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| La caza salvaje de Odín [The Wild Hunt of Odin] 1872 by Peter Nicolai Arbo |
I have been pondering the coming of the Wild Hunt, as the days grow shorter, and the nights get colder, and Halloween or Samhain (pronounced Sah-win) draws close, and the vail between worlds is thin.
The Wild Hunt is a pagan folk myth found in many different countries The first known written reference to it was from 1127 AD in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, one of the oldest sources of Anglo-Saxon history. It is a supernatural procession made up of riders on various creatures including horses and giant dogs racing through the night sky.
Depending on which culture tells the story, it usually takes place on a particular day, usually at Samhain (Halloween), Midsummer's Eve or around the 12 days of Yule.
Again, depending on who you ask, it is lead by Odin, Herne or even a goddess such as the Hulda (Northern European)ancient Goddess of birth and death or even a gathering of the more predatory beings of faerie.
The Wild Hunt is a powerful and uncontrollable, and frightening event, but sometimes it can be depicted as a magnificent parade that carries the souls of the dead to visit with loved ones (Samhain/ Day of the Dead) or lead a worrier off to the afterlife. In nature, it could be compared to a mighty, tumultuous storm. Either way it is wild, beautiful, frightening spectacular, and completely beyond mortal control.
As an eclectic pagan, I love when old mythology is incorporated in modern literature. One of my favorite series that does that quite often is Jim Butcher's Urban Fantasy series "The Dresden Files". He mentions the Wild Hunt and his interpretation in at least 3 books: Dead Beat, Proven Guilty, and Cold Days. (Check out the series on Amazon)
How do you envision the Wild Hunt?
