The Call of Cernunnos

March 31, 2024 By John Beckett

We know very little about Cernunnos from ancient times. His name is recorded only once, on the Pillar of the Boatman, a Latin and Gaulish sculpture near Paris that dates to the early first century CE. Many of us believe it is Cernunnos who is depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron, but we have no way to know for sure.

This lack of history and lore has done nothing to keep Cernunnos from becoming one of the most popular deities in modern Paganism.

If you’ve read The Book of Cernunnos, you may recognize those words from the introduction. After further thought – and further experience – I think it might be better to say that Cernunnos is one of the most active deities in our world today.

A Spring Equinox ritual honoring Cernunnos

Last Saturday was Denton CUUPS’ Spring Equinox circle and it was my turn to lead the ritual. When I started planning, I remembered that March 23 was the Feast of Cernunnos in a polytheist order I belonged to a few years ago. Sadly, that order is no longer in existence, but I still observe its feast days. So I didn’t have to think very long about who should be the Deity of the Occasion.

Denton CUUPS doesn’t have the large numbers we had before the pandemic started – we can’t do rituals that take a lot of people to set up and present anymore. CUUPS Coordinating Officer and good friend Cynthia Talbot challenged me to come up with something that would be meaningful and transformative that could be done with the number of people we have. Creating the structure was simple – figuring out the theme and the liturgy was not.

So I did what I usually do in such cases – I went for a walk. A very long walk – seven miles through the local greenbelt parks. It’s not wilderness, but it’s beautiful and powerful and a place where I can get away from TV and social media and my paying job and just be present in Nature.

I asked Cernunnos what He wanted me to do. It didn’t take long before the ideas started coming.

Some Gods speak with words. Cernunnos does that sometimes, but more often He speaks in images, impressions, and feelings. I like to think that’s how He spoke to very early humans before we developed the capacity for language, but that’s more of a guess than UPG, much less anything we have evidence for.

It was all coming so fast I broke out my phone and started recording voice messages for myself so I wouldn’t forget anything before I could get home and write it all down.

A sign in Nature from a God of Nature

As I was finishing up the walk and starting to go back over some of the key points of the ritual, I saw what I assumed was a dog walking across one of the open fields. At first I was annoyed because it wasn’t on a leash, which is required in the parks. And then I realized it wasn’t a dog.

It was a bobcat.

Bobcats aren’t exactly rare in the North Texas suburbs, and the wildlife management people say the population is growing. Most people keep their dogs and cats inside, which means the wild rabbit population is thriving, and wild rabbits are bobcats’ favorite food. Still, you don’t see them very often, and when you do it’s usually around dawn or dusk. This was late morning.

If I needed confirmation I was on the right track, here it was.

I’m not big on trying to read meanings into every encounter with wild animals. Most times what we see are just animals doing their own things for their own reasons. But sometimes, what’s meaningful isn’t what an animal is doing, it’s the fact that against all odds you’re there to see it.

Being in the right place at the right time to see a wild animal just as I’m working on a ritual for the Lord of the Wild? That means something.

The main liturgy

Words are only part of a ritual – and most times they aren’t the most important part. We’re Pagans, not Protestants. But words – along with a few pictures – are all that I can share here. Even if we recorded the whole thing on video, it wouldn’t be the same. Video ritual is a different creature.

This was the invitation to our main working.

An invitation from Cernunnos

To say that we are living in stressful times would be a massive understatement. Socially, financially, politically, environmentally… We struggle to keep our heads above water and still have some time and energy left for those things that are most meaningful to us.

In these times, a good spiritual practice is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. Our regular prayers, offerings, meditations, and other work form and maintain our sacred relationships. These practices are essential to our ability to live, and to live well.

We are Pagans, and we take refuge in Nature. Not just the Wheel of the Year and the agricultural cycle – as important as those things are – but also as part of the wild.

Unlike what some like to pretend, the wild is not the lone wolf. The wild is the pack, the herd, the tribe.

Take refuge in each other.

Take refuge in Nature where ever you find it: in a city park or in your back yard. Look at the plant in your kitchen window. Learn from your cat.

Take refuge in Cernunnos, who we honor here tonight.

The Gods are not vending machines, but they care for Their own. Are you part of Nature, part of the wild? Then you have a connection to Cernunnos – if you do your part to maintain that connection.

What would you say to Cernunnos?

Write your message to Cernunnos – your praise, your need, your introduction. Write your prayer. It need not be long or poetic – a few words are plenty. It need only reflect the yearnings of your heart.

When you are finished, come forward and drop the paper in the cauldron. Let the fire carry your prayer to Cernunnos.

Subtle movements are powerful

It can be difficult to gauge how a ritual is going when you’re leading it. While a ritual leader in a coven or other very small group can let themselves go where the Gods or spirits or energy is going, a leader of a public ritual has to keep one foot firmly in this world, and usually two. Plus this wasn’t the kind of spectacle that grabs people’s attention and generates a dramatic response.

