Also Kernunnos, Cernenus, Cernowain, Cerne, Herne, Herne the Hunter,
Uindos, Finn, Bok, Dumas, Belatucadros, Vitiris
Meaning of name: “The Horned One”
Druidic Name:
His Druidic name was “Hu Godarn.” His worship was so popular that
Christianity had a very difficult time trying to eradicate him. They
modeled their Christian Devil after him in hopes of dissuading worshippers
from following him.
Physical Appearance:
He is normally portrayed with the antlers of a stag, carrying a purse
full of coins, seated in a cross-legged position. He has long hair and
a beard. He is usually shown very “well endowed” and is shown in an
ithyphallic state. He has a torq (a rigid circular necklace donating
wealth, high social status, nobility) around his neck and another in his
right hand. In his left he holds a ram-headed serpent (symbol of his
sexual power and knowledge sacred to the Goddess) which seems to be
unique to him. He often has the legs and hooves of a goat. He is most
often surrounded by animals of the forest: the stag, the fox, a wild boar,
and others.
The Gundestrup Cauldron:
The most detailed, clear and famous of all images of Cernunnos comes
from a unique and marvelous piece of Celtic art work called The
Gundestrup Cauldron. Cauldrons had magickal significance for the Celts, and
this is the most ornate ever found. It was beaten out of 10 kg of silver,
probably in the second century BCE, constructed from 13 heavily
decorated rectangular panels and a plain bowl containing a 14th circular one.
The entire assembly is 70 cm in diameter.
Sometime around the birth of Christ it was disassembled and apparently
just left on the ground in a bog near what is now the hamlet of
Gundestrup in Northern Jutland (Denmark), where it gradually became overgrown
and covered with peat. It remained there until its discovery by peat
cutters in 1891.
The eight external panels (of which one is missing) each feature what
appears to be the single face of a different god or goddess, surrounded
by much smaller humanoids or beasts. The five interior panels each
depict many characters, men, women, gods and beasts, in what may be a
story.
One of these panels depicts Cernunnos. He is seated cross-legged. He
has antlers with seven tines, and is, unusually, depicted clean-shaven.
He wears a torque and carries a second one in his right hand. He wears
a tunic and bracae (Celtic trousers) which cover him from the wrist to
above the knee, and a patterned belt. He wears sandals on his feet.
His hair appears to be brushed straight back. In his left hand he holds
the ram-horned serpent.
Surrounding him are many beasts. The nearest, on the left, is a stag.
Close to him on the right is a dog. There are other animals resembling
ibexes, lions, and a boy on a fish.
Triune God:
He is a triple god: Father, Son, and Wild Spirit. Cernunnos can
appear under a variety of guises, the most mysterious of which is perhaps
the “three headed visage,” in which the Stag is “three-faced,” as if just
having looked to his right and to his left. This visage of the Horned
One alludes to something very unusual about him; that he is triple in
and unto himself. Many Celtic deities appear to us in triads, each
“person” in the triple manifestation having its own name, aspects or
characteristics. The triple aspect of the Goddess would be an excellent
example: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Cernunnos is unusual in that he is a
single deity, yet he can suddenly appear in this three-headed aspect.
Other Forms:
Cernunnos can also appear in human form, usually as a man with horns or
antlers growing from his head. Occasionally he is imaged as having a
man’s body and a stag’s head. At other times he seems entirely human,
until you see those two small horns growing out of his head just above
his brow, mostly hidden under his crop of long, matted and quite
straggly black or dark brown hair.
History:
Cernunnos was worshipped by the Iron Age Celts across Europe until the
end of the first century. There is very little in existence about him
in documents, due to the fact that the druids were forbidden to write
down any of their knowledge, but his image appears on numerous stone
carvings throughout Europe. Paleolithic cave paintings found in France
that depict a stag standing upright or a man dressed in stag costume seem
to indicate that Cernunnos’ origins date to those times. Icons of
Cernunnos in stone, paint and engravings have been found throughout the
territory of the ancient Celts, from Spain to Romania and from Northern
Italy up to Ireland and Scotland. The Celts made numerous models, or
icons, of their various gods, and there are over 60 depicting Cernunnos,
from all over Europe. We only know his name because it is very clearly
carved on a single one of these icons, made by sailors from the Gallic
Parisii tribe in the first century CE. He has long been associated
with Druids, mystics and magickians in Celtic traditions.
Irish stories describe Cernunnos (Uindos) as the son of the high god
Lugh. He is called a wild hunter, a warrior, and a poet.
Domain:
He is regarded as the guardian of animals, fertility, forests, the
hunt, harvest, life, death, reincarnation, crossroads, sacrifice, Magick,
initiation, wealth, the underworld, physical love, and is most
specifically a Nature God. The idea that he is an Underworld God is backed by
the fact that he carries coins, which are an Underworld symbol.
Titles:
His titles include Lord of Animals, Lord of Beasts, Stag Lord, Lord of
the Hunt, Lord of the Forest, The Green Man, God of the Hunt, The
Horned God of the Hunt, The Horned One, The Horned God, and Lord of the
Underworld,. In his Underworld Aspect he is known as The Dark Man, the god
who dwells in the House Beneath the Hill. He is the one who comforts
and sings the souls of the dead to their rest in the Summerlands of the
Otherworld. In modern times he is often referred to as God of the
Witches. Following him through the Veil between the Worlds is one of the
surest ways of making the journey and returning unscathed, as he
generally won’t abandon those who follow him with good purpose.
Longevity:
He is the Oldest of the Ancient Ones, first born of the Goddess. At
the time of First Earth, Cernunnos grew in the womb of the All Mother,
Anu, waiting to be born, to come forth to initiate the everlasting,
unbroken circle of Life.
