The Green Man. If you spend any time in the woods you may know this guy. I haven’t seen him since I moved to Brooklyn, not even in Prospect Park, but we were pretty tight back in Ohio.
He’s a spirit of pagan origin, but like all great ideas he winds up in cathedrals all across Europe. He has a another name and form as Jack-in-the-Green, a few pics are included, and many cousins such as Cernunnos, Sylvanus, Derg Corra, Green George,John Barleycorn, Robin Goodfellow, Puck, and the Green Knight, all of which partake of the Green Man’s nature; Shakespeare calls out Puck as Robin Goodfellow in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream…
that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call’d Robin Goodfellow: are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm;
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are not you he?
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all hale the green man may we learn more about our life with the green man and how we can live a better life with him.
Continuing the Discussion