Satyrs and Fauns
Although many people equate Fauns with Satyrs,these two classes of beings have vastly different temperaments and legends. Satyrs, even more than Centaurs, symbolize the human sexual drive overruling the intellect. Humans often speak of “being in love” when they mean “being in lust.” We let our hormones lead us into relationships better avoided. When our intellect finally does get its say, usually after we have been thoroughly used and abused in some manner, we are embarrassed that we were so foolish.
Fauns, on the other hand, represent the normal use of sexual emotions influenced by both hormones and the intellect. In this aspect, humans do not rush into relationships, but give them time to grow naturally. Sex, instead of being the only common bond, becomes a by-product of a deep friendship.
Satyrs
The Greek Satyrs were horned deities of wild Nature who followed the gods Pan, Dionysus, and Bacchus. They had the body, arms, and sex organs of men combined with the slanted eyes, flat noses, pointed ears, legs, cloven hooves, small horns, and tails of goats. Their bodies were mostly covered with coarse, curly hair; their faces were more like those of monkeys than humans, with a flat or snub nose and a low forehead. They loved music, dancing, human women, wood Nymphs, and wine. It was said that they perpetuated their race by raping wood Nymphs; water Nymphs were safe because the Satyrs were afraid of water. They were extremely malicious mischief-makers at times, scattering flocks of sheep and terrifying lone travelers. They reveled in drunken vandalism, which was often blamed on humans.
Hesiod wrote that Satyrs were basically a lazy, useless raceof creatures who only liked to indulge their personal pleasures. Some myths say they were brothers of the wood Nymphs and the Curetes.21 Nonnus wrote that Satyrs were related to the Centaurs.
Satyrs were most common in the deep woods where they liked to dance to the music of their flutes, called syrinxes. Their special dance was known as the sikinnis, which required goat-like agility.
Like the god Dionysus, the Satyrs were connected with the ivy crown,the thyrsos (wand), grapes, the cornucopia, and snakes. In his chthonic aspect, Dionysus was known as Melanaigis (a name which came from his wearing a black goatskin) and blew on a horn-trumpet. This aspect of Dionysus was honored at the oldest Athenian religious festival, the Apaturia (Feast of Common Relationship). The Maenads, human women who took part in the orgies of Dionysus, willingly gave themselves sexually to the Satyrs.
The Roman Satyrs were sometimes pictured with goat feet, but other times as young human male companions of Bacchus. In their human-like form, they had pointed ears and little horns on their heads, dressed in panther skins, and carried flutes. The Roman Satyrs were considered much milder and less aggressive inforcing their sexual attentions on women.
The Roman Sileni were similar in temperament to the Roman Satyrs, but were described as having the shapes of young menwith the ears and tail of a horse. (See Chapter 5.)
There are rare records of sightings of Satyrs. St. Jerome wrote that during the reign of Constantine, a Satyr was captured alive. It had a human form but with the horns and feet of a goat. It was exhibited to the people of Greece until it died; then the creature was preserved in salt and taken to the Emperor Constantine so that he could testify to itsexistence.22
Aldrovandus, a medieval writer, stated that there were many Satyrs living in Ireland.
Psychological Attributes: A person whose existence revolves around parties, good times, sexual encounters, and drinking. One who will push his or her sexual attentions on another. Rapists fall into this category, as do those who prey on children and young adults.
Magickal Attributes: Music, dancing, lovemaking. Dealing with lustful and untamed emotions. Learning to handle obnoxious, sexual-minded people. Use absolutely no drugs, alcohol, or stimulants when calling upon the Satyrs.
Fauns
The Romans also knew an other milder version of the Satyr called a Faun. A later description says these woodland spirits were half-man, half-goat, with twisted ram-horns,23 pointed ears, and a goat tail.
