Cernunnos - the Horned One

With the development of agriculture there was a further elevating of the Goddess. She now watched over fertility of the crops as well of tribe and of animal. The year, then, fell naturally into two halves. In the summer food could  be grown, and so the Goddess predominated; in the winter wo/man had to revert to hunting, and so the God predominated. The other deities (of wind, thunder, lightning, etc.) gradually fell into the background, now of secondary importance.

As wo/man developed, so did the religion  for that is what is had become, slowly and naturally. Wo/man spread across Europe, taking the gods along. As different countries developed, so the God and Goddes acquired different names (though not always totally different, sometimes simply variations on the same name), yet they were essentially the same deites. This is well illustrated in Britain where, in the south of England, is found Cernunnos (literally „the Horned One“). To the north the same god is know as Cerne: a shortened form. And in still another area the name has become Herne.

By now, wo/man had learned not only to grow food but also to store it for the winter. So hunting became less important. The Horned God came now to be looked upon more as a God of Nature generally, and a God of Death and what lies after. The Goddess was still of fertility and also of rebirth, for wo/man had developed a belief in a life after death. This is evidenced from the burial  customs of the period The Gravettians (22,000-18,000 B.C.E) were innovators here. They would bury their deceased with full clothing and ornaments and would sprinkle them red ochre (hematite, or iron peroxide), to give back the appearance of life Frequently, family members would be buried beneath the hearth so that they might remain close to the family. A man would be buried with his weapons; perhaps even his dog – all that he might need in the afterlife.

It is not difficult to see how a belief in a life after death same about. At the root of it were dreams. To quote from Witchcraft From the Inside (Buckland, 1975):
„When Man slept he was, to his family and friends, like one of the dead. True, in sleep he occasionally moved and he breathed, but otherwise he was lifeless, yet when he awoke he could tell of having been out hunting in the forest. He could tell of having met and talked with friends who really were dead. The others, to whom he spoke, could believe him for they too had experienced such dreams. They knew he had not actually set foot outside the cave but at the same time they knew he was not lying. It seemed that the world of sleep was as the material world. There were trees and mountains, animals and people. Even the dead were there, seemingly unchanged many years after death. In this other world, then, Man must need the same things he needed in this world.“

With the development of different rituals – for fertility, for success in the hunt, for seasonal needs – there necessarily developed a priesthood: a select few more able to bring results when directing the rituals. In some areas of Europe (though probably not as generally widespread as Murray indicated) these ritual leaders, or priests and priestesses, became know as the Wicca – the Wise Ones.