Dog, Cu.

I have drawn what will be an occasional animal oracle card (maybe once a week) and the draw was Dog.

Doc
Cu.
Keywords Guidance, protection, Loyalty.

The card shows a deerhound similar to the hound portrayed in the bronze figure found at the third century shrine of the healer god Nodens at Lydney, Gloucestershire. Another healing sanctuary at Nettleton Shrub in Wiltshire was dedicated to Apollo Cunomalguss - the Celtic “Hound lord” showing that the dog was strongly associated with healing. It is a bright summers day, with the dog rose, dog daisy, dog violet and dog periwinkle all in flower. These hot days of July and August are called the dog-days because at this period the Dog star Sirius rises and sets with the sun, We see a pool beside the dog, for there is a deep symbolic connection between the dog and water.

Cu brings guidance and protection, acting as a loyal companion and friend on your journey in both this life and the next. In the Druid tradition the dog is seen as the Guardian of the Mysteries. As such, he can be fierce, but if our intentions are good, then Cu will lead us over the threshold through the darkness and the waters of the unconscious toward the shimmering realm of the Goddess. The time may come when you need to act with the spirit of Cu, to defend your values or protect that which you hold sacred. Faithfulness, trust, and loyalty are vital ingredients of close relationships, and the time may come for you to focus on these qualities, to develop them gradually in yourself and to appreciate them in others.

Guardian of the Mysteries.

The dog as champion guards more than human lives and livestock. He is the guardian animal o0f roads and track ways, of crossroads and gateways. Here we begin to glimpse the role of the dog as guardian of the Mysteries. Of the underworld. English folklore is replete with tales of the Black Dog, a phantom dog that presages death or patrols the networks of ancient track ways and roads, and other places of transit. Death represents a moment of transit from one place to another, and the dog stands at these threshold places as guardian and protector. Just as the dog would guard his master from harm in the physical world, so in the Otherworld would the dog guide and protect the soul of the dead. For this reason figurines of dogs often accompanied Celts in their graves, and favourite dogs were buried with their keepers. Later, dogs came to be depicted on gravestones for the same reason. Just as a faithful and loyal dog can guide a blind man through the obstacles and dangers of the physical world, so can the dog as spirit ally guide us safely through the Otherworld.

Excepts from the “Druid Animal Oracle.