The Twelve Wild Swans: A Journey to the Realm of Magic, Healing and Action

by Hillary Valentine, Starhawk, Hilary Valentine

Book Overview

Continuing the lessons and deepening the knowledge first set out in the bestseller The Spiral Dance, here is the first guide that works for both basic and advanced magical training. Authors Starhawk and Hilary Valentine transform a fairy tale about twelve wild swans into a set of instructions for an initiatory journey into the world of Witchcraft, providing a remarkable roadmap describing three distinct paths into magic, healing, and action. "The...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062516841
• ISBN13: 9780062516848
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Just like being at Witchcamp...

...Well, sort of. No late night howling at the moon or camp songs, but this book is organized in a way analogous to camp. There are excellent tools in this book, for beginners to advanced Witches. In fact, I think it is one of the few books really suited for the intermediate to advanced Witch. This book could sustain one's personal work for quite a long time, if needed.I do find it interesting to read the comments of the reviewer who mentioned the "rabid feminism." I certainly don't perceive this book to be that way. In meeting Starhawk and reading her work, I've never percieved her as a "rabid" feminist or man-hater... interesting how some men think anyone who uses "she" and "her" instead of "he" and "him" as generic pronouns is rabid. I've been putting up with books with a generic male audience my entire life! I guess I'm not really sure why some men are so offended by the book addressing a generic female audience instead.I believe this book is an incredible, valuable addition to the available literature on Witchcraft, and I strongly recommend it, both to women and (secure) men. ;-)Blessed be!

Inspiring book Good for a beginner as well as the advanced

I just startd reading this book last night and I am so far blown away! I ,like the other reviewers ,am sick & tired of the books out there on Witchcraft that are all the same with only a different spin on how to do things.How many times can you read "how to cast a circle" with out being SICK of read the same thing over & over? This book has 3 ways to experiencing it.There's the path for the neophyte,a path you could consider for those who have reached 2nd degree and than there's a 3rd degree path having more to do with community.So all in all you could use this book 3 times and learn something new everytime! I think that is more bang for the buck,you're learning 3 paths for one purchase!! I highly recommend this book to ALL,can you tell?Blessed Be & Thanks StarHawk and Ms. Valentine.

Another gem from the Reclaiming Community

All too often, books on the Craft seem superficial. One is left with the feeling that there is a deeper mystery that is not being explained, a richer, darker, more passionate way to approach the Old Religion. The works of Starhawk and the Reclaiming Community stand apart from this depressing state of affairs. Each one unearths deep emotion and is filled with insight. This is the real thing, and that reality is felt bone deep. "Twelve Wild Swans" is no exception. The lessons are based on an old, somewhat unsettling fairy tale. This story is approached from three different directions that enhance eachother. The most important thing, in my opinion, is the stress the authors both put on the seriousness of commiting one's self to the Craft. Witchcraft is a life altering journey, and that journey should not be embarked upon as a fashion statement. The Outer Path sections make this especially clear. As a book that stresses dedication and a deep commitment to the Goddess, "Twelve Wild Swans" takes its place as a classic on par with, if not exceeding, "Spiral Dance". Thank you Starhawk and the Reclaiming Community!

masterful Approach to Wiccan magic practice

I had the good luck to have worked with Starhawk in the year before her first book on Wicca appeared The Spiral Dance. I knew it would be a defining work because at that time there was little in print that described current Wiccan practice. Soon after its publication, if memory serves me right, the Reclaiming Collective was founded, attempting to create a living model in non-patriarchal political power and interpersonal relationships. It has been, as viewed from the outside, an ongoing experiment in applied feminist ethics, anarchist principles of consensus building and activist confrontational political witness. Now some 20 years into the experiment we have some subtle reflections on the practice of magic as personal and collective transformation hung upon a common fairytale. Unlike many works on Wicca this work has more implied in its practice than what is explicitly stated. Twelve Wild Swans will be considered a benchmark in the emerging and ever morphing traditions of neopagan magic practice. It is a good book to study and adapt to one's own coven's magic practice. Twelve Wild Swans is much appreciated and highly recommended for repeated readings.

A masterpiece of Wiccan ritual instruction

In 1979, Starhawk set the bar for Wiccan/pagan instruction with her book _The Spiral Dance_. Now she and coauthor Hilary Valentine have raised the bar with _The Twelve Wild Swans_. Where most other books focus on the basics of solitary and small-group Wiccan ritual and magic, this one also delves into the training of a priestess for group (especially large-group) ritual and political action, as well as the self-healing exercises and challenges that few in our community have written about openly. The layout is very friendly: the three paths are constructed to be independent while still allowing for easy movement among them, and the text is filled with wonderful examples and anecdotes gleaned from twenty years of Reclaiming's ritual classes and Witchcamps. The authors assume nothing, beginning with the basics of ritual work (grounding, casting circle, invoking) and using these basic concepts and techniques to build their more advanced lessons. An advance warning: the exercises are not always easy, particularly in the Inner Path - you will be challenged to examine yourself in uncomfortable ways, to ask hard questions. Go for it! Learn who you truly are, and why - it will inform your life, not just your ritual practice. This book is the perfect manual for both solitary and group study; I can't wait to dig into its exercises with my own group. An instant classic that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious student of Wiccan ritual.