This was more subtle.

The Gods are often subtle.

I had more comments about how this ritual spoke to people than I’ve had in several years. I’d like to take credit for that, but I know I’m just the facilitator. If people found a connection in this ritual, it was because of Cernunnos, not because of me.

Listen for the call of Cernunnos

The Gods have been relatively quiet since the beginning of the pandemic.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself, and for my co-religionists who have experienced the same thing. The Gods haven’t gone away – they never really go away – but Their messages and instructions and orders have dropped dramatically. Some of this is because They have other things to deal with besides human affairs, and some of it is because They knew we had plenty to worry about as it was.

But I think Cernunnos is becoming more active in our world again.

The publication of The Book of Cernunnos last June is an example of this, not the cause of it.

This ritual – and the response to it – is another example.

So are the reports and questions and inquiries about and around Cernunnos I’m getting. They’re far more frequent now than they were this time last year, much less in 2020 through 2022.

We don’t have to think very hard to understand why. It’s not just that the natural world is in turmoil and so of course a God of Nature is concerned – and active. It’s also because He’s showing us the way through the turmoil.

Respect Nature. Take refuge in Nature. Remember that you are a part of Nature. Take care of yourself, and take care of each other.

And listen for the call of Cernunnos.

The Book of Cernunnos is Now Available

June 15, 2023 By John Beckett

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The Book of Cernunnos, the new devotional anthology dedicated to the Lord of the Animals – and the God of many other things – is now available.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Cernunnos-John-Beckett/dp/0988900971/

Who is Cernunnos? For some, he is the Horned God of Wicca. For others, he is the Lord of the Animals and the Lord of the Hunt. Still others see him as a God of Liminality and of the Underworld.

Yet for all our ideas about Him and experiences of Him, we know very little about Cernunnos from history. His name is recorded only once, on the Pillar of the Boatman, a Latin and Gaulish sculpture near Paris that dates to the early first century CE. Many of us believe it is Cernunnos who is depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron, but we have no way to know for sure.

This lack of history and lore has done nothing to keep Cernunnos from becoming one of the most popular deities in modern Paganism.

And now He has His own devotional anthology.

Jason Mankey and I edited The Book of Cernunnos and wrote some of the entries, but it’s the work of 32 contributors: writers, artists, poets, and ritualists. It fills 189 pages.

Part 1 is “History and Theology” – we don’t know much about how Cernunnos was seen and worshipped in ancient times, but we know a little. More importantly, we know how Cernunnos has come to be seen and worshipped in the modern world.

Part 2 is “Meeting Cernunnos” – stories of how people here and now first encountered Cernunnos and came to understand him.

Part 3 is “Experiencing Cernunnos” – stories of people’s love and devotion for Cernunnos.

Part 4 is “Poetry” – suitable for meditation, contemplation, reading as devotion, or just enjoyment.

Part 5 is “Rituals” – two rituals to meet and honor Cernunnos.

The Book of Cernunnos is published by ADF Publishing, and we’d like to thank ADF – especially Chronicler Manny Tejeda Moreno – for all the work in turning a series of Word documents into a book. It’s printed on demand by Amazon. Print-on-demand technology is great for specialized works like devotional anthologies, which simply don’t have enough volume for a traditional publisher to take on.

Jason and I have both been followers of Cernunnos for many years, and we thought we knew a lot about Him. And then we started reading the submissions for this book, and we realized that He has made Himself known to many different people in even more different ways than we had imagined. And yet there’s a common thread running through the book that makes it clear that for all our different experiences, we are all experiencing Cernunnos.

Here are the people who helped create The Book of Cernunnos.

Amara Firebird
Asa West
Ashley Dioses
Charlie Bondhus
Christopher Wallace
Creel Unbelove’d
Damh the Bard
Emily Carter
Eva Leenknegt
Hana Russel
Ivo Dominguez, Jr.
Jason Mankey
Jay Clark
Jean (Drum) Pagano
Jennifer Lawrence
John Beckett
Katelyn Willis
Kay Bell
Kerry Purdy
Kirk Thomas
Kris Hughes
Maxine Miller
Morgan Milburn
M.X. Petrovich
Ravn Thor
Rick de Yampert
Sarah Bernard
Seviryn Hemlock
SezzaJai Sykes
Steven Posch
Taryn Noelle Kloeden
Woody Fox

We are grateful for all the contributions to The Book of Cernunnos. We hope they will help you learn more about Cernunnos, and to experience him for yourself.

Answering the Call of Cernunnos

March 17, 2022 By John Beckett

I get questions all the time. When I get the same question several times in close succession, that usually means it’s time to write about it publicly – if only so I can point future questioners to a blog post instead of having to answer it yet again. Other times, though, there’s more to it – there’s something that needs to be written. I think this is one of those times.

I can combine and condense several emails into one simple question:

“I feel called to Cernunnos – how do I get started?”

