Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

CERNUNNOS

The High Priest invoking the 'Horned God' Cernunnos...

A Coven's High Priest invokes
the 'Horned God' Cernunnos...

A Celtic deity known by name only from a single Gaulish altar inscription. invoked from prehistoric times until circa 1000 AD in the area of Gaul now defined as central France, Cernunnos probably evolved from the worship of stags whose tree-like antlers were the embodiment of the spirits of the forest.

Cernunnos may equate with the north British stag god, Cocidius.

Cernunnos, accompanied by a boar, seems to be depicted on the Cimbrian Gundestrup Bowl found in aJutiand peat bog. However, on a stone relief from Cirencester, England, a similar deity appears to be associated with snakes (symbols of rejuvenation) some of which bear rams' horns.

The worship of Cernunnos has been revived in modern Wicca. A fertility and chthonic deity, the so-called 'Horned God', he is believed to roam the forests as a huge, phantom stag.

Typically drawn as a man bearing antlers and with the hoofs of a stag, he represents not so much an animal spirit as a deity closely involved with animals and one who can transform instantly into animal shape.

His attendant beast is generally the boar revered in the Celtic world for its speed. Antlers were similarly regarded as symbols of fertility and virility.

In popular medieval folklore he became adulterated into such figures as Robin Goodfellow and Puck.

As a principal male deity of Wicca, Cernunnos is regarded as the consort of the Earth Mother and is depicted as a hirsute man bearing antlers and hoofs. He is perceived in a variety of aspects during the year.

Most frequently whenever Cernunnous was depicted or portrayed, he was shown as an animal, usually a stag, or surrounded by animals as he is depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron seated in a lotus position. This was seen as appropriate as he was the god of the hunt and fertility. He was also the ruler and protector of the animal kingdom. He is often seen holding a ram-headed serpent.

In the Welsh tale "Owain" his role as a herdsman-god and a benign keeper of the forest is told. Here he summons all the animals to him through the belling of a stag. All the animals even serpents obediently came to him "as humble subjects would do to their lord."

Some feel that the honouring of Cernunnous even continued in the early Christian era. Many of the early ascetics still had pre-Christian longings for nature. To substantiate this there is the account of Saint Ciaran of Saighir. This humble man went into the wilderness to establish a cell that would eventually become a monastery. A boar came, seeing the man he was terrified, but later returned and was submissive to the man of God. Saint Ciaran considered the boar his first monk. The boar was later joined by a fox, a badger, a wolf and a stag. These animals left their liars to join the community.

There are other tales such as this one that give rise to suspicions they caused early Christian writers and artists to associate Cernunnous with Satan. Although some Christians never lost their love of nature. Saint Francis of Assisi is well known for his love of animals and birds.

Cernunnous is still honoured in some modern Druid organizations, in Wicca and other forms of Neo-Pagan witchcraft and by the Church of All Worlds.

see also HORNED GOD; MANO CORNUTO; GUNDESTRUP BOWL

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc