and our Inherent connection to the natural world

‘Henbane Greenman’, acrylic on panel, 12×12”, 2025

Green Man has been around for a long-long-time. The foliate head motif appeared in carvings and sculptures in various parts of Europe as early as 2nd century AD. These carvings were often found in pagan temples and structures, suggesting a connection with nature worship and fertility rituals. You can still find many of these today in pubs and cathedrals throughout the UK. I use the Green Man motif often in my artwork to suggest the connection between human-kind and the natural world. However I feel it’s a bit misleading when I say ‘I’m suggesting a connection’ between the two when in actuality my belief is that human-kind and the natural world are one-and-the-same. Not merely two separate things loosely connected through our relationship to one another, but one cosmic being, inseparable. My sacred botanical artworks are based on my spiritual belief of animism. Animism is a pagan belief that there is a supernatural force that organizes and animates the material universe. It attributes a soul to every living being. People, animals, plants and minerals; Even landscapes and weather are alive with spirit and imbued with consciousness.

While proselytization is frowned upon in pagan and witchcraft communities, this key understanding (of animism) that underlies all of nature-worship is one that I feel is so very important and desperately needed in our society today. Personally, I want to scream it from the mountain tops and that’s why it is the message behind every single work of art I create. You see, Christianity and the Abrahamic religions are based on the idea of a hierarchy of life. In order of importance it puts (a male) God above all followed by humans, men then women (always subservient to men), animal, plants, and minerals at the very bottom of the totem pole. It is much easier to exploit and extract from our ecosystem when we see ourselves disconnected from it and above it.

Atheism and the scientific materialist world view isn’t much better when it comes to protecting nature (ie… ourselves). In the name of science it recognizes nature’s importance, however, It allows late-stage capitalism and systems of oppression to flourish by placing consciousness solely in the brain. If everything on this planet is just dead matter it can be sold, mined and destroyed. This is how materialism justifies extraction and exploitation. While a sacred or animate world view would require ethics, limits, and reverence, and all of that is unprofitable when using capitalist logic. Scientific materialism not only strips nature of it’s soul, it also despiritualizes the human being. If you are just a body then you are a consumer, a worker, and a bottom line, not a soul on a spiritual journey.

Green Man serves as a call to embody the sacred within yourself and all of nature. In this web of life we are all connected, one-and-the-same. Green Man asks you to recognize spirit in the seemingly inanimate. Featured here are two of my latest Greenman paintings. If this motif resonates with you, I invite you to look back through my body of work, where you’ll find many more Green Men (and women).