The Twelve Wild Swans

by Starhawk

  Adair, Margo. Working Inside Out: Tools for Change. Berkeley, CA: Wingbow Press, 1984.

  Cunningham, Scott. Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

  Estés, Clarissa Pinkola. Women Who Run with the Wolves. New York: Ballantine, 1999.

  Gimbutas, Marija. The Civilization of the Goddess. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

  Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1989.

  Gimbutas, Marija. The Living Goddess. Edited and supplemented by Miriam Robbins Dexter. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.

  Harrow, Judy. Wiccan Covens. Secaucus, NJ: Citadel, 1999. (Out of print, but still available and hopefully soon to be reissued by another publisher.)

  Macy, Joanna. Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 1998.

  Macy, Joanna. Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1983.

  Macy, Joanna. Dharma and Development: Religion as Resource in the Sarvodaya Movement in Sri Lanka. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press, 1983, 1985.

  Macy, Joanna. Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems. Buffalo: SUNY Press, 1991.

  Macy, Joanna. Widening Circles: A Memoir. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2000.

  Macy, Joanna. World as Lover, World as Self. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991.

  Macy, Joanna, with Anita Barrows. Rilke’s Book of Hours. Putnam Riverhead, 1996.

  Macy, Joanna, with John Seed, Arne Naess, and Pat Fleming. Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1988.

  Moraga, Cherrie, and Gloria Anzaldua. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Watertown, MA: Persephone Press, 1981.

  Palmer, Wendy. The Intuitive Body: Aikido as Clairsentient Practice. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1994.

  Soule, Deb. The Roots of Healing. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1995.

  Starhawk. Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1982, 1988, 1997.

  Starhawk. The Fifth Sacred Thing. New York: Bantam, 1993.

  Starhawk. The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of The Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1979, 1989, 1999.

  Starhawk. Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988.

  Starhawk. Walking to Mercury. New York: Bantam, 1997.

  Starhawk, Anne Hill, and Diane Baker. Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition. Illustrated by Sara Ceres Boore. New York: Bantam, 1998.

  Starhawk, M. Macha Nightmare, and the Reclaiming Collective. The Pagan Book of Living and Dying. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997.

  Teish, Luisah. Carnival of the Spirit. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.

  Teish, Luisah. Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985.

  Teish, Luisah. Jump Up. Berkeley, CA: Kinari Press, 2000.

  Walker, Barbara G. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983.

  Weed, Susun S. Healing Wise. Woodstock, NY: Ash Tree Publishing, 1989.

  Index

  Activism, xvii, 38; affinity groups, 300; allies, 127–28, 135; community, 39; danger signals, 214–15; giving back, 65, 239–40; guidelines for diversity of deities, 239–40; headline bonfire, 305–6; injustice, 126–27; nonviolent, 142–44; oppression, 135–36; political, 303–4, 306–7; ritual, 181–82; shared intent meditation, 304–5; vision meditation, 305. See also Sacred task

  Adair, Margo, 304

  Air, 18, 19, 20–23, 91

  Allies, 127–28, 134, 216–18, 261, 287, 290

  Alphonsus, Jeffrey, 93, 305, 308

  Altar, 36–37, 63–65, 70, 104, 106, 130, 132, 177, 207, 290, 247–48

  Ancestors, 46–56, 177

  Anchoring, 41–43, 45, 245–46, 256; exercise, 43–44; offering guidance exercise, 85–86

  Anger, 100, 101; creating a personal ritual, 125–26; exercise: observatory, 121–22; getting acquainted with, 120; Hermine’s breaking the wicked vow, 122–24; honoring, 101–2, 126; “I” statements, 134–35; meditation, sea of fire, 138; ritual of transformation, 102–3; shielding, 110–11

  Aspecting, 271–75

  Athalme, 15, 21, 123, 124

  Aura, 105, 255, 268; car wash, 108; creating a glamour, 268–69; physic cleansing of, 107–8; seeing exercise, 107

