(Cygnus olor)
The swan belongs to the subfamily Anserinae. With its water-repellent feathers and webbed feet, it is one of the main birds of freshwater areas and wetlands. It can be found in lakes and ponds, reservoirs, flood waters, tidal estuaries, and sheltered coasts. There are 8 species of swans all over the world. The Mute Swan can measure up to 4ft 11in (1.5m) and weigh 26lb 7oz (12 k). This extremely elegant bird is native of Europe and Central Asia and was introduced as an ornamental bird in many other regions of the world. Young animals (cygnets) are gray-brownish; adults have a pure white plumage, orange-red bill and black legs and feet. As one of the heaviest birds capable of flying, it runs and kicks on the surface of the water until it can rise in the air.
Swan in Mythology: For the Germans, the swan represented the immortality of the soul. The Celts related swans to Brigid, the goddess of light. In Norse mythology, there a story of two swans that lived in the roots of the tree of life Yggdrasil and by the well of Urd, the water of which was venerated as sacred and purifying of the Whole. The god of clouds, Hoenir, was considered the master of the swans and Kara was the swan queen of the Valkyries. They defeated their enemies flying, while singing on their heads. The swan was always associated with light, beauty, brightness, purity and grace. The Greeks related swans to the sun god, Apollo, and the goddess of love, Aphrodite. The Greek god, Zeus, was transformed into a swan to seduce his beloved Lena. The Romans related swans to Venus. In India, the swan is represented by the sacred bird Hamsa, which symbolizes complete unity with the breath of the soul. Both Brahman and Devi Mahatmya, the mother of the Vedas, ride a swan, which represents purity and freedom. Cygnus, the swan constellation can be seen in the sky. We also ran into a swan in the story of "The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen or the piece of music "Swan Lake" by Tschaikowski.
The Swan in the interpretation of dreams: If there is a swan in your dream, this is a symbol for the power of the heart and it tells us the state it is in.
Swan Essence: By showing beauty and life in harmony, it helps us free ourselves of our fears and limitations.
On the body level: Fears and uneasiness can often lead to sleep disorders or nightmares. Discomfort, numbness, sweaty palms, etc. may be symptoms of fear. The essence can help us to get away from our fears, so that we can understand them and so the symptoms may disappear automatically.
Emotional: Swans often come near us and then it suddenly croaks. They can also fly toward us and try to drive us away if we are in a rowboat and it feels threatened or sees us as a threat to its nest. So, this is how it tests us as if it is asking: ´Are you afraid?´ Very often, we want to believe that we know our fears and master them, but the swan goes a step beyond, working with the ancestral fears, the original confidence. These fears can be displayed in the form of self-doubt, sadness, loneliness or feelings of *Weltschmerz. All these fears are often triggered by traumatic experiences. From the evolutionary point of view, the swan is a very old animal, which emerged from the evolution of dinosaurs. In the same way, it reflects the ancestral fears, those that are hidden very deep, of which we are often not even aware. When we become aware of them, we are able to understand them. The swan essence helps us to release them by strengthening our self-esteem and our self-confidence. Courage takes the place of fear. The effect of this essence was shown through electrocardiograms (tests performed in the Haffelder's Institute for Communication and Brain Research in Stuttgart, Germany).
On the spiritual level: Swan helps us to find the true grace of our soul, to release and to clean old fears. It leads to the feeling of a higher inspiration and teaches us to follow the steps towards the true love of the heart, to take time for beauty and rest; it eventually inspires us artistically, so that our soul can be expressed. It helps us trust our inner voice and God.
