History of Old Horney

 The Horned God of the Witches

By Jason Mankey

the two figures that stand out most in modern Wicca are the Lord and Lady or the Goddess and the Horned God. There are many horned gods in old paganism. You have Pan, Dionysus, Cernununos etc. Which one of these horned gods the witches wish to honor is up to them. Some witches jus work with a generic "the Horned God" So Jason Mankey unpacks the horned god for us. How people picture deity can get rather interesting. Some see each of the horned gods as separate deities unto themselves, each with their own identity. Others see the horned god as a deity encompassing all of h honred gods. Yet even other witches see the deities as aspects of themselves something to be evoked out of them.

the main basis for the horned god is the Celtic Cernunnos and Pan.  Pan is an easy god to learn about. There is a whole mythology abou the god complete with stories and everything. thre were shrines dedicatd to Pan. This horned god, upper half human lower part goat with some horns. He was a god of ecstasy, wine and he loved fornication with just about anyone or anything. Pan was a god of shepherds and he owned the Arcadian wilderness. His loud shout could cause panic. Cernunnos is a Celtic god with no known mythology about him. He does have shrines set up to him all over th place in Europe. Both o these horned gods are phalic gods and sometimes havea phallus representing them. There are some indications that Shiva might have ben an inspiration of Cernunnos.

The author covers some other horned deities as well. Jason goes over Dionysus, Herne the hunter, the devil, the witch father and Krampus. I may have missed a few so you will have to go back to the book and check.At the end of each chapter there is a ritual one can perform if they wish to build a relationship with that particular god. The author exposes some historical inaccuracies that have crept into the historiography. The God is also evolving as is Wicca. He is becoming less of a horned god and more of a universal god.  Wicca and witchcraft used to be focused on the horned god  but now the emphasis has shifted to the goddess. Great book totaly enjoyed it.