There is, of course, no one right answer. But this is what I’ve done, and what I’ve seen others do that worked for them.

My story with Cernunnos

The bio on my teaching site says “I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God.”

I grew up in a fundamentalist church. Recovering from that took years of work. If Cernunnos had appeared to me when I was 10 years old I would have assumed He was the Christian devil and run away screaming – I had no context for anything else. But I always felt at home in the woods – they were my safe space.

Part of that is the beauty of wild places and the spirits that inhabit them. But there was more. There was Someone in the woods, Someone who listened.

Did the Forest God see a young boy retreating into a wooded refuge and take pity on him? Was He moved to love a human who shared His love of the wild? Did He see the potential for a future priest? All I know is that when I went into the woods I was comforted, and I was encouraged to keep moving and keep working. I was assured that things would get better someday. And they did.

After I started this Pagan path, a good friend gave me this pendant. It took some digging to figure out who it was. The artwork is from the Gundestrup Cauldron – I’m confident it’s Cernunnos, though we can’t be sure. I started wearing it.

A year or so later I had my first ecstatic experience of Him. It was beautiful and powerful and left me with no doubt that Cernunnos had been with me all my life and was calling me to His service. I said yes, and began the formal work that continues to this day.

Signs Cernunnos is calling you

It would be much easier if Gods wore nametags and if They were explicit about what They want from us. I suspect They want us to do the work to figure these things out. If we grew up in a polytheist culture we would learn them as children. But we didn’t, and so we have to learn them now.

One of the most popular post of all time on Under the Ancient Oaks is How Do I Know If A God Is Calling Me? from 2018. It provides some good general guidance on this question.

Sometimes Cernunnos appears in dreams, or in recurring imagery in the ordinary world. You see stags and deer, torques and serpents. Or you see a man with antlers on his head.

Perhaps, like me, you feel especially at home in the woods: the forest is more than just the trees.

If you get this, pay attention. Listen. Meditate. Do historical and literary research. If necessary, do divination. Discerning a call from a God doesn’t take Ph.D. level research, but it usually takes a bit of work.

Set up a shrine

A shrine is a place of honor – an altar is a place of sacrifice. Contemporary Pagans tend to use the terms interchangeably, and shrines can also be altars. Don’t worry about the terms, just set up a shrine.

Start small. You need something to represent Cernunnos – something to focus your attention on Him. This can be a statue, a picture, a piece of antler, a handful of acorns – whatever works for you. Add a candle or three, an offering bowl, an incense holder – whatever seems right.

Don’t be in a hurry to buy a statue. Wait until you find one that strikes you as right. It appears the one I have is no longer in production, but similar ones are available. So are some very different interpretations of Him. When you find one that clearly helps you focus on Him – and that you can afford – then buy it.

Make regular offerings

Making offerings is a core polytheist practice. We make offerings for hospitality, for reciprocity, for devotion, and because it’s what our ancestors did.

Lots of beginners (those called by Cernunnos and those called by other deities) agonize over the most appropriate things to offer. While some deities and some pantheons have traditional offerings, there’s really only one rule: offer what’s good.

Offerings of food and drink are most common, especially offerings of alcohol. Cernunnos has never been particular with me about what to offer. When I’ve asked, most times I’ve heard “I’ll have what you’re having.” He’s as satisfied with a shot of Jameson whiskey (at $22 a bottle) as with a shot of $50 Glenmorangie. Now, if I give Him the Jameson and go drink Glenmorangie myself, that’s a problem.

If you like it, He’s happy you’re sharing it with Him, even if all you have at the time is clean water.

I make offerings to Cernunnos weekly. Others make them daily, or monthly, or on some other schedule. My only suggestion is to set some fixed schedule so you don’t inadvertently go a long time without making them.

Pray and meditate

If prayer is talking to the Gods, meditation is listening for Them (that’s not the only form of meditation, but it’s the one that’s most relevant here). My usual weekly practice is to pray to Cernunnos, then make offerings to Him, and then listen for His response in meditation.

Sometimes that’s nothing. Many times it’s “just keep moving.” And sometimes He has something significant to say: something I need to contemplate or do or write.

It’s easiest to connect to Cernunnos in wild places. But most of us don’t have regular access to large blocks of undeveloped land, or to places like national parks. Local parks work well, and so does my back yard – years of consistent prayers, offerings, and rituals have made it a near-permanent liminal zone. And while being outdoors is great, building a shrine creates a regular meeting place that’s always there.

Whatever places you have for meditation, use them.

And listen for Cernunnos.

I took this picture in June 2019, about 4 miles from where I grew up. I looked at it along with a bunch of others and never paid any special attention to any of them. I picked this one for a blog post because it has some nice dense woods. As I was editing it, a bit of red – that I hadn’t noticed before – caught my attention. When I zoomed in, this is what I found. Hail Cernunnos!

