Book Review: The Twelve Wild Swans

First, to those interested in purchasing this book, it should be noted that it is NOT a book on Wicca and indeed makes no claim to be. It's a book on Starhawk's tradition of religious witchcraft and goddess worship known as Reclaiming. Which is fine and good. Just an FYI.

I'd also like to state that I rather respect Starhawk. I did not enjoy "The Spiral Dance" but picked up this book with all the expectation of enjoying this one, or at least finding it useful.


When I found this book on the library bookshelf I almost danced in joy. "Hooray!" thought I. My library doesn't have much in the way of Pagan books, so I was excited to find one that included some exercises and personal growth in it. However, I was highly disappointed.

The authors base their book around a retelling of a fairy tale. At the beginning of the book they tell the story, and then each following chapter looks at one part of the story as it progresses, attempting to tie this into the fairy tale.

As a writer, I value stories and what they teach. I'm a big fan of fables, especially those by Ambrose Bierce. However, if you take a story and tear it into little pieces and deconstruct every element, you miss the point of the story as a whole. This is what Starhawk and Ms. Valentine do in this book. The fairy tale at the beginning of the book is a beautiful one. If one felt that one's understanding of the tale could benefit by looking at it on a deeper level, all to the good. However, the authors take this beyond extremes. All understanding of the tale is lost as the authors attempt to bend the tale, sometimes to breaking point, in order to force it to fit into their ideas. You get a whole lot more from the story itself than you do the authors' attempts to read into it.

Not that the ideas are necessarily bad in their own right. Many of them are interesting ideas, and might appeal to a range of Pagans (if they can get past the feminism). However, these ideas could have been better expressed without the tale. Instead it seems forced, bordering on the ludicrous in places.

There are quite a few big claims that cried out for citations, including repeated references to a mysterious matriarchal prehistory that was apparently destroyed by the evil patriarchies. As a strong young woman, I find this messing about with historical reality highly unpalatable and degrading to me as a woman. I don't need some invented past of a Europe-wide matriarchy to make me feel empowered as a female. Yes, Starhawk is active in the feminist movement, and I expected there to be some reference to this in her work. I was displeased by the amount of feminist material in here, however. Apparently no matter what one makes one's heroine do in a story, it's still degrading. To paraphrase: "If she goes forth to save her brothers, is she a strong woman doing what needs to be done, or is this just another example of men treating women like servants?" This sort of thing is hardly necessary.

On top of this, the authors seem to believe that all people, everywhere, are born with some sort of inherited sorrow. They make no allowances whatever for one not to have been born with this "injustice" in their world. One is left at a loss with how to cope with this idea - I really had no idea what was meant, but after talking with others apparently it refers to wars, racism, slavery and other injustices that apparently one inherits as a part of being a human. Sorry, but I don't swallow that one. (Maybe it's a generational thing...) There's far, FAR too much assumption here that the reader is a self-hating, downtrodden woman who finds validity in having kids and loves to help society. Those of us who are strong, vibrant women, or are childfree or somewhat misanthropic, apparently don't get a look in here. There's far too much self-help and not nearly enough religion or spirituality.

I dislike the constant references to a "Younger Self", something the authors imply is the part of oneself that speaks in symbolism. At least, that's what I assume they were trying to say. I personally do not like separating myself out into different personalities... I am one person, and separating bits of me out into different entities does not aid one in understanding oneself. (In fact one imagines it would be a hindrance more than anything else.) I disliked this idea... and since it's mentioned fairly constantly, it's very hard to avoid.

There are elements here that would have benefited from a beginner's understanding of psychology. The authors reference something they call "anchoring" which is, in effect, classical conditioning. It's exceedingly easy to understand and rather simple to explain and I have no idea why the authors avoided explaining it and rather made up their own, rather esoteric, ideas as to why this phenomenon exists. (Gods forbid we add a little scientific understanding to our religious understanding, hmm?)

I had issues with some of the meditations, as I had questions that, unanswered, meant I couldn't complete the exercise. Had I attended one of Reclaiming's Witch Camps, those answers could have been answered; the problem is not with the exercises but that some of them are insufficiently explained.

