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Starhawk teams up with Hilary Valentine to provide a book that is part fable, part ritual and part psychology. The book uses the fairytale of the Twelve Wild Swans to provide a context for exploring the inner self – our inner most thoughts and feelings – and how we live our lives in the modern prosaic world. The sub-title accurately portrays this as a journey, one that takes us both into and out of ourselves, showing us our connections to the wider world around us, both in terms of what we see and what we cannot see. Within the book are two structures. The first follows Rose in the Twelve Wild Swans through seven chapters, with each chapter building upon previous ones as we are carried along on Rose’s journey. We become Rose in our quest to find the truth we know to be out there and in the way we go about discovering that truth. The second structure exists within the chapters, provided through three separate paths. The first path is for beginners, an introduction to the basic concepts and rituals of magick. For example, each of the elements are explored as part of the journey to self-knowledge, both Rose’s and our own. The second looks at our inner selves, our hopes and fears, and how we go about healing ourselves to face the external world. The third path focuses upon our service to others and how we can contribute to our communities, families and friends, thus passing on the knowledge as we gain it. The beauty of its construction this allows the reader to choose how he or she will navigate the book. The authors, in their introduction, encourage the reader to either follow a path from one end to the other, or to read specific chapters according to their needs. In choosing to read each path in each chapter, a more holistic view can be gained, which allows the reader to gain a feel for which parts of the book speak most to him or her. It is also interesting to see the differences in writing and approach between Starhawk’s contributions and those of Valentine. The rituals and exercises presented in The Twelve Wild Swans are always interesting, usually practical and often quite disturbing in what they can reveal about the reader. Even if you never practice magick with all the bells and whistles, just sitting down and focusing upon some of the inner path exercises can provide some startling insights. This is a thoughtfully constructed and intriguing book, one that is likely to be useful over and over again, as we move through different levels of familiarity and competence in the magickal realm. Like Rose, I think the reader will discover truths here that were previously unsuspected. |
