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The Horned God is a term used to describe an archetype of God found in several religions and mythologies. Examples include the Celtic Cernunnos, the
Welsh Caerwiden, the English Herne
the Hunter, the Hindu Pashupati, and the Greek Pan. There are a number of related figures as well, such as the satyr, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, and the Green Man. "The Horned
God" can refer to any of these individually, or to the archetype they represent. The oldest known representation of the Horned
God is the cave painting "the Sorcerer" in the Cave of the Three Brothers in France.
In each culture, the Horned God is associated with woods, wild animals, and hunting. He is often associated with sexuality or
male virility as well. As a symbol of sexuality, the Horned God represents one of the most elemental forces in Nature, and is
therefore complementary to female fertility deities known collectively as the Great
Mother. In this context He is sometimes referred to as the Great God or the Great Father. He impregnates the Goddess, and
then dies during the autumn and winter months and is reborn gloriously in spring, while the Goddess lives on always as Mother
Earth, giving life to the Horned God as he goes through the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
The Horned God is always portrayed with horns, which are his distinguishing feature. The
God's horns are considered symbols of male potency, strength and protection. Sometimes they are seen in a sense as phallic symbols. The horn has been a religious symbol for thousands of years.
An altar made entirely of stag horns was built in the temple of Apollo at Delos, and temples to the
Goddess Diana usually contained horns as well. The horn is also seen as a symbol of
fruitfulness and bounty, as in the Horn of Plenty.
He is sometimes portrayed with an erect phallus. The phallus is itself a symbol of
the power to create life, a power exercised only in concert with the Great Mother, who is the nurturer of life. Another symbol of
his sexual prowess and virility is the occasional presence of cloven hoofs or the hindquarters of a goat. The goat itself is considered a symbol of sexuality.
But the God has a darker side, as well. Another name for the Horned God is The Hunter. The Great God is a symbol not only of
the giving of life, but the taking of life too, in what is seen as a great and eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. He
sometimes carries a bow.
During the rise of Christianity, Literature attributed the image of the
Horned God in the form of Satan, whose physical description sometimes includes the cloven
feet and horns of the Horned God. By adopting this holistic image and transforming it into the well known image of the Devil, the
Christian church was using another way to convince people that paganism was evil. However, in the Christian church, Satan is
described as a fallen angel, wholly Evil, while the Horned God is neither. The Horned God is a force of nature, not entirely
beneficent nor malificent. In his role as Father, He gives life, but in His role as Hunter He takes life as well. Positive
aspects of the Horned God are reattributed to Satan by the Church of
Satan and similar branches of modern Satanism.
Belief in and worship of the Horned God waned almost to extinction by the 19th century, although vestiges remained in local customs, particularly in the countryside. (ghost stories of
Herne the Hunter and reverence of St. Cornus would be the strongest pre-wiccan remnants of the horned god). He makes a late
appearance in art referred to in the moonlit last act of Verdi's final
opera, Falstaff. Then Gerald Gardner began Wicca in England as a revival of ancient Pagan worship, focused on the duality
of the Great God and the Great Mother. Today Wicca and other Neopagan religions claim about 1,000,000 adherents.
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