There are misspellings and obscure words ("hera" rather than "heroine", for some bizarre reason... I kept thinking she was referring to the Greek goddess!) that I found highly irritating. With this combined with all the issues above, I couldn't simply read the book and enjoy it; every sentence had me gritting my teeth against demands for citations for the wild claims, objections against assumptions made of the reader, or irritations.

On the plus side: while I found the vast majority of the exercises either insulting, ridiculous or useless, I imagine many would find them helpful. The ideas on circle casting are good ones, and will probably be useful to those who base their practice on Neo-Wicca. In particular, the exercises on understanding the elements and directions are interesting, and while they would involve some time (and some early-rising) they would be highly beneficial.

As I said, this is Reclaiming tradition rather than Neo-Wicca. There is very little mention of a god, and many of the practices are clearly not Neo-Wiccan, but it's easy enough to change these to fit a Neo-Wiccan ritual form and belief structure, so Neo-Wiccans may find this book fairly useful.

The story itself, as I said, is very pretty, but it's hardly worth buying the book to read a re-written version of an old fairy tale.

Conclusion: If you think this book will help your spirituality, great. But get it out from the library before you spend your hard-earned money on it. In my opinion, it's one long and irritating way to ruin a good story.

Eclecticism vs. Syncretism

I am a Pagan of no particular religion. I commonly refer to myself as an "eclectic Pagan", but what does this term actually mean? What is "syncretism", and would this term be more appropriate? There are a number of Pagans who suggest that this is the more correct term. I'm all in favour of bettering myself and of learning, so let's examine each term and decide which would be the more appropriate in a given situation.

And thus we turn to dictionary.com:
Syncretism:

• "The attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion."
• "Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous."

In Syncretism, then, the Pagan is taking two religions as a whole and attempting to blend them. There are rare cases in which this could happen successfully, at least when considering those religions as a whole. For example, it's difficult to successfully reconcile the peaceful religion of Wicca with the honour-focused religion of Heathenry. Of course, one might argue that Wicca itself is not a peaceful religion or one actively promoting non-violence, and when considering the more thoughtful understanding of the Rede, this is indeed so. However, given the popular understanding of the Rede, and the popular interpretation of Neo-Wicca in general, this might be a bit difficult for the individual concerned.

Considering Wicca and CR, for example, the Earth-Sea-Sky Celtic view of the world clashes with the North-South-East-West, Earth-Fire-Air-Water interpretation that Wicca holds.

Combining two religions as a whole, then, can be difficult. Syncretic Pagans do exist, and some may refer to themselves as "eclectic" either because they are unaware of the term "syncretic" or because they feel it's an easier term to describe who they are and what they do. "Eclectic Wiccan", for example, is a common term... though rather contradictory (but that is an article for another day).


Now, to consider Eclecticism, defined as the "use of an eclectic method", again from dictionary.com...
Eclectic:

1.	selecting or choosing from various sources.

2.	made up of what is selected from different sources.

3.	not following any one system, as of philosophy, medicine, etc., but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems.

An Eclectic Pagan, then, is one who draws what they feel are the best elements from a variety of different religions. They might draw ritual form from one, afterlife beliefs from another, moral code from yet another. This may seem disrespectful to many, and indeed there are no small number of Eclectic Pagans who draw from sources with no respect for culture, deity or religion. However, many Eclectic Pagans manage to draw from many sources with respect and success. These "best elements" aren't considered objectively the best, but the best for the individual in question. In a way, it's like exploring different religions to find concepts and ideas that chime with the beliefs of the individual, or to find more appropriate ways to honour the gods one is drawn to.

A Neo-Wiccan, then, might research Hellenismos to find more appropriate ways to honour the Greek deities, but won't try to adopt every aspect of Hellenic belief and squish it into the religion of Neo-Wicca or successfully blend the religions as wholes.