  Avalon, xv, xvi, xx

  Balance, 8, 9, 23, 126, 192, 193–94, 218–23

  Baruch (teacher), 131, 301

  Beshderen, Mevlannen, 271

  Beverly (teacher), 92–93, 179, 273, 301

  Birds, 99; Goddess, 99

  Blame, 33–35

  Body maps, 33

  Book of Shadows (journal), xx, xxiii, 33, 44, 47, 53, 71, 72, 79, 85, 115, 210, 224, 243, 249–50, 262, 306

  Bradley, Marion Zimmer, 268

  Breath, 21–22, 91

  Bridge Called My Back, The, 303

  Brigid, 9, 181, 281

  Brook (teacher), 53, 54, 80

  Cardinal directions, 16–18, 104, 199–201

  Carnival of the Spirit (Teish), 46

  Cauldron, 233–35, 293

  Casting a circle, 16–17, 231

  Center, 231; cauldron of changes, 233–35; cone of power, 233; Great Wheel, 231–32; invocation and exercise, 52–54

  Ceres (woman), 300

  Chakras, 117; cleansing, 118–20

  Challenge, 187–88, 194, 201, 202–3

  Character work, 269–75

  Circle, working in, 69, 75, 82, 93, 156–63, 280; moon meetings, 279–80; safety of, 182–86; support roles, 184–86. See also Coven

  Colors, 5, 73, 118–20, 147–48

  Community, xvi, xvii, 39–40, 46, 52–54

  Companion self, 241–42; trance, 242–43

  Core worth, 42, 43–45, 85–86; apple meditation, 247–48; crone’s three gifts, 248–50; finding, 246; through physical sensation 246–47; word “core,” 246

  Coven, xxiii, 29, 32, 75, 123–24, 138, 156–57, 280

  Creativity, xix, 103; Younger Self and, 11, 79

  Criticism, 257–63

  Crone (Old One), 6, 58, 78–79, 100, 127, 291, 293–94; three gifts trance, 248–50

  Cybele (teacher), 60, 75–76, 184, 244, 247

  Cynthia (of Diana’s Grove), 175, 206, 219, 221, 252, 308

  Dance, Rose May (teacher), 106, 115–16, 129, 306, 308

  De Anda, Rosa, 177

  Dead, honoring, xvii, 22, 46, 177. See also Ancestors

  Death, 234, 276–77, 289–94, 297–98, 310

  Deep Self, 12, 26, 28, 79, 146, 150, 151, 246

  Deep witnesses, 184–85

  Devoking (or reversing), 20, 56, 79, 148–49

  Diablo Canyon nuclear protest, xvii, 53

  Diana’s Grove, Missouri, 175, 219, 308

  Diversity: deity of many ancestries, 237–39; gender issues, 138–41; walk, 136–37; welcoming space, 137–38; working with issues, 52–54, 127

  Divination, 31, 64, 154

  Donate (teacher), 256

  Doorways and portals, 17, 20, 33, 150, 151, 177, 245

  Doyle, Pomegranate (teacher), 177, 182, 199, 254, 256, 268, 269

  Drama, ritual, 177–82, 269–72, 305–6

  Dream pillow, 31

  Dreams, 27–28, 30, 38, 146–49, 152–53

  Drumming, 82, 93, 140, 171, 182, 273; trances, 174–75, 291–94

  Dwyn, Gweneth (teacher), 221

  Earth religions, xv, xvi, 22, 26, 62

  Ecstasy, 156–66; adding movement, 162–64; committing to a practice, 164; group chanting, 162, 182; moving and working through an emotion, 163–64; seeking, 156; weave of sound and, 161–62. See also Ritual

  Egret (teacher), 76

  Elements o
f Life, 18; air, 21–23; corresponding symbols, 20; earth, 18, 19, 197–98; fire, 104–12; invoking each, 20; modes of awareness exercise, 252–53; power of, 20; water, 154–55

  Elements Path, xxii, 8–23, 58–67, 101–12, 146–55, 190–98, 230–40, 277–88. See also Giving back; Guidance; Rituals; Spellcasting; Trance; Wandering; Wicked Vow breaking

