Treegod:
We have a poster in our home of a stag on one of the doors. One day Mika was standing in front of it in such a way that she looked like she had antlers, so I decided it was time for the camera. First I took pictures of her and then she of me, one of which I’ve included in this blog.
The thing is that one of my favourite celtic gods is depicted surrounded by animals, sitting cross-legged as though meditating, with two great antlers stretching from his head, whilst holding a torc in one hand and a serpent (horned) in another. There are a few ways to interpret this, as we have no reliable way of saying what the ancients thought of him, although we can make a few educated guesses.
One that I like is that Cernunnos represents a whole picture of human nature. For one thing, we can recognise that human nature is still very much an animal one, driven by instincts to live and survive and continue life beyond your own, like any organism. It is represented by the animals that surround him, the antlers on his head and the horned serpent in his hand, unmistakable signs of his animal nature. But also, we see other qualities that would not exist by instinct alone. In his other hand he holds a torc, a celtic neck ring, and also wears one around his neck and not only that, but also wears clothes, things that instinct alone could not produce in such a complex and intentioned way.
The other nature of Cernunnos, or any human, is that we don’t just have instincts to help us live; we don’t rely purely on reacting to circumstances. We have abilites like intellect and imagination that take us beyond our circumstances and recreate them in a more complex and intentioned way.
One of the problems of humans is that it disconnects from one or other of these natures, it does not handle them in an integrated way and so becomes imbalanced. This is like the split that comes between the body and mind. In Ken Wilbur’s book No Boundaries, he talks of this split as on that resembles a horse and its rider, where one aspect, the mind, is separate, riding and controlling the other aspect, the body. But he says that this view is unhealthy, that really these two parts are more a part of each other than we realise and so uses the centaur to illustrate it. The mind and body aren’t separate parts like a rider and its steed, but they are two “distinct” parts that aren’t so easily separated, like a centaur.
I am a centaur,
My skill and power I wield as one,
My culture and wildness reconciled,
All intellect and instinct integrated.
My guiding spirit
One of focus but not of control,
One of flow but not of randomness.
My body thinks,
My mind feels
For mind and body are one.
Another part of what Cernunnos means to me, and many others, is as man, maleness, masculinity. Perhaps we can see him as a man before male-dominated society arose, a man aligned with the Goddess and holding reverence and respect for her in her femininity, seeing her as the temple through which new life arises.
For many centuries female-denying Patriarchy has dominated human societies, allowing men to dominate women. Recently, and quite rightly, feminism has arisen to redress this imbalance. This is good news for women, who need to break free from the shackles of Patriarchy and find new strength in their own feminine identity. But men, yes men, also need something to be free from Patriarchy; men also suffer, because it destroys something in us men to subjugate womenkind, even if we do think we’re “on top.” But men can’t really rely on feminism to be free from Patriarchy because, let’s face it, we aren’t women, and also we need to reconnect to a healthy male identity and not be subjugated before a female-dominated inversion of Patriarchy.
I suggest masculism as a healthy counterpart to feminism and a healthy expression of masculinity that is not found in the female-denying Patriarchy (or, for that matter, male-denying Matriarchy). Although the term masculism isn’t clear because it is used by both men like myself, seeking a healthy gender balance, and men that oppose feminism. I hope I’m clear enough in my use of the word.
I think, like Cernunnos, men should find the strength, drawing on our masculine qualities, to be at the service and support of women who are themselves at the service of life, acting as gateways to human life, for Cernunnos tends the temple of the Goddess ensuring that she has the right support to carry the future into this world. Because without her, there’d be no more life.