I refer to myself as influenced by the religions I draw from. At the moment, those religions are Neo-Wicca and Asatru. I make no claim to be a part of either, but draw some beliefs and practices from each. I intend, in time, to explore many different Pagan religions, to better honour the gods who call to me, and better understand the different branches of belief. If, in my travels, I come across beliefs or concepts that I find great value in, I might adopt them into my own practices. Before my discovery of Asatru, I was a Pagan who was largely Neo-Wiccan, unsatisfied with my religious practices. Asatru had a huge effect on my beliefs and practices. There are more religions I want to explore - at the moment, Hellenismos and Kemetism - but I doubt they will have as large an effect on what I do as Asatru did. Mostly I intend to explore them so I can better understand the Egyptian and Greek deities, and how best I could honour them.

There we are, then - Syncretism and Eclecticism. Both involve more than one religion, but they work in different ways. There is no harm in either - so long as these things are done with respect and honour for the religions involved.

Charge of the Horned God

It's always seemed to me, even way back in my Wiccan days, that the God got the short end of the stick. Neo-Wicca - or at least, that popular and homogenized form of it that you find overrepresented in bookstores - seems to focus so much more on the Goddess than the God. Being a person rather fond of equality and balance, that was always very off to me.

A while ago, I came across a person who said, in her blog, that she was having trouble connecting with the God, and that she felt the Goddess more strongly. She, too, liked balance, and this troubled her. I can relate.

As a young teen Wiccan, it was always easier for me to understand the Goddess than the God. I assimilated the idea of Her well enough into the basic Western ideas of Mother Earth and Mother Nature... sure, She is a Moon Goddess more than an Earth one, but the idea of a Great Goddess, a loving Mother deity, was something easy for me to latch onto as I began my studies.

The God was different. For many years, I could not feel close to Him. It took me a long time to be able to think of him as "Father God", and even now the term seems off. Because I associated the word "God", and that term in particular, with the Christian god. I do and did hold the Horned One to be completely balanced with the Goddess, but I found it quite a bit harder to relate to Him.

This is no longer the case. Now, in fact, I find myself feeling closer to Him than His Consort. This causes me a bit of trouble, again, because I hold the Lord and Lady as equal. Reading this woman's blog, I started wondering when that change had happened, when I had started feeling so much closer to the God and celebrating Him for all that He is. I cannot pinpoint it exactly, but I think I know what helped me start to understand Him on a deeper level.

I had just joined one of those online Pagan schools, partly out of interest, partly from the realisation that I needed a bit of a brush-up. This website was known as "Pagan College" (something of a misnomer... it was certainly more Wicca than Paganism in general) and in fact closed down just after I'd finished the second lesson, which is a shame because it was actually rather good, as these sites go. The assignment for the second lesson was to take a Wiccan document - The Legend of the Descent of the Goddess, the Charge of the Goddess, the Wiccan Rede, etc. - and analyse it. I chose "The Charge of the God", and I can't remember why. Perhaps it really was to try to understand Him a bit better. Maybe it seemed like the least amount of work. For whatever reason, that's what I chose, and I found the exercise to be strangely freeing. I discovered things that I already knew about Him, but that I hadn't really thought about properly. I accepted Him and understood Him in a way I hadn't before. It was a true religious exercise as much as it was a learning tool.

As a way to share what I learned and felt, I repost the exercise here. A disclaimer is in order: it was written to be marked, so I think I explained myself a little more than I usually do. Of course, as you should know, given the title of this blog, I am a hard polytheist and that colours my perspective. As far as I know, the Charge of the God (this version, anyway) is anonymous. Words of the original text are in italics; my (inexpert) analysis of various passages is in normal font. Oh, and I mention hunting... personally, I disapprove of humans hunting when they don't need to do so, but if they must, I require that they do so with weapons that use their own strength, like a longbow or a spear. Guns are pretty much unacceptable to me.

~`~`~

The Charge of the God (Charge by Someone Else, Analysis by me, don'tcherknow)

"Listen to the words of the Horned God,
The Guardian of all things wild and free, and Keeper of the Gates of Death, whose Call all must answer: "
In general I thoroughly disapprove of putting words into the mouths of gods. In the case of the Charges, however, I make an exception. They are a way of understanding the Old Ones, of invoking them, a form of prayer as much as anything else. But I still feel slightly odd about it; those feelings of Hubris poking at me, even though I know the Lord and Lady don't mind Hubris. I find it vaguely ironic that He who is the Hunter is also the Guardian of those that are "wild and free", but it fits, somehow. There is freedom in the hunt, exhilaration and adrenaline.