  Energy: anger, 100, 102; aura, 105; base, 92; body and body’s fields, 105; building a base ritual, 92–93; casting a circle, 18; chakras, 117; chakra cleansing, 118–20; cone of power, 93, 140, 170, 177, 233; devoking and, 20, 56, 79; exercise: aura car wash, 108; exercise: the brushdown, 107–8, 154; exercise: the candle, 106; exercise: following, 93; exercise: the hairbrush, 106–7; exercise: healing and healing with a partner, 109–10; exercise: seeing auras, 107; grounding and, 13; invoking and, 18; moving with, 92; negative, 254; ritual, orchestrating use of in, 171–74; seeing and perceiving, 17, 105–10; shielding, 110–11; voice, effect of, 98

  Engstrom, Donald (teacher), 94, 138, 141, 257, 309

  Eostar (spring solstice), 281

  Fairy tales and myth, xxi, 25–27, 165–66, 289

  Fall Equinox, 281

  Family secrets (castle of), 6–7, 23–24, 35–37

  Fata Morgana, 2–3, 145, 146, 155, 187, 194, 199, 205, 209; trance, 201

  Fear: asking its name, 285–86; facing, 282–86; meditations on, 285–86; overcoming, 298–99; ritual for groups, 299–300; trust as antidote, 300

  Feminism, xvi, 187, 188

  Feminist spirituality, xv, xvi–vii, 42

  Fever, 107

  Fire, 18, 104–12, 300–301; direction, south, 18, 104, 138; exercises, 106–11, 154; giving back, 112; indoor, building, 234; meditation, 301–2; meditation for rage, 138; ritual: breaking the wicked vow, 125; wand, 104. See also Energy

  Flame (teacher), 52, 308

  Food, 78, 197–98, 204–5

  Fortune, Dion, xvi, 166

  Fox, Matthew, 260

  Frederick, Beverly (teacher), 161–2, 163

  Freedom, xvii, 38–39

  Gail (teacher), 134–35, 136–37

  Gender issues, 138–41

  Gimbutas, Marija, 5

  Giving back, 22, 58, 61–62, 65, 77–78, 86–90, 112, 152, 154–55, 238–40

  Goddess religion, xvi, xx, 9–10, 42, 88, 101, 128–29, 163, 212, 213, 218, 246, 282–85, 297; Charge of the Goddess, 27, 37, 69, 182, 279; Charge of the Star Goddess, 235; facing fear and, 282–86; love bathing, 128; opening to diety, 236–40

  Gonzalez, Rafael Jesus, 54–56

  Gossip, 208

  Gratitude, 267; meditation, 267–68

  Great Goddess, xv, xvi, 5, 8–9, 27, 38, 59, 193, 234, 248

  Grounding, 13–16

  Grove (teacher), 302–3

  Guidance, 74–75; anchoring exercise, 85–86; asking the Old Woman, 15; circle or coven, 75, 85; creating home altar, 63–64; divination, 64; finding the Old Woman, 62–63; guides and helpers, 58, 84; invoking deity, 65–67; meditation, 85; mentoring, 84; Mother Nature providing, 60–61; offering, issues of, 84–91; teachers, 75–77; trance: asking the Old Woman, 78–79; working at the home altar, 64–65

  Gutierrez, Juan Pablo, 177

  Halloween (Samhain), xvii, 22, 46, 281–82

  Harrow, Judy, 271

  Healer, role of, 218–23. See also Leadership

  Healing, earth, xvii, 7–8, 38, 41, 46, 150, 218, 305–10

  Healing, personal, xvii, xxii, 7, 24, 40–41; approach to dreams and symbols, 28; asking the old nurse, 35–26; blame, 33–35; breaking the wicked vow, 103–4, 114–17, 122–24; contemporary culture and suppression of self, 27; courage, 35; Deep Self and, 26; fire exercises for, 109–10; friends to help, 29, 32–33; “gossip,” and, 208; guidance, 74–79; magical tools for, 25; questioning and, 29–37; searching for what was lost, 37; shame, 35; spells and, 195; stereotypes, confronting, 53–54; taking care of ourselves, 218–21; taking responsibility and, 7; trance to Well of Healing, 152, 164; Younger Self and, 26–28

