Wednesday, June 20, 2012

One of my favorite authors, Terri Windling (author of The Wood Wife [my long time favorite book of hers] and many other fine books) edited a series of short stories with different aspects of the Green Man several years ago (see: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Man-Anthology-Mythic-Forest/dp/B003F76FMM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340191170&sr=8-1&keywords=green+man+windling).  She also has an outstanding treatise of art and philosophy on her Endicott Studio site on the Green Man and the Green Woman: http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galgreen.html which includes fantastic art by Brian Froud of  Faerie fame.  The image below is copyrighted to Brian Froud and there is a link to his other Green Men on the Endicott Studio site listed above.

"The King of the Green Men" by Brian Froud © 1998

With all of his many faces, I have found the Green Man as a guide -- a loving, fatherly type figure.  I suppose this is why/how he is portrayed in the Green Man series to Sylvia.  Years ago, I knew a storyteller from Gambia.  He told me of his cultures views on God and Christ.  He said that God is a laughing God who chuckles over his children and all of their antics on Earth.  I have always enjoyed this positive, warm image of an omnipotent being.  Madeleine L'Engle speaks of "The Laughing Christ" -- a statue that portrays an important piece in her book A House Like a Lotus.  Another portrayal. 
The Muslim faith has Khidr, or the green one.  Al Khidr was a guide to Moses.  Where he sat in the desert, everything turned green.  http://www.spiritandflesh.com/Paganism_Islam_Green_Man_Al_Khidr.htm
More mystery...


Sunday, June 17, 2012

I just ran across this artist -- Ryszard Zarebski in the UK.  He has an amazing Green Man painting that is closer than many to my imaginings for the book series.   Enjoy!
http://rysart.co.uk/gallery/

The Green Man --the Beginning

The Green Man series is a trilogy of books revolving around Sylvia Ash, a young woman who meets the great, green enigma of The Green Man.  In the series, Sylvia learns that she is part of the great pattern with the Green Man as a guide.  Each book contains murder, mystery, romance and a touch of magic.

In the first book, Sylvia meets the  mysterious Green Man.  She learns she has a gift of seeing auras and goes on to solve an ecological mystery with handsome scientist Owen Anderson.  The murder of their colleague, adds danger and a conundrum for Sylvia.  Read more in the first book of the trilogy entitled:  The Greening.  Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greening-Green-Man-ebook/dp/B0084TH53Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339948455&sr=8-1&keywords=the+greening+sharon+brubaker

The Green Man and the mystery of the Green Man have been with me for years and years. It began when I was an adolescent--a freshman in high school and a prose project for a creative writing class.  I vaguely remember needing to write a prose piece about a color.  I dreamt and later wrote about a green man who walked beside me and counseled me as well as an evil brown man.  This dream became a repetitive dream that lived with me for years and years and year.  I knew I would someday write more about the green man and the nightmare of the brown man.  Bits of story would come and go until one day, I lost both.  In my twenties I discovered there were Green Men.  I saw a sculpture and learned that Green Men were architectural features and garden sculptures worldwide.  My curiousity became a passion and I began to search and research the Green Man.  I learned others were interested in the Green Man as well.  There is a lot of speculation from pagan deity to protector.  He's an ancient, yet modern day archetype.  He is still a mystery.

The search and the passion became part of a quest.  Mike Harding is a Green Man expert (http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/greenman/) and his passion mirrored my own.  Mike's site is one of the best out there in cyberspace on The Green Man.  His book: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Green-Man-Books/dp/1854105639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339949595&sr=8-1&keywords=the+little+book+of+the+green+man+mike+harding  is wonderful.

Future blogs will address other Green Man resources. 

Also, readers of the first book have started sightings of Green Men.  It has been my experience with many people that once you learn of the Green Man, you'll begin finding them everywhere.  Please comment and post your sightings!