Cernunos

Thia image of the Master of the Animals
decorates the gilded silver
Gundestrup Cauldron
100BCE

By the flame that burneth bright,
O Horned One!
We call thy name into the night,
O Horned One!
Thee we invoke, by the moon-led sea,
By the standing stone and the twisted tree.
Thee we invoke where gather thine own,
By the nameless shrine forgotten and lone.
Come where the round of the dance is trod,
Horn and hoof of the goatfoot God!
By moonlit meadow, on dusky hill,
When the haunted wood is hushed and still.
Come to the charm of the chanted prayer,
As the moon bewitches the midnight air.
Evoke thy powers, that potent bide
In shining stream and the secret tide.
In fiery flame by starlight pale,
In shadowy host that rides the gale,
And by the fern-brakes fairy-haunted
Of forests wild and woods enchanted.
Come! Come!
To the heart-beats drum!
Come to us who gather below
When the broad white moon is climbing slow
Through the stars to the heaven's height
We hear thy hoofs on the wind of night!
As black tree-branches shake and sigh,
By joy and terror we know thee nigh.
We speak the spell thy power unlocks
At Solstice, Sabbat, and equinox.

by Lady Sheba, 1974.

Listen to the words of the Great Father,
Who of old was called
Osiris, Adonis, Zeus, Thor, Pan,
Cernunnos, Herne, Lugh,
and by many other names:


My Law is Harmony with all things.
Mine is the secret that opens the gates of life
And mine is the dish of salt of the earth,
That is the body of Cernunnos.

I give the knowledge of life everlasting,
And beyond death
I give the promise
of regeneration and renewal.
I am the sacrifice, the father of all things,
And my protection blankets the earth.





Hear the words of the dancing God,
The music of whose laughter stirs the winds,
Whose voice calls the seasons.

I who am the Lord of the Hunt
and the Power of the Light,
Sun among the clouds
and the secret of the flame,
I call upon your bodies
to arise and come unto me,
For I am the flesh of the earth
and all its beings.

Through me all things must die
and with me are reborn.
Let my worship be in the body that sings,
For behold
all acts of willing sacrifice are my rituals.

Let there be desire and fear,
anger and weakness,
Joy and peace, awe and longing within you.
For these too are part of the mysteries
found within yourself, within me,
All beginnings have endings,
and all endings have beginnings.

And these are the words of the Horned One, whose names are un-numbered:

I am the wild hunter of the forest deep
And I am the fire upon the hill.
And I am the sower of the seed
And the tiller of the soil of the earth.
And I am the golden warrior
Whose arrows
are the shafts from the sun.
The thunder is my hoof fall;
The wilderness my shrine.
I wield the oaken staff,
The elements at my call.
By day I am the sun;
By night I ride upon the wild winds.
I am a stag, a tree and the mountain.
My seed works
within the earth's dark womb
For I am the Horned One,
Sire of the Universe,
Love and Consort of the Goddess am I.

In the wilderness doth my spirit dwell
And all wildlings and fugitives of oppression are cherished within my heart.
To these, my hidden children,
I am provider and protector
For all things wild and free
are in my keeping
And all things of beauty and freedom
and love delight me.
Swiftly I come to merriment and laughter, my invocations,
For I am the Lord of all life.

Yet also I have a dark face
For I am Death. The Reaper of Souls.
And terrible is this my dark face
to those who know not the mystery.
Yet to my hidden children,
Who know and love my spirit,
My dark face is also sweet,
For tis the face of deep and hidden wisdom.
I am the giver of knowledge
Life and death are mine to give
From death thou shalt be reborn
unto new life and love.
Therefore seek my spirit and know me
Bright and dark;
Then shalt thou know my mystery.
For I am the Ancient One,
Gentle and fierce:
My faces outnumber the stars:
I am Cernunnos, Herne, Atho, Belie, Haro, Crom, the Ancient One
Lord and Sire of the Universe All.