Oddly enough for someone who spent the first 42 years of their life exclusively in Africa, Wild boars have frequently snuffled around the corners of my life. Maybe something to do with my Celtic heritage that they’ve travelled over the centuries far from Europe in my blood. We have warthogs here, but boars are quite different.
I grew up in a house that was crazy about Asterix comics in which wild boars (particulary roasted) are an ongoing theme and so when I was 16, my father offered as a birthday gift that I choose any meat I like from the exotic game butchery that had opened up in my city. Of course I chose boar. We roasted it. My first taste of the meat that was sacred to my ancestors.
Years later, I was gifted a genuine boar bristle hairbrush which I still use daily, and finally, When Tom took me to France three years ago - a trip which was a magical initiation in it's own right, While viewing an ancient stone carving on the riverbank near Rennes les Bain, we found a boar’s skull in a river. Someone else had already taken the tusks, so I took two of the teeth which I later scrimshawed and mounted on my ceremonial necklace.
on first thought, it is odd for the boar to be the denizen of the Sun Card since boars are predominately nocturnal (or crepuscular), but there is a premis:
The boar throughout history has represented strength and nobility. Particularly victory in battle as well as fertility and the animal was frequently buried in a field with seed in it's belly to ensure a fertile harvest.
In the dream that became this card, I saw a boar walking through a wheat field, the heads of seed and the animal’s coat catching the early morning light like Gullinbursti’s golden hair.
In the Norse epic, the poetic eda, Gullinbursti was a glowing golden mechanical boar created by the dwarfs, Sindri and Brock for the God Frey
“And now, strange to tell, from the roaring fire
Came the Golden Haired GullinBörst,
to serve as a charger the Sun-god Frey,
Sure, of all wild boars, this the first”
The boar is also sacred to the god Moccus, of the Gaulish tribe, the Lingones and is considered analogous to Lugh, the Celtic god of the the Sun, arts & crafts, baking, and magic. Moccus is still worshipped by modern groups of druids, wiccans and celtic polytheists as a god of the sun and fertility and as a protector. His modern feast day is the Winter solstice.
I have spoken before about how every card in this deck has brought a wealth of correlations and wisdom into my life and this one is no exception. As with the previous cards, I am guided by dreams and only research after I have completed it. I had never heard of Moccus before this (although as a baker and artist, I celebrate Lammas which is dedicated to Lugh) and so not only the design of this card, but also the fact that I finished it on the Eve of the Winter Solstice was another cord in the web of wyrd.
The winter solstice is a celebration that spring is on the way, it is a joyful celebration of the warm dawn following the darkest and this is what defines the Sun card. The end is in sight and now you can celebrate. it is the card of relentless optimism and joy, Now is your time in the sun (literally) you can relax with a cocktail and bask in your victory.
At it's zenith, there are no shadows and so The Sun is the card of honesty, you have banished your shadows and are free. Not only is there nowhere to hide, but you bask in the light because you have nothing to hide. You are happiest and most successful now that you are in alignment with your true self.
The boar is an indomitable force of nature, and you are riding him like Frey to the Yule feast.