Hagging Out December: Twelfth Night for the Wild Hunt
For several years now I have honoured the Wild Hunt - the fierce spirits who hunt evildoers across the worlds. In my practice I consider Wōden as leader of the Hunt, and with Him at their head they ride throughout the dark half of the year, with their activity reaching a head during the liminal time between the Winter Solstice and Twelfth Night.
During this time I try to observe nightly devotionals and contemplation, culminating in ritual on Twelfth Night itself.
This year I offered loose-leaf berry and rosebud tea, its redness recalling the blood of the Hunt's prey. Offerings to the Hunt are both propitiatory, to encourage them to leave me and mine unharmed, and in thanks for the work they do to punish and destroy evil.
As part of my ritual, I recited rounds of my Wōden prayer beads, nine times nine heiti of the Old Man. This led me into trance and deep communion with Him and with the spirits of the Hunt. It also seemed an auspicious time both for some rune-casting divination for the year ahead, and for a spot of old-fashioned blasting with the aid of my blackthorn athame.
This calls to an end both the time of the Hunt's greatest activity, and the most important phase of my two-month Gēol season.
[With thanks to @graveyarddirt for running Hagging Out monthly.]
