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| The Sacred Sister is true to her vow and willing to sacrifice her life for her brothers. Walter Crane, illustrator |
At the end of Part 1, we found the Six Swan brothers in an unenviable fate of being caught in between worlds. Bewitched (or initiated into the Greater Mystery for those ready to understand), they are only able to become human again for a quarter-hour per day and then turn back into Swans once more. We were introduced to the fabulous character of the Seventh sibling, the amazing Hero Sister who has come to save and rescue her ill-fated brothers from a life of "neither this nor that."
"Can nothing be done to free you?" she implores her brothers. The brothers sadly and skeptically answer her: "The work would be too hard
for you," and indeed the price of their liberation is to prove exorbitant. She is told that the only way to win back their humanity is:
"For six whole years you would be obliged never to speak or laugh, and you would
have, during that time, to spin, weave and make six white shirts out of aster-down.
If you were to let fall a single word before the work was ended, all would be lost."
A Hero Arises: What an amazing challenge - a six year vow of silence while knitting six full shirts out of star-flowers! It is a good challenge to ask ourselves if we would be willing to take such a vow of total silence and fulfill it for someone we love! The story text says: "The maiden made up her mind on the spot to set her brothers free, no matter what it might cost her." Now, here is the Christ spirit in full bloom within this wonderful sister character - no matter the cost, she is determined to win back her brothers. This is a very high ideal and one that we may never be able to achieve, but one that inspires us and magnetically draws us toward this bright and shining star-shirt weaver!
Every night by the light of the moon, the silent, sacrificing sister goes out and gathers the down of the star flower so she can accumulate enough to make the shirts for her brothers. "No matter how lonely seemed the dark forest, nor how black the shadows, she was always gathering down." A long time later, a King of that country came through the forest and got separated from his traveling companions. He was about to meet a very extraordinary and special woman. There, up in a tree, she sat silently gathering the down of star flowers. The King tried to get her to identify herself, but of course she had taken the six-year vow of silence and the seventh sibling would not say a word. He brought her down and fell immediately in love with her, retrieved her bags of star down and galloped away to his castle with the sister.
The Wedding: The King had the modest, humble sister clad in royal garments and they married - with her still silent and only able to smile and send a message of love to him with her eyes. She continued her lonely, silent vigil for her brothers - maintaining her vow to knit each of her six brothers a garment of star-flower.
Residing in the castle was a jealous woman who was the head of his household. She hated the new bride from the beginning and began immediately to try to plant the seeds of doubt and division in the mind of the King. She also spoke harshly to the new Queen and called her "dumb as a door-post" and a probably "beggar" in disguise.
The danger of witch hunts: The woman begins to engage in an effort to label the Queen as an evil person - someone who is probably a witch who had cast a spell on the poor, unwitting King. The people in the realm begin to question why she was silent in the face of such serious accusations and promptly labeled her a WITCH and demanded she be put to death. It is worth pausing here for a moment and reflecting on the dangerous potential of "labeling" and "fear." Purity of spirit and integrity do sometimes excite the lower nature of some and cause them to project their own worst qualities onto the pure one. For anyone with eyes to see, history is full of witch hunts that ended with the death of innocents. In religious-spiritual traditions, savior-avatar figures such as the sister are often accused of being subverters of the order. This same phenomena is seen in the false condemnation of Jesus by the Sanhedrin religious council and by the people of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Whenever we are told to choose up sides and that we must stand up against evil "out there," the writer always becomes squeamish and worried because it is always ever so much easier to project blame and darkness on others than it is to see it within ourselves. The Swan story points us to that same danger.
The sad and courage-lacking King shows his own cowardice by allowing his pure Queen to be dragged out of the castle to be burned at the stake for witchcraft. Mob psychology is a dark potential always present in human existence and always represents the death of freedom and reason in favor of fear and paranoia.
The Hero Sister - Faithful to the End:
In an amazing act of courage, sacrifice, compassion, and love for her beloved brothers, the sister walks willingly and silently toward her own fiery death. But like the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, the ultimate sacrifice is not demanded. The six brother swans come flying over - it is exactly the "very last day of the six years during which she had neither spoken nor laughed in order to free her brothers." The six star-down shirts are ready - EXCEPT one of the shirts' sleeves is not finished. From the top of the wood pile, she cries out for her brothers and they come and circle her. She flings out the shirts onto the swans and they immediately turn back into humans again - she and her brothers once more stand before the mob and explain to them and the King the circumstances of her amazing sacrifice on their behalf. The joyful King hears her beautiful story and kisses her and embraces her - perhaps beginning to understand for the first time what an amazing, special woman he has for his wife and Queen - certainly his superior in many ways.