Do His work in this world

It’s rare for any deity to call someone just to be calling them. There’s usually something They want you to do.

With Cernunnos, that’s often something to do with appreciating and caring for the natural world. Sometimes this involves big environmental causes, but more often it’s about caring for the land where you are: the trees, the plants, the wildlife they support. Welsh Druid Kristoffer Hughes often talks about getting to know “your square mile” – what and who lives within walking distance of where you live. Take care of your neighbors first.

You may be called to be His priest. But remember that there are many good, necessary, and sacred callings that aren’t priesthood.

There are many ways to serve. Find your place in the service of Cernunnos.

Learn and grow

Many people expect a Stag God to be fierce and powerful. Cernunnos can be that. But more often, I’ve found Him to be nurturing: leading the young to the abundant fields, to the rich hunting grounds. Watching over them and protecting them until they’re able to stand on their own. That’s what He did with me.

There are no ancient Cernunnos myths that have survived to our time. The Book of Cernunnos is actively being worked on, but there is no publication date yet. I’ve written about Him occasionally – so has Jason Mankey. In 2017 we talked about Him as part of my Under the Ancient Oaks video series.

Learning about Cernunnos is largely a matter of independent study, with more field work than classroom work. That strikes me as very appropriate for a God of Nature and a God of the Wild.

But I hope you’ll write about your experiences, to help mark the trail for those who come after you.

Hail Cernunnos!

In the years since I first encountered Cernunnos, I’ve worshipped, worked with, and worked for many Gods. I now have eight statues on my shrines. I used to make one weekly offering – now I make four. He was my first oathed relationship – now there are now three.

All of this is important. All of Them are important. But Cernunnos is always first.

He was there for me all those years ago. He revealed Himself to me when I was finally ready to see Him for who and what He is. I am honored to be his priest, and occasionally, to welcome new people into His service. My life is so much better with Him in it.

Hail Cernunnos!

The Book of Cernunnos: an Update and a Request

July 9, 2021 By John Beckett

In early 2019 Jason Mankey and I announced a call for submissions for The Book of Cernunnos, a devotional anthology. We expected to publish it later that year.

Then life intervened.

I will not go into detail as to what happened. I take deadlines seriously and I am embarrassed that this project is so late. I am grateful that Himself has not responded in anger. But He still wants His book, and so we’re going to complete it.

We received 63 submissions. We selected 40 that best fit the themes of the book.

Unfortunately, all of the contact information has been lost. We know some of you – we’ve reached out to you privately. Others we don’t know, or we’ve forgotten the pen name / screen name you wrote under.

We cannot publish your work without you signing a release giving us permission to publish it, and without knowing where to send your payment. So here’s the request:

If you submitted anything for The Book of Cernunnos, please contact me privately. Use any of my e-mail addresses you may have, message me on Facebook or Twitter, leave a comment on the blog, or use the contact form on my teaching site. Let me know your name, the name you wrote under, the title of your piece (or if you’ve forgotten it, something about it), and your e-mail address.

If your work was selected for the anthology, I’ll send you a release form. Please sign and return it at your earliest convenience.

If your work wasn’t selected, I’ll let you know.

There are books for the Horned God. One of them is Hoofprints in the Wildwood: A Devotional for the Horned Lord, edited by Richard Derks. It’s excellent and I highly recommend it. Jason Mankey’s new book The Horned God of the Witches was published last month (for those who may be wondering, our delay has absolutely nothing to do with the timing of Jason’s new book). But there is nothing specifically for Cernunnos.

In 2019, some of us who are dedicated to Him decided that needed to be remedied, and so we set out to create The Book of Cernunnos. We ran into significant complications. But we are going to see it completed, as soon as we possibly can.

Once we have all the release forms, we can finalize the editing and move on to the publishing phase. I will update you when we have something firm to announce.

Again, my deepest apologies for the delay: to Cernunnos, to the contributors, and to those eager to read the book.

The Book of Cernunnos will be finished.

Under the Ancient Oaks: Cernunnos

October 15, 2017 By John Beckett

In this episode of Under the Ancient Oaks – The Video Series, I’m joined by Patheos Pagan Channel Managing Editor Jason Mankey for a discussion about our experiences with a deity we’re both devoted to: Cernunnos.

I’m a polytheist who worships many Gods, but first among them is Cernunnos. I first met him deep in the woods, when I was a small child who still thought there was only one God. I didn’t know who he was – I just knew the woods were a magical place. When others told me to keep quiet, he listened. When life got too painful, he kept reminding me that nothing lasts forever and some day I would be free. He kept reminding me there was something more, something magical, just over the next hill, just behind the next tree.

When I got older I stopped seeing him, but I never lost my love of the forest. When I was a young adult he introduced himself again, and this time I knew who he was. Now I wear his medallion and I serve him as priest.

