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A Primer in Dianic Withcraft
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Stag
Of the first month Amergin sings, "I am a stag of seven tines." The Stag is the first of the four sacred animals to be mentioned in Amergin's poem. There is a very close relationship between the stag and the boar in mythology. It is the relationship of the waning and waxing light in the cycle of the year. Both are creatures of the Otherworld, who cross the boundaries between the worlds serving as messengers or guides across those boundaries. One is associated with the "Day" and other "Night" of the year. After Beltane, the Boar becomes a solar animal gifted with poetic wisdom and the power of the Stag is then bound to the green, growing earth below. And after Samhain, when the Boar who is now a Sow, wanders over the barren earth in the guise of a fearsome Goddess, while the Stag dwells in the celestial realms as a bright presence, offering hope.
The Stag is an appropriate messenger for the great change that is to take place after the Winter Solstice. Although the earth remains dark and fruitless, nights are still much longer than days, the light has begun to grow but is yet unnoticed. We are still held in the dark times, but a spark begins to glow before us, reminding us to stay in touch with the life force, for we are soon to be in the light again. The "stag of seven tines," who has been through many cycles of waxing and waning strength and always fought back to triumphant life, is a guide we can trust.
While the moon waxes, we observe light as a small bright flame, which shines out of the darkness for our quiet spirits. At the full moon, we can contemplate this stag, a luminous messenger and archetypal Changer. And as the moon wanes his image gives our light a direction, and as such, also comes a sense of hope for our future.
This is one way that we can view the changing light of the solar year. Just as we see the growth of the young goddess moving into her fertile cycles and then her decay, from birth to death, to birth, the bright and shining light of the fruitful goddess always deep within the hag as the seed of possibility.