The Twelve Wild Swans

by Starhawk

  The Elements Path

  Rose walks away from her parents’ castle and from the old life where her privilege was based on her brothers’ misfortune. She is determined to restore justice in her world but does not know where to begin. She finds herself in the wild and unknown green world of the forest. There she meets the magical old woman. Rose offers the Old Woman food and accepts her guidance.

  Like Rose, when we first learn to work with the art of magic in our own lives, we are choosing to leave a known world for an unknown one. We are choosing to leave behind a familiar, orderly form of consciousness and seek experience with our own secret depths, which may not be very orderly or predictable! This is an act of courage as great as Rose’s. Her story can inspire us to make the attempt. In the Elements Path for this part of the story, we will wander like Rose in the green world of nature and then find guidance.

  Wandering

  When Rose steps out of her old world, she finds herself at once in the forest, the fresh and wild body of Mother Nature herself. For those of us trying to establish a spiritual practice based on Mother Nature, we must follow Rose’s example. We do not have a book or sacred text or commandments to obey. We must “follow our noses.” In the growth habit of every plant, in the wheeling stars, in the life patterns of every bird and animal we can find insights and lessons about the nature of our green world and of our green selves. Careful and open attention to the living world is nothing other than careful and open attention to our living deity, the Goddess who is the “soul of nature.”

  Like our ancestors, we must experience the life around us in its simplicity and its interconnectedness. The answer to the most intractable spiritual problem might be found in the quality of water to run under or around any obstacle as it searches for the sea, or in the insistent peeping of baby birds in a nest, or in the mystery of a snake shedding its skin. Each and every natural event is part of the sacred text of the Goddess. So, like Rose, we need to open our doors and walk through them into the fresh, green world of the Goddess. But first we need to learn how to pay attention.

  Wandering Exercise: Taking a Witch’s Walk

  Set aside some special time for yourself. It’s great if you can take this walk without a watch on. If you need to be back home at a certain time, maybe you can let the movement of the sun in the sky alert you to the time passing, just this once. If you watch the sun over the course of several days, you will begin to get the feel of where it stands in the sky at different times of day. This varies a lot with the season and the latitude, so count on your own observations.

  Now get ready to take your walk. You may wish to do a grounding and purification before you go: after all, this walk is a ritual. You can cast a circle around yourself, if you like, and bring it along with you as you go. It’s very interesting to observe how different it feels to walk around while in circle. Don’t forget to let the circle go when you are finished.

  During this walk, we will use a meditation practice we call “dropped and open attention.” The practice of focusing attention, and then dropping it deep into our bodies so that it can open up again from the deepest part of our nonverbal knowing, comes into Reclaiming tradition through the work of Reclaiming teacher and Witch Cybele. She developed it and taught it to us based on her work with aikido teacher Wendy Palmer. “Dropped and open attention” is described in detail in Wendy Palmer’s book The Intuitive Body. It is one of the basic tools in our magical tool kit, and we use it frequently as we learn to “change consciousness at will.”

  Once you have made sacred space, take a moment to focus your attention into a compact, glowing ball in the center of your head. Now, on easy breaths, allow the ball to drop deep into your center. Open your attention again, but this time from your deep body wisdom. During your walk, whenever you find that your attention has moved back up into your head, simply gather it up and drop it again on your easy breath. During this walk, you are practicing “dropped and open attention.”

  Now, out the front door. With no particular destination in mind, allow your feet, your nose, your impulse and intuition to guide you. Open your eyes and ears! Even in a very urban neighborhood, with houses built shoulder to shoulder and concrete everywhere, there are sparrows chattering in the street trees or sneaking a sip from the gutter. Pigeons perform their ancient courtship dances on a spring day, or hurry to feed their babies, or struggle to overwinter. The wind and weather perform great dramas in the sky, and the native herbs struggle up through sidewalk cracks. There are spots where the sound of running water can be heard even under concrete, or where seeps and springs miraculously run through the city after rain. If you are lucky enough to live where there is more green and less concrete, so much the better.

  When and if your thoughts and feelings begin to distract you, when and if you begin worrying, or planning, or remembering, or imagining, simply drop your attention again, and direct it gently outward, to what you can hear and feel and smell. Just for a little while, it’s time to give your undivided attention to a great Teacher. She’s always teaching there, by day and by night, but we too rarely attend the class.

  Now, try asking for guidance from Mother Nature on a question that has been troubling you. She answers any question, if you have the patience and the open, waiting mind of a hunter. Be still in her, or walk through her, and wait. She will answer, perhaps in an unexpected way.

