Me and the Greenman

The Greenman has been a lot in my thoughts recently.  It has been niggling at me, to learn more, be involved somehow, in a vague way.  I went back and read the pages at the Blessed Order of the Greenman.  This group is based in Maryland; I wish they were active in my area, I would love to join.  I really like their concept of the Greenman representing an alternative to the traditional masculine role model that remains strongly masculine while rejecting the standard images of the fighter, the hunter, the dominator, the killer, the cold authority; instead focusing on the strong masculine image of the protector, the fructifier, the nurturing father, the loving husband, the vibrant strength that begats and supports new life. 

I am drawn to this image of the green leafy master of the forest and the cycles of growth and decay.  Perhaps because of my affinity to my patron Oak.  I think this why the Green Master takes a form that is leafy and crowned with leaves.

I have called on the Greenman at times, to help heal or strengthen an animal I am working with.  He has usually responded with a lot of energy.  But my relationship with him is different than with my patrons; he clearly chooses himself who he will work with.  He doesn't need me to intercede. 

With Oak, Spider, and Swallow, I feel a very personal relationship; they like me, and have chosen to help and teach me.  Oak is not a deity, nor is it a physical tree; Oak is the spirit behind all oaks, the Being behind their being.  It is an amplification of what it is to an oak tree, with a will and history of its own.  Likewise with Spider and Barn Swallow.   The Green Master is a different being, an individual personality that lives in a different realm than I, who chooses to guide and teach me.  There are multitudes of such beings, this one has chosen me.  His true form and nature are beyond my perceptions, he wears a form in my dreams just for my convenience.

The Greenman is something else again.  Like a deity, he remains always at a distance and confers his benison at his will.  He is not bound to time as I and my patrons are, he is outside of history.  I think that he is really just a mask, an story, an image that I have found that gives a face to the power and mystery of life and being.  It is not a deity, because the image is shallow.  It does not ask for worship or sacrifice. The mystery is not limited to that image, but the Greenman is a mask that I can understand and use to relate to that which is beyond me.  It speaks to my soul, so it is an opening through which I can reach out to life and through which life can reach to me.  The Greenman demands nothing from me except honesty, compassion, and a willingness to fulfill my own commitments.