Pan

Pan is an Aracadian shepherd god who appears as a regular satyr yet is unique enough as its own deity.  Pan is the god of nature, pasturing, forests, games, music and primal sex.  It is said that it was Pan who taught the young shephards the sacred act of masturbation to pass the slow and lonely hours away while in the fields.  He is often in the presence of Dionysus due to their common inclination and is represented as the archetypical “horny goat”.

The name “Pan” is Greek for the word “All” and has implications that Pan dualistic nature between wild beast and intelligent man transcends both animalistic earth and transmaterial human mind.  He has hooves that is the drumbeat of the earth and his horns are crowned with the diadems of heaven.  In Orphic Hymn, Phanes is the first creation of the Universe and appears to be a hybrid between Dionysus, Pan and Eros.

Pan, as with all satyrs, are masters of satire and comedy.  They are entertainers, musical in nature, jokesters and their presence creates opportunities to see situations from alternative perspectives.  Satyrdom is a spiritual way of being that a few men can evoke instinctually.  Often when in their presence, the hidden aspects of those around them begin to appear.  Perhaps that supposedly happily and devotedly married friend suddenly lets loose on a night out on the town.  Or that female friend is encouraged to have casual sex with that coworker with whom she has been flirting.  Either way, often these earthly and pleasureable are repressed and when they are expressed, sometimes they make their subjects uncomfortable.  Often the satyr is somehow blamed for their behavior and this is how the satyr becomes the “scapegoat”.