Aontacht - Volume 7 Issue 3

and the Moon’s cycle. The crescent Moon isrepresented by the boar’s tusk and the fullMoon signified by the mirror. Venus may alsoplay a role here since her glyph is a mirror!Arthur in the hunt for the Wild Boar, TrwrchTrwyth, illus Margaret JonesCorona Borealis the constellation of Arianrhod, the Crown andthe Cauldrongoddess, Arianrhod- instructsthe soul as it rests between lives in her cauldron,her heavenly abode, Caer Arianrhod.When Arthur hunted on the mountainside ofCadair Idris with Gwyn ap Nudd, he was payinghomage to Arianrhod, the Moon lady, somethinga hero must do in order to move into widerterritory. Their quarry was, thewild boar, sacred to the Moon goddess becauseof his crescent shaped tusks. Arthur’s battlewith the boar gavehim the status of aninitiated warrior.From this story ofArthur’s hunt forthe boar with Gwynap Nudd, weunderstand thatthe young king could enter and leave the underworldAnnwn, at will. He, like Orpheus andPersephone entered the dimension of the deadwhile still alive and returned to bring its treasuresback to the living. The treasures of TwrchTrwyth, the boar, were a comb, a razor andscissors! In an ancient rock carving found inScotland, the boar’s tusk and a mirror are carvedin rock, a clue to the very old connection betweenthe warrior initiation, which the boar represents,Aontacht • 62Like the hero, Orion, who hunts the night skywith his dog, Sirius, Arthur also had a faithfulcanine companion, Cabal. The dog is often acompanion into the otherworld or, like Cerberus,the three-headed dog of the Greeks, heis a guardian of that world. Cabal’s footprintis found in Wales at Buelt where Arthur builta cairn for him, known as. One ofthe stones has the imprint of the dog’s paw. Itis one of the ‘’ that when astone is removed from the pile, it returns withina day or two. When you look up at thefamiliar figure of Orion with his blue star dog,Sirius in the winter sky, you can imagine theyoung warrior Arthur with his beloved hound,Cabal.http://www.welshstories.com/aattt/long_boar_2.jpgThis is part 1 of The Astrology of Arthur. Itwas previously published in slightly differentforms in Touchstone Magazine, and on my blog.