The Horned God

The Horned God is one of the main gods in Witchcraft right alongside the Triple Goddess. The Horned God is the ruler over fertility, life, animals, and the Underworld. There is no direct name for who the Horned God is as he is an umbrella term for a wide variety of masculine Gods. Even though he doesn’t have a straightforward name, he’s still vital to Wiccan pray and ritual. To help you understand who exactly the Horned God is, let’s take a bit of a dive on his history, how he’s celebrated, and other versions of him around the world.

Who is the Horned God?

The Horned God has his origins in ancient Celtic Mythology, where he was connected to male animals. Since he’s connected to male animals, he’s seen as a protector of the forest, the Goddesses, and his children. He’s also the God of the Hunt and the Underworld as he chooses who needs to move on, then guides them to the afterlife. His image is found in the British Isles and western Europe, where he’s depicted as a man with the head of a stag. Since his image is that of the main God of many cultures, he is called by many names, so there’s no specific deity one needs to pray to. You can pray to the male image itself and you will be honoring the

Horned God.

The Horned God in Witchcraft

The first image of the Horned God in Witchcraft was believed to have originated in the late 19th-century, early 20th-century, when anthropologists tried to combine Pagan and Wiccan beliefs as one universal Pre-Christian set of ideas. As we know, ancient Pagan beliefs have always been seen as evil by Christian followers, but in their attempt to simplify Paganism into being the “evil” religion, they encouraged Witchcraft to grow and develop faster, causing them to take the Pagan Horned God into their beliefs. Though Witches took the image of the Horned God, they did adapt him to fit their beliefs and worships better.

To Wiccans, the Horned represents the divine male image. He’s the opposite, yet the equal of the female divine image, the Triple Goddess. In Wicca, we tend to separate the universe in male and female energies, which the Horned God and Triple Goddess Control. The relationship between the Horned God and the Triple Goddess is followed through the Wheel of the Year. All the Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year represent major milestones between the Gods, which triggers the different seasons among the eight Sabbats. But, the Horned God may not always be called the Horned God throughout the different Sabbats. In some cases, the Horned God is given a different name - like the Oak King or the Holly King - to differentiate the changes and events of the season.

It’s important to understand that while a Witch may worship a Horned God, it may not be the same Horned God. The Horned God isn’t a God that can be typecasted, and sometimes a Witch may not even worship a Horned God as they can choose to worship another God that fits with the Wheel of the Year. In this case, the Horned God can be a bit harder to understand and worship, but so long as a Witch has faith, it shouldn’t matter if they believe in the same Horned God, or God for that matter, as another Witch does.

The Horned God and Beltane

During Beltane, the Horned God is known as Cernunnos or the Green Man. As Beltane is the celebration of life and abundance, the Horned God during this Sabbat is connected to male fertility. During this time, Cernunnos is attempting to win the hand of the Goddess of Spring, the May Queen. He successfully wins her hand, and they consummate their love, ending with the May Queen pregnant. Their marriage is known as the Sacred Marriage as it’s the union between the Earth and the Sky. Due to how powerful their marriage is, many Witches chose to marry during Beltane in hopes of sparking a lasting and robust connection with the person they love.

But, the Horned God’s purpose isn’t only in marrying the May Queen. During this time, the Horned God leads his followers on a wild hunt where he can show off his masculine energies and bring fertility across the world. While Spring is a time of growth, it’s also a time of death since new life is replacing the old. The Horned God has the power to choose who lives and dies and leads them to the Underworld in a flurry of music.

You can choose to believe in one or both versions of the Horned God’s influence over Beltane as both connect to a differently named Horned God.

The Horned God Correspondences

If you want to add the energy of the Horned God in your home, you can do so easily by adding any of the following correspondences to your altar or have them displayed around your home or yard.

How The Horned God is Celebrated

Celebrating the Horned God can vary on which Horned God you decide to worship. But, if you’re praising the Horned God during Beltane, there are a few ways you can celebrate him.

The easiest way to celebrate him is to set up an altar using several of his correspondences and leaving offerings on them related to the season. You can leave him items like bread, milk, wine, berries, nuts, and even symbols of the stag like antlers. Try to leave the non-perishable items on the altar throughout all of Beltane so the Horned God can come to collect them as he pleases.

The other ways to celebrate the Horned God depend on what you want to show him respect for. If you are getting married during Beltane, then you’ll want to perform a Handfasting Ceremony. During a Handfasting ceremony, vows and rings are exchanged between the couple, and their dominant hands are tied together with a bright ribbon in a figure-eight shaped, so "tying the knot." Then, the couple jumps over a broomstick to symbolize crossing the threshold together.

Other Version of the Horned God Around the World

As mentioned before, the Horned God represents a wide variety of gods, depending on the religion. Here is a brief description of some of the gods referred to as the Horned God.

Osiris

Osiris is the great Egyptian Horned God, who is the giver of fertility. He’s depicted with bull horns, which helps tie him to Death and Resurrection. But he is a Lunar version of the Horned God rather than a solar God.

Pan

Pan is the most well-known Greek Horned God. He has the body of the man, but the legs and horns of a goat. He reigns over music and dance as he plays the pipes.

Herne

In Britain, the first recording of a Horned God came from 1303 when King Richard II employed Herne as a hunter, and he risked himself to save the king from being hurt by a white stag. As legend says, Herne was brought back to life by a wizard by tying antlers to his head. But, Herne was no longer allowed to hunt. Herne hung himself off an Oaktree from despair, and his ghost roams Windsor forest looking for the hunt he lost.

Enki

Enki is the Sumerian god of wisdom, water, fertility, healing, and crafts. He is depicted as being a bearded man wearing a horned cap and long robes. He is the patron deity of the city of Eridu, which Mesopotamian culture claims to have been where life was first established on Earth. But Enki’s true role in Sumerian culture remains a mystery. As with most Horned Gods, Enki is a Solar God that reigns over the Earth and protects those who live on the Earth. Enki has the good of the human race in mind, so oftentimes he comes down to Earth to share knowledge to humans, as well as help humans prosper and flourish.

The Horned God is both one of the easiest and hardest Gods to follow and worship, both for the reason of being multiple entities under one term. You have free reign to believe in any version of the Horned God, but you need to be clear on which version you believe. Or, you can choose to believe in the Horned God in general, accepting all of his forms as they change throughout the year. The Horned God is a significant influence over Witches and their beliefs, so even if you don’t pray to him, you should still show him respect.