The Horned God and The Summer Solstice
The seasons have shifted once more, the days have become longer and now it is time for the Litha celebration. The longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice.
This is the time of year to celebrate the masculine half of the sacred energy that rules nature. This energy is represented by a few deities, The Horned God, Ceronnous, Pan, Herne the Hunter, and the Green Man just to name a few. With his mighty horns he is the protector of the forest, the god of animals and vegetation. When he is in his Sun form he is the giver of life to the crops. He is the God of fertility, of ecstatic music and dance, and wild nature.
Whatever you may call him, or what ever form you choose, the Horned God is an ancient one. He has been worshiped in Europe since at least the Iron Age, where he has been found depicted in cave drawings. The Horned God is the keeper of the cycle of life and the food chain.He is pure masculinity, virility, and sex. He is the deer in rut, the predator hunting the prey. For him there is only survival or death. He makes you face these facts with no sympathy
He is born in the spring and spends his childhood and young adulthood in the forest as pan or the green man. Wild and free he runs, dances and plays his pipes. He falls in love with, and impregnates the Goddess. In the midsummer he becomes The Horned One in the prime of his life. When Autumn arrives it is time for the harvest. The crops that he fed all spring and summer with his life giving sunshine are harvested, the animals slaughtered, and The Horned One is sacrificed. His blood fertilizes the land for the next spring. The crops go dormant, and he travels to land of the dead, becoming the caretaker of the souls who have passed on. When spring arrives he is reborn as the child that is carried by the goddess. The cycle begins again. |