The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Week of 9/25-30/2023:
The Green Man & the Sacred Masculine 10/01/2023 |
September 25, 2023: And Now, the Green Man
As we more deeply explore the Sacred
Masculine, we reflect on the Green Man, who represents vegetation, fertility, and generativity. This brings to mind Christ’s statement of “I am the Vine.” Says Matthew: Vines have deep roots in the ground, in the dark, in search of the Source where life finds its nourishment. Can we, too, engage in a search for this deep wisdom? |
Jim
Wert, retired lawyer and “The Wizard of Cheltenham, MD”
as Green Man. Photo published with permission. |
September 26, 2023: Hildegard of Bingen & Indigenous Teachings on the Green Man
Matthew teaches us that: Philosophers of the modern industrial era such as Descartes and Francis Bacon talked about “mastering nature,” and clearly the West has been doing that for
centuries. The Green Man is decidedly not about mastering nature but about relating to nature…. Hildegard of Bingen also taught about greening power (viriditas) which she sometimes calls the Holy Spirit in us, our generative and creative powers. Meanwhile, in Native American traditions, plants are considered the wisest of all living creatures. They have certainly been here the longest, and have invented photosynthesis. September 27, 2023: Christ as a Green Man a la Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard calls Christ “green wood”
and green man. Hildegard calling Jesus a “green man” is significant because, after all, she is a saint and declared doctor of the church. In this time of climate change with so many great challenges to the health and well-being of our planet, we are all called to be green men and green women. As we revision Christ as a Green Man, we can emulate him and work to preserve the beautiful, regenerative, greening power of the Earth. |
Mural showing Jesus as Green Man, in a church in Havana, Cuba.
Photo by Ellen Kennedy. Published with permission. |
September 28, 2023: The Green Man as an Antidote to Authoritarianism
Author Joseph Jastrab observes: “Generations of modern men have grown alienated from images of manhood connected to the living Earth and to the Great Mystery.” In addition, the rise of authoritarianism
in many countries today is yet another sign that healthy masculinity is in trouble. For this reason, it is very important for us to explore archetypes of the Sacred Masculine which celebrate the Divine Feminine and the Earth herself. September 29, 2023: Masculinity as Standing Tall, God as Ground of Being
William Anderson, coauthor of The Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth, teaches that the Green Man, depicted as a benevolent being, helped shift the mindset of the Middle
Ages from a fear-based relationship with nature to one of friendship. There is a deep relationship between the Green Man and the ground. Thich Nhat Hanh’s favorite name for God was “ground of being” which originally came from Meister Eckhart, though Thich Nhat Hanh got it from Paul Tillich. That sense of rootedness can bring us closer to the mystery of God, Source, and the nourishment that creation provides. Green Man can be an ally for us. |
“Green Man” stone carving in the medieval kitchen of
Coventry City Council, England. Flickr |
September 30, 2023: The Green Man, Sacred Trees, Shamanhood, Spirit-Strength Anderson calls the Green Man “the cosmic man or intelligence underlying creation.” The Green Man also recalls the Cosmic Tree, or the axis mundi which
connects the Earth and Sky. The shaman often uses the axis mundi to journey to the underworld or to the upper world to commune with spirits there. In early Christianity, the Cosmic Christ is often connected with the Cosmic Tree. The cross itself is a sacred tree, as is the bodhi tree under which the Buddha found enlightenment. |
Banner image: “Ancient Oak Trees in Brocton Coppice, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.” Photo by Staffordshire Clive, Wikimedia
Commons. |
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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