Herne the Hunter

Spring is my favourite time of year and over the last few weeks we have been blessed with some lovely warm weather. The cold grey cloak of winter has at last been finally lifted and gentle blossom is at last decorating the branches of the trees and hedgerows.

As I walk down my garden and admire the bluebells and the magnolia, it often reminds me of scenes in that excellent series ‘Robin of Sherwood’ of the 1980’s. The award winning writer Richard Carpenter very cleverly created a link in the screen play between Herne the Hunter, the mysterious Green Man and the Celtic fertility god, Cernunnos.

The shamanic figure of Herne the Hunter (John Abineri) featured in 17 of the 26 episodes and one particular story, ‘Lord of the Trees’ (31st December 1984) often reminds me of this time of year. In that wonderful episode the villagers set aside a ‘Time for the Blessing,’ a forest tradition held in the spring when no blood can be shed to guarantee a good harvest.

Many of my blog readers are familiar with the art work of Mike Giddens. A while ago I featured his version of Herne the Hunter from ‘Robin of Sherwood’ and along with his art work I did a short history of the mysterious legend of Herne the Hunter.

Above is Mike’s most recent painting of Herne and I am sure you will agree that this version is absolutely stunning. His fabulous artwork can be seen on his Facebook site and also throughout this website, including his beautiful interpretation of Maid Marian.