  Hel, 272

  Hennessy, Keith, 227

  Herbal allies, 190–92, 197, 274. See also Nettles

  Heschel, Abraham, 260

  Hilary (teacher), 216, 266

  Honor, 128–29

  Humility, 129

  Huston, Jean, 252

  “I” statements, 134–35

  Induction, for trance, 96–97, 174; rainbow, 147–48

  Inflated or deflated self, 42, 43–45, 85–86, 97, 110

  Initiation, xxi–xiii; begins, 6; death and rebirth, 276–77, 297–98; Twelve Wild Swans as a guide, 5; wandering in the wilderness, 57–58

  Injustice, 126–27; gender issues, 138–41; “isms,” 135, 261; oppression, 133–36, 188, 223, 239; prejudice, 34, 238; racism, 52–54, 127, 136–37, 238; Multicultural Ritual Group, 176–77; target groups, 133, 134

  Inner Path, xxii–xxiii, 23–37, 39, 67–79, 112–26, 199–211, 240–50, 240–50, 288–97. See also Anger; Death; Dreams; Ecstasy; Guidance; Healing; Trance; Wandering; Wicked vows

  Interconnection of all things, xv, xvi, xvii, 10

  Intuition, 106

  Invocation, 18–19, 171; Deity, invoking, 65–67; Diety of Many Ancestries, invoking, 237–40; Echo, 136; Flame’s center, 52–54; Goddess as She Who Feels, 136; Goddess as She Who Listens, 76, 136; incorporating movement, 171; Opening to Diety, 237

  Jealousy, 229–30, 243–44; ritual, 266–67

  John (teacher), 91–92

  Katrina (teacher), 127, 132, 135, 137, 143, 224, 253

  King, Martin Luther, Jr., 127, 143

  Kitty (teacher), 178, 252

  Kymistree (teacher), 301

  Law of Threefold Return, 195

  Le Fay, Morgan (teacher), 237

  Leadership, xxiv, xix, 40–41; allowing time, 79–80; anchoring, 254; boundaries, 263–64; crows, 186; hazards, 254; inflated or deflated self, 42, 43–45, 85–86, 97; offering guidance, issues of, 84–91; pickup truck metaphor, 215–16; projections, 251, 254–55, 256, 263–64; revenge and, 130–31; sacred voice for, 94–95; shared, 263; shielding, 254, 255–56; spontaneous ritual, 83; stepping into authority exercise, 227–28; trance, 96–98. See also Criticism; Power; Self-knowledge

  Life purpose, 199–201, 244–45; challenge in, 187–88, 194, 201, 202–3

  Listening, importance and exercise, 159, 268

  Logan, Gwydion (teacher), 236, 237, 261, 308

  Love, xvii, 69; bathing, 128

  Macy, Johanna, 251

  Madrone (teacher), 263

  Magic, 39; advanced training, anchoring, 41–43; air powers, 19, 21–22; balance with nature, 9; challenging, support needed during, 126; changes in the energy body can create changes in the physical body, principle, 105, 149; clockwise (deasil) and counterclockwise (widdershins), 232; community and, xvii; danger, getting what we ask for, 6; defined, xvi, 11–12, 142, 151, 166; Elements Path and, xxii; ends and means in, 130; fire, powers associated with, 104; nonlinear nature of, xx; power from within and, xix; reawakening, xv; tools of, xvi, 15, 21, 104, 123, 124, 233–35, 293; true stories, 295–97; wand, 104, 262; wording, 6, 29–30, 141, 209

