What is the Wild Hunt?
What is the Wild Hunt?
+ Language of the Birds Reading Group & Founders' Spell reminder.
4 Things You Should Know About The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is a ritual you’ll hear a lot about in pagan texts that can both inspire our imaginations AND offers us practical guidance for how to “hunt” out parts of ourselves that we’d like to reclaim.
We’ll be reading about and discussing the Wild Hunt at our reading group this Thursday.
Here are four delightful things to know about the Wild Hunt, just as a scrumptious little hors d'oeuvres …
During the Middle Ages, there were female ecstatic cults of night-flying goddesses, whose followers believed they were riding out with [the nature goddesses] Diana, Herodias, or Holda, accompanied by a train of souls of the dead.* (For real, this is an actual documented thing that happened).
Hecate, a goddess originally worshipped in Asia Minor and later in ancient Greece, was a leader of this ‘famous witch ride’ of the Middle Ages. Originally an underworld goddess associated with the crossroads, she flew about by night on the wind accompanied by her ‘host of Hecate’: ancestral spirits seeking their descendants, animal spirits, and the goddess herself seeking the witches of the future.
The wild hunt is a practice held over from ancient traditional cultures, where the souls of humans were hunted by the gods. (If you accidentally witnessed the Wild Hunt, they might take you with them back to the realms of the dead). But in traditional cultures “the hunt” is not self aggrandizing violence. Hunter and hunted are bound in a symbiotic relationship of honor and care. “The hunt” can also refer to humans seeking out the gods, or humans hunting parts within themselves that have been lost or are hidden. So if you feel like a part of you has been lost, like your creativity, confidence, sex drive, innocence, etc., engaging in the ritual of the Wild Hunt might be just the thing you need.
This Thursday at 6pm PST we’ll be discussing the Wild Hunt in our reading group. If you’d like to join us, scroll down to the bottom of this email. The link to join, and the text we’ll be discussing, is in the Upcoming Events section.
*This is a quote from the essay we’re reading this month in our Reading Group, The Wild Hunt, by Susan Greenwood. Scroll down to the Events section for the link to the text.
Love,
Amanda
P.S. Don’t forget to mark your calendar for next Tuesday, August 1st at 6pm. I’ll be holding a Lammas + Full Moon ritual in to call in Abundance and Creative Confidence. To join us, become a subscriber.
**Scholarship subscriptions are available for those in financial need. Email us at guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com — we want everyone who has the desire to be able to participate.
Study Questions for The Wild Hunt
Language of the Birds Reading Group: Text by Susan Greenwood
Several of the people referred to in the text discuss what the “wild” means for them. The word wild is controversial and complex, but is also something witches tend to talk about a lot. Based on this text, what does “wild” mean for you?
In this text, the author discusses how people living in modern Western cultures are “cut off” from nature, no longer recognizing themselves as dependent upon it for survival. But a relationship with nature can be re-established through the Wild Hunt ritual. What is your perspective on this?
This text discusses several practices the author has engaged in order to participate in the Wild Hunt, from creating posies as offerings and burning them in a fire, to wandering through the woods at night without a flash light. She also speaks of some of the other participants in these rituals, some of whom come off well, others less so. What is your evaluation of her magical practice, and your own, after reading this text? Our own self-criticism and self-judgement can be the biggest thing that gets in the way of our magical practice, so it’s important to consider.
Abundant Harvest Spell Instructions
For Founders Level Subscribers
During these candle spells for my Founders, I lend all my magical will towards you achieving whatever is within your highest good. I always perform the spells on one of the 8 Wheel of the Year Holidays to empower it with the blessings of the celebration.
This month the subject of the spell is Abundant Harvest. Write your petition about something you’ve worked for that you’d like to receive abundance in soon.
Make sure that that your petition is 40 words or less (1 sentence only) and that it is something you’ll be able to experience with your senses. (Nothing abstract, like “happiness.” How will you EXPERIENCE happiness?)
Send your petition to guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com