However, earlier descriptions portray them as having the legs, tail, and ears of a deer with the body and face ofayoungman; the torso and arms were smooth-skinned, the legs smooth-haired. As companions of the god Faunus (consort of the goddess Fauna), Fauns lived in the wild forests. Gentle creatures,they enticed their human companions into their woodland revels, rather than chasing them down like the Satyrs did. It was not unusual to see a band of Nymphs and Fauns dancing together. The music made by the Fauns sometimes enticed human females to go out at night to dance naked in the moonlight.
Faunus, also known as Lupercus, was an Italian god of the countryside. The Romans identified him with the Greek Pan, but Faunuswasreallymuchdifferent.Heinventedtheshawm,akindof flute; the Fauns were expert players of this instrument. Sometimes said to be the grandson of Saturn, sometimes a descendant of Mars,
Faunus was considered agodofprophecy. At one time the Isle ofCapriwasdedicatedtothisgoatgod.ThenativeItalian woodland god Silvanus was popular in Roman Britain.HewassometimescalledCal-lirius (Woodland King). In Britain he was shown with hammers, pots, and a billhook, a tool of the native wood-war-den. He was associated with stags.
A similar woodland deity, the Wild Herdsman, is well-known throughWelsh myths such as Culhwch and Olwen and the Lady of the Fountain. In these stories he appears as a black giant with a huge club. He is the guardian of the forest animals, an instructor in wisdom, and the genius of the primal forest. One of his earlier Celtic names wasCernunnos (“Horned One”).
Psychological Attributes: Positive—A love for Nature and everything in it. Negative—Taking a delight in causing terror in others; being caught up in seeing how many sexual partners
Magickal Attributes: Agriculture, flocks, bees, fishing, gardens and orchards, animals, fertility, Nature, woodlands, music, dance, medicine, sooth saying. Gentleness in relationships.
English Pooka and Puck
The English Puca was a woodland Faery-type creature who had a human-likeform.The name Puca produced the words “spook” and “Puck.”24 Pouk-ledden was a common erm, meaning someone who had wandered off the path had been led astray by Puck. Although mischievous, the English Puca, sometimes called a Pooka, is not a lascivious creature.
In Britain proper this entity became known as Puck, a woodland entity who caused all kinds of mischief.25 Puck was a harmless sprite, whose name evolved into the word “puckish,” meaning mischievous. Ayto says the name and nature of Puck later was given to Robin Goodfellow.26 A shape-shifter, Puck liked to help humans as long as they appreciated and acknowledged his existence. However, he disliked and tended to persecute those who scorned their lovers.
Puck, who looked abit like a Pixie with hispointed ears, liked to wear a close-fitting suit of green. A friend of all Faeries, he played on a willow twig flute for their dances in the moonlight. He preferred foxes, rabbits, squirrels, and other wild creatures to the domesticated ones favored by Pan. However, Puck took an interest in and helped all plants and creatures of the forests and fields.
The Pwca (pooka) of Wales is a version of the Kornboke (Pooka) English Puck. CwmPwca is said to be one of his favorite places. The Pwca of Wales are very ugly, ill-tempered, and often quarrel among themselves. Unlike other Pookas, the Pwca will come down a chimney into a human home. The Welsh say that Shakespeare based his Puck on their Pwca.
In Scandinavian and German countries the Pooka are known as the Kornbockes; they are said to have goat-bodies, probably resembling Fauns. They will help grow grain and corn, but will steal or spoil it if they get a chance.
In Old German Puck is known as Putzor Butz, while in Iceland he is called Puki and is considered to be an evils pirit.
Psychological Attributes: Positive—One who has awry, but harmless, sense of humor; one who feels especially close to the Earth and its creatures. Negative—One who likes to play tricks on others, but never takes responsibility if things go wrong.
Magickal Attributes: The flute, untamed wild animals, dance and music. Punishment of wandering lovers. Call upon Puck to learn gentle humor. He is mischievous but helpful.
