Just beyond my back door, a face peers from the forested floor next to a walkway leading to a wooded hillside. The Green Man’s penetrating gaze persists through the seasons, sometimes blanketed by snow or obscured by leaf litter. 

When spring returns to the Upper Delaware River region, I wake the Green Man from his peaceful slumber to let the life-stirring light reconnect him to his ancient duties symbolizing the regenerative power of nature and especially the rebirth of spring.

Given to us by a dear friend with a passion for gardening, our Green Man also serves as a sundial, thanks to the gnomon (the shadow-casting part of a sundial that reveals the time of day) protruding from his forehead. For me, he serves as a symbol of guardianship for the natural world and its untamed wilder qualities. In addition, he represents a call to maintain a state of awakened awareness of the environmental issues that are key to the ecological vitality of the Earth and its inhabitants.

At its simplest, this starts with tuning in to the re-emergence of spring that is underway all around us. Take heart in the sprout, the bud, the blossom, the birds and bees and animal babies that herald the full expression of this season at its finest. 

Take a walk; take some deep breaths; look and listen and feel your own life force rising as the Green Man beckons us back to this wonderful world of possibility and promise.