The Spirit of the Stag
With its majestic antlers crowning the Moon, the stag cuts a breathtaking figure, embedded in humanity’s subconscious ever since our ancestors lived in caves. The proud animal has been a symbol of many different deities throughout millennia — and its symbolism is particularly strong during the Yule season.
Here’s what you need to know about the lore of the stag and all its witchy correspondences.
The stag in myths and legends
The first images of stags appear in Paleolithic times. Cave drawings show humans with horns on their heads or animals with antlers that turn into tree branches filled with fruit. It’s easy to see why these majestic animals and their natural armor would be connected with depictions of fertility and abundance: deer hunting secured meat and hides, while the antlers and horns could be sharpened into weapons.
When our ancestors stepped out of the caves, stags became the guiding spirits among tribes throughout the ancient world, a symbol of kingly authority and majesty, very often leading the populace to new and better lands. Several myths, especially around ancient Eurasia, depict the stag as miraculous creatures, either female horned deer or male stags with golden antlers. Imagery of stags holding the Sun or the Moon with their antlers or having a star on their forehead has been depicted in Neolithic and Bronze Age art as well as in oral traditions such as songs and poems. Whichever the case, the correlation between the stag imagery and celestial objects (more often the Sun) remained strong well into medieval Europe. The stag, in this case, is seen as both a symbol of rebirth and a symbol of passage into the underworld.
In ancient Greek mythology, the stag was associated with Artemis, the Maiden Goddess of the hunt (who later on also became Goddess of the Moon). In several Greek myths related to Artemis, the stag played a dual part: sacredness and sacrifice. In a myth connected to the beginning of the Trojan War, King Agamemnon accidentally kills a sacred stag of Artemis — and to punish him, the Goddess withholds the winds so that his ships couldn’t sail for Troy. As penance, Agamemnon has to sacrifice his daughter to Artemis — but at the last minute, the Goddess takes pity on the girl and grabs her from the altar, leaving another stag to be sacrificed in her place.
In Irish mythology, a druid turns a beautiful woman into a deer, which the hero Finn macCumhail comes across and refuses to kill. The woman returns to her human form, and they get married, later separating because Finn had to lead his band of heroes, the Fianna, on another adventure to defend his country. Years later, Finn macCumhail finds a fawn in the woods, who turns into a boy: Finn’s own son, who grows to be a great warrior like his father. In this tale, it is implied that the stag is Finn himself, the animal becoming a metaphor for being a brave warrior and a protector of the innocent.
But the most well-known depiction of the stag in myth to us is the Celtic-Gaulish God Cernunnos, “The Horned One.” Cernunnos also encompasses the duality between man and nature: he is depicted cross-legged, surrounded by animals, but a pair of majestic antlers emerge from his head. Cernunnos usually holds a torc, a bag of coins or grain, and a cornucopia, further strengthening the connection between stag imagery and fertility/abundance. More importantly, Cernunnos is an example of a different kind of masculinity and male energy: one that protects and nourishes instead of attacking and conquering.
It’s worth noting at this stage that stag depictions in myths and legends aren’t only featured in European lore. Several Native American and First Nation myths centered around these animals, most associated with fertility, compassion, and respect towards nature. The Cherokee legend of the deer god Awi Usdi centers around teaching humans that killing animals should only be done for food, after a spiritual preparation and asking for permission from the animal they will kill. The hunter, in this case, shows empathy towards the hunted, revealing they are two sides of the same coin, neither less important than the other.
Buddhist, Hindu, and Shinto myths also feature the stag in various ways. From the tale of Buddha being reincarnated into a deer to teach compassion, empathy, and karma to the tale of the goddess Saraswati taking a deer form to teach humans about wisdom and the view of deers in Shinto mythology as divine messengers, this beautiful animal has always straddled the Veil between the seen and the unseen, wisdom and wildness, abundance and abandon.
The Stag in Wicca and Witchcraft
When Margaret Murray wrote God of the Witches in 1931, she intended to change people’s perceptions about viewing Pagan deities as evil and shed light on what she thought back then was a continuous witchcraft tradition that had survived the witch burnings. What she inadvertently did, though, was influence Gerald Garder and thus the foundation of Wicca itself.
Because it was important to show the balance between male and female energies in the universe, next to the Great Goddess arose the Horned God, a syncretization of Cernunnos and other horned deities from various cultures (mostly European). Murray believed that there was a “proto-horned god” worshipped in Europe and that all subsequent horned deities (like Pan or Cernunnos) were simply different expressions of him. When Gardner wrote the first official Wiccan texts, he saw the Horned God undergoing a cyclical journey tied to the Turning of the Wheel, transforming from the Green Man of springtime to the Oak King and Holly King of winter.
Just like in all the Stag myths, however, the fundamental symbolism behind the Horned God remains the same: masculinity that’s strong but not aggressive, a protector of nature and the Goddess, a leader and a bringer of abundance who’s also willing to sacrifice for his loved ones. That seems to be the magickal spirit of the stag.
The Yule Stag and How to Honor it
Yule is the time of the year when the stag archetype becomes most prominent. As we’ve seen, there’s always been a connection between the stag and celestial objects — and this became even more prominent during liminal times such as the Winter Solstice. In many Germanic and northern Pagan traditions, a white deer was supposed to retreat into a cave where it would give birth to the Sun, an explanation for the rebirth of hope following the longest night of the year.
But perhaps the most important association between the spirit of the stag and the Yule season comes in the form of the Yule stag, also known as the gifting stag. The Celts believed the gifting stag was a manifestation of Cernunnos himself, appearing about a fortnight before the Winter Solstice (what would now be December 6, when the Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated in Christian traditions). The gifting stag was depicted as having “yellow eyes burning with compassion,” and it would come to remind people to have moderation and balance in their hearts during the Winter Solstice celebrations. The gifting stag would be seen standing at the edge of the woods (and metaphorically, at the edge of the Veil), or it would “knock” on people’s doors with its antlers. When people heard the knock, they were supposed to open their doors and invite the stag inside their homes — and their hearts.
So how can you honor the gifting stag during this Yule season? Here are some ways:
-Meditate on the spirit of the stag
The holiday season can often be one of frantic activities. Take a moment of stillness to reach the spirit of the stag and find your inner balance between wildness and wisdom.
-Write down the things you feel grateful for
It’s common practice to write down what we want to manifest or fixate on what we don’t have. The stag asks you to focus on and honor your existing abundance.
-Be mindful of your food consumption, particularly meat
Many Wiccans choose to become vegetarian. If you haven’t made that decision yet, give thanks to any animal products you’re consuming during the holidays. Be mindful of their sacrifice.
-Light a candle/do a spell for the benefit of someone else
Focusing your magick on the welfare of others is a great way to honor the spirit of the stag. Keep these spells simple: workings for better health or for love to come their way are ideal.
-Try to be in nature as much as possible
It may be hard if you live in a city, but even visiting a park and allowing the stillness of trees and snow to ground you will do wonders for your energy. And if you’re lucky, you may even spot the figure of the stag, looking at you with compassion from across the Veil.
