Moon Owl Observations

Cernunnos

 

Cernunnos. The Protector of the Forest. The Master of the Hunt. He is a horned, wild God of the forest. Cernunnos is a Celtic God that has origins that are linked with the horned figures in the Palaeolithic cave paintings that were found in Northern and Central France and Britain. He symbolizes fertility and masculine energy and is often portrayed with a beard and shaggy hair.

 

He is a celebrated and honoured God but has been misinterpreted by other religions as Satan. He is in fact the God of fertility, life, animals, wealth, vegetation, and is sometimes seen as a God of death that takes time to comfort the dead on their way to the spirit world. He is associated with horned animals such as the stag, bull, and ram, but also with a unique beast that seems to belong solely to Cernunnos- this being a serpent with ram horns.

 

Some might know him because of his role in seasons. The seasons are a dance between Cernunnos and the Goddess. In the spring Cernunnos is reborn through the Goddess. By the summer he has grown into a man and is the consort of the Goddess. Once fall arrives he has begun to die and in the winter he begins his journey through the underworld preparing to return in the spring.

 

The symbolic colours for this most ancient Celtic god are green and silver.

Oak leaves are often connected to him and he is associated with small “solar wheels” that Celts placed in their graves. They are presumably emblems of the sun that would provide light for them in the underworld. He is also seen as a shape shifter that can take the form of a snake or wolf. He is thought to dispense fruits, grains and wealth.

 

Parallels are often drawn between the Green man and Cernunnos. It is said that the green man personifies the united spirit of all vegetation gods such as Tammuz, Woden and Cernunnos. You can make your own green man out of clay, leaves and other materials. It is preferred that you collect your material from the woods. If they are all completely natural you can take it back to the woods and leave it as an offering. A good prayer to say while doing so it this:

 

God of the green

Lord of the forest

I offer you my sacrifice

I ask for your blessing

 

You are the man in the trees,

The green man of the woods,

Who brings life to the dawning spring,

You are the deer in the rut,

Mighty horned one

Who roams the autumn woods,

And the hunter circling,

Round the oak,

The antlers of the wild stag,

And the lifeblood that spills upon the ground each season.

 

God of the green,

Lord of the forest,

I offer you my sacrifice.

I ask you for your blessing.

 

**If you make your own incense the following is used to honour  him**

1 part pine

1 part sandalwood

Pinch of Valerian

½ part cinnamon

And a few drops of Musk oil