If you have ever had the privilege of meeting up with a stag, you know the sense of power, majesty and stateliness they exude. Take a quick look at the scene in The Queen (2006) where Helen Mirren captures a transformative moment, where Queen Elizabeth communes with a solitary stag on a hillside near Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

A stag once ran out in front of my car, bouncing off my hood, and staring at me momentarily before pushing on into the woods. It was bone-chilling and transformative. A very personal message of embracing my personal sovereignty in the dynamics of my family followed. I had heard or read of legends where the hero is transformed by meeting up with the stag, but never had I imagined such an encounter for myself.

Oracle cards tell us that pulling the Stag reminds us of our sovereignty- a concept often misunderstood in our modern-day world. It is clear that the sovereign was the king of the realm. Coins that bore the name or picture of the king were called sovereigns. We even refer to countries or principalities as sovereign.

However, the idea of personal sovereignty is not well understood. To be sovereign is to stand alone, yet to also accept interdependence in a wider world. The January 6th Capitol protester who says she is sovereign or the guy who dresses in antlers like the hunter god CeraIt is only in modern times that people-men and women- could expect to experience their own sovereignty. Yet it is a term misunderstood-witness the January 6 protest words and the guy dressed as Cernunnus has confused or misappropriated the idea of sovereignty.

In the ancient poem Song of Amergin, the line “I am the stag of seven tines” we are told of the true nature of sovereignty: grace, strength, maturity, gravitas, and spiritual enlightenment: understanding the Oneness within the greater whole.