In Wicca, the horned nature god holds great significance. This god is often associated with fertility, wilderness, and the natural world. The horned god is often depicted as having antlers or horns on his head, symbolizing his connection to the animal kingdom. This deity is known by many names, including Cernunnos, Pan, and Herne. The horned nature god is often seen as a counterpart to the triple goddess in Wiccan belief. While the goddess represents the feminine aspects of creation and the moon, the horned god represents the masculine aspects of nature and the sun.
“This is the attire for the next commission,” Bryan said as he drew looks from a bevy of witches, among them fellow-commissioner Deborah Phillips and Bryan’s wife, Lauren, who would end up in a tie with Mary Moore for best-decorated bike. That was the [point of this morning’s bike ride: to turn bikes into witches’ brooms and spook the spokes. None flew a-la-ET, exactly, but as they chimed their way down Flagler and Daytona Avenues to 23rd Street and back in a Tour de Flagler-like stretch, they created their own hilarious circle of Hades at the decidedly non-witching hour of 8, half an hour after the sun rose, and under an accursed drizzle, with a drenching rain just before and just after the ride: not just Matt Doughney, the Flagler Beach police chief who rode with the peloton, was watching out for them.
One of the witches’ bike companions. (© FlaglerLive)
As was Tom Nugent of Flagler Bike Shop, who inspected every bike, inflated any tire or and provided any necessary repairs–“make sure nothing stuck in the wheels too bad, although there’s a lot going on on these bikes,” he says, looking at a row of wheels as if dragged through a cemetery’s weeds and bones. There was also Rob Luther, who toggled between flank and drag rider to keep car traffic rolling while keeping the witches safe. But Liz Storrs was the Alpha Witch.
What they got were thumbs up and broad smiles, waves and brandished smart-phones from residents and drive-bys not entirely sure of what they were seeing, but entirely bewitched all the same. What they got were thumbs up and broad smiles, waves and brandished smart-phones from residents and drive-bys not entirely sure of what they were seeing, but entirely bewitched all the same.
While the goddess represents the feminine aspects of creation and the moon, the horned god represents the masculine aspects of nature and the sun. Together, they represent the balance of masculine and feminine energies in the universe. The horned nature god is seen as a protector and provider, associated with the bountiful harvest and the cycle of life and death.
Witches in Bunches Ride the Streets as Flagler Beach Creates New Brew For Art’s Charms
Some 30 witches took part in the first annual the first Witches of Flagler Beach Bike Ride Saturday morning through a 2.5-mile circuit in the city. The event was organized by Flagler Beach Creates, an organization focused on public art and culture in the city. (© FlaglerLive)
They rode the streets of Flagler Beach this morning on broomed up bicycles and skeletal frames, 30 black-robed and pointy-hatted witches who managed to ding-dong their infernal peloton through 40 blocks down and up the south end of the city without a single one getting tried, stoned, burned or thrown in a lake. What they got were thumbs up and broad smiles, waves and brandished smart-phones from residents and drive-bys not entirely sure of what they were seeing, but entirely bewitched all the same.
It was the first Witches of Flagler Beach Bike Ride, an event organized by the fledgling Flagler Beach Creates, a volunteer organization that emerged in 2020 to give the city its own overlay of arts and culture and reinforce the city’s unique charms–not just for tourists, but for its own residents and businesses. Witches of Flagler Beach was to be a fund-raiser. Friday night 14 witches had registered for the bike ride. By the time they took to the street, they were double double toil and dollars, delighting the organizers and setting the event on a surer course in coming years.
“Because Flagler Beach has this really cool vibe, we want to enrich the community through art and events in public places,” says Joseph Pozzuoli, a founding board member of Flagler Beach Creates as he describes the organization’s start with renaming the city’s five public parking spaces–Right Whale, Pelican, Loggerhead Turtle, and so on–and designing artful signs to go with them. The group also involved children in painting the city’s trash cans something other than their drab brown.
Cheryl Pozzuoli went green for the occasion. (© FlaglerLive)
The concept originated at the city’s economic development task force, where Pozzuoli is also a member, but he wanted the organization to have more autonomy than can a government advisory board. Flagler Beach Creates was born, and now has a 12-member board that includes Ken Bryan, currently the chairman of the city commission (and a middle school art teacher in the past, among his many talents: he has a degree in art, he paints and he sculpts). As Pozzuoli spoke, there came Bryan as the witches were gathering this morning under a gazebo at Wickline Park, all done up in a black cape and something between a sorcerer and a jedi.
