The image of a Stag is a powerful one: it is seen in art, heard of in song, stories and strikes a spark of racial memory which seems to reach back for generations. When one sees an outline of a stag, one gets a sense of freedom, wilderness and awe.
Like the Buffalo in the Native American mid planes culture, the Stag was revered as Sacred among the Celts: offering food, tools, clothing and more for the conscious hunter. To bring down a deer meant the Household would be able to eat and live well for some time. For this and many other reasons, the image of Hern lived in the hearts and minds of the Celts for many generations.
The first mention in literature if Hern (or Herne) is in Shakespeare’s “The Merry wives of Windsor”, however many ascribe the idea of Hern to a much earlier time. A “ghost” who walks the Woods of Windsor Forest with a great rack of horns.
In the relatively new movement of Neo-Paganism, Hern’s Image has been re-awakened; there is a great deal of tribute to Hern in writings, both in fiction and tomes of Celtic Heritage.
To celebrate the Neo-Pagan view, I have created the Hern’s Pentacle Amulet. This combines the image of a stag head whose rack of horn embraces a pentacle. The bail is hidden behind the pentacle to give the amulet a sense of “floating” on your chain or cord.