Ana

Profile

Username:
anacoana
Name:
Ana
Location:
Pima, AZ
Birthday:
01/05
Status:
Married
Job / Career:
Other

Stats

Post Reads:
462,842
Posts:
2425
Last Online:
> 30 days ago
View All »

My Friends

13 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago
> 30 days ago

Subscribe

Inspirational Thoughts

Education > Swan Medicine Folklore
 

Swan Medicine Folklore

Native
American tradition

According to Jamie Sams and David Carson, who collected
Native American tales from elders in the Choctaw, Lakota, Seneca, Aztec,
Yaqui, Cheyenne, Cherokee, Iroquois, and Mayan traditions, Swans represented
“Grace”.

Swan tells Dragonfly in legend,
“I learned to surrender my body to
the power of Spirit and was taken to where the future lives.

I saw many wonders
high on Sacred Mountains and because of my faith and my acceptance

I have
been changed.

I have learned to accept the state of grace.” Swan is the bird
who may enter the Dreamtime and bring back knowledge and healing to the tribe.

Swan medicine “teaches us to be at one with all planes of consciousness,
and to trust in Great Spirit’s protection.”

(commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Ler_swans_Mi...

posted on Apr 7, 2008 7:25 AM ()

Comments:

Fascinating how the swan — so lovely to look at — is a symbol of intuitive creativity and grace, which is at the heart of a peaceful, positive life.
Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of this: "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
comment by marta on Apr 8, 2008 2:23 PM ()
comment by blogsterella on Apr 7, 2008 8:14 AM ()
Well only part of my post is above?
Here's the rest of the info;
https://www.druidry.org/obod/lore/animal/swan.html
Scots Gaelic: Eala
Irish: Ela
Welsh: Alarch
Breton: Alarc’h
Old Celtic: Alargh
Anglo Saxon: Swan

Celtic Tradition the Swan is associated with deities of healing waters and the sun. They are associated with music, love, purity and the soul. They are shape-shifters, can take human form, and have mastered the elements of water, earth and air. They can always be recognized by the gold or silver chain that hangs around their neck.

Among Druids, the Swan represents the soul, and is associated with the Festival of Samhain. The swan aids us in traveling to the Otherworld. Swans are also sacred to Bards, and their skin and feathers were used to make the tugen, the ceremonial Bardic Cloak.

Irish tales

Swans appear throughout Irish folklore. An Otherworldly bird, they are often the disguise of Fairy Women. At certain times of year, a swan maiden can transform herself back into a human, such as Summer Solstice, Beltaine or Samhain, when the veils between the worlds are thin.

The White Swans of the Wilderness were children of the Tuatha de Danaan, who settled Ireland, and became the sidhe after the invasion of the Milesians.

The night Cuchulainn was born, a pair of swans wearing Otherworldly silver chains attacked Emain Macha. In a later tale, the Princess Derbforgaill fell in love with Cuchulainn, and transformed herself and her maidens into swans to be near him. A hunter by nature, he threw a stone at hone, none other that Derbforgaill herself, and brought her down. She transformed back into a woman, and lay bleeding at his feet. Cuchulainn restored her, sucking some of her blood, which rendered him unable to take her as his bride. She subsequently married his son.

In The Dream of Angus Og, the young God fell in love with a woman he saw in his dream, named Caer. So great is his longing for her, that he grew ill. He set out to search for her, and discovered that she is no dream, but a mortal woman under enchantment. She and her sisters are transformed into swans at Samhain, and must remain so for six months, until Beltain. Angus found her at Loch Gel Dracon, where the transformation took place. When he arrived, there were 150 swans, all with Otherworldly silver chains around their necks, and he could not distinguish Caer from the others. Cuchulainn then called out to her, changing into a swan himself. In that shape, he recognized his beloved, and they flew off together, chanting such ethereal music that all who heard it fell into unconsciousness for three days and nights. He brought her home to Brugh na Boinne (Newgrange).

The Children of Lir is the most marvelous swan tale of all. An Irish princess’s four brothers were condemned to live as swans for eternity by their jealous step mother, Aoifa, the wife of King Lir. The princess’s only hope is to remain mute for seven years while she wove four shirts of flax for her brothers, which will break the enchantment. There are several variations of this tale. In another variation, they were swans for 900 years, and when they were transformed back to humans, upon being baptized by St. Kernoc, the priest of the new religion, and they fell to the earth dead (but their souls were saved).
AND the Medicine Cards, Native American...
Oracle

In the Medicine Cards, pulling the Swan card tells you to “accept your ability to know what lies ahead, pay attention to your hunches, gut knowledge, and female intuitive side.” (Medicine Cards, page 194)

In Celtic lore, pulling the swan card can mean poetic inspiration from the Otherworld. It can also mean an enduring love is entering into your life. Many swan tales have to do with sad partings, separation, and suffering loss with grace. Swan can be a symbol of transformation. Swan often indicates a soul level experience about to commence.
comment by anacoana on Apr 7, 2008 7:33 AM ()

Comment on this article   


2,425 articles found   [ Previous Article ]  [ Next Article ]  [ First ]  [ Last ]