the Horned God is not the same as the Christian devil. for one thing his horns are actually antlers. Lark really summed up the main points about the God, he is the Lord of the forest, husband the the Goddess, and is seen by many as a loving father figure. he does have other aspects [both positive and negative] and is known by other names [like Green man or the Oak and Holy Kings] and some people will refer to him as Pan [Greek God of the wild] but he is not evil. The Horned God can be called on for revenge [though i don't know of any Wiccans who would] but he's mostly called on for protection, sometimes sun rituals, and various 'masculine' pursuits.
i've always felt a strong connection to the God, but there's always been a strong lean towards the Goddess [i think it has to do with most Wiccans convert from male dominated religions] i also wish he was more commonly called The Stag God or Antler God since 'Horned God' usually results in people concluding 'devil worship'.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe he is the lord of the sun, death, Fertility, forest, the hunt, animals, and resurrection. I think Lark did a wonderful job at explaining it.
I seen this one after it was brought back up and just had to investigate. I want to discuss a different view on the subject that the question kind of opens up; what is the horned god? We really get a lot of answers here and I wasn't quite sure what to say to make any sense of how the different interpretation were all equated to the same deity. I did my own research and got a lot of interesting results. According to Wiccan tradition, The Horned God was equated to the Sun (Reference: The Legend of the Holly King and the Oak King By Patti Wigington). I don't exactly understand how this interpretation came to be; possibly, it was because as the "king of kings" "God of gods" the horned god was said to be the ultimate ruler of our universe equivalent to the Sun by astrological correspondences. If this is your belief, I still believe it is very well justified and valid... but I can't help but point out that this may be a misinterpretation... it seems to show up everywhere else in more ancient culture that the horned god is in fact a deity of Jupiter and Saturn. You can research this plenty on your own but I will point out a few things that steer me to this conclusion. First comrades, is it not true that for the true heathen/pagan (from Greek religion and culture) that Zeus is the God over gods, King over kings? Is it not true comrades that the Roman adaptation of the same deity is in fact Jupiter? Consider that among the heavens there are 27 constellations laying within the 12 sign zodiac belt. Observe that the Hindu horned god "Pashupati" (later "Pushan") rules the 27th constellation/"nakshatra" "Revati" which is the final degrees of Pisces, ruled by JJupiter. Does the horned god not hold characteristics of Jupiter (bounty, luck, fortune, grace, music, wealth, family, wisdom, etc.)? Ammon was a horned deity who was equivalent to Jupiter. As well, what of Pan in Greek religion? He was a deity of nature and corresponded to Saturn having horns. Later in turn Satin was demonized but also depicted as horned, he was equivalent to Saturn. So we must assume from the data we can collect that indeed, the horned god is a deity of Jupiterian and Saturnine characteristics. It's interesting to note these two energies combined are called "the middle fire" in branches of hermeticism. The middle fire was necessary to sustain life according to the hermetic texts and thus the horned god was a god of life and nature. I'm sure this can also stretch several other ways but from my personal perspective, the "horned god" is probably mostly Jupiter with a twinge of Saturn energy wise. If you look up planetary correspondences and find things pertaining to those two planets, it would certainly boost your magic in working with that certain deity (certain plants, incense, numbers, colors, etc.). Hope this helps anyone who gander over this once dead thread : p please feel free to revive it and add your own opinions!
No, he is not, nor is he Cernunnos or any other horned deity. He is separate. Some may see him as Pan, use a figure of Pan, or choose to worship Pan instead, but they are different beings. Some believe the Lord and Lady are all deities so you could argue that point, but Pan and The Horned God are two different deities with similar attributes. Its the same way people claim The Triple Goddess is Hecate because they both have 3 forms. Some may choose to work with her, or use a statue of Hecate, but these deities are not the same being.
Thank you! I new who Hecate was and she is here own goddess but I did not know the rest of what you told me. Thanks' again, your reply was really helpful.
Um, no. Cermunnos is not the Horned God in Wicca. There are many Horned Gods in many different pantheons and Traditions. None of them are the Horned God of the Wica. In British Traditional Wicca, which is the original form of Wicca, the Horned God has a specific name and is a specific Deity that is revealed only to Initiations of those Traditions.
That being said, in eclectic Wicca there are no specific Deities so a practitioner of eclectic or Neo-Wicca can choose to honor whichever horned deity they choose.