“This is the attire for the next commission,” Bryan said as he drew looks from a bevy of witches, among them fellow-commissioner Deborah Phillips and Bryan’s wife, Lauren, who would end up in a tie with Mary Moore for best-decorated bike. That was the [point of this morning’s bike ride: to turn bikes into witches’ brooms and spook the spokes. None flew a-la-ET, exactly, but as they chimed their way down Flagler and Daytona Avenues to 23rd Street and back in a Tour de Flagler-like stretch, they created their own hilarious circle of Hades at the decidedly non-witching hour of 8, half an hour after the sun rose, and under an accursed drizzle, with a drenching rain just before and just after the ride: not just Matt Doughney, the Flagler Beach police chief who rode with the peloton, was watching out for them.
One of the witches’ bike companions. (© FlaglerLive)
As was Tom Nugent of Flagler Bike Shop, who inspected every bike, inflated any tire or and provided any necessary repairs–“make sure nothing stuck in the wheels too bad, although there’s a lot going on on these bikes,” he says, looking at a row of wheels as if dragged through a cemetery’s weeds and bones. There was also Rob Luther, who toggled between flank and drag rider to keep car traffic rolling while keeping the witches safe. But Liz Storrs was the Alpha Witch.
Before they set out Stephanie Luther, who’d been hosting the check-in table with Richard Hamilton, set out the rules of the brooms: no cell phones, no blowing through stop signs, no passing the Alpha Witch, no racing, no following riders too closely, no draping of witches’ robes over bikes’ safety equipment, and so on. “And we’re not postponed no matter what. Even though a little rain, it’s not going to melt us witches,” she said.
There was no need of Hawthorne to remind anyone that witches are metaphors for darlings who always behave better than their would-be prosecutors: they were the original MeToo movement, a few centuries before their time. The witches this morning were hosted for a water break at the half-way point, at Deborah Phillips’s driveway, where a life-size skeleton served as water-bar man and the witches could catch their breath, check their phones, pose for a few pictures, and make the return trip back to Wickline.
“This is commission attire.” Ken Bryan, the chairman of the Flagler Beach City Commission and a board member of Flagler Beach Creates, was among the riders today. (© FlaglerLive)
This is all just a start. “We’re going to do chalk art events, block off streets,” Pozzuoli says. “We have murals throughout the city. We’re going to create a map so as to become a walking community to go see the murals.” You can see some of those murals here, here, here and here. “We want to have fundraisers like this so we could actually commission a sculptor and maybe have it somewhere in the library or somewhere.” (A work by the sculptor Harry Messersmith is a possibility, if Flagler Beach Creates raises enough money.) “Our whole point is to have high-quality art and design. We want Flagler Beach to be a walking community, that’s part of Flagler Beach Creates.”
The organization, headed by Brenda Wotherspoon–a member of the city’s planning and architectural review board–also wants to involve elementary school children in various events. This morning Flagler Beach Creates set up its event a few feet away from the weekly Flagler Beach Farmers’ Market. It wasn’t a coincidence. The farmers’ market is organized by Flagler Strong, the increasingly visible–and influential–non-profit whose volunteers are a form of non-uniformed first responders whenever Flagler Beach residents are in distress (hurricanes, fires, floods), when the beach needs cleaning up, when city streets need sprucing up. Flagler Beach Creates operates under Flagler Strong’s non-profit umbrella, though the two organizations are distinct. “They’re the heroes,” Wotherspoon says of Flagler Strong.
“This is sort of a beginning, sort of an introduction,” Bryan, the city commissioner, said of today’s inaugural event. “We’re hoping that next year we can double it and just start increasing it and raising funds for Flagler Creates, because that’s our mission, is to contribute back to the community just like we do with Flagler Strong. We’re just looking at participation and getting the community more involved.”
Follow Flagler Beach Creates through its Facebook page.
He is often depicted as a wild and untamed figure, connecting humans with the untamed wilderness and the primal forces of nature. Some Wiccan practitioners also view the horned nature god as a symbol of personal power and strength. Honoring the horned nature god is an important aspect of Wiccan rituals and celebrations. During the festival of Beltane, which marks the beginning of summer, Wiccans may pay tribute to the horned god by dancing around a Maypole, symbolizing fertility and abundance. Offerings of food, drink, and flowers are often made to honor the god during these ceremonies. Overall, the horned nature god holds a central role in Wiccan belief, representing the masculine forces of nature and serving as a symbol of power, protection, and connection to the untamed wilderness..
Reviews for "The Horned Nature God in Shamanic Journeying and Trance Work"
- Sarah - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Wiccan horned nature god". The whole concept seemed a bit ridiculous to me and I found it hard to take it seriously. The writing was also quite weak, with poorly developed characters and a predictable plot. Overall, it just didn't work for me.
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