The Wild Hunt - Moving With the Storm, Not Against It

By Harvala Heathor Clinkenbeard

Gythia for TrúFolk Kindred, Raven Folk United

As the dark half of the year deepens and winter winds begin to stir, many of our ancestors would say, “The Hunt is riding.”

This is the season when the veil thins, not in the soft way people romanticize, but in the raw, bracing way that wakes the spirit. The Wild Hunt moves through the worlds, sweeping away stagnation, stirring fate, testing courage, and calling souls back to alignment.

The Wild Hunt isn’t a single story, it is a current that shows up across Norse and Germanic tradition. Ynglinga Saga (chapters 6–7) describes Odin riding through the world with the dead. Heimskringla and Hákonarmál reference Odin’s chosen warriors riding out in procession, similar to the Hunt. Older Germanic belief preserved in folklore calls it Wodan’s Hunt, the Asgårdsrei, or the Åsgårdsreia in Norway.

The Hunt is most strongly connected to the winter half, especially Winter Nights and Yule. These are times when the dead are closest, when the gods of winter, Ullr, Skadi, and Odin in his storm-king aspect, move most strongly.

The Wild Hunt is a procession of gods, ancestors, spirits, and the restless dead. A cleansing storm that pulls loose what is dying or stagnant. A summons to courage, clarity, and alignment with wyrd. A test, where unbalanced people get shaken, and the steady stand firm.

The Hunt sweeps through the Nine Worlds to break up stuck energy, clear the unseen pathways, and call wandering souls home.

You'll know the Hunt is near when people often feel sudden clarity, sudden agitation, strange dreams, heightened intuition, a call to old memories, and a desire to make things right or cut things off. Animals may act differently. The air may feel charged. You may hear winds at night that seem to whisper. This is the season when the worlds overlap, when the unseen rides close.

Instead of fearing the Hunt, our folk move with it. Stand still in the storm. Take a moment each night to be still. Breathe deeply. Feel the pressure in the air. This is how you sense when the Hunt rides near.

This is a powerful time to ask for protection, guidance, omens, and strength through transition.

Perfect runes for this season:

Eihwaz – movement between worlds, endurance, the axis of Yggdrasill

Perthro – fate, the unseen, the hidden draw

Tiwaz – courage, direction, aligning to your highest truth

Isa – the necessary stillness before movement

Work with them by carving them into candles, wearing them on the body, chanting galdr in the cold air, and meditating on them under the night sky.

A simple Vril breath:

Inhale sharply through the nose, feel energy enter the spine. Hold. Exhale slowly through the mouth, direct the energy down into the earth.

Let the Hunt clear your path. When chaos rises around you, whether social, emotional, or spiritual, remember that this is the Wild Hunt doing what the Hunt does. Ask yourself: What in my life needs to be cut away? Where am I resisting change? What am I being called to chase—or to release?

This is a time to walk with intention.

The Wild Hunt is not something to fear.

It is something to honor, a sacred force that burns away what no longer belongs in our lives. It brings strength, clarity, and the courage to face ourselves honestly. Let yourself rise with it.