The swan is one of the main beasts to feature in tales of animal/human transformation, pointing to earlier, shamanic origins of these stories in Britain, Europe and Scandinavia. The Dark Goddess and swan motif appear in many of our old folk and fairy tales. She is cleverly veiled, but we can lift that veil as priestesses, as we grow to understand the wisdom of the old and the beauty of the dark, and the ever turning cycles of birth and death, seasons and galaxies. Artwork: Leda, by Claudia Böhm