The Future of the Video Series

When I started this video series, I said I was going to do four episodes and then decide whether to keep making them or not. Four turned into five when I realized I needed to shoot two videos at the Beyond the Gates retreat, not just one. Then even before I posted the fourth one I started shooting a sixth.

It’s clear that Under the Ancient Oaks – The Video Series has taken on a life of its own. I’m enjoying making them and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

So the video series is now a regular monthly thing. I may play with the format a bit – I’m still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and perhaps most importantly, what is best communicated with video and what’s better suited for the written word.

Next month’s video will be a devotional work… and not to Anyone you’d likely expect. I’ve already shot two segments – I’ll shoot the rest in the next couple of weeks and it will be out in mid-November.

If there’s something you’d like to see on the video series, leave a comment or send me a Facebook message. Good ideas come from all kinds of sources.

The Path of Paganism

Thanks to everyone who’s supported The Path of Paganism: those who bought it, reviewed it, and talked about it on your blogs and podcasts. This is an introduction to Paganism as I understand it and practice it, with an emphasis on experience. It includes a solitary riutal to Cernunnos, as well as a full chapter on the Gods and how we can relate to Them.

If you like the book, do me a favor and tell people you like it. Leave a review on Amazon or on one of the book review sites, or just mention it on Facebook.

Cernunnos

June 1, 2014 By John Beckett

I was a devotee and a priest of Cernunnos long before I started this blog. Over the years I’ve told parts of my story with Him (here, here, and here, for a good start), probably enough for a diligent reader to piece the whole thing together, if one was so inclined. I’ve reviewed a very good book of devotions to Him written by others. What I haven’t done is talk about who and what He is, as He’s presented himself to me.

Let’s start with what we know about the history of Cernunnos, which can be summarized in two words: not much. The name appears only once, on the Pillar of the Boatmen, which dates to the first century CE. The image of Him on the pendant and statue I have comes from the Gundestrup Cauldron (from about the same time period, although it can’t be dated as precisely) which does not mention Him by name.

For a look at how Cernunnos came to be identified with a possibly-universal Horned God in modern times, read this piece by Jason Mankey. Be sure to read the comments by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, but don’t get bogged down with what turned out to be a debate generating more heat than light.

If there was lore to study and wisdom to extract from documentation I would dive into it. There isn’t. Besides, it is fitting that a God of Nature must be met in Nature and not in books. That’s what I’ve done – what follows is my experience of Cernunnos. I would call it UPG (unverified personal gnosis) but so much of what I’ve experienced has also been experienced by others that I tend to think of it as SPG (shared personal gnosis).

I first met Him in the woods when I was a small child. I didn’t know anything about Gods or Goddesses or Nature spirits or anything of the sort. I was taught there was only one God and I hadn’t yet learned enough to question that teaching. I just knew the woods were a magical place. Part of that is the beauty of wild places and the spirits that inhabit them. But there was more. There was Someone in the woods who listened.

I rant a lot about people who see the Gods as their guardian angels or as personal life coaches whose primary concern is their happiness. I see a lot of immature theology in Paganism, much of it carried over from the dominant Christian culture – where serious Christians also rant about immature theology. But while I think it is immature and disrespectful to assume we are the primary concern of the Gods, it is just as clear – from my own experience and from the experience of other devotional polytheists – that They do take an interest in some humans, in some ways, at some times.

Did the Forest God see a young boy retreating into a wooded refuge and take pity on him? Was He moved to love a human who shared His love of the wild? Did He see the potential for a future priest? I don’t know. I just know that when I went into the woods I was comforted, and I was encouraged to keep moving and keep working and that things would get better some day. And they did.

When I got older I stopped seeing Him, but I never lost my love of the forest. When I was ready to see Him as the God He is, He called me. For about two years after that, I did the usual things: prayer, devotion, and especially meditation – not Buddhist-style mind-emptying, but sitting quietly and listening for Him.

And then one evening a small group of us who had been studying altered states of consciousness decided to attempt a divine invocation. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I felt like this was something I needed to do. The setting was beautiful and I was comfortable with everyone who was there, so I volunteered.

I can’t recall the exact ritual we used – it was some variation on the Wiccan Drawing Down rite. My notes (written the next day) are rather vague – there was a lot of experiencing and not a lot of thinking going on. Actually, that was the biggest challenge for me: turning off my skeptical side long enough for Him to come through. But I did, and He did.

Note to polytheists: sometimes doing the right thing the wrong way works anyway. The Gods are good like that… although missteps They ignored then probably wouldn’t be viewed so favorably now.

Whenever I read the word “ineffable” this experience comes to mind. I can’t explain it not because it’s too sacred or too intimate but because there are no words that can adequately communicate the experience of a God sharing your body. This wasn’t full divine possession as happens in Vodun ceremonies. I was still there… which made it all the more amazing. I got a taste, a glimpse, a hint, of what it’s like to be a God. And I got to remember it.

