Becoming The Stag: Surrender

How to become The Stag and surrendering to being the hunted.

When I think of the Stag, I think of power, nobility and strength. I think of the antlers and being the Alpha. So, when I think of the Stag it is hard to imagine surrendering.  The idea was hard to grasp at first. How do I embody the potency of such an animal and still surrender?
Again I find myself having to stop my linear thinking. I had to stop believing I understood where I would find the answers, or already know what I would find. I had to stop believing I already knew the answer to the question I was asking.
So I begin by listing the qualities The Stag brings.

Totem- Deer by Oka (2010)
http://okawolf312.deviantart.com/gallery/

• Masculine Power
• Strength
• Nobility
• Pride
• Leadership
• Alertness
• Gracefulness
• Cunning
• Responsibility (to/for the Herd)

The more I thought about it, the longer the list got. I even found other qualities listed that I hadn't known, like regeneration, psychic accessibility, love and many more. How do I include the things like having to know where the best and most plentiful food and water sources are. Having to know where the best parts of the forest are to be, so as to not risk the self or any of the herd to the hunters. All the hunters...

That was when it hit me.
There is no how to the becoming part of the hunt. It just is. The Stag is one of the Hunted. This is what is, and I do not have to do anything for this to be true. I just had to recognize what is.
So instead I have to ask myself, how do I become one of the Hunted. How do I surrender to that?
Be The Stag.
Embody him.  Accept all the gifts he has to offer. Open the senses. Accept the strength and masculine power as my own. Accept the gracefulness and stand with pride. Feel the nobility in his presence and accept the responsibility of leadership.
When I can do that, When I accept all he has to offer, when I surrender to him fully, then I will, without having to do anything, be surrendering to the hunt.

This totem is new to me, and I must respect the learning I have to do surrounding it. I think I am off to a good start.
I found myself very eager to more fully examine my connection to him and bring him more directly, more consciously forward. As I brought it forward I was afraid that the sensations were incomplete. That I was only focusing on the masculine potency, the virility. But, somehow, I am certain I was not. I am quite open to the psychic energies and a gentleness that he brings, even in my (metaphorically) turgid state. His power and wisdom are available to me, but there is no way I could accept the breadth and depth all at once. I must remain patient with myself in this, and know I can do this.

And something else important. Something else that I had started to question. Why would I want to surrender to the hunt? If I surrender, doesn't that mean death? How sensible is that? I had trouble with the idea that I would work to integrate a new totem, only to sacrifice it by surrendering to the hunt.
That wouldn't make sense.
There must be another answer..
Surrendering to the hunt does not mean surrendering to the Hunter. It means accepting that I am hunted, and that attuning his gifts, and opening ALL my senses will allow me to be an active participant in the hunt. If I am actively accepting of this, I can join in the Hunt, be the Hunted, and live.

That's pretty potent.