Jack in the Green
The English countryside also had another type of woodland entities known as the Green Men. These Faery-like creatures had green human forms and wore scanty outfits made of leaves. Non-threatening beings,unless you were a woodcutter or game-keeper, the Green Men cared for the trees in the dense forests. The Green Men were seldom seen by the average human.
Another form of the Green Man was the Celtic Cernunnos, god of the woodlands, animals, and fertility. In Old Welsh his name was Arddhu (the Dark One), Atho, or the Horned God.
Jack in the Green is a legendary woodland spirit of Britain. Like the Woodwose, he was guardian of the woodlands or green-woods. He is often shown on roof-bosses, peering through leaves in church carvings.
In both Scotland and Cornwall are short, thin male beings known as the Brown Men or Moor Men. They have coppery-red hair and dress in brown moorland foliage to avoid detection. Although they do not dislike humans, they avoid them whenever possible. Their task seems to be to protect and nurture animal life on the moors.
The Oak Men live in Germany and parts of Scandinavia where they guard groves of sacred oak trees. Although they are not friendly toward humans, they make no effort to harm them.
Psychological Attributes: Positive—One who is drawn to protect the woodlands. Negative—One who is fanatical about forest protection, even to the detriment of fellow humans.
Magickal Attributes: Protect woodlands and trees, especially oak trees; protect wild animals.
Pan
Pan was known to the Greeks as the “Little God,” the Horned God of Nature, or the Goat-Foot God; he originated in Arcadia andwas a frequent companion of the god Dionysus. The word “panoply,” meaning elaborate religious ceremonies, may have originated with hisname.
Pan was one of the oldest Greek deities and the Positive Life Force of the World. He had a human-shaped body, head, and arms with the hooves, legs, small horns, and long ears of a large goat. He played enticing, beguiling music on his syrinx or pan-pipes. However, he knew the power of magickal words and used his voice to beguile or command humans. Mythology says Pan coupled with all the Maenads, as well as Athene, Penelope, and Selene.27
In his gentler aspect, Pan symbolized the woodlands and the wild creatures, healing, gardening, plants and animals, music and dancing, soothsaying, and lovemaking. Unlike the Satyrs, Pan helped shepherds and huntsmen, unless they offended him.
However, he had a dark side in which he caused the wild and unreasoning terror sometimes experienced by people in lonely woodland sand mountains. His magick and terrible cry scattered his enemies, filling them with heart-pounding terror. From this behavior comes our word “panic.” His sacred drama of death and resur- rection gave birth to the original Greek “tragedy” (the Greek word tragoidos meant “goatsong”28).
The Greeks identified the Egyptian deity Amen-Ra with Pan and called Amen-Ra’s holy city of Chemnis Panopolis,“city of Pan.”29
Ancient Greek writerssaid that Panopolis was the home of Pan and many Satyrs.30 The Satyrs portrayed in Roman art have the same type of twisted, horizontal ram’s horns as the Egyptian god.
Psychological Attributes: Positive—Pan represents the procreative energies. Therefore, a person showing Pan traits would use his or her energies and powers of creation for good. Negative—A person who uses his or her energies to create fear inothers.
Magickal Attributes: Music, magick words, woodlands and wild creatures, healing, gardening, herbs, dance, soothsaying, lovemaking. Overcoming barriers in relationships. Also creating unreasonable terror; this is appropriate only against abusers, rapists, and murderers.
The Urisk
In Scotland lives a strange little Brownie known as the Urisk or Uruisg. These solitary creatures were half-human, half-goat. Usually they lived around lonely pools, but sometimes sought human company. Although one of their ricks was to follow and terrify travelers at night, they sometimes came to live near a house. They were considered lucky as they would help with the farm work and herd cows. Ordinarily each Urisk lived alone, but gathered together on certain occasions. Although no one is clear on when these meetings took place, the Urisk probably met on the Equinoxes, Solstices, and the other four Pagan festivals, as did the Faeries and other Earth beings.
Psychological Attributes: Positive—A person who has a unique rapport with animals. Negative—One who delights in frightening others.
