The Horned God and Being Human:
Connections in Humanistic Psychology
The Images Anthology, Vol. 1, DawnBlaze Publications, Hawleyville CT, pp. 28-35.
Previously published in Harvest, Fall 1989, Vol. 10, No. 1.Thomas Rue, M.A.
December 1989, 2004. All rights reserved.
This article concerns the experience and process of teaching a group of incarcerated men about the Horned God and revival of Goddess-oriented religions and archetypal images, within a framework of humanistic psychology.
In a three-credit psychology class, six to ten men participate in a series of 15 weekly discussions and media presentations on connections between archetypal images, such as are seen in old Pagan religions, and the contemporary practice of psychology. The first segment of the course focuses on theory, while the latter incorporates counseling, role-playing and participatory exercises.
Students may have been incarcerated for any of a variety of felonies, from drug possession or sale to violent offenses. However, it has been my experience and observation that they are often highly introspective and motivated to learn.
Providing what, for some, may be a new kind of masculine role-mode, a course textbook quotes Starhawk's (1979) description of Cernunnos, the Horned God of Celtic myth: "He is difficult to understand because He does not fit into any of the expected stereotypes; neither those of the 'macho' male nor the reverse-image of those who deliberately seek effeminacy. He is gentle, tender and conforming, but He is also the Hunter. He is the Dying God -- but His death is always in the service of the life force. He is untamed sexuality -- but sexuality as a deep, holy, connecting power. He is the power of feeling, and the image of what men could be if they were liberated from the constraints of patriarchal culture."
The 15-week class seems to have been well-received by participating students over three semesters, some of whom reported gaining exciting new personal insights.
By way of format, for purposes of the class, Webster's (1857) pre-Freud definition of "psychology" is accepted: "A discourse or treatise on the human soul; or the doctrine of man's [and woman's] spiritual nature."
Texts are The Horned God (Rowan, 1987); Jungian Psychology in Perspective (Mattoon, 1981; Man's Search for Meaning (Frankl, 1959); and Becoming Naturally Therapeutic (Small, 1981.)
Media aids include a filmstrip and script from the 10-lesson curriculum, "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven" (Ranck, 1986); "Sex-Role Development" (Clapp, 1973; 16 mm.); The Wicker Man, a 1973 fantasy-drama depicting a modern Pagan island off the Scottish coast; and the three-part Three Approaches to Psychotherapy, featuring Rogers, Perls and Ellis.
The remainder of this article is taken from selected class handouts by the instructor.
Ritual and the Human Soul The soul was probably first studied from what we would characterize as a humanistic perspective by the ancient Greeks. Protagoras wrote: "The human is the measure of all things," and Sophocles that of all the many wonders of the world, there is "none so wonderful as the human" (Phifer, 1983.)
Important aspects of humanism include understanding archetypal imagery and rituals in relation to the individual self and to the group consciousness.
Assayag (1988) equates ritual "to a form of symbolic communication, definitively identical to spoken language and its functioning."
Gallanter (1989) contents all rituals deal with the problem of transformations of state in human beings or nature. Obvious Western culture examples of the former are infant dedications or christenings, weddings, and funerals.
Examples of the latter occur in nature-oriented religions such as those the Native Americans, Celtic traditions, and others. The turning of points of nature, of the seasons, and perpetual regeneration of life on earth, is recognized as cause for celebration.
For example, the great sabbats of European antiquity are Samhain (Halloween), Beltane (May Day), Imbolc (St. Brigit's Day), and Lughnasadh (Lammas.) Between each are the four seasonal equinoxes and solstices. These eight festivals mark annual transformations in the earth's being, as participants use the ritual to help internalize personal growth and change within themselves individually and as a group.
Gallanter continues:
"Two rituals of particular relevance to new religions are those of therapy and salvation. Therapy, or healing rituals, aim to renew a damaged identity and to direct themselves toward the future... The combination of healing and salvation rituals as a kind of rite of passage is probably what makes religious conversion or induction, functionally speaking, such a powerful socializer of human behavior. Renunciation, expiation, and cleansing manifest themselves in such contexts. Individuals successfully transformed emerge in a metaphysically transformed sense as individuals resocialized into a new psychological world.
"The 'rite of passage' nature of such healing and salvation rituals in new religions typically involve three stages: separation (whether physical or psychological); incorporation (adopting the standards of the system and living by it.) Moreover, they effectively impress on the initiate: 1) how a change in one's self is sequentially managed within a particular structure with the assistance or guidance of a particular person or group; and 2) how the outcomes can be ultimately attributed to one's own efforts" (emphasis added.)
