 What is the spiritual meaning of swan? Whether you've dreamed of swans, or you keep seeing them everywhere, or you've always just loved them, or maybe you're a little afraid of them. If swan has floated into your life, it's sure to have a message for you. If you'd like to know what that message is, then keep watching. In this video, I'm going to share all sorts of insights about the spirit meaning of swan, including its positive meanings, the shadow meanings of swan, and what it means to see a black swan. Let's be sure to watch to the end, because I'm going to share a special mystical message that the swan spirit animal gave me to share with you. Let's start with a quick overview of swan. Swans are the largest of the waterfall family of birds, and they're mostly found in the temperate regions. In the northern hemisphere, swans are pretty much all white, and then in the southern hemisphere, they're either black or black and white. So if you know what species of swan you're working with, you might want to look into that exact species. But even though there are some differences between swans, they're very, very similar one to the other. So the meanings in this video are all going to apply pretty much, except that we will be talking about specifically the black swan and the meaning of that. Okay, so let's dive into the positive meanings of swan. So you only have to look at a swan floating on the water just to recognize the incredible beauty and grace that this bird has. And so those are two of the most prominent meanings of swan. If swan's coming in, a sign of beauty, it's a sign of grace, it's almost like a blessing to see a swan. And sometimes that's all that it really is, is just like seeing this bird lifts you into a higher vibration. And we're looking at the classic swan, the pure white feathers are a symbol of purity. And so they've always been seen as like the symbol of like a higher reality or a symbol of transcendence or enlightenment. They also symbolize self reflection, which you can really see mirrored in the classic images of the swan reflected in the water. In Hindu mythology, the swan is a vehicle for a couple of major deities. The goddess Saraswati is often shown writing a swan and she's the goddess of knowledge and learning as well as the arts, okay? So the arts of course have to do with beauty and knowledge and learning reflects this self-reflective aspect of swan as seen that reflection in the water. The Lord Brahma who's the great creator God of Hindu mythology also is seen writing a swan. And in his case, it's really more focusing on the swan as a symbol of enlightenment as well as the power of discrimination. So the swan is said to have the ability to separate milk from water, which signifies the ability to discriminate between right and wrong and between the spiritual path and the material path. So much so that there's a Sanskrit word, parama hamsa, and that translates literally to supreme swan. And that's a word that is used to describe a teacher who has attained enlightenment. So beauty, grace, purity, enlightenment, high vibration, all these things are very, very core aspects of the swan spirit animal. But another one that the swan is super celebrated for is romantic love and fidelity. It can be a symbol of marriage as well. I have a personal story about this. A few years back I was invited on a group hike and only two of us showed up. And it was a friend of mine that I'd known for about a year. I really wasn't thinking of him as a romantic partner. I wasn't thinking dating at all, but we went on this hike and stopped by this lake and there was this beautiful pair of swans out in the lake. And I remember just being struck by how beautiful they were and how I had never seen swans on this lake before. And it was funny because swan had been coming forward for me and it turned out that a couple of months later he invited me out at a date and within a year after that we were married. For me this has a special significance but swan throughout the ages has had the significance of a very pure and high and holy bond or marriage between male and female. And so when we look at swans and the way they act in nature they have this incredible pair of bond that's rarely seen anywhere in the animal kingdom. And it's very interesting to look at the way that a mated pair of swans behaves with each other because they start out with this elaborate courtship and you've probably seen many, many pictures of swans coming together with their heads and necks creating this heart shape. It's super symbolic and it's actually really, really true. Swans do mate for life and throughout their time together they exhibit incredible bonding. So swans will share every single aspect of raising the young from nest building even just sitting on the eggs to protecting. The male swan is called a cob and he's amazing at protecting the space and bringing food to his mate. He will incubate a little bit but she's the main one to do that but they really, really share the care-taking and they also will stick together throughout their life. So they, in addition to sharing responsibility they have little rituals that they do together and they're also frequently in vocal communication as well as body language communication. They even have this synchronized swimming routines that they do because they are just so incredibly bonded together. So swan can be an amazing symbol for soul mate for twin flame, for marriage, romantic love all those great things. Swan also can be a beautiful symbol for just being in the flow of life for floating along and enjoying the beauty and the grace that happens when we tune into spirit tune into our higher guidance and it brings us on this beautiful journey, right? And finally swan is a beautiful symbol of transformation. You're probably familiar with the Hans Christian Anderson story of the ugly duckling. A baby swan is called a signet. It's not really all that pretty. It's kind of a gray color and it can be a little bit awkward. And in the story, this little swan's signet ends up in a group of ducklings. He's orphaned, he's raised by ducks and you know how cute baby ducks are, right? So you can imagine what a big gangly gray signet would look like in amongst a bunch of fluffy little cute little baby ducks. So of course this little baby swan thinks he's a duckling and grows up thinking that he's just kind of ugly and gangly and he goes through all these life adventures and he grows through hardship. And then one day he's kind of still lamenting himself and somebody tells him to look in the water and he looks and there's this incredibly beautiful creature and he realizes that that's who he is. So the swan can be a symbol of transformation but not sudden transformation. It's not the same as a butterfly. It's this gradual transformation, almost imperceptible transformation from something that's kind of awkward or gangly or impure into this beautiful, pure majestic presence. And to me it's really, it can be a call to just really look at yourself and see how far you've come. Don't compare yourself to other people but compare yourself to where you were a year ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, right? And you'll see this incredible change that you maybe didn't even realize was happening. It can also be a symbol of maturity and the beauty and majesty that can only be attained by growing through experience and this life experience, the hardships that can bring out the best in you, right? And also the elegance and beauty of old age, that's a time of maturity, the elder period where you've really reaped all the benefits of the hardships of life and there you can stand in your purified essence. Oh, and then one