  I remember a time when I was asking for guidance about restoring a feeling of balance in my life. My daughter was a teenager and an amateur party animal, my husband was having a midlife crisis, and I was experiencing a change of identity as my children grew and became more independent of me. I returned to the same spot under an oak tree for several days, asking my question and simply looking around me with open attention. Finally, on the fourth or fifth day, I saw, really saw, what had been there the whole time. Not a single plant on the hillside was in what I would think of as balance. Each one, from the tiniest blade of grass to the massive oak herself, was straining and stretching south, toward the sunlight, hopelessly overbalanced. The angle of each leaf, of each branch, was held out to its utmost limit in order to capture as much of the sun as it could get. My answer was to stop worrying about balance and to fully commit myself to what I loved. I had to take the risk of imbalance and fall forward into my life with all the longing, desire, and commitment of those leaves stretching themselves toward their limit. This would be the source of wholeness and health for my next forty years, not some artificial balance of being equally passionate and reserved about my life.

  “Thank you, Mother Nature.” If you receive guidance, or insight, or even just a moment of peace, remember to give thanks to Mother Nature.

  Wandering: Finding a Special Outdoors Spot

  As you practice taking a Witch’s walk, you may find your feet returning frequently to some spot that is becoming special to you. Many women and men have found support and comfort in their spiritual practice by adopting a special outdoor spot, a familiar tree to sit under (or up in), a hilltop where the sea breeze and the blue distance inspire perspective, a bridge under which a tiny creek dances in summer and roars in early spring. Choose a special spot outdoors for yourself, and begin using it as frequently as possible. Learn its moods and seasons, its little or big dramas. Allow it to become your teacher.

  Generosity: Giving Back

  When you do find a special spot and begin to rely on its elemental powers and natural wisdom as a support for your spiritual practice, it is important to give something back. Just as Rose shared her food with the old woman, we must give back when we receive. Taking from nature irresponsibly, with no thought for return, has been the root of great evils in our time, and we must not mimic this attitude in our spiritual practice.

  Many Witches begin the project of giving back with whatever might be in their pockets or handy at the time: a coin, a bead, a pretty ribbon, a ticket stub from a pleasant evening. Making such an offering may please Younger Self and show a sincere generosity. But if this pra
ctice grows on you, you will need to use your intuition and also your intelligence to find an appropriate way to return energy to your power spot.

  I’ve spoken with Witches who wanted to cast a circle with salt to protect a sacred spot. The impulse behind this plan was generous, but luckily it didn’t happen that way because the salt would have killed any plants that grew there. Almost everyone who has wanted to thank a dry California hillside in summer has an impulse to bring water, but that is the very worst thing for live oaks, which are liable to develop oak root fungus if their feet get wet in the summertime.

  So learning about your spot—the names of the plants there and the natural history and seasonal cycles of your hill, or your creek, or your meadow—is very important. If you approach this part of the Witch’s walk with open-mindedness and determination, you will find that Mother Nature is indeed guiding and changing you. Your whole attitude about the part of the world you live in and your sense of place and belonging will grow green. And you may end up joining the Audubon Society or the Sierra Club and meeting other nature lovers and activists.

  If you are ready, it is also a good idea to learn what you can about the peoples who lived on and cared for this land before the Europeans came. These ancestors and their way of life are an important part of the magic of any power spot. It is impossible to work deeply with the plants and animals and weather and land without acknowledging and seeking peace with those who cared for the land before. Although it may be painful or frightening to face the truth about what happened to the first people who lived on the land where you live now, this is a part of the earth’s story.

  Guidance: Finding the Old Woman

  Although Rose struggled in the forest at first, eventually she found the stream that helped her with her thirst, and that would later guide her to her brothers. Like Rose, we have begun to find out how to take care of ourselves here in the green world, but we still don’t actually have any idea where we are going. Rose found an “Old Woman” to help her, someone who actually knew where to go, and we need to do the same.

  It may seem like a big jump to go from relying on nature to relying on a human being, even a magical “Old Woman.” But actually it is not so very different. Our modern culture assumes that people are separate from and superior to nature and that it is our job to dominate nature for our own benefit. But the insightful words of Chief Seattle reflect an older wisdom: “The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth.”

  Human nature is just another part of nature, and we can learn as much from open attention to human nature as we can from open attention to nonhuman nature. Just as we can learn much from relying on the power of a tree to channel energy from earth and sky when we practice grounding, so we can learn much by relying on an “Old Woman.” We can imagine the very best qualities we have observed in older women wrapped up into one wonderful personal mentor: humor, frankness, inner peace, feisty crankiness—whatever those qualities may be, it can do us good to imagine what she would say to us. By practicing reliance on her advice in meditation, we can create a path to a deep knowing and intuition that may become a reliable source of help in our lives. We can begin to hear the voice of our own intuitive wisdom.

  The next time you feel confused or doubtful, take a deep breath. Ask the “Old Woman” for guidance, and drop your attention deep in your center. Listen. Breathe and keep listening. Perhaps you can learn to “hear” the voice of your own ancestral wisdom—the simple, quiet voice of the many generations of survivors whose lives bore you as their fruit.

