Traversing the Heart Path ~ The White Stag …
from Hunter to Warrior and beyond …
I first met St Herbert during a thunderstorm near Austrian/Hungarian border, when I took shelter under his shrine. He had been a hunter tracking a white stag when he experienced something profoundly life changing. White or albino animals are considered sacred by many indigenous cultures throughout the world, often revered as a herald of new ways.
Our paths crossed again in Croatian marshes just over the Serbian border. Here, the story goes, he saw a bright cross between the stags antlers, yet the mythology of the White Stag predates Christianity.
Known as the Lord of the North in the Celtic realms, Authurian legends echo of his spiritual significance and synchronicity. The mythology of the White Stag seems to have originated in Asia and so moved from the East to the North - bringing two princes with her after significant flooding.
In the Hungarian legend the White Stag is actually an antlered Hind and vivid sparkling light or the sun is seen between them.
The two princes chasing her are led to where they eventually establish communities, one of which becomes Hungary. She is the Mother of the Sun, the Mother God, whose energy was still so palpable for me in Hungary. A principle that was continued in another form by the Cathars into the rest of Europe.
What is it about the feminine that these young hunters are chasing in these stories? All seem to lead to a spiritual initiation, in some a marriage - a sacred union with the feminine - and a building of community after loss.
Broadly speaking our actions into the outer world are masculine in nature, whereas our inner work and reflections are feminine.
On the spiritual path, the path of Heart seeks to marry and balance these aspects within ourselves. And this leads us on a journey, whether following a star, a white stag, spiritual guidance, a compelling dream or deep knowing - though any final destination is unknown - we keep moving.
As hunters we learn to track our inner world, observe ourselves, and how we react and respond to the world around us … this is shadow work.
Whether deep in the forest, through fields of paperwork or into the essence of our being, the skills required are the same. Over time we learn to trace all the way back to the origin.
And as we dig deep, we find the prize and recover the gold hidden under the dirt.
As persistence and progression hone our subtle senses we become acutely aware of our environments - inner and outer, our instincts and intuition become stronger and more refined.
As our developing inner wisdom informs our outer actions with more fluency … our external world takes on more ease in response to our increasing authenticity … we are now more warrior than hunter. Not in the sense that we’re battle ready - but that we’ve healed ourselves enough, we quietened our minds enough, to be in the stillness and silence of solitude. And without fear, tuned in to what may be hiding and emerging from the shadows within and without.
In many cultures the local medicine person or shaman is seen as a warrior. For they need the training of a hunter to be able to walk through the unseen realms to bring back messages for their communities. They require the ability to be fully present in their skin, know where they end and others start, to enter these realms, listen to the call of their heart and and retrieve what has been lost.
When we start to align with our heart path, we may discover there is a design that is so much greater than us that is woven into the fabric of our being.
We face a choice-less choice: to align with this great mystery and relinquish control, for it is our soul that speaks to us through the heart.
And that is what St. Herbert and the princes discovered on their hunts. Like St Paul of Damascus, it may seem to be a sudden transformation, but only after much hard work did that moment come. A moment of profound recognition of our divine heritage.
A warrior then is ready to be able to guide others through similar terrain by sharing their experience. The energetic intelligence of tracking themselves into the heart of deeper knowing and wisdom.
What appears to be ease has come by the hard work of paying attention, the desire to learn, go deeper and the dedication to an inner, innate knowing that this is all there is … that life is just beginning, there is no going back - ever.
And this is how communities can be built and rebuilt.
with much Love
from my Heart to yours
Tania Aurora White Crow
~ SUMMER 2022: reflections and insights ~