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Table of Contents |
Three lanes on the endless highway:The Twelve Wild
Swans |
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The Twelve Wild Swans is not only a handbook for magickal practice, nor a guide for nonviolent protest. It is both of these, certainly, but what makes it truly unique is that it is also a book about magickal process. Using the folktale of Rose and the twelve swans as a metaphorical construct for the journey, Twelve Wild Swans leads the reader from the basics of calling the circle all the way to initiation, providing step by step exercises for use alone or with a group. Those exercises are part of what is called the "elements path." The "inner path" gives us ways for doing the work of evolving the self to a place of power. And the third, the "outer path," offers ways to move our power out into the world. The journey is taken with wisdom and humor. Rose was born after her mother gave birth to twelve sons. To fulfil her desire for a girl, she made an "ill wish" to the tricky Old Woman who appeared in response to her plea. She offered to trade her twelve sons for a girl and "in the manner of fairy tales, her wish was granted." The sons were instantly turned into swans. No one tells Rose what happened, but she senses the lie in the family story and begins asking questions. From her nurse (another Old Woman) she finds out what happened, and determines to rescue her brothers from the spell. To accomplish the task she must undertake several difficult chores, finally risking her life before her mission is accomplished. For Starhawk and co-author Hillary Valentine, this story, which has been used for many trainings in the annual Witchcamps offered by Star's pagan collective, Reclaiming, is the symbolic rendition of our life's journey. We come to life with a legacy of our family's accomplishments and dis-functions. To find our own fulfilment, we are challenged to overcome that legacy and take up the tasks which are our personal dharma. Liberation is the prize for work well done. Hence magic is not just a collection of rites and spells utilizing occult and mystical powers to gain access to the world between the worlds. Magic is also a collection of tools for our personal evolution. What's remarkable about the book is that simply reading it, one may engage in the process of self-change. My copy of Twelve Wild Swans arrived on Halloween. Since I was coming down with the flu, I spent the night in bed. It seemed the perfect occasion for reading the book. At the time, I was engaged in intense conflict with my teenage son. Although we had periods of respite in which we managed to get along, conflict always returned and followed a pretty identical pattern. Heartbreak was always the result. The first chapter, Leaving the Castle, is focussed on how Rose &endash; and we &endash; may deal with the family secrets of what took place before we were born, and over which we have no control. Yet these secrets often dictate our destiny. In effect, our first assignment in life is to fulfil the charge of the lineage. Even though we are not responsible for the deeds of our parents, we are the result of them. To become free, we must ask the questions and do our part to unravel the mystery before we move on to create our own lives. Child abuse is the most agonizing example of how the wounds of the parents are passed down to the child in a cycle that seems inevitable. "While many of us would weep, cry, engage a therapist, or form a support group . . . Rose simply determines to rectify the situation." Whatever means we might choose (and therapy is not meant to be discounted here), the cycle will not stop until we take up the task of clearing the way. As I lay in bed reading about exercises for establishing a deeper sense of connection with our ancestors, those whose deeds set our story in motion, I thought about my father, with whom I experienced intense conflict which was never resolved even on his death. Since Halloween is the time when the spirits are close to us, it was not difficult to get in touch with him. And I realized that he was still working his mischief through my relationship with my son. What came to me was that I needed to banish him! After all, what right had he to come between us? With intense fervor I demanded that he leave. I actually got out of my bed and smoked sage in the corners of every room, especially (of course) my son's. And though it may sound like utter madness, I have to tell you that it worked. In succeeding days, as I encountered my son with new eyes, I understood that not only had my dad's spirit possessed my son (who is very like him), but it had possessed me. A single mother, I was acting out the irate, critical father who had been my own experience. Now I had chased that presence out of my life. That a book could lead to this kind of realization is to me a testimony to the validity and power of magic. We do not really know what the old witches of the past did in their circles. We have concocted pagan practices from the tattered shreds of those old traditions, infusing them with what we have learned in recent decades through our diverse experiences of self-transformation -- spiritual practice like meditation and ritual, the archetypes of Jungian analysis, and the symbolic journeys which psychoactive substances have sparked. The rituals we perform and the healing we do are very much a new brew. And it is a potent one. We are able to enter the psychic terrain and change it. Through magic, we open ourselves to the images of the inner person whom Starhawk calls "younger self." We allow the spirits to move through us. We embody our wishes in images to which we may return over and over again, until they are realized. Twelve Wild Swans is an invaluable guide to that work. Eminently readable, often humorous, and always wise, the authors' voices urge us to invest in the possible. Theirs is the voice of long experience, dedication, and purpose. I recommend this book to everyone who would set foot on that healing path.
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