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PAN and the Darker Side of Ourselves

© Linda Casselman

Last time, we were introduced to the wild god of the wood, the Greek god Pan. If you remember, Pan was the god of the mountainside, pastures and flocks. Depicted as a sort of wildman with goat-like horns, legs and hooves, Pan was associated with the syrinx - the windpipes - a musical instrument he is credited with inventing. This lively god loved to dance and play music but he also loved to chase the many nymphs in a sexual frenzy, thus associating him with fertility, fecundity and virility. Pan was also especially associated with the notion or feeling of panic and that's what we're going to have a closer look at this week.

In Greek mythology and in the ancient Greek psyche, Pan was associated with the darker side of Nature, and even human nature, as he was paired with things like nightmares and sexual violence. As he is bearded, hairy and beastlike, he is the archetypal wildman, representing wild instinctive energy, uncontrollable instincts. This debauched, short-tempered, rural god has bound up within him all of the darker aspects of ourselves. Pan is the embodiment, the personification of our dark human nature.

Pan is all about Nature, instincts and natural experiences so he also signifies a way to our spiritual side, to spiritual enlightenment through concrete physical experiences rather than just through examining things with our intellect. In our civilized way of life on our way to progress we often forget about Nature and our natural, instinctual side.

So in the notion of panic, in the actual physical and emotional state of panic, Pan is revealing himself with the wisdom of Nature, showing us this wild side of ourselves. As "civilized" beings we don't necessarily like this darker side of our human nature and want to hide from it, run from it - we panic.

In fact, we fear this aspect of ourselves so much that we have demonized it with our new religions. Pan, being so wild and bestial, became the Christian perception of the Devil. Our modern, popular, Christian notion of what the Devil looks like equates with the ancient Greek god Pan: goat-like legs, hooves, and horns, shaggy appearance and wild looks. Christian religion tells us that the Devil is pure evil so it is denying these natural, instinctual aspects of ourselves, aspects that can also lead us to a spiritual union with God, the Great Spirit, the Divine Presence, or whatever else you prefer to call it.

The copyright of the article PAN and the Darker Side of Ourselves in Mythology is owned by Wayne Kreger. Permission to republish PAN and the Darker Side of Ourselves in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.