Lothlorien Poetry Journal Volume 14 – Living in the World Between Worlds features outstanding contemporary poetry and fiction from fifty-six internationally renowned poets and fiction writers. Join them on their journey where realism and fantasy share a dystopian world. “Far more often [than asking the question 'Is it true?'] they [children] have asked me: 'Was he good? Was he wicked?' That is, they were far more concerned to get the Right side and the Wrong side clear. For that is a question equally important in History and in Faerie.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories “Our ancestors said to their mother Earth: 'We are yours'. Modern Humanity said to Nature, 'You are mine'. The Green Man has returned as the living face of the whole earth so that through his mouth we may say to the universe: 'We are one'.” ― Sharon Brubaker, The Blossoming The truth of Nature is a part of the truth of God; to him who does not search it out, darkness; to him who does, infinity. — John Ruskin Cernunnos was a god of the wild who ruled over pristine nature and uncivilized ways. Animals were his subjects, and free-growing fruits and vegetable his bounty. Classical depictions of the deity included gatherings of animals such as elk, wolves, snakes, and aurochs. Such gatherings were possible thanks to Cernunnos’ abillity to bring natural enemies into peaceful communion with one another. This ability may have cast Cernunnos as a protector and provider amongst rural tribes and hunters. Similarly, Cernunnos may have been a fertility god or god of life. In some classical societies, the natural world was the origin of all life. Under this schema, the god of the wilds would also have served as a god of life, creation, and fertility. Gregory Wright