The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
The Green Man, Sacred Trees, Shamanhood, Spirit-Strength 09/30/2023 |
Anderson asks the important question: “Why is the Green Man returning to our awareness now and what does he want from us?” The Green Man may be returning today not just because our relationship with Nature is off-balance but also because our relationship with maleness is
off-balance. |
The abuse of nature and women and gay people (consider the rise of violence to gay and trans people today), the banning of LGBTQ+ books, laws
against homosexuals in Africa and many places around the world—all call for re-imagining our relationships to Mother |
His Epic Message Will Make You Want to Save the World | Short Film Showcase.” Powerful message from spoken word artist Prince Ea.
National Geographic |
Earth, her creatures, and all her children. The return of the Divine Feminine threatens many people immersed in a patriarchal consciousness. The Green Man honors intelligence. He is “the cosmic man or intelligence underlying creation” according to Anderson. After all, he is often depicted as a human head. He invites us to apply intelligence (and science)
and wisdom to our conflicts today. |
‘Green Man’ stone carving in the medieval kitchen of Coventry City Council, England. Flickr | The Green Man also recalls the Cosmic Tree closely associated with the axis mundi, the center of the world. Mircea Eliade equated the axis mundi with ancient initiation ceremonies for shamans who journey to the center of the earth. The strength of the shaman suggested by the axis mundi reminds us of an |
alternative kind of power and masculinity, one that holds the earth and sky together. The Cosmic Tree and the Cosmic Christ often appear together in early Christian symbolism. The cross is a sacred tree and many sacred trees are honored among spiritual traditions of the world—the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha receive his enlightenment, for instance, and the Lote Tree beside which the prophet Muhammad saw his second vision of the Archangel Gabriel. The
Green Man honors the throat and therefore prophecy. The Green Man is the prophet in all of us who speaks out about injustice and imbalance. He is fierce and strong and warrior-like. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 26-32. Banner image: The great banyan tree so beloved by the residents of Lahaina in Maui. Wikimedia Commons |
Queries for Contemplation Do you sense shamanhood returning as a positive power today? And more and more people and movements standing up and speaking out for justice for all? Do you find strength in the
sacred trees of the Cross, or Buddha’s enlightenment, or Muhammad’s revelations, and others? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their
higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE Join Matthew Fox online as he lectures and responds to questions on his book, A Spirituality Named Compassion. The event is hosted by the Weber Retreat and Conference Center. Thursday, October 12, 2023 , 4:00pm-5:30pm PT. Learn more HERE. Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, October 19, 4:00-6:00 pm PT. To register, click HERE. Join Matthew Fox for two days of learning and practice as he speaks at the online Stanford Medicine Contemplation by Design Summit, Wednesday and Thursday, November 1-2, 2023. Wed 4:00pm-5:30pm PT – Lecture, Q&A – Grounding & Expanding, Psyche
& Cosmos, Friendship with Self, Others, the Universe: Toward a “Cosmic Religion” (Einstein) and Human/Planetary Survival Thu 7:30am-8:15am – Guided Practice – Finding the Divine (the “I am”, the Christ, the Buddha Nature, the Tselem or Image of God) Within Thu 12:00pm-1:30pm – Workshop –
Recovering the Sacred Masculine and the Divine Feminine Register HERE. |
Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our
connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. |
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