SWAN MAIDENS & SWAN BONE FLUTES

When a Swan requests a Ceremony!

Recently a swan asked me to perform a ceremony, here at the Forest House and I did, see picture!

I am talking about the swan that donated two bones for swan bone flutes to be made. Her entire skeleton and wings live with me, in my Forest Studio. She quite literally grabbed my shoulder and said: “I want you to do a ceremony and play your swan bone flutes for me. And I want all your animal skulls to be present!”

And so it was done, inside the fairy circle of mushrooms that has appeared recently between my house and my Forest School.

Where does any journey start? In 2017 I had a very powerful dream about the song of a Swan Maiden. I did some research (I end up reading many academic papers because of dreams!) and found an archaeology paper about a Mesolithic burial site in Denmark, which matched my dream.

I made an art video to tell the story (attached), but I will still copy the key information into this post:

"In a dream I had in Sweden summer 2017 I was shown the soul journey of a Swan Maiden and her infant son after she died in childbirth. I was mystified and did some research. This took me to the town of Vedbaeck in Denmark, just north of Copenhagen.

In 1975 a Mesolithic era cemetery was discovered here. The body of a young woman (aged about 18) was found with the body of a premature baby boy. It is presumed that she and her son died in childbirth. The baby was cradled in a whooper swan wing and he had a flint knife by his side. His mother had grave goods with her, such as ornaments made from shells and the teeth of animals such as bear, deer, elk and boar. Both bodies had been sprinkled with red ochre.

It is believed that the swan’s wing indicates an ancient belief in swans as soul conductors or psychopomps, accompanying people on their transition to the otherworld. I was touched to my very soul because I realised that my dream had showed me the continuation of their consciousness after death, for these two souls.

It also led to delving and dreaming into the significance of swans in Early Europe and this art video shows some of my discoveries."

Ever since I had this dream I have had a profound yearning for playing a swan bone flute. I thought this was out of reach, "just a dream". However, a year ago I found a perfectly preserved mute swan skeleton (with the wings still attached) on an uninhabited island in the outer reaches of the Stockholm archipelago.

In truth I feared I would destroy two perfectly preserved humurus (avian forewing, equivalent of a human upper arm) bones in a clumsy attempt to make myself a bone flute. My friend paul bloomer art had successfully made himself a swan bone before and he offered to make mine. With immense relief I parcelled the bones up and sent them to Shetland. I knew they would be in safe hands!

He keep me posted of progress (I will never forget the video he made of the first bone finding its voice!) and it was agreed that I would travel to Shetland and collect them in person. (As most of you know, I spent two weeks in Shetland, about a month ago). I will treasure the moment he placed the two flutes in my hands until the day I die. Actually my swan bone flutes might just need to be buried with me!

And you know, it was not so easy to play them! I actually needed instructions for breathing right and controlling the flow of my breath to draw a sound from the flutes.

In response to some questions received

How do you get hold of swan bones to make a flute from?

Well, you need to be exceptionally lucky to find one! Here in the Baltic Sea we have a huge (mute) swan population, but the shore and the islands are not exactly littered with swan bones. I see them as an immense gift from Spirit. And also as a responsibility, to use these flutes in shamanic work, both in teaching and working with dying people.

Will I bring them to the Petroglyphs of Soul course I am teaching in Santa Fe (New Mexico), in October this year, and play them for the participants?

Thank you for asking and Of course! The flutes travel everywhere I go!

Artist Paul Bloomer

This post is also to invite you all to check out the amazing art of Paul Bloomer. His paintings and woodcuts are inspired by the land and animals he encounters. In truth he is one of my favourite artists and I cannot believe I am lucky enough to have two flutes made by him. You can follow his work here on FB and also on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/paulbloomerartist/

I will add a link that Anita Sullivan sent me in response to my newsletter. It is about a Neanderthal bone flute:

https://www.openculture.com/.../hear-the-worlds-oldest...

She says that this flute is supposedly over 40,000 years old and the recording demonstrates clear tones pretty close to diatonic scale. As a gifted Poet and Piano Tuner (with an exceptional musical ear) she points out that she had expected "more wildness".

Therefore I will close this post by saying that one of my flutes is in a minor key and the other one in a major key. Paul wanted me to be able to play "sheet music" on them. However, his own swan bone flute is in the Scale of Swan. It does not follow an established scale known in Western Music. Something to consider if ever you are lucky enough to find a swan bone!

Since the ceremony I continue to have intense dreams about swans and Swan Maidens. My students expressed strong interest in an (online) sacred art retreat dedicated to Swan Maidens, so I have created that and you will find more information just below.

Imelda at the Forest House, Sweden

Online Sacred Art Retreat

Since the ceremony I continue to have intense dreams about swans and Swan Maidens. My students expressed strong interest in an (online) sacred art retreat dedicated to Swan Maidens, so I have created that:

https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/private_pages/14034503?preview=logged_out

This is an on-line sacred art retreat, organised as six sessions spread over three days. With US/Canada friendly hours! All sessions will be recorded so participants can revisit or catch up on material in their own time.

Have you found your wings in this lifetime or is there more work to do to set yourself free and soar?

Do you have a (secret) feathered cloak?

Do you ever feel like a Hybrid, part human and part animal?

Do you feel more at home in other worlds than in everyday reality?

Swans have always spoken to the human imagination. What does the hybrid nature Swan Women teach us about ourselves (and I am speaking of both men and women, we do not need to follow rigid Old Nordic gender divisions in our work!)

In relationships we sometimes make sacrifices of our own free will (taking off our wild swan cloak, no longer flying wherever we want to) because we crave connection, togetherness, (and often children, who need stability). However, we can do that only for so long and after that our Swan Self urges us to reclaim ourselves and fly free, or fly Home.

This Call of the Wild can grow exceptionally strong at (or after) the menopause (or midlife crisis for men). But it can also arrive at other times of life, where we need to re-wild ourselves at all cost.

These are some themes our retreat will explore through art, ceremony and the process of direct revelation.