Music of the Horned One...

Cernunnos by Jane Starr Weils

...or, how can I introduce three of my favourite pagan music artists? :D By sharing a few of my favourite songs, which incidentally are all about the Horned God! As a priestess to the Horned God, I love songs that tell of his worship. Cernunnos, Pan, Herne, the Horned One, the Hunter. It doesn't matter what name you use, he is the God of the hunt, of passionfilled nights and mischief. The God of the Forest and the Wild, who runs with the wolf and the stag.

My favourite part about the three following songs is that they all have an easy and catchy chorus which could easily be used as a chant. So get up out of your chair and dance to the rhythms of the Horned One!

Hymn to Herne by S.J. Tucker. What I love about this one is the sensual beat and the low and sultry voice. Can't you just imagine dancing 'round the Beltaine fire with this song? It's also a bit cheeky and a lot fun, like the rest of Tucker's music.

Chorus:
He will call you out
Make you sweat
Give you a blessing
That you'll never forget

So revel in the chase
And let your heartbeat run
Blessed are the children
Of the Horned One

 

Noon of the Solstice by Damh the Bard. It's pronounced 'Dave' not 'Damn', although I must admit, we do call him 'Damn the Bard' in our house, just because it sounds funnier :). What I love about Noon of the Solstice is that it tells a story. Throughout the song Damh takes us on a journey through the year of the wheel and the tale of the Oak- and Holly King. Which is an important tale in the coming Summer Solstice! His music is simple and upbeat and he has a wonderful storytelling voice.

Chorus:
I'm the Horned God
I'm the face in the trees

I'm the breath of the wind
That rustles the leaves

I'm the Green Man
In the wildwood I roam

Cernunnos,
I'm Pan and I'm Herne

Hymn to Pan by Faun. It is rare for this German band to make songs in English, but Hymn to Pan is one of the few English songs they have in their reportoire. I first heard this song on Castlefest last year and it immediately became our 'theme song' for the rest of the festival. What I love about Hymn to Pan is the slow beat that draws you in. They tell the story of Pan and the Faun in hushed voices that makes you lean in to hear the rest of the tale. The music is beautiful and a bit less 'simple' than the other songs, who use only two or three instruments. This song can really put you into a trance, like I experienced on Castlefest. Suddenly I was standing in a green wooded glen with Pan walking towards me. Fond memories and one of the reasons I never grow tired of this beautiful Hymn.

Chorus:
Listen now and I shall follow
Listen now and I may follow

Listen now and I may follow


So there you have it, a few of my favourite pagan artists with a few of my favourite songs! May the Horned One inspire and bless you all!

Love and Leaves,
Marjolijn Ashara

Satyrs

The sky has turned pink by the setting sun. A cool breeze ruffles the tall grass in the meadow. The nymphs giggle as they are chased by the horned and antlered satyr, their hooves leaving deep imprints in the soft soil. They've been running and chasing for many hours, but they do not tire. They know they have a long and steamy night ahead. If they can just catch those nymphs that is......

Nymphs and Satyr,
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905),
French Academic painter

That is the image that pops into my head at the word 'satyr'. It's also the way I had been taught in high-school and through fantasy books and movies. However, one little google search left me doubting all of this...

When I got the idea of doing articles on mythological and 'faerie' creatures, I know I had to do one on satyrs, creatures that I'd been fascinated with ever since I was little. One google search burst my little fantasy bubble. The horned and hoofed creatures I had loved were actually faun, not satyr. Satyr look like regular men, well, regular except for those donkey ears and tail.

Greek Vase

In the beginning we see vases depicted with these horse/donkey eared men. They are still seen chasing the nymphs around, just in a slightly different form. Much later the writers of old stated that the faun (who were part man, part goat) and the satyr were the same, and that image stuck with us ever since.

The satyr are attributed to be both companions of Pan and of Dionysus. They were a prominent part of the Dionysus cult. The satyr were the male followers, while the maenads were the female. Satyr were often depicted carrying a thyrsus, a staff topped with a cone, which is sacred to Dionysus. Other attributes they carry are flutes, bags or cups of wine and a shepherds staff. They are clad in animal skins and have wreaths of ivy in their hair. In the early greek days they satyr were depicted as being old, with big bellies and receding hairlines. Later on they became younger and more elegant, more like the images we are familiar with today.

Satyros

The satyr were not always kind spirited. The ancient Greeks actually feared the satyr, as well as other forest spirits. Not much of their myths survived, but they are seen as "subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly" (wikipedia).

In the Roman period, poets depicted the satyr as goat horned and hoofed, with furry legs and tails and the horns of a goat growing out of their heads. Exactly the same as the faun, forest creatures from Roman myths. And this is where it gets complicated. Looking at a lot of different sites and several books, I just don't know anymore. It appears to be that the terms 'satyr' and 'faun' are now interchangable. Just google 'satyr' on google images and almost all you see are half men, half goats. So what is a satyr, really? I guess we have forgotten...