  In addition to learning to ask the “Old Woman” for help, it can also be of great benefit to choose one or several deities to begin working closely with. The wonderful Goddesses and Gods from every ancient culture carry with them deep truths about human and nonhuman nature. These truths can be discovered if we begin to develop a personal relationship with deity. These relationships will be different for each person; each person has their own gifts to give and receive from deity. Much can also be learned by studying the traditional teaching about these deities if one is lucky enough to come across a traditional teacher. Otherwise, an excellent place for beginners to start this process is the home altar.

  Guidance: Creating a Home Altar

  Just as the great outdoors offers us an opportunity to practice the craft of the wise, so it is possible to seek the wisdom of Mother Nature in the wildness of inner space. Many Witches set aside a special spot or corner of their living space for meditation, and set up a personal altar there. These altars are as beautiful, expressive, and varied as the people who build them. They tend to be ever-changing, as the spiritual practices of the maker change. They range from incredibly skilled art installations to a simple white cloth with a candle and a Goddess image.

  The simplest one I ever saw was built by a woman who was experiencing a deep spiritual crisis after a frightening personal loss. She didn’t believe in anything right then, not even a candle. Her altar space, which had been overflowing with beautiful and unusual Goddess sculptures, weird little natural objects, and personal mementos, was swept clean and bare. In the center was the only thing she could bear to start over with: a mirror, which showed her own ever-changing face.

  Another woman had her altar on top of the refrigerator for years, to keep it safe while her toddlers and puppies grew up. Years later she was finally able to bring it down, but for a long time she practiced that part of her craft standing on a kitchen chair!

  Guidance: Working at the Home Altar

  A home altar is a personal power spot, just like the special power spot outdoors, where we can continue to develop our relationships with the Goddess and with ourselves and seek guidance. Just as we need to make time and space in our lives for lovers, children, or special friends, our altars can help us remember to make time and space for our relationships with the divine and with our own souls. Our altars remind us that our inner lives need attention. Our altars need to be kept clean, and their flowers, or candles, or food offerings need to be renewed. But that is just the beginning. The purpose of keeping an altar is to provide a center for personal magic.

  You can leave a trouble or concern at your altar by writing it on a slip of paper or by breathing it into a pebble or shell. You can ask for insight and intuitive guidance by scrying in a candle flame or a bowl of water or by using your tarot cards. You can pray for yourself or for others, sending off blessings and good wishes like birds from your open hands. You can bless a candle for your own good luck or a friend’s and burn it as a lovely, fragrant, three-dimensional prayer. Or you can meditate, dropping deep into your own Otherworld to enlarge your self-knowledge and open yourself to visions. You can seek inspiration, strength, or perspective by meditating on the images and stories of the Goddess, on any of her names in every human language, and on her myriad multicultural adventures.

  Or you can just sit there and weep, if it’s one of those days. The Goddess doesn’t ask for anything from us in our devotions but what we have to give. Sometimes I feel like I’m just walking up to my altar and turning myself in: “Help your daughter, Goddess. I’m a mess today.”

  When I was newly interested in Witchcraft, I sat at my altar and worked through many of the exercises in The Spiral Dance, long before I dared to actually find a class or public ritual with “real” Witches. Some of these exercises never grow old and help on any day—for example, “The Tree of Life” and “Saltwater Purification.” Then other times come when I want to make up or try something new.

  Learning to keep an altar is a good opportunity to seek advice from a human spiritual teacher, if you are lucky enough to find one. A teacher may be able to offer exercises and meditations that she thinks will be helpful for you, but a skillful teacher will also encourage you to search for your own inner authority.

  While it is important to seek advice and feedback from others and to accept teaching from them, in Reclaiming tradition we are each our own authority. We are each the creatrix of our relationships with our Creatrix. Wh
en it comes to what we incorporate into our own ongoing practices, we each have the final say as to what works for us and what appeals to our own Younger Self. The practices that enrich and support one person’s life may seem uninspiring to someone else. We each need to look long and deep inside and find our guidance there. At times we may need challenges from others, but we need to find our own solutions to them.

  Giving Back: Generosity

  When Rose meets the old woman in the wood, she offers her half of her meager meal. When we begin to create a relationship with the divine powers at our own altars, we must also be careful to give back when we have received. Witches traditionally offer food and drink at their altars. I always offer money there as well and also anything that particularly pleases me and makes me proud. I like to take these things to my altar in the same way a first-grader would take her painting or her aced spelling test to her mom. Mom likes it!

  Giving Back: Getting Active

  In addition to making sure we give back to the powers at our altars, Witches of all skill levels need to keep a sharp weather eye on the balance between personal, devotional practice on one hand, and physical work and social activity on the other. Physical and social activity is especially healthy when it puts us in service to life, whether it be walking the dog, watering the garden, or working at a soup kitchen. Ecstatic, mystical practices in circle or at our altars can produce strong insight and altered emotional and psychic states. Good! We need to alter our state, as individuals, as a society, and as a species.

  But these strong experiences can also be difficult to integrate into our “normal” psyche. The best preventive medicines we know are regular, healthy physical activity and regular, healthy service to life, human and nonhuman. Intimate and honest relations with others are especially important, as our friends can tell if we get off base.