Unfinished: A work in progress
It is interesting to reflect on the last brother whose knitted shirt was missing one sleeve. The story tells that as a result, he went through the rest of his life with one arm as a feathered swan wing. This is an excellent metaphor for the reality that we are forever a "work in progress." Regardless of how much knowledge we accumulate, or how much we grow in understanding of life and about things relating to the Divine - it is always fragmentary and incomplete. The winged brother is a wonderful reminder to all of us that we DO have within us the spark of the Divine and that we are indeed "the marriage or union of Earth and Sky." We are the unique union of eternal spirit residing in mortal, decaying bodies. While we possess the innate ability to fly high like the Swan, we are children of the Earth and if we are to grow toward balance of our opposite, dichotomous qualities, we must always deal with and have active consciousness of both parts. This is sometimes depicted to in the Masonic and other esoteric traditions as "the compass and square." In order to allow ourselves to grow in discipline, stability, and ultimate service to our brothers and sisters, we must learn to be combination Swan-Humans. This awareness affirms our divine potential and legacy while maintaining the humility of knowing our incompleteness and the need for us to learn the hardest lesson of all. This is the one demonstrated by the Seventh - the sister who was willing to do anything to win the freedom of her six brothers. For the fortunate and those with eyes to see, her amazing example will be found in everyday, mundane people - parents, grandparents, good friends, animals, plants, and everywhere that life gains awareness that we are never here to exist solely for ourselves. Our ultimate and highest path and destiny lies in the amazing fact that even though incomplete and flawed, we all have the ability to reach down and connect to a compassion that propels us to serve others and give selflessly of ourselves for other's sake.
Keith Overstreet November 4, 2010
Every night by the light of the moon, the silent, sacrificing sister goes out and gathers the down of the star flower so she can accumulate enough to make the shirts for her brothers. "No matter how lonely seemed the dark forest, nor how black the shadows, she was always gathering down." A long time later, a King of that country came through the forest and got separated from his traveling companions. He was about to meet a very extraordinary and special woman. There, up in a tree, she sat silently gathering the down of star flowers. The King tried to get her to identify herself, but of course she had taken the six-year vow of silence and the seventh sibling would not say a word. He brought her down and fell immediately in love with her, retrieved her bags of star down and galloped away to his castle with the sister.
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| The Hero sister silently prepares to marry the King. |
Residing in the castle was a jealous woman who was the head of his household. She hated the new bride from the beginning and began immediately to try to plant the seeds of doubt and division in the mind of the King. She also spoke harshly to the new Queen and called her "dumb as a door-post" and a probably "beggar" in disguise.
The danger of witch hunts: The woman begins to engage in an effort to label the Queen as an evil person - someone who is probably a witch who had cast a spell on the poor, unwitting King. The people in the realm begin to question why she was silent in the face of such serious accusations and promptly labeled her a WITCH and demanded she be put to death. It is worth pausing here for a moment and reflecting on the dangerous potential of "labeling" and "fear." Purity of spirit and integrity do sometimes excite the lower nature of some and cause them to project their own worst qualities onto the pure one. For anyone with eyes to see, history is full of witch hunts that ended with the death of innocents. In religious-spiritual traditions, savior-avatar figures such as the sister are often accused of being subverters of the order. This same phenomena is seen in the false condemnation of Jesus by the Sanhedrin religious council and by the people of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Whenever we are told to choose up sides and that we must stand up against evil "out there," the writer always becomes squeamish and worried because it is always ever so much easier to project blame and darkness on others than it is to see it within ourselves. The Swan story points us to that same danger.
The sad and courage-lacking King shows his own cowardice by allowing his pure Queen to be dragged out of the castle to be burned at the stake for witchcraft. Mob psychology is a dark potential always present in human existence and always represents the death of freedom and reason in favor of fear and paranoia.
The Hero Sister - Faithful to the End:
In an amazing act of courage, sacrifice, compassion, and love for her beloved brothers, the sister walks willingly and silently toward her own fiery death. But like the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, the ultimate sacrifice is not demanded. The six brother swans come flying over - it is exactly the "very last day of the six years during which she had neither spoken nor laughed in order to free her brothers." The six star-down shirts are ready - EXCEPT one of the shirts' sleeves is not finished. From the top of the wood pile, she cries out for her brothers and they come and circle her. She flings out the shirts onto the swans and they immediately turn back into humans again - she and her brothers once more stand before the mob and explain to them and the King the circumstances of her amazing sacrifice on their behalf. The joyful King hears her beautiful story and kisses her and embraces her - perhaps beginning to understand for the first time what an amazing, special woman he has for his wife and Queen - certainly his superior in many ways.
Unfinished: A work in progress
Keith Overstreet November 4, 2010
You have, once again, touched my heart. The Earth, Sky, compassion, integrity and love in this has moved me to tears...Thanks You, dearest ♥
ReplyDeleteYou have, once again, touched my heart. The Earth, Sky, compassion, integrity and love in this has moved me to tears...Thanks You, dearest ♥online life coach certification
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