The Green Man & The Green Woman

(This book is in Dutch language)

Symbolism and shapes from the Stone Age to the present, Joke and Ko Lankester

It was not until 1939 that Lady Raglan first used the term 'Green Man'. But the Green Man is much older, just like the Green Woman. For some beings, the boundary between man, animal and vegetation seems to have disappeared since the Stone Age. In ancient times, they were called Gods, Goddesses or demons.

From the Roman Empire come images of the Green Man with leaves or stems coming out of his mouth or nose. He often has a female counterpart, whose lower body and arms turn into leaves. The Green Man is also frequently depicted in this way. In other images his body is part human and part animal and turns into vegetation.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Green Man and the Green Woman disappear to reappear in Romanesque and Gothic churches. In the Renaissance, the Green Woman comes to the fore. Together with the Green Man and countless Green Creatures, they populate a world as grotesques that disrupts everyday reality and disables our reason. In that chaos, in which all boundaries, including those between paganism and Christianity, disappear, the sacred or the divine manifests itself.

This book is the result of more than twenty years of research into the Green Man and the Green Woman in literature, museums, numerous excavations, sanctuaries, churches and public buildings throughout Europe and the Near East. Joke and Ko Lankester describe their many manifestations from the Stone Age to the 21st century. They also provide an interpretation of this phenomenon, which has been tolerated and even encouraged by church and worldly leaders throughout the centuries. No other book on this subject provides such a broad and documented overview.

A beautiful book for inspiration for making SoulCollage® cards, matching the counselor group (the archetype in the SoulCollage® group)

21x23 cm

240 pages

about 500 images

ISBN: 9789077408865