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ildegard von Bingen was aperson of remarkable breadth

and talent. She isremembered in history as aChristian mystic who, as a nunduring the twelfth century, was ableto become an renown herbalist,painter, composer, abbess of herorder and confidant to the Pope.She also produced a great deal ofwritten material and accomplishedit all through a combination of herinnate, visionary gifts and the fireof her spirit.

It is in her writings that sheoffered us a word; viriditas whichliterally translates to ‘greenness.’This word was her effort to namethe moment whereby the eternal,quantum world of Spirit becomesthe visible, tangible world of

space-time. This is the word madeflesh - the enlivening of thephysical reality.

During Hildegard’s lifetimethere would have been a carvedface looking down from nearlyevery cathedral in Europe. Ashaggy, foliated head - part humanand part growing plants. He is theGreen Man. This archetypal imageoriginated in prehistory, far beforethe Christian era, perhaps as earlyas the Upper Paleolithic. His facecan be found across the Old Worldand the Americas.

He is carved into cathedrals,painted into architectural friezesand remembered in ancient folkrituals. Over two thousand GreenMan images have been identifiedin England alone. They can be

found on any surface that’s opento ornamentation: capitals, corbels,choir stalls, fonts, screens, or roofrafters. In South Asia, his plant-covered face looks down from Jaintemples in Rajasthan and he isalso echoed in the face of Hindu’sgreen-skinned Rama, consort ofSita goddess of nature whosprings from the ploughed soil.

He appears as Islam’s Al-Khidir: the Green One, a former

vegetative deity who wasdescribed in the Koran as aspiritual guide to bothMoses and Alexander theGreat. Due in part to thisrelationship, green is the

color associated with divinewisdom in the Arab world.

In the Apo Kayan area ofBorneo he appears with great

wreaths of leaves and branchesissuing from his head and is theguardian of the forest and abringer of good fortune.

The Green Man represents manyinterrelated energies. For instance,his face can remind us of theirrepressibility of Life. In this aspecthe represents the immutable forcethat allows grass to squeeze its waybetween the cracks in a sidewalk,tree roots to heave up city paving orsplit a stone and a weed’s stubbornability to demand its place in anorderly garden.

He also stands as a consortand partner of the Earth Goddess.As the son-lover of the GreatMother, he is destined toregenerate every Spring to watchover her fruitfulness and recedeinto darkness once again whenshe takes her Winter slumber.

In this aspect, he has kinshipwith Adonis, Attis, and Osiriswhose deaths and resurrectionssymbolised the regenerativepowers of the Earth.

Sir Gawain of the Arthurianstories even encounters theregenerative Green Man under theguise of The Green Knight. Whenthe Green Knight’s head is severedby Gawain, he calmly picks it backup and rides off to Gawain’s utterastonishment!

The Green Man’s circle ofdeath and resurrection reminds usof the cyclic rhythms of the worldwhich are paradoxically botheternal and transitory. Life willreassert itself, even as individualbeings die. As the protector ofwild nature. He is a blended being

WILDANDGREEN

Finding the GreenSpirit of Creation

Evelyn C. Rysdyk

H

Left: bronze GreenMan door knocker,

Venice, C17th

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Left: ‘Cultivatingthe Cosmic Tree’,a painting by the

C12th mysicHildegard von

Bingen

Below:the figure of

Cernunnos fromthe Gundestrup

cauldron - arichly-decorated

silver vessel,dating to the

1st century BCE,found in 1891 in apeat bog near the

hamlet ofGundestrup,

Denmark

exhibiting a body that is at oncehuman and plant. Part greenhimself, he keeps an careful eyeover every aspect of the Mother’sgreen body. Being a guardian ofthe plants and trees also ultimatelymakes him a guardian over allliving things.

As we learned in school, all lifeon earth depends on thephotosynthetic ability of the plants,algae, trees and shrubs to capturesunlight and water and miraculouslytransform them into usablenurturance, while exhaling essential

oxygen into the environment.By guarding our ‘green

relations’ - those who give us ourbreath and the stable foundationfor the planet’s food chain - theGreen Man supports thecontinuance of all of nature.

Spirits who function in this roleare often depicted as shape-shifters, caught in a state of partialmetamorphosis. They are seen aspart one being and part another -merged into a blend of the two.

For instance, Cernunnos, theCeltic lord of the forest and

protector of the animals, has anantlered head, while the Greekdemigod Pan - guardian of woods,pastures, and other landscapefeatures - strides through theworld on goat legs.