Things Sacred to Him:
The oak is his sacred tree. His sacred animals include the stag, ram,
bull, antelope, crane, sheep (ram), goat, boar, horned serpent, all
horned animals, snake, and all mammals. Honor him at Samhain, Ostara,
Beltain, and at Midsummer, when he leads the Wild Hunt.
Cernunnos and the Wheel of the Year:
Spring: We celebrate his birth, child of the Goddess, embodiment of
the budding, growing, greening world.
Summer: We celebrate and honor him as the Green Man, vibrant, the
consort of the Green Lady Goddess.
Autumn: The dying time, he is the Horned God, sacrificed and wounded,
begins journey to the Underworld.
Winter: The seeds of light from his decaying body will quicken the
Goddess’ womb with a new Sun (son) once again.
Another interpretation of his life cycle is as follows:
“In the vernal tides he is often manifest as a young man – often
adolescent – with horns. In this guise he is similar in aspect to Herne the
Hunter or a very young Green Man who is not yet sexually or poetically
mature, yet vigorous and enthusiastic. It is in this form that
Cernunnos and the Triple Goddess make the fields fertile by their union. At
Summer’s Solstice the Horned One becomes known through the presence of
the Green Man. Then, in August, after Lughnassadh, as the sun begins to
wane, he shifts form again, coming to us as the ever-pesky Puck. At
the autumnal equinox he appears as the Old Antlered One, Downie Hornie,
in which guise he haunts us until Samhain. After this turnstile in the
earthen year he usually withdraws his presence from mortals,
disappearing until he is reborn during the Season of the Winter Solstice as the
Gifting Stag; a young hart whose virility and strength will enable him
to survive the long winter months ahead while the rest of Nature
sleeps.”
Copyright 2002 by Montague Whitsel.
Reasons to Invoke:
Invoke Cernunnos for magick, prosperity, wealth, commerce, rebirth,
regeneration, virility, reincarnation, shamanism, abundance, knowledge,
fertility, shape-shifting, male potency, good fortune, love spells, sex
magick, hunting, male mysteries, Earth mysteries, workings which relate
to the spiral of life, protecting wild animals, helping to maintain the
balance of Nature, and working with animals. Sitting in the lotus
position is appropriate for his invocation.
Invocation to Cernunnos:
"Hail Cernunnos, Stag of the Woods
Come to us we pray you!
Inspire us with an earthen faith
And an adventurous love of life!
Lead us and we will follow you
Through the wildwood and to the heath
Where the haunted ones of the Sidhe
worship in the dark night
Of Mystery’s embrace! Nema!"
Another Invocation:
"Great God Cernunnos, return to earth again !
Come at my call and show thyself to men.
Shepherd of Goats, upon the wild hill's way,
Lead thy lost flock from darkness into day.
Forgotten are the ways of sleep and night -
Men seek for them whose eyes have lost the light.
Open the door, the door which hath no key,
The door of dreams, whereby men come to thee.
O Mighty Stag, O answer to me !"
The God in the Wild Wood:
“At the Sacred Centre, in the Grove of all Worlds, He sits with legs
crossed beneath an ancient Oak. Entranced, connecting the three worlds
Earth, Sea, and Sky and the worlds behind the worlds, the god and the
Great Tree are One, His immense limbs widespread, stretching into distant
sky and starry space. His massive trunk, spine of the Middleworld, is
the heart of the Ancient Forest around which all Life, all worlds turn.
His limitless root web growing deep into secret earth and Underworld.
Above him the great turning circles of Sun, Moon, and Stars. All
around Him subtle movements of the leaves in melodious, singing air.
Everywhere the pulsing, gleaming Green awash in drifts of gold and shimmering
mist. Beneath Him soft moss creeping over the dark, deep, moist of
spawning earth. At His feet the great Cauldron from which the Five Rivers
Flow. Through the forest stillness they come, whispering wings and
secret glide, rustling leaves, and silent step, the first Ancestors, the
Oldest Animals, to gather around Him: Blackbird, Keeper of the Gate;
Stag of Seven Tines, Master of Time; Ancient Owl, Crone of the Night;
Eagle, Lord of the Air, Eye of the Sun; and Salmon, Oldest of the Old,
Wisest of the Wise leaping from the juncture of the Five Springs. He
welcomes them and blesses them, and they honor Him, Cernunnos of the nut
brown skin and lustrous curling hair. The god whose eyes flash
star-fire, whose flesh is a reservoir of ancient waters, His cells alive with
Mystery, original primeval essence. Naked, phallus erect, He wears a
crown of antlers limned in green fire and twined with ivy. In his right
hand the Torq of gold, testament of his nobility and his sacred pledge.
In his left hand the horned serpent symbol of his sexual power sacred
to the Goddess. Cernunnos in His Ancient Forest, His Sacred Temple, His Holy Grove, Cernunnos and His children dream the Worlds.” Ravenquest
References:
Alternative Religions
A Wiccan Bible by A.J. Drew
Cernunnos by Dr. Anthony E. Smith
Cernunnos: Celtic Horned God of the Animals by Morning Glory Zell
Cernunnos: The Celtic Horned God by Montague Whitsel
Cernunnos the Stag Lord by lugodoc.demon
Complete Book of Witchcraft by Raymond Buckland
Horned God, The by John Rowan
Invocation for Witches by Eileen Holland
Magick of the Gods and Goddesses by D.J. Conway
Origin of the Gundestrup Cauldron by Berquist, Anders & Taylor
Pagan Resource
Ravenquest
Truth About the Druids, The by Tadhg MacCrossan
