The Twelve Wild Swans: A Journey to the Realm of Magic, Healing, and Action - Softcover

Starhawk; Hillary Valentine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062516698 ISBN 13: 9780062516695

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

Synopsis

Paperback. Pub Date: November 2001 Pages: 352 in Publisher: Harper A fairy tale about 12 wild swans is On transformed by the authors into a set of instructions for an initiatory journey into the world of magic and witchcraft. Continuing the lessons and deepening the knowledge first set out in The Spiral Dance. this book is the first to provide advanced magical training. A sourcebook for circles. covens. and groups. this volume instructs on three levels-the craft of magical training. inner-spiritual development. and outer work in the greater world. It will be a required resource for all students. teachers. and leaders in the growing Goddess movement.

About this title

Product Description:

The highly-praised continuation of Starhawk's bestselling THE SPIRAL DANCE, this is the first guide that works for both basic and advanced magical training. With a fable as its central core, THE TWELVE WILD SWANS can be used by individuals or groups to follow three distinct paths into magic, healing, and action. For practising witches or anyone interested in the goddess movement, this is a practical workbook of self-discovery and a rich resource of rituals, exercises, and methods that teach the underlying skills and theology of earth-based spirituality.

Review:

Starhawk and Hilary Valentine, renowned leaders in the Wicca movement, use the transformative fairy tale of The Twelve Wild Swans to teach an advanced class on magic. More significantly, this is an introduction to a mature level of Wicca called "Reclaiming"--a model of witchcraft that blends magic, personal growth and activism. The book begins with the first chapter of the fairytale, in which a foolish queen wishes to exchange her 12 sons for a daughter. An old woman "dressed all in black" overhears the queen and makes the wish come true--granting the queen a daughter but turning her sons into wild swans.

From here the coauthors launch into a back-and forth structure of telling the story and then stopping to show how it applies to a witch's initiation and transformation. For example, we all must leave the castle in order to heal our past. We all must spend some time wandering in the wilderness before finding our true home and we all must conquer some form of "wicked vows" before we can reach full maturity. These are wise leaders and strong guides--well worth following on this life-altering fairytale. --Tara West

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0062516698
• ISBN 13: 9780062516695
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352