"I am the fire within your heart... The yearning of your Soul. I am the Hunter of Knowledge and the Seeker of the Holy Quest; I who stand in the darkness of light; I am He whom you have called Death. I am the Consort and Mate of Her we adore, call forth to me."
The God is the spirit of passion within us; He is lust, desire, pleasure. I've not come across the implication of the Lord hunting knowledge before. The Lady seeks the answers to all the Mysteries in the Legend of the Descent of the Goddess, and Odin is a wanderer and devourer of knowledge to the highest degree, but the Lord has always seemed to me to be more or less secure in His knowledge. Wisdom comes to Him, and He is patient. The Lord guards the Gates of Death, and thus stands with one foot in Darkness (the unknown, the Underworld, the shadow) and one foot in the Light (the known, the world of the living). In the Legend of the Descent of the Goddess, the Lord is Death, the keeper of the Mysteries. He is the cold depths of winter, and the long dark winters of the far North and far South. He loves the Lady, holds Her first out of all those He loves, and it is His love for Her that brings Him to mention Her in His Charge, and His love for us that He mentions us in the same breath, as those who adore the Lady with but a fraction of the love He holds for Her.

"Heed my call beloved ones, come unto me and learn the secrets of death and peace. I am the corn at harvest and the fruit on the trees. I am He who leads you home. Scourge and Flame, Blade and Blood, these are mine and gifts to thee."
While He knows the Mysteries, and is the Lord of Death and Shadow, the God is peaceful and kind. He is the Hunter and enjoys the hunt, and yet He is fond of His prey, and gentle. The Lord is cut down with the harvest, as many ancient fertility gods, giving His life time after time so that all may live. He suffers death (in a way, even if it's only metaphorical) time after time, and He is Lord of Death, so that when we die He leads us to the Underworld (Summerland, Netherworld, Heaven, haunting area... pick your afterlife destination) where we can recover before we reincarnate again (or remain forever in the afterlife, depending on your personal belief system). The God is in the heat of battle, the adrenaline rushing through our veins. He is the heat of fire, the energy raised from the scourge, the knife or sword that defends our kith and kin and that slaughters and prepares our food, He is the passion and heat and life that is the blood within us.

"Call unto me in the forest wild and on hilltop bare and seek me in the Darkness Bright. I who have been called; Pan, Herne, Osiris, and Hades, speak to thee in thy search. Come dance and sing; come live and smile, for behold: this is my worship."
The Lord's domain is the dark and unknown forest, on the windswept peak, on those places that civilization does not touch. He is the wild and unknown, and these places are dangerous to those who do not understand them. Some Wiccans (not all, by any means) believe that all gods are as One God, and that each male deity is just an aspect of the Lord. I don't ascribe to such beliefs, but I can see part of the Lord in each and every god as He is within each one of us. As He is our lifeblood and passion, so He is part of Pan, Herne, Osiris, Hades, and all the gods that are and have been. In a way, when we worship them, we worship Him. He calls to us in the cold and quiet places, leads us from darkness to light and back again. He loves the dance, the joy and energy within it. Each smile is a boon to Him, such is His love of pleasure, joy, happiness.

"You are my children and I am thy Father. On swift night wings it is I who lay you at the Mother's feet to be reborn and to return again."
This fragment has always seemed to me to lessen the role of the Lord slightly. He is as high and worthy as the Mother, but in recent years the Lady has been held higher than the Lord by some, which is not in keeping with the general role of balance which I find so important. Anyway... The Lord, as He leads us to the Underworld after we die, also leads us back as we are reborn. He is a psychopomp, like Hermes or the Grim Reaper.

