The Twelve Wild Swans Read online

  We are an evolving, dynamic tradition and proudly call ourselves Witches. Honoring both Goddess and God, we work with female and male images of divinity, always remembering that their essence is a mystery that goes beyond form. Our community rituals are participatory and ecstatic, celebrating the cycles of the seasons and our lives, and raising energy for personal, collective, and earth healing.

  We know that everyone can do the life-changing, world-renewing work of magic, the art of changing consciousness at will. We strive to teach and practice in ways that foster personal and collective empowerment, to model shared power, and to open leadership roles to all. We make decisions by consensus, and balance individual autonomy with social responsibility.

  Our tradition honors the wild, and calls for service to the earth and the community. We value peace and practice nonviolence, in keeping with the Rede “Harm none, and do what you will.” We work for all forms of justice: environmental, social, political, racial, gender, and economic. Our feminism includes a radical analysis of power, seeing all systems of oppression as interrelated, rooted in structures of domination and control.

  We welcome all genders, all races, all ages and sexual orientations, and all those differences of life situation, background, and ability that increase our diversity. We strive to make our public rituals and events accessible and safe. We try to balance the need to be justly compensated for our labor with our commitment to make our work available to people of all economic levels.

  All living beings are worthy of respect. All are supported by the sacred elements of air, fire, water, and earth. We work to create and sustain communities and cultures that embody our values, that can help to heal the wounds of the earth and her peoples, and that can sustain us and nurture future generations.

  The commitment to a model of shared power has influenced our teaching, our approach to ritual and magical training, and our organizational structures. Our Avalon would not be directed by one High Priestess: it would be governed by a council. Our novices would not be expected to blindly obey authority, but to understand and keep the agreements and disciplines of community life. Hilary and I are cowriting this book for the same reason we co-teach in Reclaiming: to model shared power.

  We recognize three kinds of power in ourselves and in human societies. Power-over, or domination—the ability of an individual or group to impose force or sanctions, or to control the resources of others—is one we are all familiar with and face in most areas of our lives, from school to work. Power from within is a very different kind of power, more akin to creativity than force. The root meaning of the word power is “ability,” and power from within is our ability to do, to say, to make, to act, to imagine, to dream, to make our dreams real. Power from within is not limited: if you have the power to paint a beautiful landscape, it doesn’t limit my power to do the same. In fact, I might learn from watching you, and find my own power from within enhanced. Our magical training fosters and nurtures power from within. We call this process gathering power, or empowerment.

  The third kind of power, power-with, is relational, the influence or status we might have among a group of equals. When we become leaders, teachers, or activists, we must become aware of power-with and learn to work with it consciously.

  The training we offer takes many forms: weekly classes co-taught by at least two teachers in our home communities, weekend workshops or seminars, individual apprenticeships, long-term training, and the weeklong intensives we call Witchcamps, where a team of up to twelve teachers creates a program for a large body of students that includes both smaller, focused classes and large group rituals that explore a theme.

  This book is in part the story of our community, and you will be introduced to many of the characters we’ve worked with and been inspired by over the years. The material we draw on has been developed and used by a web of teachers that now stretches across North America and Europe. We have tried to record here at least some of what we’ve learned over the last twenty years of practice.

  If you could travel to that magic isle of Avalon, you might find on it somewhere a library filled with ancient leather-bound books of lore, herbals scented with lavender and rosemary, spell books fragrant with incense, Books of Shadows kept by Witches to record their magical work. Imagine that this book comes from that library. Take it down from the shelf, breathe its spicy scent, and settle yourself into a cozy nook. Mysteries await you. Prepare to explore the magic realms.

  A Map of the Magic Isle:

  Finding Your Way Through This Book

  Magic is not linear. A magic isle would be crisscrossed not by straight roads but by winding and circular trails that meet in unexpected places and double back on each other. Because this book outlines an initiatory journey, its structure is also spiraling and complex. However, we hope to provide you with clear signposts and a good map to guide your way.

  We’ve chosen one of our favorite stories, “The Twelve Wild Swans,” as the theme for this book. It’s not a comfortable story, and the work that arises from it may be very challenging. But it contains within it the instructions for a transformative journey.

  “The Twelve Wild Swans” is an old, old story. It is found all over Europe in hundreds of versions, from Scandinavia to Italy, and shares elements with other tales ranging from Eastern Europe to Ireland. Rich with symbolism and emotion, the story serves as a powerful connecting thread for training in ritual and magic.

  In the Goddess tradition, we have no sacred text other than nature herself. We have no Bible, no Koran, no Bhagavad Gita, no official compilation of myth and story. What remains of the stories our ancestors told are passed down to us as fairy tales and folk tales. These tales have been told for centuries around the fire at night, as entertainment. While some storytellers may have repeated them word for word as they learned them, others felt free to embroider and add what they considered improvements. Some may have remembered every detail; others took a half-forgotten tale and reconstructed it, perhaps mixing in details from some other story. When politics and religion changed form and heresy was redefined, dangerous aspects of the stories were hidden or given a Christian gloss.

