Modern SpellCaster’s - 4, Emperor.

Tanga

“Cernunnos Horn-ed one,
Cernnunos, King of the Sun
Herne the hunter, and hunted
Stag God of the Earth!”


A Pagan chant hailing and invoking Cernunnos, depicted here as The Emperor.

This Emperor is the Horned God of the modern Wiccan tradition (sporting the horns of a prehistoric deer?).
A God of nature, life, fertility, the Sun ruling day
(as his counterpart The Moon Goddess rules the night), and sometime ruler of the Underworld.
His origins lie in Iron Age Gaul as seen in the depiction of him below - on the Gundestrup cauldron on display in the national museum of Denmark. (The cauldron is beautiful! - I saw it when it was “on tour” at the British museum a short while ago).
The Wiccan Cernunnos or Kernunno - is an amalgamation of Cernunnos and several other horned deities.

A gigantic Thrysus-like staff is in hand, to give the overpowering essence of fertility and enjoyment. Though - that’s more like a giant acorn than a pine-cone to me…with the earth and the moon on top…
The bull beside him also (a part of his throne) - virility, and the equal armed cross on it’s forehead (also called balanced or peaceful cross - pre-dates Christianity) represents the 4 seasons or elements in balance.
An Emperor (hopefully) rules in a balanced fashion.
A Vajra sits above his head. A Buddhist ritual club representing spiritual strength and power (The Vajra is the club of the God Indra - King of the heavens and somewhat parallel to Zeus and Odin).
I love his throne of a live tree, which fits him perfectly and mimics horned depictions in it’s growth - might it be mighty enough to resist the fire that burns wildly behind him? Or might it and he - be consumed?
Fire is a catharsis - and in realtime in the wild, is also regenerative.

Wheat (or “corn”) grows in abundance around him - bringing to mind Lammas/Lughnasadh - the Wiccan feast around the 1st of August celebrating the 1st harvests of the year - of wheat, corn and barley. As the corn is scythed - there is the The God - giving up his life to sustain humanity, and begin his descent into the Underworld for rebirth. The feast is an acknowledgement /marker made of the turning of the year into a slow descent of darker/leaner times, and the death of the seed in order to sustain life through these times.
Apparently In past times of famine (long past) the king or a high representative would be sacrificed to appease the powers of nature and bring obout a better harvest...

And so - an Emperor who rules wisely and even gives up his life for his people. “The King and the Land - are one”
 

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