The Swan symbolizes grace and beauty. It is a bird associated with love, music, creativity, poetry; it is often pictured singing to a lyre. In Greek mythology, the swan is a bird sacred to Aphrodite and Apollo.
When Apollo entered the world, sacred swans circled the island seven times for it was the seventh day of the month. At once Zeus lavished many gifts upon his son including a golden miter, a chariot drawn by swans, and a lyre since legend has it at birth Apollo said, “Dear to me shall be the lyre and bow, and in oracles I shall reveal to men the inexorable will of Zeus.” The god commanded his son to find sanctuary at Delphi. But before taking Apollo to Delphi, the swans flew him north to their own country on the edge of the ocean, which was home to the Hyperborean people, who was a supremely happy race for whom life was sweet.
These beautiful birds are connected to the sun. They symbolize light and all that is good.
Swans are known to mate for life making them a symbol of fidelity and longevity.
In Hinduism swans represent the connection between the material world and the spiritual world in perfect harmony. They symbolize the ability to reside in both worlds because they are connected to air and water.
As a symbol in alchemy, the swan was neither masculine nor feminine, but rather symbolised hermaphroditism or ‘the marriage of the opposites’, fire and water. It was an emblem of mercury, as it was white and very mobile, because of its wings.
As a dream symbol, the swan can signify self transformation, intuition, sensitivity, and even the soul, the ‘higher Self’ within each person.
The cloaks of the Irish bards, who were both poets and musicians, were made of swan feathers, and in the Irish saga, the Children of Lir, when turned into swans, sang so sweetly that all who heard them, were calmed and slept peacefully.
In the Celtic tradition Swan symbolizes Soul, that aspect of all beings which is eternal.
Swan – A lover of poetry and harmony. Eagle, crow and swan…emblems of royalty, chastity, holiness and poetry.
Gliding on the waters of the river or lake, the swan is poetry in motion!!
