Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings.   Today’s post is about Swans and their significance in tales of the Otherworld.    The idea for this post came to me in a spark of Awen (Celtic concept of inspiration) when I was doing my morning yoga.    I was in pigeon pose, which in Yin Yoga is also called Sleeping Swan Pose, and I began thinking how much more beautiful the Yin name for the pose was, and my mind was flooded with thoughts of how important Swans are in folklore and fairytales.    It also reminded me that I had just had the High Priestess come up in my morning Tarot work, and the deck I use for personal development features a Swan on the High Priestess card!   Needless to say, I know that now is the perfect time to write about Swans.

Now, I have written about Swans quite a bit in the past, but mostly focusing on the fairytale interpretations, or in conjunction with other writings on Goddesses who are associated with Swans.    For this post, I want to do a bit of a deep dive into Swans in folklore and myth and round out what I have written in the past about these beautiful birds.    Of course, I am a huge lover of all of the Swan Maiden fairytales, including The Swan Princess animated film and Swan Lake, the ballet upon which that film is based.    However, in mythology, there is much more to Swans that proves that their fairytale associations are rooted in earlier folklore, which is true of many fairytales.

In Norse myth, there are several stories of Swan Maids who originate as Valkyries, as it is common for Valkyries to have shapeshifting abilities to turn into birds including falcons, ravens, and Swans!    Some of these tales directly link to aspects of Swan Maidens common in later fairytale motifs, including stealing of a Swan Cloak that would allow the Valkyrie (or Swan Maiden) to return to her Swan form and forcing her into marriage or service to the owner of her cloak.   In Greek myth, one of the most famous references to Swans is that Aphrodite’s chariot is pulled by Swans.    This is another link to a Love Goddess and Swans, as Freya of Norse myth is often stated to be Queen of the Valkyries, meaning that both the Greek and Norse Love Goddesses have links to this bird in one way or another!   Interestingly, both also have war associations, which is always discussed with Freya, but many people choose to overlook Aphrodite’s war aspect.    Therefore, this serves to link Swans to Love and War!

Now, let’s move on to Swans in my most beloved Celtic myth and lore!    The most obvious connection to the Norse myth discussed above is the Morrigan’s possible association with Valkyries.    I tend to think that the Morrigan’s myths do tend to have a similarity to Norse Valkyrie myths, and both the Morrigan and Valkyries choose the slain warriors on the battlefield.    The Celtic world was massive, spanning from the British Isles all the way to the Ukraine, if not into Russia, at its largest expansion!    That certainly means that the Germanic versions of the Valkyrie tales, as we know Norse and Germanic myths overlapped, also could have overlapped with Germanic Celtic cultures, providing that link between Valkyries and the Morrigan.   Obviously, the Morrigan is most associated with ravens and crows, just as Morgan le Fay is (whether or not you view them as one in the same Goddess, which there is not much archeological or written evidence to link them, it is more based on personal beliefs of worshippers being spread).    However, this link to Valkyries would also prove to link Her to Swans.    Interestingly, Morgana is also linked to Swans via her aspect as the Lady of the Lake!   While this is not the most common depiction of Morgana, with Swans instead of crows, we do see her shown this way, and when we look at depictions of the Lady of the Lake under her other names we often see waterfowl with her.   Sometimes they are cranes, but very often they are shown to be Swans!   This Swan association with the Lady of the Lake and the Nine Morgens (Ninefold Sisterhood) of Avalon is used by Kathy Jones in her Avalonian teachings.

In fact, she associates the Swan Maiden with the time of Imbolc, and we are currently still in Imbolc season as we await the Vernal Equinox!   The energy of renewal and rebirth in the air during Imbolc definitely brings about the energy and beauty of the Swan, in my opinion.   The Swan is most often depicted in Maiden form, in other words as a young woman in the first bloom of her womanhood, which perfectly aligns with the new young woman coming into her own at the time of Imbolc.    When we look at the Wheel of the Year as a life cycle of womanhood, Imbolc is the time when the Crone is reinvigorated and becomes the youthful Maiden yet again, perfectly aligning with Swan Maiden energy!   

This brings my post full circle, as I described, in the beginning, the High Priestess card of the Tarot deck I use for personal development, The Sacred Circle Tarot, depicts a Swan, but it also includes Snow Drops on the card, and they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the Spring and are very associated with Imbolc because of this!   Clearly, the High Priestess card of that deck is set at Imbolc, the Swan Maiden energy is very much just that, Maiden energy, leading to her own association with Imbolc in Kathy Jone’s Avalonian teachings.   The Swan is the lovely bird that will help us delve into the depths of our childhood wounds, swimming beneath the surface to embrace the Maiden within!   She is also sometimes seen as a creature of transformation, especially prominent in The Ugly Duckling, but also found in her liminal Otherworldly nature.    The Swan is a waterfowl, meaning she can bridge the gap between the Realm of Land and the Realm of Sea, or the Realm of Sky and the Realm of Sea, as she can exist in all three places!    Finally, being a white animal, she is strongly tied to the Otherworld in that way as well.  

At the end of the day, there is so much depth in the Swan’s magick for the Wheel of the Year, the cycles of women’s lives, and folklore, that I am so glad to have deep-dived into some of her beautiful mythos today!    I hope you have enjoyed joining me on this Odyssey into Swan folklore.   What is your favorite association of the Swan?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!   

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a gorgeous artwork of a Swan Maiden.   I found the image on https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Swan_Maidens.   

Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services!    I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon!  Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/

Further Reading

• Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
• Mythology by Edith Hamilton
• Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
• Priestess of Avalon Priestess of the Goddess by Kathy Jones
• The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
• https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dandelionlady/2019/04/norse-swan-spirit-lore-and-analysis-focusing-on-the-myth-of-weyland-smith.html\
• http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/valkyrie.shtml