The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
Further Stories and
Meaning
Regarding the Green Man 10/02/2023 |
The Green Man is not just a European tradition. Several years ago, after lecturing at the University of Hawaii, a native Hawaiian told me of a secret ceremony in his tradition that honors a Green Man dressed in a cape of tea leaves. The Green Man is recognized as “the One who
Manages the Forest” and is also a warrior. After missionaries arrived, the ritual associated with it had to be kept secret and underground. |
There is an intergenerational dimension to the Green Man. They are depicted in many stages of life—some are young, some middle aged, some old. Some are lying on the ground and dying like leaves in the Fall, returning their spirit to the earth for recycling. |
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In addition, some are playful, some awestruck, some introspective, and some are fierce. The latter depict the strong warrior and prophetic dimension to a Green Man. Some boughs depicted on a Green Man resemble antlers. Antlers are tree-like, and men are stags who carry antler-like powers. In this way, the Green Man connects to the animal world as well as the plant world. Christ is also called a stag. The Green Man says something important and positive about male sexuality. A man’s beard represents the generative powers of the male that come at puberty and are meant to serve the larger cosmic purpose of generation. They are not to serve the individual ego, or even the ego of family, nation or
tribe, but the overall purposes of nature itself. |
Green Man mosaic in Istanbul. Wikipedia. Creative
Commons | Male creativity, sexuality, and sensuality emerge from the creativity, sexuality, and sensuality of nature—and
are meant to serve it. It is not about ego strutting. The Green Man does not |
repress or sublimate sexuality but presents it openly—honoring it, praising it—without aggrandizing or personalizing it. Such a rich sexuality does not draw attention to itself, but embodies the ongoing sexual and creative
energy of the universe. |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 23f., 31. Banner image: Green Man on south door of Maria Laach Abbey, Germany. Wikipedia, Creative Commons. |
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Queries for Contemplation Do you think the sexual information depicted by the Green Man as named in this essay could assist men and boys to better deal with the gifts and powers of their sexuality than is often the case in our culture? Would that and rites of passage make for a healthier journey into malehood that both men and women could profit from? |
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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