When non-theists suggest that such experiences are best explained as variations in brain chemistry, I understand – from an intellectual standpoint. But I was there, I experienced what I experienced, I felt what I felt, and I couldn’t rationalize it away if I wanted to… and I’m very good at rationalization. This was as real as anything I’ve ever done.

I’ve had one other experience like that. I could get addicted to it, but I suspect if I treated it as anything other than a holy communion He would simply decline to participate. The purpose of these ecstatic experiences wasn’t to make me feel good. It was to give me the confidence I needed to do the work I’m called to do.

What work is that?

At my religious and spiritual core, I’m a Druid. And part of being a Druid – especially in my order – is being a Bard: a storyteller. That’s what He wants me to do – tell His stories.

He wants me to tell the story of the Forest God who nurtures the places that nurture our bodies and our souls.

He wants me to tell the story of the Lord of Animals who knows some creatures must die so that others may live, but who weeps over needless deaths.

He wants me to tell the story of the Wild God who reminds us it’s not enough to love Nature – we must remember we are Nature, and that to cut ourselves off from the Wild is to cut ourselves off from Life.

I know what these stories mean to me and what they – and He – tell me to do.

What do they mean to you?

That’s between you and Him. You have heard them. How you respond is up to you.

The Cernunnos Ritual

August 4, 2013 By John Beckett

Cernunnos. Herne. Pan. Some say the Horned God has many names. Others say there are many Horned Gods.

I like ritual – I always have. In my ten years with Denton CUUPS, I’ve planned and led lots of rituals. Most began by asking “what do we want to do this time?”

The Cernunnos Ritual was different. It began with a calling – a clear understanding that Cernunnos wanted something from me, and from us. I wrote about this last month – my mission was to present Him to those who came to our circle. Not by explaining, but by giving everyone a chance to experience Him for themselves.

It seems like most accounts I read of devotional rituals involve Drawing Down – invoking the deity into a priest or priestess, then having the god-priest speak. We’ve done that before, though never in a public setting. For this ritual it seemed more important to give people an experience of Cernunnos, even though that experience was likely to be vague.

We began by turning a UU meetinghouse into a Celtic temple. If there was ever a ritual that needed to be done outdoors it was this one. But it was 101 in DFW yesterday and when the ritual began it was still 99. If you’re roasting, you’re not going to be fully engaged. Plus some of our members and guests are at the age where extreme heat is a real danger. We’re thankful we had an indoor option. We completely disassembled the sanctuary, set the chairs in six sections around a central altar, covered the walls with Celtic sheets, throws, and altar cloths, and tied greenery to the interior columns. The idea was to make the room different – to send a visual message to expect something out of the ordinary.

We opened with our usual informal gathering, explaining who we are and what we were going to do. We announced there would be no photography during the ritual. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t – this time it was important that no one feel inhibited by the presence of a camera.

While this was unquestionably and unapologetically a polytheistic ritual, it was also a public ritual. We wanted everyone to feel welcome, and besides, our mission was to present Cernunnos, not to present the doctrine of hard polytheism. I listed several of the ways people understand the gods in the Big Tent of Paganism, then said:

These different ideas about the gods make for interesting conversation, but tonight they’re not important. Tonight what’s important is that you experience Cernunnos, and if you are so moved, that you respond to him. If you find yourself starting to wander into the realm of analysis, I encourage you to acknowledge the impulse, let it go, and give yourself permission to pick it up again after the ritual is over.

Experience now, analyze later.

The ritual itself began with a procession from the gathering area into the temple. The procession was accompanied by six wonderful drummers and led by priestesses carrying fire and bearing offerings. We cast a circle, called the Spirits of the Elements and Directions, then invited Cernunnos to join our circle.

We made offerings of grain (the bounty of the fields), fruit (the bounty of the trees) and wine (the bounty of the vines). We made a musical offering – a choir sang Damh the Bard’s “Antlered Crown and Standing Stone” with everyone joining in on the chorus.

Then I gave my invocation of Cernunnos. It was my story of how I encountered him as a child in the woods (even though I had no idea who or what he was) and how I became reacquainted with him as an adult. That was followed by a brief call and response between myself and Cynthia:

In our high-tech world the Horned God tells us we are part of Nature, not separate from it.

May our lives honor and strengthen our connection to all living things.

In an era of factory food the god who is both hunter and hunted reminds us that in order for us to live, something else must die.

May our eating be a sacrament, and may it honor the sacrifice of the plants and animals who die to feed us.

In an era of resource depletion and climate change the God of the Forest warns that our fate is inseparably intertwined with the fate of other people and other species.

May we honor our ancestors by leaving a healthy world for our descendants.

Cernunnos, Lord of the Animals and Lord of the Hunt, we ask you to join our circle and bless us with your presence.

Then the drumming started and we began calling His name. At that point the script stopped. As I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, I’m not comfortable with unscripted rituals. I like order and predictability. But I serve a god who is wild and free, and He only tolerates my obsessive orderliness so much.