"Thou who thinks to seek me, know that I am the untamed wind, the fury of storm and passion in your Soul. Seek me with pride and humility, but seek me best with love and strength. For this is my path, and I love not the weak and fearful."
The Lord is kind and gentle, but He is also the embodiment of all that civilization has tried to eradicate: he is the Wild, and the Wild is dangerous. The storm can kill us, the wind can destroy what we own and blow down the strongest of trees, but the passion within us is made of the same thing as the wild spirit of nature, and this passion helps us survive through the storm. We forget that we are a part of nature, and the God reminds us that we are the same as the driving snow and the power of nature, just as we are the same as the soft spring morning and the warm sun. He tells us that we can be proud of ourselves at the same time as we are humble before our deities, but that the things He prizes highest are strength of spirit and the love within us. But we should not ignore the strength and power of our bodies, for these are important to Him too. He and the Lady have given us powerful tools, and we should not neglect them. Our bodies are capable of incredible strength, and building that strength is a testament to the God. The weak and fearful turn away from those things most important to the God, and turn away from the Darkness, of which He is forever a part. Those who are afraid of Him cannot seek Him and accept Him, and He has no patience for those who will not accept the Shadow within themselves. The Lord will not come out into the Light to meet those who fear the Darkness: one must go into the Darkness to find Him.

"Hear my call on long Winter nights and we shall stand together guarding Her Earth as She sleeps."
The Lord's voice echoes with the cutting winter wind, whistling through the trees. The winter is the time of longest darkness; this is most significant in the far North and far South, where daylight comes only for a few hours a day. In these times we turn to the Lord, when Darkness rules and the predators are hungry enough to eat anything, including us. Through everything the Lord seeks to retain the Wilderness, though some attempt to destroy it. The Lady holds less sway during the Dark Months - Her time is the spring and summer, when life returns to the world. He guards the world during this time. The Lord's love for His Consort is unending, deep, and passionate, and He would do anything for Her. He takes it as His role to guard that which She loves, and to guard Her when Her power wanes, and to stand with Him in this task is the highest of honours.

Why I walk the Pagan Path

This blog is something different from any I have had before, although I daresay it will not be too different from many you have read. A "serious" blog, this one - not so much personal as almost an exercise in writing for a Pagan audience. Frankly, I need to build a portfolio. Writing something such as this will help me, as a writer. It will, I don't doubt, also help me as a Pagan.

I thought it fitting to begin with something describing why I am a Pagan. It is based on such a question presented by that highly-appreciated Pagan prompter, Witches' Weekly.

"So you're a Pagan?" it asks. "Why?"

A simple question, but one that we may find difficult to answer. Whys are often difficult things. Often the most we can do is explain what about a particular thing we love or enjoy. What draws us to it. The exact why may have been a moment, a stray thought. A book catches our eye in a book store. A chance overheard conversation peaks our interest. Even, perhaps, a particular deity interferes - and suddenly our lives have changed, and it may take us weeks, months, or even years to fully realise it.

My own reply to this why is lengthy. Perhaps I could have said it in a few lines. Typical responses float around in my mind: "it was like coming home" "nature" "gods" etc. But what was it? When, in the cloudy past of childhood, did it really start? I do not know. But it really, honestly feels to me that, in part, it's always been this way.

I do believe in reincarnation. Was I a Pagan, or a Witch, in all my past lives? Good sense would say "no, of course not", but there are elements of Pagan belief in the folk practices of the country people back in Tudor times; Popular Religion, they call it, the religion of the common folk who go to church when they must, but also leave the local spirits and gods small offerings... because when you're a farmer, you depend on your harvest. Your local priest may not understand that, so you give an offering to ensure a good harvest. It's what you do. It is fascinating to look at what survived, and in what forms - but I digress.

So when did it start? I was always avidly into history. I remember reading kids' versions of Greek myths as a small child. I remember loving these gods. Did I believe in them? I'm unsure... I have vague memories of thinking that they had existed, once, but now they were dead, because they had no more believers. I would dream about what it would have been like to live back then, with many gods. How wonderful it would have been! And then, years later, I hear of Wicca. Some of these Wiccans worship these Gods. They still have believers. They are still alive. A thrill ran through me. I felt a joy, a sense of real satisfaction.
I could never have been anything other than a hard polytheist. It's one of the strongest and most defining features of myself as a Pagan and within the Pagan community.