more thing about swan, there's a myth or a story and this really pertains mostly to the mute swan which doesn't make a lot of noise but the story is that the swan, right before it dies sings this incredibly beautiful song. And so to me, again, this points to the beauty and the wisdom of the elder period of life and also the legacy that one can leave to the world when one has been through all the hero's journey of life and has reached a more enlightened state and has the wisdom that you can now transmit to the world. Before we look at the meaning of black swan, let's look at the negative side of swan, the shadow meaning of the swan spirit animal because every archetype, no matter how wonderful it is, always is gonna have a shadow side. And it's really important to look into that because it can help us to transmute and overcome these characteristics, okay? So looking back at that story of the ugly duckling one of the shadow meanings of swan is a poor self-esteem, right? So if swan's coming up and it feels like it could be coming up as a challenger, look at where are you feeling a little bit unworthy and swan can really help you to dive down, pull out those feelings of unworthiness and really wash them away, right? And begin to appreciate the beauty of your own soul, right? Or even understanding yourself as a work in progress, right? So even if you're feeling kind of like this ugly duckling, understand that as you move forward in life, you've got that beautiful swan within you that's gonna just keep coming out, right? More and more until you will finally become this incredible, beautiful, graceful being. Another shadow meaning of swan is just like overly emotional, right? Cause it's such a watery creature. And here the encouragement is to remember that swan, not only as a creature of the water, but it's also a creature of the air. It's a very strong flyer. Many species of swans actually migrate tremendous distances. And so this is a reminder that anytime that you're feeling really deeply mired in emotion, it's important to be able to feel that, but also you can bring yourself up into the logical or rational mind and use both of these. Remember that the swan is the symbol of marriage. So it's also the symbol of the marriage within that we can marry the mind and the heart together, right? The logic and the emotions bring these two together. And this is what creates a very harmonious feeling or relationship both within yourself and working with other people, okay? And then finally the swan can be a symbol of grief or loss and especially because they do have that incredible pair bond, a swan that loses its mate really does show all the signs of grief. They will show sometimes lose weight, just become very depressed or sad looking. Sometimes they will go back to where they last saw their mate or to the scene of death. So swan coming up could be anything related to grief. And it could even be giving you permission to go through a mourning period, right? To just retreat from the world a little bit, it's okay. Sometimes we need that time to integrate and to actually really mourn any kind of loss that we've had, whether it's another person or a relationship or a job loss or a move, right? There's all sorts of things that we can mourn. Even mourning, as we move into transitioning to a new phase of life. Sometimes there's a mourning that has to occur. And so swan can come forward sometimes to remind us that this is something that needs to be honored and maybe doing a ritual or something to acknowledge the loss and the grief that you're feeling can help you to move up and beyond that as appropriate for you. Sometimes they will find another mate and sometimes they choose to remain solitary for the rest of their lives. So it's also telling you that however you choose or feel is appropriate for you to manage your grief, it's okay for you to do what your heart is telling you. All right, so what does it mean to see a black swan? Well, a couple of different ways we can look at this. On the one hand, we can look at the black swan in the ballet swan lake. The black swan is representing this kind of malevolent person that's come in that's trying to take the place or pretend to be the white swan, okay? So it can indicate a deception or something malicious disguised as something beautiful and desirable. And that does come in as kind of wrapped in this beautiful costume, right? But really underneath, she's just trying to get something. All right, so this can be a warning to look for deception, especially when something looks so beautiful and so enticing. And fear and really caution to really feel into your gut, feel into your intuition, and feel into your body and what your body is telling you, right? Because things can be really deceptive sometimes. But on the other hand, there's a really positive meaning to black swan. And black swan shows us the beauty that is inherent in the darkness, right? She points to the night and to the deep power to be found in the dark. And this could be an invitation to shadow work because sometimes we go in the shadows and there's so much healing that that's there for us. But it can also be an invitation to just spend some time in silence and stillness and appreciate the primal darkness that we all have access to, the womb space, right? Coming into the waters of the deep feminine. And it could be an invitation to turn off your brain for a while, accommodate your body and your instincts and allow yourself to feel your emotions and feel yourself held and supported by the flow of life, okay? So really positive meanings to black swan as well. And before I share the mystic message of swan, I just wanna invite you to check down the description box. I'm gonna leave links to my playlist for other spirit animals. If you like to work with spirit animals, I have a whole slew of videos about that and also a link to my spiritual law playlist. Because in this message that I've about to share, there are references to quite a few spiritual principles and I'd love for you to check out this playlist and learn about these laws once you've heard this message. And I'm sure that there will be deep meanings for you here as well, okay? So here's the message from swan. And I call it choose a positive path. She says, follow the curve of my neck, the S curve, the winding curve, mirroring the ripples and swirls of the water upon which I float. As above, so below, your inner life reflects your outer and your outer, your inner. It is a two-way mirror. You can choose to send the flow where you will. Adjust the physical and the mental and spiritual will follow. Adjust the spiritual and the mental and physical will follow and adjust the mind, the body and spirit will respond. Energy, influence, influence can go both ways. But until a direction is chosen, it will go back and forth endlessly. This life is like a fluid reflection of the light, showing shimmering bits and pieces and flashes of insight. Though it is an illusion, it adds to the beauty of the universe. The material world offers a dimension of beauty and discovery inaccessible through any other plane. Though it is difficult to navigating it is the path of mastery. Much bliss can be found in the physical world and in the interfaces between this and other worlds. You are one such world. And so I've just submitted an article to The Edge Magazine. I'm gonna put that link in the description below. It explains this message of the swan. So remember, there may be other meanings that swan has for you. So I encourage you to really research your swan, use your intuition, use your emotions and really have fun with working with this beautiful spirit animal energy and remember you were born to be free.