One of the things I’m trying to do with my path is made a coherent and meaningful calendar of holidays– holy days. While much my calendar is based on a personal journey, and sort of follows several different stories at once, one of the numerous threads I’d like to incorporate into it is a small observance at the full moon each (more or less) month.
These observations are carefully tied into several other ideas and concerns of mine, but at the core, the lunar holiday schedule is based off of Amergin’s Mystery, as it is sometimes called. I’ve picked and chosen names for each full moon based on the lines in the first part of the poem. Beginning the full moon after Samhain, I hope to implement something a little more substantial than what I currently have right now with the full moon of Wind.
But since the full moon of October 4 recently passed, and since I am trying to start getting the mindset needed (or desired) more available to my brain, I want to ponder what it may hold for the coming month–the moon called Stag.
The stag is a highly symbolic creature in several stories and mythologies– the Welsh and Irish legends naming them as creatures of wisdom, age, adventure. In Irish myth, transformation into a deer occurs several times, such as in the story of Fionn’s wife Sabha, and his son Oísin. It is a faery beast, able to pass between the two worlds of humans and the world of spirits. The White Hind, the doe, is often a call to the adventuring knight to go questing, a signal that marvelous adventures await. As such, it is a symbol of the pursuit of wisdom, of the otherworld, of things uncanny.
The god was associated with deity or worshipped in several European cultures, with particular note in the Eastern European and Germanic peoples, including the Celts, and northern peoples, were reindeer in particular were prominent. The stag was worshipped as a kingly figure: noble, solitary, devoted to his people and protector of his land.
For more information on the lore of the stag, and the deer, see the OBOD lore page.
So what lessons may I take from the Stag and incorporate into my own life?
As my job hunt continues, I am finding that the metaphor of the quest is particularly meaningful and useful. Through my quest, I’ve mostly come up empty. Very few places have called me in for an interview–some of them fantastic prospects, and others less so–much like the young knight who has traveled long and far with no reprieve or sign of noble adventure.
However, since the advent of the full moon yesterday I have noticed a tiny pick up in the number of emails, calls and good leads I’m finding. And more than that, I’m noticing that while the delays, lack of responses and unsuccessful interviews are continuing, tiny rays of hope–contacts, names, recommendations, and further education prospects–are shining out even in the midst of all that frustration. Even if the interview scheduled for today was postponed, I got another interview for tomorrow afternoon.
Because I am the skeptical sort, I can’t say that these happenings are a result of Stag in my life, or lunar energy or whatever. Instead I’ll chalk it up to a merry meeting of coincidence, more focused job-hunting searches and even more refined uses of my resume and cover letter (I’ve gone through so many versions it had better be getting better).
I may contemplate on the subtle shift of focus I’ve had since recognizing the Stag moon, and chalk up my more positive turns and attitude to that, or meditate on the energy of the Stag, and the moon, and their role in my life this month, and see where that takes me. I may see these flashes of hope as I would see the tail of a white Stag, beckoning me deeper into the forest, spurring me on, and think that I’ll have Stag to thank.
(For the record, on the day I get a job, I’ll probably run around my backyard naked, pour out a bottle of wine, swear an oath of celibacy and sacrifice a goat or five in thanks to the fickle employment gods. So much for being a skeptic.)
But in the meantime, using the wisdom of the Stag–his focus, mediating abilities and his call to adventure, to stay on the quest–I can continue to rouse myself out of depression when the job hunt seems overwhelming, when my prospects look nonexistent, when living at home seems like several steps backward instead of an intermediary position. The calm majesty of this kingly creature can settle in my heart and give me comfort when I am in the heart of the deep woods without a place to go.
And his flashing tail, and spring into the dark, can lead me to the quest–to my home.