Interesting examples of ritual from the mundane world are cited by Moyers (1987) in the context of court proceedings:
"...one of my colleagues had been asked by a friend... 'Why do you need the mythology?' She held the familiar, modern opinion that 'all these Greek gods and stuff' are irrelevant to the human condition. What she did not know -- what most do not know -- is that the remnants of that 'stuff' line the walls of our interior system of belief, like shards of broken pottery in an archaeological site. But, as we are organic beings, there is energy in all that 'stuff.' Rituals evoke it. Consider the position of judges in our society, which Campbell saw in mythological, if not sociological terms. If this position were just a role, the judge could wear a gray suit instead of the magisterial black robe. For the law to hold authority beyond mere coercion, the power of the judge must be ritualized, mythologized. So must much of life today, Campbell said, from religion and war to love and death."
According to Sharon Devlin, quoted in Adler (1986):
"The purpose of ritual is to change the mind of the human being. It's a sacred drama in which you are the audience as well as the participant. The purpose of it is to activate parts of the mind that are not activated by everyday activity. We are talking about parts of the mind that produce the psychokinetic, telekinetic power, whatever you want to call it -- the connection between the eternal power and yourself. As for why ritual, I think that human beings have a need for art, and art is ritual. I think that when we become sapient, we become capable of artistic expression. It is simply a human need."
A Spiritual Humanism Elizabeth Campbell (1984), a past executive director of the Association for Humanistic Psychology (AHP), declared that humanistic psychology holds a hopeful view of people and their ability to be self-determining, self-actualizing, and capable of making choices.
In addition, she stated, "such psychological theories:
Promote human growth and transformation;
Campbell's description fits closely with a Pagan's concept of intrapsychic magical transformation. The "perfect love and perfect trust" called for in Wiccan covens and ritual circles is akin to what Carl Rogers called for in his basic encounter groups, incorporating the type of peak spiritual/mystic experiences which he, Abraham Maslow, and C.G. Jung felt promote self-actualization and individuation.
The aims express in the Humanist Manifesto of 1933 were somewhat broader (Phifer, 1973):
Humanism has much to do with spirituality, since human beings are the only earthly species known to be conscious of their individual egos, and also of a collective soul.
In his paper "The Faith of a Humanist," Phifer (1973) affirms: "I have faith in that part of humanism which sees the human being as the highest form of life, an end not a means, the creator of moral values, the maker of history.
Other writers discussed in the course metaphorically describe humanity as the "central nervous system" of the planet Earth, which is described as a living entity (Metzner, 1989; Rojas, 1989.) As such, humans are not the "highest for of life," but simply part of a vital macrocosmic system, floating through space in a bubble of water, gas, rock and fire.
Interdisciplinary students of psychology have gained new focus by examining those aspects of humanism, moral philosophy, religion and modern science that come together under the headings of alchemy, witchcraft and magic. These three words themselves conjure archetypal images of mystic significance. Their content relates to that part of the collective and individual psyche which students of Jung recognize as the shadow. "The parts of ones self one considers unpresentable, because they seem weak, socially unacceptable, or even evil (Mattoon, 1981.)
Von Franz (1964) points out:
"The shadow is not necessary always an opponent. In fact, [it] is exactly like any human being with whom one has to get alone, sometimes by giving in, sometimes by resisting, sometimes by giving love -- whatever the situation requires. The shadow becomes hostile only when ignored or misunderstood.
Another Jungian writer has asserted:
"Alchemical symbolism gives us numerous examples of the central archetype [the individuated self] as a union of opposites. For example, the philosopher's stone, one of the goals of the alchemical process, was depicted as resulting from the marriage of the red king and the white queen, or from the union of sun and moon, fire and water. The product of such a union is a paradoxical image often described as hermaphroditic. Other images that are often used to express the union of opposites are the reconciliation of opposing partisan factions and the reconciliation of good and evil..." (Edinger, 1968.)
Numerous other writers (Sadoul, 1972; Thompson 1973; Metzner, 1988) have addressed archetypal significance of the concepts of alchemy and magic.
From ancient times, humanity's great thinkers have explained existence in terms of duality, androgyny, balance, homeostasis, and karma. In severing the feminine principle from the Divine, traditions like Judaism, Christianity or Islam seem at one level to deny the very essence of the spiral of life.
Early Greek, Roman, Minoan, Celtic, Native American, and other other ancient cultures reverenced goddess images (conceptual and tangible), a practice in which some find meaning and relevance for today (Adler, 1986.)
The fiery and vengeful, nationalistic and militaristic He-Man god of the Jerry Falwells and Jim Bakkers -- the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- seems to some historical scholars to have been a deliberate corruption by patriarchal conspirators to delete the feminine principle (Berger, 1985; Keuls, 1985; Ranck, 1986; Rowan, 1978; Starhawk, 1979.)
