June Solstice-A-Long Day 11: Return to the Otherworld

Good day! And welcome to Day 11 of the Three Cranes Grove Solstice-a-Long! 

As we prepared the practical nature of hearth and harvest yesterday, today we let go of the Otherworld energies we welcomed as the Winter Wanderer and Spirit of the Greenwood, as they shapeshift into the Boar and Stag, both with other-wordly associations of prosperity and abundance we hope to have for the new year.

Light the previous candles and then light the eleventh, placing the appropriate symbol and offering.

Southern Hemisphere:  The Cosmic Boar Hunt is a theme that, according to Alexei Kondratiev in “The Apple Branch,” symbolizes the cycle of the sun and the earth’s fertility.  The boar’s head would be used for swearing oaths, but most of us don’t have access to one of those.  So, a statue of a boar would be fine, and special honoring for Frey and Freya (or, as always, other deities and spirits) perhaps, given their associations with the animal.  Offering of an apple for the Great Boar, in case it passes by your house.

Northern Hemisphere: Kontratiev juxtaposes the Boar with the Stag in his book, and as we welcomed the perhaps-antlered Spirit of the Greenwood early in the devotion, it is fitting then to honor the Stag as he prepares for his most fertile time. Symbols of the Stag and offerings for deities of the hunt.