Most of the stories I found on the history of gargoyles pointed to a town in France outside of Paris called Rouen. The story tells of a dragon that lived in the Sene river and terrorized the town by eating people along the river banks and burning ships trying to pass. The dragon's name... you guessed it... Gargouille.
The legend goes that around the year 600 AD a Christian monk named Romanus came to town and defeated the dragon and delivered the dead beast to the town's people who immediately decided to burn it. The body of the dragon went up in flames quickly, but the head and neck wouldn't burn. Taking this as a sign from God, the towns people mounded the head and neck of the dragon on a village wall as a reminder of God’s great power. This practice soon spread from town to town and the neck and head of Gargouille became the model of today's gargoyle.
The word Gargoyle comes from the French word Gargouille and so it should be no surprise that the oldest gargoyles standing today are found in France. These gargoyles are on Cathedrals and are a part of what is called Scripture in Stone. According to most scholars, these gargoyles were placed on religious structures to preach the gospels to the illiterate and warring classes by putting the fear of hell in them. Others believe the gargoyles are demons of lost souls placed there to scare away greater demons. Regardless of the reason, all the great cathedrals of France have them.
The two greatest of these cathedrals are Notre Dame and Chartres. The gargoyles of Notre Dame are rumored to take flight after dark and watch over the cafes of Paris. The gargoyles of Chartres are said to watch over the countryside to scare away oncoming threats.
As I have already mentioned, the word Gargoyle is from the Old French word Gargouille which means throat. If you look at most of the old Gargoyles you'll see they have long necks with a head at the end in the form of a long spout. The English words gurgle and gargle share the same French root as the word gargoyle. This really makes sense because in architecture any drainpipe leaning off the side of a building is called a gargoyle. Conversely, if a stone carving does not carry water but does have a horrible face or image on it architects call it a grotesques.
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| Ostara (1901) by Johannes Gehrts. Spring feasts were held to honour the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre/Ostara. |
Although gargoyles and grotesques placed on cathedrals are believed to be of Christian origin, a closer look does tell another story. A closer look tells the story of how a winter's solstice celebration became the birth of a savoir; and, how a Spring feast once held to honor the goddess Eostre became the resurrection Easter Sunday meal. Stonemasons who had passed from being an apprentice to a journeyman knew this and so worked out their own ideas in their carvings. They were, in a sense, independent artist and so were free to do pretty much as they liked. So why then did they choose to place so many pagan images on the religious buildings of their day? Could it be they still held onto the old beliefs in secret. After much research, I for one believe the carvings were a message for those with eyes to see. A prime example of this are the many gargoyles of The Green Man, also known as The Jack in the Green, who was the pagan god of tree worship and can be found in the many grotesques wearing crowns of leaves and branches.
Another common image from paganism that is found on many cathedrals is the multi-face grotesques that represents Diana the virgin goddess and protector of childbirth. Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, and Virbius, the woodland god. These three-faces of the gods to the cults were once worshiped as the Christian holy trinity, that is, until the Pope realized their true meaning and so had the practice banned. Still, the Pope left the pagan symbols on the cathedrals as to not upset the will of the people; seems, even the Pope had a thing for our pagan past.
So, along with diverting rainwater and scaring off evil spirits, gargoyles seemed to me to be a way for the artist who placed them there to tell the story of the old religion; the old Pagan religion before the Christian church came along and gave the town's people the choice to convert to the new Man God, or, well... die. Knowing this, it's easy to see that these gargoyles are pagan messengers reminding us of the truth that all the Money God could not defeat. The natural religion in all of us that didn't need a priest for forgiveness. The natural religion in all of us that isn't a Man God, but both a man and woman god. The god of the trees, the wind, the earth; Gaia: the god in each of us.
Looking at the gargoyle outside my window now made sense. It wasn't a talisman of luck, scarer of demons, or messenger for god. No, it was more; the messenger of truth. A truth to not concern myself with the lies and craziness of the world today for they have always been there and always will be. The truth, as our ancestors knew, wasn't in their powerful lies, large cathedrals, or love of money. No, truth was in the whistling wind and swaying trees. The real god, the god inside of us, the earth god, Gaia. And she is speaking to us now. And the gargoyles, like the trees and the wind, are part of her message. I no longer needed to watch the news to know what was happening with the Covid-19 virus. I had all the news I needed outside my window. Everything is as it should be. The message of the gargoyles.
~~ Dr. TV Boogie
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