I’ve been talking a great deal about the Green Man Shawl, something for a new KAL.
So what is a Green Man?
I guess it depends on how you want to research the motif. The Green Man as art is mainly that of a face covered by foliage. It is known as a foliate motif and is found in art across the globe dating back in Europe to at least the 1300’s, and is much older in other cultures. Many art historians think that the motif was from India and then was carried across Europe. It was often seen on churches or in the art of the Celtic monks.
The motif could also have been brought across the European Continent even earlier. Many ancient Roman sites in Great Britain have contained masks that relate to the Green Man.
So basically the Motif is old, ancient even, and has meaning throughout many cultures. In folklore the Green Man has many meanings. He symbolizes fertility and harvest, regrowth and change. Peter Pan, Robin Hood were Green Men. They symbolized the need for change. We are in need of change.
Green Man as a concept has inspired artists and authors alike over the 500 years. And he still inspires today. For many modern pagans, the Green Man is used as a symbol of seasonal renewal and ecological awareness.
I take a lot of photographs and I am constantly in awe of the beauty of this world. It is all around us and you just have to look. I have been looking.
I stay pretty close to home. Most of these images are from around Nanaimo or the West Coast. Whistler, Bute Inlet and the west coast of Vancouver Island.
While I am not a modern pagan, or perhaps I am, (obviously a conversation for another day), I have been inspired by the Green Man images I have seen, in books, on the internet and in conversations about the image.
To me, Green Man is the modern environmental warrior. A symbol for the modern generation. Of making small and large changes in our lives with the environmental future of our planet in mind. As a long time reader of science fiction and science fact, where the future of our planet has always been up for for speculation, my head is filled with a myriad of ideas. Will we destroy ourselves or will we reinvent ourselves or will we move ourselves outward into the rest of the universe. I think all three.
Change takes a monumental amount of personal energy, a destruction of current self. I am slowly making my own personal changes and watching the changes happening and also not happening around me. I want to encourage others to think about the changes they can make. They don’t need to be big, small changes, incremental change is the most sustainable and can, when added together create a major shift. Think of water on stone… We are the stone.
I am an optimist at heart. I really believe there is a future for our world, the only question is, will humanity be a part of that future. Our choice. Our actions will make the decision.
Google Green Man. The images are amazing, inspiring, beautiful, ugly and all places in between.
This is my Green Man. My third attempt at capturing the feeling in knit. I am happy with it now. The next step is to incorporate it into my shawl.
What do you think? Should I give up my day job? LOL! I am satisfied.
Happy Knitting
Lynette
