The Green Man is an ancient theme, taken up by the early Christian Church as a symbol of the resurrection of Christ. Many of the great Cathedrals of Europe contain images of the Green Man - the three examples shown here are from the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral, England.
More generally, the Green Man is a powerful symbol of regeneration, death and rebirth, and the inevitable power of life to continue regardless of circumstances. The nature of the new green shoots springing from the face and orifices of the (dead?) male human head also give reference to the turning of the seasons, and the movement of life within the cycle of the year.
Some Green Man faces are fierce, and reflect the intensity with which life is taking them over. It is almost as if the struggle to live and love has become so intense that life itself has intervened and decided the necessary direction of growth, and the Green man is left grimacing and raging as life carries him and grows through him in directions he is trying to pull away from. He is trying to be a man (ego), and life is growing through his eyes and mouth and nostrils, transforming him into what he is struggling against. Some of the green Man faces are relaxed, and even smiling. Whether relaxed or in a rage, the shoots continue to grow, and he becomes part of the new life growing from his old self/body.
Everything that he was, now becomes the compost: the food which sustains everything he will become. The Anger and Grief feed his spirit, and with Laughter and Joy, Fear and Pain all become meaningful only as things which assit his growth. In the end, they all return to the Earth and surround his roots - for they are the history of his roots, his past. The spirit takes this, and performs alchemy, transforming base into fresh golden shoots which emerge into the light... And the roots feed and nourish that which he has become, providing a firm and solid foundation from which the seed can grow.
Meanwhile - his eyes do not look back at the soil, but remain fixed on the sunlit sky above.
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Let us without worrying about it, let the destiny of the planet accomplish itself. Our lamentations will not affect it, and our ill-humour will be misplaced. The Universe does not know discouragement, it renews every task that has miscarried, every check leaves it young, alert, and full of illusions. Courage, Courage!
Recollections of childhood by Ernest Renan (1883) |
WAGE PEACE!
Wage Peace with your breath Probably by Judyth Hill |