  Marnie (teacher), 169, 178–80, 269–70, 271–72

  May Day or Beltane, 281

  Meditation, xvi; asking your fear its name, 285–86; core worth through physical sensation, 246–47; dropped and open intention, 59–60, 81–82; glass half full, 286; gratitude, 267–68; guidance, 85; herbal, 190–91; impact, 130; mirror, 251; opposites, 132; resting in the Goddess, 217–18; river image, 95; sea of fire, 138; sewing, 206–7; shared intent, 304–5; trance to the salt shore, 115; vision, 305

  Melusine (teacher), 219–20, 254, 256, 257, 260, 275, 308

  Midsummer’s Day or Night (summer solstice), 2, 145, 146, 281; Wicker man, 281

  Miller, David, 139–40, 185, 222, 265, 307

  Mistakes, 41, 133, 196, 259

  Mists of Avalon, The (Bradley), 268

  Moon, 5, 6, 15, 232, 279–80

  Moonshadow, Raven (teacher), 162, 179


  Mother Goose rhymes, 10, 155

  Multicultural Ritual Group, 50, 54, 176–77

  Mystery: central, 291; human, veil exercise, 158–59; School, 219, 221, 252; within exercise, 74

  Nature, 8–9; balance, 8; Charge of the Goddess, 27, 37, 69; domination of, 10; Goddess in, 27, 59–60; estrangement from, 23; herbal ally meditation, 190–92 observing, 16–17, 59–60, 81, 82, 254; reconnecting, 190–93; trance into, 165

  Nettles, 187, 188, 192, 193–94, 197, 203–7

  Nonviolence, 142–44

  Oak (teacher), 305, 307

  O’Mallory, Pandora (teacher), 180, 235

  Otherworld, xv, xxv, 149, 242; finding a door to, 17, 20, 33, 151. See also Ritual; Trance

  Outer Path, xxiii, 37–56, 79–98, 126–44 166–86, 212–28, 250–75, 297–311. See also Activism; Leadership; Rituals; Service; Teachers and teaching

  Pablo, Juan, 307

  Paganism, xv, xvi, 10, 46, 88–89, 134, 284–85

  Pain and suffering, 188, 204, 210–12, 218, 301

  Palmer, Wendy, 60

  Patriachial religion, xvi, 9, 192

  Paul (teacher), 176

  Pentacle, 18–19, 19, 178, 248

  Persephone, 244, 246

  Phillips, Ruby, 304

  Poison oak, 191–92

  Power, 222–226; decentralized model, xviii, xix; differential exercise, 225; dominion (power-over), xvi, xix, 10, 84, 129, 222, 250; empowerment, xix, xxi, xxii, 222; personal, xxii; privilege, 222–28; shadow-self role plays, 226–27; sharing, xxiv; speech and, exercise, 225–26; stepping into, 294–95; stepping into authority exercise, 227–28; within, xix, 222; with, xix, 130, 222–23, 227; women and, 250

  Premonitions and visions, 300, 305

  Priestess, xxiv, 26, 28, 38, 39–40, 42, 74, 172–73, 254–55

  Privilege, 222–28

  Projections, 251, 254–55, 256, 263–64, 268–69

  Protection: boundaries, 248–40, 263–64; shielding, 110–11, 254, 255–57

  Purification, 14–16, 103–4

  Psychic perceptions or abilities, 106

  Quest, 5; ritual, 175–77

  Questions, 29–33

  Rage, 126, 137–38; ritual, 138

  Rainy (teacher), 227

  Raven (teacher), 15–16

  Reclaiming community, xvi; affiliation with xxiii; affirming groups, xviii; altered states and, 271–75; analysis of fairytales and folklore in, xxi, 25–26; birth of, xvii; Collective, xvii; consciousness, forms of and, 11; core principles, xvii, xxiv; drum trance, 291–94; “Elements of Magic” completion ritual, 278, 287–88; Halloween, San Francisco, 22; healing ritual, 308–11; payment for teaching and xxiii, 87–92; Principles of Unity, xviii–xix, 38; rituals, basic forms of large group, 174–82; roots of, 264; rules (inc. drugs and alcohol use), 183, 264–66; sharing of personal stories, xxiii; structure, xviii, 42, 221–22; training. See Witchcamps