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I am Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter, the Old God of this ancient land. Guardian of its secrets and its truths; I am the King of summer, the Lord of Forest and Animal, the Hunter and the hunted one, the Spirit of life and death.
I am the ancient forest Spirit that throughout the world knows many faces and many names, the Greenman is part of my consciousness and being and I am part of his but we are not one and the same he and I. He is in truth a more ancient Spirit than me and more passive too, the force of life and nature that grows and endures, adapting itself to the surroundings in which it lives and breathes. My power is more dynamic in nature, more active and aggressive. I am the spirit of the wild hunt, the chase of life and death and as both the hunter and the hunted I am both those that seek and kill and that which is sought and killed, I am both in the one, simultaneously, always therefore hunting myself and killing myself in order to live and survive.
In this way I mirror mankind and am the spirit that lives within their craving and their need. Their need to survive and their tendency to destroy themselves in the process, particularly when my energy is used in an imbalanced way and the harmony of nature and the law of give and take is not observed. I am a masculine power, though my equivalent can be found in Diana the Huntress, my female counterpart, daughter, lover and queen, she who holds the gift of life and death and doles it out with dignity and grace. Mine is the power of the warrior and king, the leader and the provider but I am no stately intellect. Mine is more the savage grace of the beast and the rugged narrow minded vision of the hunter who cares little for debate or mediation but longs openly for the thrill and glory of the kill.
That part of the Green that I represent is the power of nature which is ruthless and uncaring, though I also represent the mystical and eternal part of nature too, its magickal secrets and laws. I am the vine that chokes another plant in order to seek out life, the larger animal that preys upon the smaller and weaker. I am the cuckoo who throws the others babies from the nest but also the royal animals that hunt and prey in more dynamic fashions that to the human eye seem fair. I am part of nature red in tooth and claw but also the silence that descends upon the nematon that brings wisdom and knowing. The power that rises from the roots or pulses through the ancient standing stone, the blazing sunlight which ignites the golden grasses and brings the world to life, always contrasted by the dark shadows of the Green which mark the secret places where no mortal foot is welcome without invitation. I am the Guardian of these truths and the trustee who stands alone, called when danger falls to fight for the Goddess my Queen and lover and protect her from the folly of man.
(Extract from a personal channelling through Edwin Courtenay - June 2008) |
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