Pondering Pan

Happy Summer Solstice everyone! At this time of year, thoughts of many pagan folk around the world, turn to Pan. Worship of The Great horned God predated Christianity in Europe. It continues to this day in the U.S. and throughout the world. Pan is lord of forests, hunting and male virility. To many modern witches, he is the beloved husband of Our Mother Goddess.

If you have seen statues or paintings of a half man half game animal, you've seen Pan. Pan is only one of his names and forms, He can have the hind quarters of a goat, ram or bull. This depends on which game animal is most common where he is being (or has been) worshiped.

I once explained to my father that Pan looks the way he does to show us that people and animals come from the same Divine source. Considering that Dad raised me on the works of Ray Harryhausen Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling, Dad was quite comfortable with my explanation.

I'll never forget the time I saw Pan on the cover of a Wicca magazine , (can't recall the title) The cover showed Pan with a typical crease between His eyes. I used to think that His seemingly permanent scowl was one of anger over being mistaken for the Christian devil.

Now I understand that his expression is one of questioning, not contempt. Whenever I would come across an image of Pan, I would often imagine him whispering to me. "Why are you so hard on yourself?", He would ask. I would sigh and answer Him. "Because the world is harder."

What are your thoughts about Pan? I would be honored to know. Feel free to leave them In the Share Your Story section of this website. In the meantime. let's all keep walkin' with The Goddess and enjoying our Summer.