  Working with these tales involves a process of uncovery. It’s as if we’re trying to sail an old, old ship so encrusted with barnacles and seaweed that the true shape of the keel can only barely be discerned.

  When we start the scraping-away process, we face the temptation of simply removing all the elements that make us uncomfortable or that don’t fit our current picture of how things should be. But often the power in the story arises from those aspects that make us uneasy. How do we distinguish the barnacles from the underlying carving that has been obscured?

  In the Reclaiming tradition, we approach the stories in a unique way. We do not analyze them for archetypal elements, in Jungian fashion. We do not take the characters, Goddesses, or Gods as role models for how we should be as women or as men, nor do we see the tales as morality plays.

  Instead, we look for the true form of the ship. We find clues in the colors, symbols, and actions and their historical associations. When we encounter an aspect of the story that seems problematic, we welcome it as an opportunity to work fully with the material it evokes through meditation, reflection, and ritual. As we do so, the story evolves and transforms. We may never know what the original intention of the first tellers was, but we can know what our intentions are and how the tale can work for us.

  “The Twelve Wild Swans” has been used many times as a theme in Reclaiming Witchcamps, and we’ve poked and prodded at the incrustations many times. The version we’ve chosen for this book is our own retelling and includes the aspects we’ve found most rewarding our probes. Many other versions exist, and the bibliography includes references to other retellings and interpretations.

  At first glance, the tale can be mistaken for yet another story of a woman sacrificing herself for men, yet another lesson to women to keep silent instead of raising our voices loud. In Reclaiming, we welcome the chanc
e to explore these issues, challenge the stereotypes, and transform the pain and rage they evoke. But we also find in this story a profound guide through the process of growth and empowerment.

  The power of “The Twelve Wild Swans” comes precisely from its disquieting elements. Rose sets out to rescue her brothers. Is this a reversal of the old male/hero/rescuer stereotype, or a perpetuation of the dreary old role of woman sacrificing for men, or something else entirely? Rose is enjoined to keep silent during her painful task. Is this another incidence of oppression, or a teaching about power?

  Over the years of scraping away at this story, we’ve found the keen hull of an initiation tale—not in the sense of a formal initiation into a tradition, but initiation as a rite of passage leading to a fuller state of being. Every initiation begins with a challenge, a task that we take on. It becomes a journey that requires leaving a comfortable state of being for danger and risk. On the way, if we’re lucky and worthy, helpers and guides appear. They may offer us still more tests and challenges. If we face them successfully, we grow in power—not power over others, but power from within, creative, magical, and healing power.

  Encoded in “The Twelve Wild Swans” is a set of instructions for becoming a healer, a shaman, an artist, a Witch: one who can walk between the worlds and retrieve lost souls, one who can restore balance and justice to a world made ill.

  That process is never easy. Gathering personal power requires dedication, focus, courage, and, yes, even sacrifice. We are required to think in new and complex ways. Issues are no longer clear-cut, and simple formulas will not guide us. Empowerment demands self-healing, but not mere self-interest. We must learn to tell the difference. Silence can be a mark of oppression or a source of strength. We must learn when to contain our power and when to express it, how to offer service to the great powers of life and death and to our communities without falling into servitude.

  As we undertake the journey the story lays out for us, we have the opportunity to wrestle with all the uncomfortable questions. As we move through the various paths laid out in this book, we will tell the story in parts, decoding each as we go along. As we practice the meditations, exercises, and rituals, our insights will deepen. In the end, the story becomes our own.

  In our Reclaiming Witchcamps, we often take a myth or fairy tale to serve as our weeklong theme. Breaking it into parts, we create a sequence of evening rituals that illuminate the issues raised by each section and provide a journey of personal and collective empowerment. In the mornings, campers have a choice of several different “paths” in which they can do focused work in smaller groups.

  We’ve modeled this book on the structure of a Witchcamp. Each of the seven chapters of this book contains a piece of the story, with commentary. Each chapter also suggests work in three possible paths that lead us through the realms of magic, healing, and action.

  The Elements Path contains the basic skills and tools necessary to work magic and create ritual. It’s the path to start with if you are new to Witchcraft and magic. Even if you are experienced at ritual, the Elements Path can provide a good review of your skills and understandings and the coherent sequence of training that many of us never received. It teaches what we need to know to establish the first leg of the cauldron, that of personal spiritual practice and magic.

  The Inner Path is the second leg of the cauldron and focuses on personal healing. Our story is a rich source of material that can help us face and transform the wounded places within that block our power, joy, and ability to love. Magic gives us tools for self-knowledge and change.

  The Outer Path helps us take our power out into the world, to offer service to our communities, and to find the strength, courage, and faith we need to confront the larger structures of domination that shape our society. We may become teachers, healers, organizers, ritual makers, activists. As soon as we step into these roles, we face new challenges and need new tools and understandings.

