancestors did before me,
I see your power and your pain, beneath the green mantle
Of the scars on your body and the great sadness in your eyes.
You are no longer abandoned, we hear you again;
We are ready, to honour your ways.
Reveal yourself, Green Man,
Weave your spells of green magic.
Teach me and I will listen for your voice;
I will celebrate your sacred wisdom ways.


By Abby Willowroot

 

 

 

A Riddle

 

I am born on May Morning - by sticks, bells, and ribbons
I am the sap - in the dark root
I am the dancer - with his six fools
I am the tump - behind the old church
I am the lost soul - under the misericord
I am the oak - against the stars
I am the face - that peers through the leaves
I am the fear - in a child's mind
I am the demon - on the roof-boss
I am killed in October - and laid on church altars
I am the guiser - on the bright bonfire
I am the old grain - sown with the seed
I am the flame - in the pumpkin's grin
I am the spirit - in the kern-baby's bosom

 

 

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