Swan

The quiet strength of earned grace
The magic of knowing the transformations
The purity of finding your true self
Learning to trust your intuition

Most of us have an image of a swan in our mind's eye.   For me, it is an image of regal beauty and grace.  But it also comes with a sense of something more that is hidden behind a facade that I can't quite wrap my mind around.  So, it might be time to dig into this iconic symbol of universal love.

In most traditions, the swan is a symbol of love, grace, purity, and spirituality.  It is easy to see why.  They display an unhurried gentle grace in everything that they do.  When they mate, they mate for life.  Most swans are white which in most traditions signifies purity and spirituality.  Watching a pair of swans on the water is watching confidence in motion and dedication to their mate.  It is a confidence that suggests a deep self knowledge and trust in life and their place in it.

But the swan's life does not start that way.  That beautiful, graceful bird starts life as a lumbering, uncoordinated grey cygnet, bumbling from one challenge to another.  For anyone that is familiar with the ugly duckling, there is some truth to that.  It takes a long time, and overcoming a lot of challenges for that ungainly babe to transform into the white bird of beauty and grace.  It's a grace that is hard earned and only found when the swan grows into its potential.  The same can be said of truly beautiful people.  True beauty and grace is earned by going through life's hard knocks and coming out the other side knowing who you are, living in your potential, and living courageously.

As the swan grows and earns its feathers, it transforms into a creature that is unrecognizable to its former self.  This symbol of magic and transformation gives us lessons in accepting the changes in our life in order to become who we can be.  Accepting life with an open heart and fierce courage allows us to magically become more than what we were.  This is the courage to stand in who you are with the purity and authenticity to be who you are.  When you can do that, like the swan, you can say to the world, "That was yesterday, this is now.  This is who I am now."

Most cultures have legends around this beautiful bird.  In many of them, the swan is a shape shifting woman that can shed her cloak of feathers to become human by the moonlight and change back by the light of day.  In several stories, swans are children trapped in a swans body by a vengeful magician.  According to some beliefs, the swan is the soul of a shaman voyaging between worlds.  To others, the swan is a dimensional traveler, traveling the dream time from reality to reality.  No matter which story resonates with you, the swan is a mystical, spiritual being that sees more than she lets on.

The black swan is a rare one indeed.  Of the species of swans, only one is black.  Many people see the black swan as the dark side or the opposing side.  I think that might be a misunderstanding.  I would say that the black swan represents the shadow.  She is what is hidden and mysterious.  The black swan represents the unknown.  Or,maybe what we don't want to face.  But stepping into the depths of that mystery without the expectation of understanding can also lead to a quiet, courageous, and confident grace.

To me, the swan is the love of life that embraces and accepts everything that life throws at you.  It is the innocence and purity of standing authentically and courageously in who you are without demanding that the world bend to your will.  It is the trust in yourself and in life that allows you to transform, grow, and change over and over and over.  The swan is your intuition and your spiritual abilities growing and developing every day.  The swan is the sacred feminine energy, power, and beauty.

The swan understands and accepts the mysteries of life.  She lives in the rhythms of the universal flow.  Because she trusts in the balance and in her intuition, she is able to see beyond the illusion.  From that altered state, she knows what could be and navigates when waters with grace and ease.

Sources
whatismyspiritanimal.com
thedruidscauldron.net
spirit-animals.com
​Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams