THE MYTHICAL SWAN SYMBOL, LEGEND, AND IMAGE

Abstract

The swan appears in stories, myths, legends, ballets, poems, and music tone poems and its symbolism seems to be universal. Swan imagery also appears in GIM sessions reported in this article and is seen as a symbol of transition and transformation, a vehicle of travel from one realm to another, a representation of nurturing, and a symbol of beauty. Swan imagery is associated with water, lake, or river and as such represents the depth of the unconscious. These themes are explored in this article as is The Swan of Tuonela, a tone poem featured on the Comforting/Anaclytic program. Helen Bonny’s description of this work is included.