Introduction: The Book

Books are medicine. Their stories teach, illuminate, affirm, and heal. The trick, however, is finding the right book at the right time. After all, librarians are not doctors. They can’t logically or intuitively recommend a book that speaks to the half articulated longings of the psyche. Dust jackets are an equally fallible resource. Synopsizes may delineate the plot  and central theme of a novel, but book-medicine is ephemeral. It emerges in unlikely places. It speaks between the lines. I would never have guessed that Edith Wharton’s novel about an idealistic New York debutante, The House of Mirth, would speak to my deepest frustrations in the early spring of 2011. I love Clive Barker, but I didn’t expect Galilee to renew my faith in true, enduring love.

Therefore, when I impulsively downloaded The Twelve Wild Swans by Starhawk and Hilary Valentine onto my Kindle, I expected just another book about paganism. I needed something to read with my pagan study group. I needed something that provided a solid overview of the Path of the Wise, taught basic energy techniques, and wouldn’t drive me too crazy with sweeping, un-cited generalizations about theology and history. I expected to be disappointed because, honestly, most pagan books just don’t speak to me.

Instead I found a book that resonated with the spiritual beliefs I’ve been nurturing, solitary and underground, for the past twelve years. The Twelve Wild Swans, inspired by the Reclaiming tradition, explores an approach to paganism rooted in the living world, in activism, in the body, in fairy tales, and the power of community. This blog, inspired by this book, hopes to chronicle my journey back into the Wild Wood where I first embraced Coyote, Hecate, and the sacred rhythm that beats within the Circle.

Blessed be!

In "The Twelve Wild Swans" a princess, bound by  a vow
of silence, sews shirts to break the curse on her brothers.