His presence, which had been mild but undeniable since we started setting up (what, you think a Forest God is going to sit quietly outside the door till he gets a proper invitation?) became overwhelming. Someone shouted. Someone got up and began to dance. Then another got up, and another, and another. Before long we had a whole line of people dancing, spinning, and chanting around the altar.

Cernunnos! Cernunnos! Cernunnos!

I don’t know how long it went on. I had been moving around the outer circle, stirring the energy and doing my best to stay out of the way – my job as priest was to facilitate an experience of Cernunnos for everyone, not to dictate what that experience would be. At some point, I moved to the front of the altar, said a prayer of thanksgiving for the gathering and a prayer of hope for what would be taken away from the ritual. I made my usual ritual gestures to the statue of Cernunnos on the altar.

The drumming stopped. Erin shouted. Cynthia had something poetic to add, and I added a few words of closure, none of which I can remember.

We shared apples and wine (and juice, for those who don’t or can’t drink alcohol) while the choir sang again. We ran through an abbreviated version of our usual closing liturgy, thanked everyone who came, made a few announcements and retired to enjoy some food, drink and conversation.

Then we reassembled a half hour later to turn the Celtic temple back into a UU meetinghouse for Sunday services.

Though I love hearing it, I don’t put a lot of stock in feedback right after rituals. People who like it will say nice things; people who don’t are generally too polite to say anything. But when different people say the same thing I pay attention. Last night several people all said there was something real, something tangible to this ritual. Call it energy, call it spirit, call it Cernunnos – it was there.

For a spiritually mixed group in a public setting, that’s success.

Rituals like this tend to have staying power – their effects are felt days and weeks and sometimes months afterwards. What the conscious mind overlooks the unconscious grabs and nurtures and later expresses in unexpected ways. A god who was unknown is now known and begins to be seen. His message is heard and begins to be lived.

And our ordinary world becomes a little more magical, a little more enchanted, and a little more connected.

This is the first time we’ve done a ritual quite like this. It will not be the last. Cynthia and I will be leading a variation of this ritual at the OBOD East Coast Gathering in September. And Denton CUUPS will be presenting it as the closing ritual for DFW Pagan Pride Day at 4:00 on Saturday, October 5.

Hail Cernunnos!

We’re Pagans – We Do Ritual

March 20, 2024 By John Beckett

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Historian Francis Young had a very good piece on his Substack last week titled The Crisis of Ritual. In it, he uses “the archaeologist’s stereotyped use of ‘ritual’ as a catch-all label for the unexplained” as a lead-in to the fact that while ritual is clearly important to us as humans, we don’t understand it all that well, and its practice has diminished since the latter part of the 20^th century. I encourage you to read Dr. Young’s essay, but read it carefully – this is not a piece that lends itself to skimming.

I love ritual – I always have. One of the many problems I had growing up in a small rural Baptist church was the lack of ritual. Anything other than “preachin’ praying’ and singin’” was derided as “Godless ritual” – which usually meant “too much like what the Catholics do.” They recognized no sacraments and only two “ordinances” – baptism and what they called not the Eucharist or Holy Communion but “the Lord’s Supper.” And they only did that once every three months.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had grown up in a church that was both highly liturgical and non-fundamentalist. Would I have become a mystical Episcopalian instead of a Pagan? Maybe, but I tend to doubt it…

In any case, I think Dr. Young is correct both with his concern about the diminishment of ritual in contemporary culture, and with his confidence that “ritual is one of the most important of all human creations” and will always be with us in one form or another.

We are contributing to this continuity.

We’re Pagans – we do ritual.

What is ritual?

Coincidentally (or more likely, not) a few days before Dr. Young’s essay was published, longtime Under the Ancient Oaks commenter MadGastronomer asked if I had a definition of ritual. For all that I’ve written about ritual over the years I don’t think I’ve ever defined it.

Google says ritual is “a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.” That’s part of it, but I don’t think that’s enough. The Wikipedia page on ritual has some useful explanations and examples.

My best working definition of ritual is “symbolic actions done to create a spiritual effect, especially to form, maintain, and transform relationships.” Those relationships can be between members of a community, between the living and the dead, or between humans and Gods or other spirits. For example, a funeral is a ritual designed to strengthen the bonds of a community during a time of grief, but also to transform the relationship of the deceased within the community.

Last year I watched the coronation of King Charles III. This ritual did not make him king. By law he became king on the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The ritual proclaimed loudly and visibly that Charles IS king.

Sometimes the goal of a ritual is more tangible, such as with magical rituals intended to create change in conformance with will.

I think back to my first Pagan group initiation. I had already been a Pagan in name for ten years and in serious practice for two years. But during that ritual, something within me changed. Was this simply confirmation of what I had already done? Or did it create a tangible change? I don’t now.

I know this much – the ritual worked. I’ve never questioned my Pagan identity since.