In the shamanic world view, themerging of spirit bodies in this wayproduces a new energy thatincorporates the powers of bothbeings. A shaman may merge withher or his power animal to be ableto ‘see’ with the animal’s senses.However, she or he doesn’tbecome the animal but a kind ofspiritual hybrid. In this hybridisedstate it is as though the shamanbelongs to two ‘families’, thehuman and animal, and sodevelops loyalties to both.

The Green Man’scircle of death

and resurrectionreminds us of thecyclic rhythms ofthe world which

are paradoxicallyboth eternal and

transitory. Lifewill reassert itself,even as individual

beings die

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The Green Manhas literallybecome a part ofwhat he lovesand protects. Ashe cares foreach leaf, hereminds us of thepreciousness andvitalness of everypart of the whole,and that he - and we- are inseparable fromthe earth.

It is perhaps this aspect mostof all that holds a power for ustoday. The Green Man hasreappeared in our culture to offerus a spiritual archetype for a newway of being. His leafy head maybe seen peering out from thecovers of books, on CDs,paintings, movies; and evencarvings of Green Men are onceagain being made available.

We have called this spirit intobeing again to remind us of whatwe must do. Following his lead, wecan step into our place as Herprotectors. One only has to readthe story of Julia Butterfly Hill,who defended the forest by livingin the branches of a 200-foot tallredwood tree, to know that thewarrior energy of the Green Man isactually genderless.

While often seen as beardedwith leaves, a Green Man issometimes also depicted withleaves pouring from his mouth. Wecan imagine this as a metaphor notonly for embodying our love for the

Earth, but alsospeaking ortaking actionon behalf of

Her, as well.As we

embody theGreen Man-Woman’s

desire toprotect Mother

Nature - becominggreen warriors - we

can reclaim andremember our own wildness. Peruvian spiritual teachers

from the Andes refers to our wildenergy as salka. It is the non-domesticated part that lives insideeach of us, and all other beings ofthis planet. Domesticated beingsare overly rational and materialistic,whereas the wild parts of us livemore in our hearts, and thereforeharmony with Mother Earth -Pachamama.

Living in harmony withPachamama and more fullyresiding our hearts, we can feelour own preciousness and thefundamental holiness of all beings.From this wild, heart-centeredplace we can perceive beauty in allthings. We can feel theinterconnections interlacing ourbiosphere and therefore approacheach part of the larger world with adeeper reverence.

When we then allow our actionsto flow from this wild, heart center,we naturally make more respectfulchoices for ourselves and the earth.

AWAKING THE WILDTry this breathing exercise toawaken your wild, green, self.

With your eyes closed, stand upor sit in an erect posture. Now,focus on your own heart beat.Listen and feel, as it pumps bloodthrough your body. This is yourcenter - where you are tethered toall that Is. Now, outstretch yourarms. Take a sharp breath inwardswhile bringing your fingertipstoward your heart. Hold it for justa heartbeat. Then exhale fully andextend your arms again. On the in-breath you may see your armsgathering in all of the earth’s love -bringing it to your heart. Allow yourenergy to mingle with nature’s.

Inhaling, you are drawing thevitality of the plants, the surge ofthe tides, the perspective of thesoaring hawk into yourself. Whenyou exhale and extend your armsagain, feel yourself giving energyback to the earth.

As your breath leaves yourbody, feel the blessings it holdsflow over the landscape like thewind - like Spring rains caressing aleaf. You are giving the gift of yourbreath to your ‘green relations’,which they can in turn breatheback to all the world.

Continue in this way for at leastten breaths. If you start to feel alittle dizzy, take more gentlebreaths. Please remember toexhale fully, so that you don’texperience hyperventilation!

As you approach your tenthbreath remember a time that you feltgrateful. If you can, it is especiallyuseful to remember a time that youfelt this gratitude during anexperience you had in nature.

For instance, you canremember the feelings of a coolbreeze on a very hot day, or howwelcome rain feels during adrought. Recall the leap of joy youfelt at the swoop of a hawk overyour car, or the sound of foxesbarking, or coyotes howling on adesert night. Remember yourchildhood excitement atdiscovering that a storm that ragedwhile you slept provided a deepenough blanket of white for asnow day! Perhaps you rememberan encounter with a deer thatwatched you without moving.

Give yourself permission toremember your own specialmemory of of nature’s wonder-filled blessings.

