The Green Man is the modern overarching name given to all the legendary characters in the illustration by Karen Cater:

Green Jack, Lord of the Greenwood, Jack in the Green, John Barleycorn, Robin Goodfellow, and Puck.

I came to know more about the Green Man while visiting Glastonbury. It was at the end of a trip that had visited sacred sites of the Divine Feminine and I found myself delighted to feel the balance he provided.

This Nature Man, part foliage, part human man is primal, virile and vital, not violent but strong and fierce. His image, like the illustration above is almost always green, green leafy vegetation growing out of and around the face of a man. The green man legend is most prevalent in Britain and goes back centuries. Images are carved in wood or stone and found in churches, churchyards, the woods and pubs. In the small book The Green Man Spirit of Nature, John Matthews lists sightings throughout the world.

The legendary Robin of Sherwood Forest is a later manifestation of this wild male spirit of the forest.

In ancient Celtic culture, the turning of the seasons was followed closely, celebrated, and encouraged through ritual. The coming of spring and the readiness of the earth to be seeded and produce food was critical. Exulting Nature and the coming together of male and female energies was done in many ways. The ancient rituals at stone circles, followed by bonfires, Morris Dancers and the stories of the Green Jack and his variants took hold.

My friend and guest blogger, Kenneth McIntosh, has a Green Man presentation that he gives at Irish festivals to the delight of many who never heard the legends. His book The Soul of the Green Man is a great read. And, of course, John Matthews books and tarot card decks have often been used as source material for this blog.

If any of this seems only vaguely familiar, like me you might have grown up knowing the Robin Hood legends without any direct knowledge of the Green Man. Robin Hood emerges as a “modern day” green man who is very human, but dresses in green, lives in the forest and fights for justice against the Norman forces trying to take over the English countryside. I recently looked up the TV series (1955) that I so loved as a child on YouTube. It still held my interest and was great fun to watch through adult eyes. I had forgotten it was in black and white, but I do remember my green felt hat with the pheasant feather---the Green Man.

The British poet, David Whyte, and others have brought back the archetype of the wild (as in free) man, the man connected to Nature and in touch with himself. The Green Man has a place in the Old World, but he has much to offer our present times as well.

Another Legend in Green