Month: September 2024

New work “St. Ciaran and Brother Boar” The Irish St. Ciaran’s feast day was last week ( September 9th), I confess I was unfamiliar , my breviary is British and based upon the Anglican saints so I often meet new sainted friends .

Ciaran however was especially intriguing in that there is apparently overlap between this animal loving hermit and the pagan horned god Cernunnos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciarán_of_Clonmacnoise).

Hermits and Cernunnos appear frequently in my work , my duo inspiration of new and old gods often intersect .

Here with Ciarán of Clonmacnoise I have discovered a near perfect muse . According to the excellent organization Catholic Concerns for Animals

Saints who love Animals Feast Days St Ciaran-9th September

Ciarán had a near fairy tale relationship with woodland creatures: “St Ciaran of Ireland (516 AD – 544AD) was converted to the Christian faith by St Patrick and began to preach to the Irish people, who were then mostly pagans. One day, feeling the need for a period of quiet, Ciaran went to a lonely woodland district and started to build himself a cell. Sitting down by a tree, he noticed a fierce looking boar. Ciaran spoke gently to the boar calling him ‘Brother Boar’, as he treated all animals as his brother and sister. The boar realised that Ciaran was a friend and not a foe and so he helped Ciaran to build his cell, tearing down strong branches with his teeth and bringing them to Ciaran. When the cell was finished the boar stayed with Ciaran and soon many other animals joined them, including a wolf, a fox, a badger, a deer and many birds. Ciaran called them all the first brother monks of his little monastery. Later, as people joined them and Ciaran started a larger monastery, he never forgot his animal friends who continued to live with him.”

🌲🦋🦡

 

It is an enchanting tale ( any story involving boars and badgers has me from the get go ) , with an association with great Horned Gods thrown in, who could resist .

I am working on an oil on panel painting The Adolescence of the Green Man currently, another horned woodland dweller (preparatory drawing below) . This my current theme , pulling away from the desolate dystopia of late , returning to verdant solitude .