Ritual communicates through all the senses

OK, so that’s what ritual does. But how does it work?

From a naturalistic perspective, ritual works by speaking to our senses. A typical Protestant church service focuses on the sermon – it communicates through hearing. But a good ritual also communicates visually and through touch and taste and smell. Many Pagan rituals have candles and incense, wine and bread or cakes and ale.

The best Pagan rituals are embodied – we experience them through our bodies. We dance the Maypole or the Spiral Dance. We bend down and touch the Earth, we reach up and touch the sky. We pick up a stone, see its color and feel its texture.

The best part about embodied rituals is that they’re participative. We’re not sitting passively waiting for something to happen. We’re actively helping to make something happen.

photo by Cathy Beckett — Dancing the Maypole – part of our Beltane ritual in 2023

Ritual communicates symbolically

Words speak to the conscious mind. Symbols speak to the subconscious mind.

We know this from our spellcrafting. We need money, so we burn a green candle during the waxing moon. Whatever that spell may do in the world of spirit, it sends images of growth and abundance to our subconscious mind, which moves us to do the kinds of things and be in the kinds of places where we can obtain more money.

Our conscious minds like to think they’re in charge, but it’s our subconscious that’s running the show most of the time. The subconscious will pick up images and details the conscious mind overlooks.

Ritual puts us in a sacred state of mind

I’ve been inside the passage tomb of Newgrange on three occasions. Once you’re inside the feeling is unmistakable – this is a sacred place. I’ve had similar feelings inside some of the cathedrals of Europe, even though they’re temples to a God who is not my own. Walking into a sacred place puts you in a sacred state of mind – you’re focused on the sacred, the holy, the magical.

And because you’re focused on it, you’re more likely to experience it.

I don’t have a passage tomb or a stone circle in my back yard. There is no Pagan temple in my city, nor is there likely to be one any time soon. But good ritual can make up for that.

Sometimes it’s a question of decorations – of making an ordinary space look and feel extraordinary. Other times, though, it’s the ritual itself that makes the difference. Dim the lights, light the candles, start the drums, have someone recite a powerful invocation. The ritual actions let you know you’re not in Kansas anymore.

And that prepares you for what’s to come.

The heart of modern Pagan ritual

Pagans call our seasonal observances many things. Denton CUUPS is calling our upcoming Spring Equinox event a “celebration.” But our brief announcement includes these words: “Gathering begins at 7:00 PM – Ritual begins promptly at 7:30 PM.”

We say this every time. Not just to let people know we do not run on Pagan Standard Time, but also to let them know to expect a ritual: symbolic actions done to create a spiritual effect.

We establish a mystical center from which to work, and then join together with a grounding meditation. We reaffirm our sacred relationships with our Gods, ancestors, the spirits of place, and the Fair Folk (honoring the Fair Folk in ritual is not typical for most Pagans, but we do it because we can’t not do it).

And with that done, we do our main working: worshipping our Gods, working magic, or just celebrating the turning seasons. We share food and drink as a way to receive the blessings of the Gods, and to reground ourselves in the ordinary world.

When that’s over, we thank our spiritual guests, unwind our circle, and end with parting words.

What does all that accomplish? It lets people be a part of a community, even if only for an hour. It connects them to something greater than themselves. And sometimes it can be truly transformative.

We’re Pagans – we do ritual

I understand why Dr. Young is concerned about ritual in our contemporary world. At least in this country, Christianity is increasingly dominated not just by Protestants but by Evangelicals who, like the Baptists of my childhood, put no stock in ritual. For them it’s all about “preaching the word” (which too often is more about Christian Nationalism than about Jesus) and about worship as entertainment. Atheists see no benefits from ritual, and certainly no spiritual benefits. And the “nones” (for “none of the above”) have little interest in building the kinds of communities it takes to create and present deep meaningful rituals.

Solitary rituals can be good things – a few years ago I wrote a series of them for the Wheel of the Year. If there are no good Pagan groups near you, I encourage you to do your own rituals. But as fellow Denton Pagan leader Cynthia Talbot likes to say “you can’t dance a Spiral Dance by yourself.”

Still, we are humans and humans have an inherent need for ritual. Just as the “nones” are reinventing religion to meet their needs without being tied to beliefs and practices that belong in another era, we will invent and reinvent rituals that are meaningful and helpful to us, here and now.

As Pagans, we have a head start on that.

We’re Pagans – we do ritual.

For further reading

I’ve written a lot about ritual over the years. A listing of everything tagged with “ritual” can be found at this link.

Here are some of the more popular (and in my opinion, most important) posts on ritual:

What’s All This Ritual For, Anyway? (February 2023)

4 Necessary Elements of Group Ritual (February 2022)

The Evolution of My Pagan Ritual Liturgy (May 2020)

8 Essential Elements of Good Pagan Ritual (October 2019)

“I Didn’t Expect It To Be So Real” – The Power of Good Public Rituals (May 2019)