It was LadyRaglan who first coined the term “Green Man” in her 1939 article ”The Green Man in Church Architecture” in The Folklore Journal. He is often seen in relation to Jack in the Green, a figure which is gaining popularity in many seasonal celebrations, pagan or not. Other names for thisfigure are Puck, Robin Goodfellow, the Wild Man and the Green Knight. The GreenMan has survived centuries of Christianity, and is currently enjoying a popular revival, in both paganism and folklore customs. But just who is the Green Man?
For many, the Green Man is an old British character fromfolklore or myth, decorating churches and other structures with pretty and fanciful artwork – a motif. It isa popular pub name, and also a popular alternative or pagan shop name. For me, the Green Man is much more than that. For me, the Green Man is deity.
A god of growing, life, decay and death, the Green Man form is a god of the life force behind all vegetation. Where the Horned God is the spirit that lies within allanimals of the wild, the Green Man is the energy of the plant world in itscontinual cycles. He is that which causes a seed to sprout, he is that which causes that sprout to reach for the sun. He is the intention behind all growth, and the result of it.
The Green Man is not a compassionate god (in my personal opinion, there are very few, if any). He lives to live, at whatever cost. In the spring, everything seems wonderful – renewed and happy for the warmer climes and returning light. The blossoms burst on the trees and the new leaves unfurl with the most exquisite yellow-green light within them. There is space to grow, to reach for that light – everything in seeming harmony.
Come summer, all of that has changed. Like the calm before the storm, the spring can lure us into a sense of sun-inspired complacency. There is a struggle and a fight that lies ahead of us, and the Green Man knows this. He is the inspiration behind that. The flowers, grasses, trees– indeed, all vegetation, soon begins a competition for space and light, hungering for all that they can get in order to fufill their potential,following their own songs of earth and sunlight. The Green Man chokes riverbeds with weeds, kills young treesas their older siblings block out the light. Nature does what is its nature.
That energy, from the first sprouting seed to the choking death of late summer – that, for me, is the Green Man. The urge and the surge to rise up, to be all that you can, to fulfil your potential with the songs of rain andwind. It’s very easy to get caught up in it – but then again, submission to any of the gods will only lead to ruin. Dancing with the Green Mancan be a wonderful experience, yet is can also be devastatingly exhausting. He cares not. The trick lies in knowing when to stop, for we, of course, are not a god.
We can take our inspiration from the Green Man, following in the cycle of nature, of growth and decay. We can honour him for all that he is – a deity of plant life, with that unique soul song. And we can dance with him, for a little while, at the very least.