With your eyes closed,stand up and focuson your own heart

beat. Listen and feel,as it pumps bloodthrough your body.

This is your center -where you aretethered to all

that Is.

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Now allow the memory of thattime and the feelings of gratitudeyou had then fill you up again, asyou begin to breathe more gently.

Allow your breaths to move nowlike ocean waves, grasses wavingslowly in the wind or the elegantbeating of an eagle’s wings. Letthe gratitude you feel flow outfrom your heart and extend fromyour fingertips.

With this simple action, you arenow radiating healing energiesthrough your body and out into theworld. This energy pours from yourbody like an endless, regenerativefountain of light. Imagine this lightenergy saturating the awakeningplants and rising with the sap inthe trees. It glitters along thesurface of the waters andilluminates the bright plumage ofthe returning birds.

The newly-awakened bearsquints as the light pours over itssleepy head, and the stones -bones of the Earth Mother - growever warmer with your heart’sloving touch.

When you feel complete withthis experience, gently bring yourawareness to the place where youare standing or sitting. Smile - ifyou aren’t already - and wiggleyour toes and fingers in celebrationof your wild, aliveness! When youare ready, open your eyes and lookat this world with your newlyrefreshed ‘wild heart.’

Through the eyes of your heart,look to where you can make achange that will benefit the Earthand her children.

It can be very simple to start,but as you practice the aboveexercise and continuestrengthening your wild heart, youwill naturally feel that you are apart of everything on earth.

From that deep understandingyou will effortlessly develop astronger and stronger desire to bemore of a loving force for Hernurturance and protection.

You don’t have to have a lot ofmoney or time to be of service.Let me give you an example.

On a recent evening, at sunset,my partner and I were going to theocean’s edge to place a ritualoffering of gratitude. Just a flower,two apple slices and a piece ofunwrapped hard candy to ‘feed’the earth spirits and to say ‘thank

you’ to the Mother for the gifts wefelt that we had received duringwhat had been a very long week.

On the road leading to theocean, there was a very youngman walking along carrying ablack garbage bag. We hadassumed at a distance that hewas picking up bottles, but upongetting closer could clearly seethat he was picking up the paperand trash that had lain hidden untilrecently by the snow.

Once at the shore, we breathedin the manner described above aswe prayed aloud our thanks to theearth. We gave our thanks to all ofthe elements, to the plants andtrees, to the birds and animals, tothe ocean, and so on - evenincluding our thanks to the youngman on the roadside.

As anyone who does this canattest, the act of speaking outone’s gratitude can quicklybecome a long heart-song, as oneremembered moment ofgratefulness easily leads one intoanother. This time was noexception as during the course ofour prayers, the sky turned fromred-orange to a twilight indigo.

As darkness overtook thebeach and the stars began toshimmer to life, we left our simpleoffering in a crack between therocks for the tide to swallow upand returned to the car.

The return trip found the youngman walking home in a spritely

manner with a bag, now stretchedinto a bundle as large as his torso,thrown over his shoulder. As weimagined how splendid thatroadside was going to look in themorning we cheered, tapped ourhorn and gave him a ‘thumbs-up.’

As a living Green Man thatnight, his prayers for the earth hadsimply manifested in a different,physical way from our own!

So allow the Green Man towhisper the energy of regenerationinto your life. Listen to the wildnessthat lives inside of you and connectsyou to this wonderful earth. Beginthinking more with your heartinstead of your head, and let yourbeautiful heart guide you into againbeing in reverent participatoryrelationship with our mother.

© 2009 Evelyn C. Rysdyk Evelyn C. Rysdyk is the author of‘Modern Shamanic Living: NewExplorations of an Ancient Path’(1999) Evelyn is an artist, healer,and shamanic teacher in jointpractice with C. Allie Knowltonat Spirit Passages a trainingcenter for advanced experientialshamanism. As foundingmembers of True North, anintegrated medical center inFalmouth, Maine, they alsocollaborate with physicians, nurses,a psychiatrist, naturopath andother complementary healthpractitioners. She is featured in thebook, ‘Traveling Between theWorlds’, interviews with some ofthe world’s most influential writersand teachers of shamanism.www.spiritpassages.org

At the shore webreathed in as we prayedaloud our thanks to the earth.We gave our thanks to all of theelements, to the plants and trees,to the birdsand to theocean

Left: thefamous head of

the Buddhagrown into a

tree at AngkorWat, Cambodia