  You will hear Starhawk’s voice in this introduction as well as in the comments on the stories and in the Outer Path, Hilary’s voice in the Elements Path and the Inner Path. Part of the Reclaiming tradition is that teachers share something of their personal experiences and join their students in working through the material presented. Hilary will share her personal stories in the Elements Path and the Inner Path: she is the “I” of those paths. In the introduction and the Outer Path, I refers to Starhawk.

  Think of this book as your sourcebook for planning your own transformative journey of growth and healing. As an individual or a group, you can make your way through this book in several different ways. You can simply read it, noting which parts of it affect you strongly and which seem irrelevant. You can work through one of the paths in a series of seven or more sessions, either in a group or alone with your journal. Or you can work through the book three times, following each path in turn. These are the primary ways we’ve designed the book to be used. However, you might also choose a particular section of the story that moves you and do the work for that section associated with all three paths. Finally, you can use it as a resource, picking and choosing from the material to take what you need at any given time.

  For individuals, this book can be a self-study manual. We recommend keeping a journal, a Book of Shadows, and we will suggest ways to use it as we go along. We will also be clear about which rituals and exercises are best done with a partner or with some outside source of support.

  A circle, coven, or study group can also use this book as a guide. Participants could take turns facilitating sessions and pass the leadership around the circle.

  And this book is also meant as a sourcebook for those of you who are teaching and creating rituals in your own communities. You are welcome to use the material as it is presented here or to change it, adapt it, and make it your own. We do ask that you credit this book as your source. And we ask that you not call yourself a “Reclaiming” teacher unless you are part of and accountable to a teaching group based in a Reclaiming-affiliated community. If you receive money for your teaching work based on this book, we ask that you contribute some or give some equivalent energy back to your local community or to some of the groups listed in the “Resources” section in the back of this book.

  Putting out a book like this is in some ways an act of faith. By putting this material in print, we let go of our control over it. We have no way of monitoring how people will use it or of assuring the level of integrity, skill, or responsibility of those who may teach from this source. We can include cautions, suggestions, and safeguards, but we cannot make people heed them. We encourage students to follow their intuition and heart in choosing teachers. No responsible teacher will force or manipulate you into doing something that does not feel right or that goes against your sense of ethics or personal boundaries. You always have the right to say no. You have the right and the ability to change any suggestions, rework the imagery of any meditation, and pop out of trance if its direction isn’t right for you in that moment.

  Letting go of control is never easy. But making this material available is in keeping with one of Reclaiming’s core principles: that everyone has the ability to make magic, that nobody “owns” the keys to the deep realms of power, that we can each take responsibility for our own learning and growth, and that we all learn by experimentation and by sometimes making mistakes. For me, one of the greatest rewards over twenty years of teaching and writing about these issues has been to see other people bring their own creativity to the material and develop it in ways I would never have imagined. Sharing power means also opening up to sources of inspiration and vision that no one person could ever tap.

  Finally, we use a few conventions we’d like to clarify before we begin. The material in this book can be used by women and by men, in same-sex groups or mixed groups. We use the word priestess to refer to either a woman or a man who takes on a leadership role in a ritual. Also, to avoid endlessly writing out “he or she,” we sometimes simply use “she” just as a counterb
alance to centuries of male domination. But unless something is specifically designated for women or for men only, you may assume that all genders are included.

  When we ask you to do something “in sacred space,” we mean you should first ground, cast a circle, invoke the elements, Goddess, and God—and that you should “devoke” and open the circle when you are done. Directions for all of these actions can be found in the Elements Path in chapter 1, and more elaborated discussion can be found in Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance.

  In many exercises, we have included specific suggestions for working either in a group or individually. We trust that you will feel free to adapt any of the material to your own needs and circumstances.

  We introduce other teachers and certain key techniques the first time they appear. We try to provide references as needed, but if you are browsing through the book or working through the paths out of order, please do use the index if you find yourself wondering, “Now, who is that?”

  We include many meditations and trances in this book. Sometimes we write out a fairly complete transcription; at other times we simply indicate a rough outline for a guided journey. When we are teaching or leading ritual, we never read trances or memorize them verbatim. Instead, we suggest you read the trance over several times to yourself and fix in your own mind the landmarks of the journey. Let yourself be influenced by the rhythm and language we’ve provided, but improvise. Let the journey come alive, and know that it will be different each time you guide it.

  We hope this book will be useful and inspiring to all those embarking upon the study, practice, or teaching of magic and will be a resource for personal and world healing.

  The mists part; the barge awaits. Tune your ears to the voices of the Otherworld, and gather your courage. The journey begins.

  The Twelve Wild Swans

  Once upon a time, far, far away across the sea, there lived a queen who had twelve strong young sons, but no daughter. One winter’s day, as she sat at her window sewing, she looked out to see a raven, pecking at the bloody snow where the butcher had killed a calf. “Oh,” she yearned, “if only I could have a little daughter with skin as white as that snow, lips as red as the blood, and hair as black as the raven. I would even exchange my twelve sons for such a daughter.” In that moment, an Old Woman appeared, bent over on a stick, dressed all in black. “That is an ill wish,” said the Old Woman. “And to punish you, it shall be granted.” And she disappeared as quickly as she had come.