Day the Eighth: Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.)

He was local to London, to Berkshire, and to Windsor Forest. His reach extended out from there through story, through generations, and then through his comparison to Cernunnos. He certainly isn’t Cernunnos, as Cernunnos is as old as time. Herne was once a man.

He was a man who, in death, became more than a man. He is a man, a hunter, who wears his stag antlers on his head with pride. It’s become an aspect of who he is, as helps to cement his role as Guardian and Lord of the Forests.

He is the Hunter, and the Hunted. The torturer, and the tortured.

Hopefully these questions will become a bit more varied as time goes on.

I’ve also started linking them all together under the “30 Days of Devotion” tab up the top.

Charge of the God
by Cara Fenton @ Book of Eucalypt 2012

I am the father of this land.
I am the sun growing the crops in the field
and the seed that ripens on Mother Earth.
I am the protector of animals.
I am the sound of hoofs charging through on the forest floor.
I am the rustle of leaves with the strong wind.
I am the autumn leaf falling to the ground at your feet.
I am the power of the wilderness.
I am the strength of the running stag.
I am the power of the rising river.
I am the balance to the Goddess.
I am her companion in the winter months, and her lover at Beltane.
I am he who whispers in your ear at night, telling you tales as you drift off into slumber
of lands long gone, far, far away from the safety of your eucalypt tree.
I am found on every land, not bound to one.
I move within worlds, within forests,
within sunlight and shadow.
I move with the wild herds, and the sleeping packs.
I am the Hunter, and the hunted.
I am protector to those hunted.
I am their father, they are my sons and daughters.
I am their brother, they are my kin.
I am found within every man who honours woman.
I am within your mate.
I am within you, as the seed that bore you once came from me.
I am the Green Man, the face in the trees.
I am the Horned God.
I am Herne of Windsor, Herne the Hunter.
You are my Child and I will protect you, be your father, be your brother
Running beside you in the wilderness of this new world.
Times have changed, but I am still here
With you, beneath your eucalypt tree.