~ Swan Medicine ~

The Swan is one of the most powerful & ancient of totems.

As you begin to realize your own true beauty,
you unfold the ability to bridge new realms and new powers.
Swan can show you how to access the inner beauty
within yourself and in others.

A Swan totem heralds a time of altered states of awareness
and the development of intuitive abilities.
Swan people have the ability to see the future,
and to accept the healing and transformation
that is beginning in their lives.
Accept your ability and go with the flow.
Stop denying you know who is calling when the phone rings.
Pay attention to your hunches and inner knowledge,
and Swan medicine will work through you.

The Swan's call teaches the mysteries of song and poetry,
for these touch the child and the beauty within.

The Story of Swan

Little Swan was flying through the Dreamtime. Weary of being shunned and feeling different because of her awkward duckling body and unusual ways, she had left behind everything she knew and set out alone to look for the future.

Swan had many dreams. She dreamed of being like everyone else. She dreamed of feeling like she fit in. She dreamed of being beautiful, But Swan knew that her dreams could only come true in the future, and so she flew.

Then, high above Sacred Mountain, Swan saw a big swirling black hole. She was frightened by it but at the same time there was something about it that called her. In spite of her fear, Swan just couldn't take her eyes off it.

Just then Dragonfly flew by. Swan stopped him to ask about the black hole. "That is the doorway to the other planes, little one," Dragonfly said, "that one enters through the imagination. I am the guardian of illusion. If you want to enter there you will have to ask permission -- and, of course, you will have to earn the right to do so."

"Why would anyone want to go into that swirling black hole, Dragonfly?" Swan asked. "And if they did, how would they earn the right to enter?"

"Only those who desire something truly different from what they've known ever enter that darkness," Dragonfly replied. "Very few ever do so unless they have nowhere else to go. And of those who wish to enter, only those who are willing to accept whatever the future holds -- as it is presented, and without trying to change the Great Spirit's plan -- ever earn the right to do so."

Some time later, which could have been days or could have been years, Swan reappeared. But now she was graceful, long-necked & beautiful. Dragonfly was stunned at the change in her appearance. "Swan, what happened to you?"

Swan smiled and said, "Dragonfly, I learned to surrender my body to the power of the Great Spirit, & I was taken to where the future lives. I saw many wonders high on Sacred Mountain, because of my faith & acceptance I have been changed. I've learned to accept the state of grace."

And so it is that as we learn to surrender to grace, our rhythm begins to entrain with the heartbeat of the universe & we discover that we can slip from our physical bodies into the Dreamtime.

Swan medicine teaches us to be at one with all planes of consciousness and to trust in the Great Spirit's protection. Swan medicine people have learned to move in and out of altered states of awareness and to rely as much on "intuition" as they do on their other five senses. Their ability to perceive the future and the subtler planes of existence grows from their surrender to the Great Spirit, and their acceptance of transformation in their lives.