Whether the "changing of the gods," as it has been called (Goldenberg, 1979), was calculated or the result of a neurotic psychic schism in the group consciousness, is unknown.
There is more than one theory concerning exactly when this epic transition took place, but some imagine that it occurred around the time the mythic King Arthur (Bradley, 1977.) Others, prior to the period when Athens flourished (Keuls, 1985.) In an age when nuclear destruction is a possibility, reassessment of worldviews and ways of thinking seems essential.
That the Goddess has been restored from Her obscurity as a meaningful spiritual image is evidenced by the popularity of such current-day writers as Starhawk, Erica Jong, and Marion Zimmer-Bradley.
Students are told that finding local study groups can sometimes be difficult (and even more so for the incarcerated), but correspondence courses and periodicals are available. Most circles or covens keep their profile in the community rather low, preferring to maintain their religious associations and beliefs a private matter.
Several -- like the Covenant of the Goddess, the Church of All Worlds, and Ar nDraiocht Fein (a Druid fellowship) -- are incorporated, tax-exempt, and recognized by the U.S. government as "churches." But some would-be joiners find themselves suspicious of religious organizations generally, in fear of contracting rigor mortis of the mind, or becoming subject to the authoritarian social structure typical of patriarchal traditionalism (Rowan, 1987; APA, 1989.)
Wicca -- an understand of which Rowan (1987) describes as "the third channel of healing" -- incorporates ancient belief systems and traditions into a synthesis which has spiritual relevance to those who choose its path (or feel themselves chose by it.)
While modern heavy-metal music and American Satanists borrow heavily from pre-Christian symbols like the pentagram, closer examination and research reveal the so-called ritual of the "Black Mass" to be a corruption of the sacraments of the Catholic church (Gardner, 1959), rather than a vestige of the Old Religion.
Even reactionary Christians like the authors of Satan's Assassins (Steiger & Smith, 1979) admit: "A knowledge of the philosophies of cultist groups would enable a police officer to differentiate between a sincere witch who humbly follows the Horned God and the ways of the Old Religion, or a Flower Child who genuinely practices peace, love, and brotherhood, and a self-indulgent, lazy-minded acidhead who distorts metaphysics to excuse his own self-serving appetites."
Two youthful criminals recently apprehended in Mamakating, NY, caught in the act by state troopers in their midnight excavation of a local cemetery (Emerson, 1989) and others like them, bear no connection to the neo-Pagan movement described here.
However, an article in a Wiccan newsletter (White Water, 1988) aroused controversy in at least one Philadelphia area coven when Satanists were acknowledged as the "problem children" of the Pagan revival. It is probably safe to say that nearly all Wiccans regard the Judeo-Christian personification of the evil principle as entirely at odds with their own worldview.
Some would argue that the good-evil duality reflected in the Satan myth actually causes the type of hatred, intolerance and bigotry observed among fanatical religionists, the Ku Klux Klan, or certain policies of the Third Reich.
The God/Satan model encourages individuals and groups to think of themselves as better or more deserving more than others, whether due to moral righteousness, or (to their self-perceived position) as a member of an divinely-chosen people.
The concept of a Triple Goddess -- Maiden, Mother and Crone -- long preceded the relatively modern concept of an all-male divine Trinity (Berger, 1985.)
For example, the Greek goddess Hekate (Hecate) originally hailed from Asia Minor, where she was known as Caria. She was seen as the goddess of the crossroads. In this capacity, she was called Enodia, or Troditis, and was depicted as three-headed, or with three bodies (Lurker, 1984.) Her typology is observed in three phases of the moon: waxing, full, and waning.
Another is embodied in the title of a contemporary book, Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (Lovelock, 1979), which puts forth a revolutionary and simple explanation of the nature of life.
Impregnated by Eros (the god of love), to Gaia were born the heavens and earth: "In art, her beneficent fecundity is often symbolized by attributes such as a cornucopia and the fruits of the soil" (Lurker, 1984.)
Pre-Columbian natives in the region of the upper Delaware River river valley reported "a creation myth involving a pregnant woman falling from the sky" (Goddard, 1978.)
She is the Eternal Mother, all but forgotten in this Christian society, the planet which gave us birth, and to whose elements we will all return. And She is more than this.
In all, I believe She will endure. She will heal Herself of humanity's ills eventually, whether by fire or by a less painful cleansing. While it seems preferable to hope that humanity will continue as part of Her cycles, students are reminded that it is, collectively and individually, entirely up to them and to us.
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Cite as: Rue, T.S. (1990). The Horned God and being human: Connections in humanistic psychology, in The Images Anthology, Vol. 1, DawnBlaze Publications, Hawleyville CT, pp. 28-35
(previously published in Harvest, Fall 1989, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 15-20.)