SWIMMING WITH SWANS

I did it! Arctic waters in Greenland next?

Have you ever attempted to swim with swans?

A few days ago I ended up swimming with three swans and I briefly became a Swan Maiden. It was a major spiritual experience. I discovered that (contrary to their names) mute swans chat and have distinct "talking voices" (I had only heard them hiss before!)

However, then two men in a small motorboat appeared (they were out fishing) and headed straight for the swans (they could easily have curved around them/us) so the swans were paddling manically to get out of the way. I decided to get out of the water in case the swans felt so threatened by human beings that they decided to attack me, as opposed to allowing me to swim with them and talking to me. (Better safe than sorry as a "baby wild swimmer”).

Here in Sweden there is no true darkness any more. At midnight the sun is below the horizon but there is still (bright blue) light. I have a difficult decision to make: shall I go swimming at sunset tonight, or at sunrise tomorrow morning? Sunrise is at 21:38 pm tonight and sunrise is at 3:59 am tomorrow morning. The days will continue to lengthen until the summer solstice. I always feel a bit sad about not seeing the stars again until late August.

My Forest School here in Sweden is only a short walk away from a beautiful lake. Well, technically it is a fjord because it is connected to open sea (the Baltic Sea). Many of my students have pointed out that it is nothing short of criminal not to swim in that lake, ideally all year around (meaning you’d need to hack a hole in the ice, in Scandinavian winters).

Hmm…

Over the years many people had spoken to me of the beneficial and mystical experiences that swimming outdoors in cold water bestows. Recently I was trying to work out the ideal form of exercise for my body, age and idiosyncrasies. After some serious reflection (on being kind to ageing limbs and joints) I arrived at swimming.

Which is not to say I jumped into the lake as soon as we got here…

However, one recent morning I woke up because some ravens were having a squabble with a flock of much smaller birds just outside my open window. Behave yourselves, Huginn and Muninn (Odin’s ravens)! Don’t pick on winged creatures smaller than yourselves!! The ravens flew off but the smaller birds stayed and told me, in no uncertain terms, that today was the day - go get yourself to the lake!

I packed a swim bag and walked to the lake. I was still “negotiating escape routes” with myself: even if you walk in up to your knees, that is a good start… Sitting on the jetty and just dangling your legs in the water is a perfectly acceptable way to start as well…

I did not bring a thermometer but the internet informed me that the water temperature was about 8 degrees Celsius then (it may be a bit higher now). We have swim steps on the jetty but they are pulled up in winter to protect them from snow and ice. They had not been mounted yet, for this year and I had not brought a monkey wrench with me.

My husband (who sails a dinghy and kayaks on the lake) had already warned me that the bottom of our lake is incredibly soft and muddy. And indeed, it felt like a Mud Monster was trying to devour me and pull me down into its den. After some tussles with him/her I managed get in using a gradual approach, by holding onto the jetty and slowly pushing myself further out to deeper water. Obviously the Mud Monster was laughing at me all the way. I will eat you another day!

That morning a pair of mute swans flew over and the flapping of their wings was incredibly loud, like the beating of drum. One of the highlights of our year is encountering this couple and their cygnets on the lake. We do we live in fear of a predator eating some cygnets. We always count them compulsively (but sometimes they hide in the reeds and give us a fright).

It is an odd thought that my swan bone flutes were made from the wing bones of a skeleton of mute swan (which I found on an island in the archipelago on our doorstep). I trust this swan enjoyed finding her voice and travelling the world.

It was a gorgeous summer day and Sunna (the sun) beamed down on my face (note to self: apply sun cream from now on!) The Spirit of the Lake embraced me happily and was willing to let me go again (unlike the Mud Monster). And I thought: WOAH, it took me eight years to actually do this, thank you students and wild swimmer friends!!

I was in the water for about 15 mins and considered that enough for a first swim. After that I sat on the jetty for a while and just dangled my legs in the sparkling water.

Thankfully one wild swimmer friend had advised me to buy neoprene booties. They were a life saver on the pebbles and rocks. Without them I would probably have cut my foot (and put myself off wild swimming for life), so deep gratitude for water-wise friends.

I am still not sure about swimming all year around BUT I am taking a group of art students to Greenland in September and one participant, Lyn Hill, (please follow her adventures here on Substack at Sacred Awakenings!) is planning to swim in the Ice Sea between Greenland and Canada (Baffin Island). For now my plan is to stay safely ashore but volunteer to be the videographer.

I have heard it said, by herbalists or plant spirit sages, that the medicine you most need always grows somewhere near you. On my way home I picked some cowslips. I felt energized by the swimming and I ended up drinking a bright yellow tea made from “faerie cups”!

The boundary between tea, medicine and ink is definitely blurring here. (See my previous blog about Pigment Hunting and the Sex Life of Seaweed!) Cowslip flowers (somewhat) resemble a bunch of keys. I did some research and discovered that in Norse mythology they are linked to the goddess Freyja, also known as the “key virgin.” The flowers were thought to be a key that would admit the bearer to Freya’s hall. Over time, this story was repurposed by Church Fathers and linked to the Virgin Mary instead, leading to the common name “Mary’s tears.”

Well, something has definitely been unlocked in my life recently. I doubt I will graduate to swimming in arctic waters teeming with ice floes, within just months, but in terms of swimming I will try to be more open-minded (and brave) than I have been for the last 8 years!

Tomorrow I will bring my swan bone flutes to the lake and play for the swans!

Until a month ago it was my aim to post two essays a week here on Substack. Moving forward, I will try (but sometimes fail) to get out one essay a week, due to travel, international teaching commitments and family care responsibilities (our family lives with Alzheimer’s and I have written several posts about that). If you would like to see regular posts about about sacred art, Nordic spirituality and my life as a Forest Witch, please follow me on Instagram or Facebook, thank you!

Imelda Almqvist, Forest House and Forest School, Sweden

BIO FOR IMELDA ALMQVIST

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). So far she has written four non-fiction books and two picture books for children. Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019, Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in Possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020 and North Sea Water In My Veins (The Pre-Christian spirituality of the Low Countries) was published in June 2022.

The Green Bear is a series of picture book for children, aged 3 – 8 years. The stories and vibrant artwork, set in Scandinavia, invite children to explore enchanting parallel worlds and to keep their sense of magic alive as they grow up.

Imelda has presented her work on both The Shift Network and Sounds True. She appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Mesolithic arctic deer shamanism.

Imelda is currently working on a handbook for rune magicians (about the runes of the Elder Futhark) and on more books in the Green Bear Series. Imelda runs an on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings, where all classes she teaches remain available as recordings, which can be watched any time!

Website:                           

http://www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk/

YouTube Channel:             youtube.com/user/imeldaalmqvist

Online School:                  https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/courses/

Facebook:                            https://www.facebook.com/imelda.almqvist/

Instagram:                          https://www.instagram.com/almqvistimelda/

Twitter: @ImeldaAlmqvist

Imelda Almqvist