Nature. I've always loved trees, and animals. I grew up with Captain Planet, Widget the World Watcher, cartoons about saving the planet galore. Because that was the early 90s for you. And it worked on my generation. The whole "save the planet" thing was totally instilled upon us. You can truly tell the difference with those who watched TV, and those who didn't. As a small girl, I worried about the hole in the ozone layer. I pursed my lips when thinking of the rubbish in the oceans. I was a little Lisa Simpson, sans the vegetarianism (although I did contemplate it once). Save the rainforest, save the whales, save the oceans, save the planet. I was an little eco-conscious kid. I wanted to be a planeteer (although I must admit that the lure of a magic ring was a part of that). But had you asked me whether I loved nature, I would probably have given you a funny look. I never thought about it. I never considered that there was a thing that, as a whole, could be called "nature". Nor that there could be any alternative to rejoicing in it and trying to save it. It just was. I just was.

So, there are the Gods, and there is Nature. So, why am I a Pagan? It's a strange question. Is there a why? Is there a how? I love my Gods. I almost didn't have a choice. Once I opened the door to them, they jumped in and took the door off its hinges. They claimed me. The appreciation and love of nature is one of the things that appeals the very most to me now. The attunement with the cycles of nature, the sun and the moon, life and death, man and woman. The man and woman thing I love. As a little feminist as a child (Lisa Simpson again), I always objected to patriarchal society. I would argue long and loud with anyone who suggested that I, a girl, couldn't do anything a boy or a man could do. The balance of male and female. The Mysteries of sex, death, birth, passion, love, pain, and strength, the spirit of the wild (and the Lord), the beauty and glories of our Earth (and the Lady). This is who I am. I am, by nature, a passionate person. (I am an Aquarian and a Fire Tiger.) So the passion and .... call it the primal part of Paganism is something that draws me to it and pulls me in.

Ritual. I like ritual. Well, I like writing ritual. As a writer and a poet, I like composing lines for rituals, and even if most of my own rituals are made up as I go along, I find that constructing ritual is a good spiritual exercise. When I speak to my Gods, the dialogue, once started, is mostly informal. But when I pray, or honour with ritual, I like to be very formal. They know that I love them, honour them, respect them. Sometimes formal ritual seems like the highest thing. Other times, the words don't work... but emotion does. Sometimes, especially with the Lord and Lady, I find it easier to pray without words. When in dialogue I use words contentedly, but in prayer, not as much. In ritual, the ritual words are accompanied with wordless communication. The advantage of writing and memorising in advance, of course, is that the part of the mind associated with the words can speak them with ease, while another part of the mind can concentrate upon matters such as raising energy, communicating emotion, interacting with deity. Of course, all these things are tied, but the advantage of a memorised ritual or prayer is that one doesn't need to slow down or pause in order to recall what one is going to say next. One doesn't need to concentrate on getting the words right so much that one forgets why one is doing it.

I digress again.

So I'm a Pagan. Why? Well....
It brings me close to the nature I love; there are innumerable Gods that I can grow to know and love, many with whom I have formed strong bonds - and most of these Gods have an element of human in them, if such one could call it, that makes them that much more real than an untouchable, perfect deity; the ultimate, first and most powerful deities are a pair, one of each sex, lovers, equal in power as men and women should be equal; sex is a good thing, the body is wonderful and sacred, and there is no sin; there are no rules - I form my own morals and do as I wish, which to me is more spiritually responsible than following a set of rules; there is ritual, and ritual can be as simple as a walk in the woods or lighting a candle, or as complicated as a group rite with special jewellery, hundreds of candles, ornate tools, and set lines to recite; it requires considerable research, which is important to me, because I adore learning, non-fiction and documentaries; and the Gods are present, all of them, and while they will help me when I need it, they won't do things for me. I must do them for myself, which is the most helpful thing the Gods could ever do.

Why am I a Pagan? I am a Pagan because within Paganism I can find everything I will ever need to live as the religious, spiritual person that I am. Because it fulfils all the things that I feel are important to me spiritually. And I love it.