Magickal Attributes:Very lucky. As with Pan, call upon the Urisk to heal animals and help in the garden.
The Woodland Leshy
Sometimes the Slavic-Russian woodland spirits known as the Leshy (Leshi) were said to resemble the Satyrs, with human bodies and the horns, ears, and legs of a goat.This maybe one branch of the Leshy, since the other members of this species primarily haunt the water and areas near it. These woodland Leshy are forest guardians, most active at dusk and dawn during the spring and summer. They never physically harm humans, but enjoy getting them lost in the thick underbrush andtrees.
The word Leshy (or Leshi) describes both the Slavic Lord ofthe Forests and a multitude ofwoodland spirits who inhabit the Baltic forests. Some are dangerous, evil creatures, while others are simply mischievous. Their presence, however, can be felt by humans whenever these creatures are near. Foresters and others who are familiar with the forests say that the Leshy are extremely thin creatures with blue skin and green hair andeyes.
The Leshy prefer to live in the deep sections of the forest. They resent intruders to what they consider as their domain and will try to lead the travelers astray. During the winter, when snow is on the ground, the Leshy will wipe out footprints so the trail cannot be retraced. During Leshy other seasons, they will cause a sense of bewilderment in the traveler’s mind so he or she wanders deeper and deeper into the forest, becoming hopelessly lost.
Foresters say you always know when the Leshy are trailing you. The trees feel as if they are moving and hemming you in; you get a prickly sensation of being watched. But however fast you turn around, you will never seethe Leshy, for they can move faster than you can. The only way to throw them off your trail is to put your shoes on the wrong feet and your clothes on backward. This seems to confuse the Leshy to such a degree that their spell is broken, and you can escape.
Psychological Attributes: One who likes to deliberately, or even subconsciously, give wrong information to others as a joke; this person also likes to give bad advice just to see if you will follow it and mess up your life. Many humans who give this “bad advice” do so with ulterior motives: to have control over you or to see you fail.
Magickal Attributes: Dangerous. Help in protecting forests and trees.
Woodwose
Another branch of British woodland beings were the Woodwose, or Wild Men of the Woods. They were also called the Wooser or Ooser. They inhabited and guarded the wildwoods. Unlike the Green Men who were cov- ered in leaves, the Woodwose was covered with hair or long fur and wore no clothes. The literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has a few mentions of these entities but very little to say about them. In medieval times, their features were used on masks. In East Anglia especially, carvings of the Woodwose can still be seen in churches.
Psychological Attributes: Positive—A person who can live within an ordinary social frame, but still stand apart if necessary. Negative— One who withdraws from society, such as an extreme and fanatical survivalist.
Magickal Attributes: Healing and protecting really wild woodlands.
21. The Curetes were the protectors of the baby Zeus on Crete. The Greeks sometimes called them Gegeneis (children of the Earth) or Imbrogeneis (children of the rain). Mythology speaks of them as half-warrior, half-priest or priestess. They appear to have been devoted to Hera in later legends.
22. J.J. Bachofen. Myth, Religion and Mother Right. Edited by Joseph Campbell. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.
23. Manly Hall. The Secret Teachings of All Ages.
24. A Roman goblet shows a Faun’s head: bearded male-like face; long, downward hanging ears; two horns joined at the top of the head and pointing outward.
25. Stephen Potter and Laurens Sargeant. Pedigree.
26. The Christians tried to make Puck and many other Faery creatures into their devil, or at least his minions.
27. John Ayto. Arcade Dictionary of Word Origins. Some writers say that Robin Goodfellow looks more like a Faun or Satyr than a human. He likes to play woodland pipes while he dances, and is a great friend of all woodland animals. Tradition says he had a Faery father and a human mother.
28. Robert Graves. The White Goddess.
29. Wildred Funk. Word Origins & Their Romantic Stories.
30. E. A. Wallis Budge. Gods of the Egyptians.