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for Enlarged Photo of Medallion
Sorcerer of
Les Trois Freres
Paleolithic
man was utterly dependant upon the animals he hunted.
He regarded them as similar to himself, but endowed with
supernatural powers. Early hunters often believed that
the God or Ancestor of the animals he hunted must be
sacrificed to, honored, and communicated with; hence,
the Lords of the hunt were often personified, or conversely,
the shaman/magicians of the tribe would become shape
shifters, entering into the consciousness of the animal
in order to commune with them and invoke their aid, powers,
or to atone with them. Such may have been the Sorcerer
figure found on the walls of an ancient initiation cave
in France. To this day, Morris dances in which the male
dancers wear horns on their heads are annually enacted
in the Spring, embodying the fertile potency of the Stag
king.
"The
thrilling hybrid figure of a man with antlered head,
round eyes, a long beard, animal (lion?) paws instead
of hands, the tail of a wild horse, and his sexual
organ placed beneath the tail seems to be a more important
personage than a 'sorcerer,' as he is called.... Abbe
Breuil was right to call him the 'God of Les Trois
Freres'....[This Master of Animals and Forests is]
shown moving, probably dancing."
Marija Gimbutas, The
Language of the Goddess, Harper & Row, 1989
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