The Swan, the Goddess, and the Dreammasters

Swans in My Stories and in Celtic Mythology

 Swans play an important role in my Of Gods and Monsters series and in Irish mythology. The goddess Caer anchors the series firmly in Irish myth as the ancestor of a special group of women known as Dreammasters. Aisling, the series protagonist, discovers her family's connection to Caer and to swans when she travels to Ireland and delves into the truth about her dreams.

What Do Swans Mean in Celtic Mythology?

Because swans can walk upon the earth, fly in the sky, and travel in water, they are seen as liminal creatures, connected to the human realm and the realm of the Otherworld. Many gods and goddesses of Celtic myth can shift into swan form, particularly those tied to love. Swans are not to be harmed, in case the swan is one of the gods or goddesses who has shifted. To distinguish a shape-shifted deity from an ordinary bird, the swan often wears a chain of silver or gold.

This chain motif appears across multiple myths. In the legend of Aengus and Caer, Caer tells Aengus he will find her in a lake filled with 150 swans. He knows her by her beauty and picks her out without hesitation. She wears a chain of gold. In the legend of the Children of Lir, Lir's children are transformed into swans by their stepmother and must endure the enchantment for 900 years, a story that speaks to both the endurance of love and the sorrow of transformation. Swans also symbolize forever love, purity, and poetic inspiration, and they are revered by Druids and Bards. These magnificent birds appear not only in stories but also on religious artifacts from ancient Celtic cultures, suggesting their significance ran deep in everyday spiritual life.

Author Morgan Daimler writes extensively about Celtic mythology and stresses the need to be careful around swans in the fair folk tradition, because you can never quite be sure whether you are looking at an animal or a person who has shifted into one.

Swans in My Series

Aisling was first introduced to her dreaming powers at the young age of seven. These powers were more than a young child could handle, and to protect her from dangerous magic, her Granny Nuala gave her a swan pendant on a silver chain, a small but meaningful gift that steadies her dreams. The silver chain is a connection with Caer and echoes the silver and gold chains worn by swans across Irish myth. 

Swans also surface through the women who are Dreammasters. In my stories there is an ancient tome listing the families descended from the goddess Caer, the female keepers of the Dreammaster line. A swan and the goddess Caer grace the cover of the old book, tying the goddess to her alternate form. 

I return to swans so often because they carry genuine weight in Irish mythology, and once you start looking, they appear everywhere.

They are also, as I discovered during my travels in Ireland, not creatures to underestimate. They will hiss and warn you away with remarkable authority. Beautiful, yes. But also, watchful and protective. That tension between grace and wildness is exactly why swans belong in Celtic myth, and exactly why they belong in my books.

May the grace of Caer guide your wanderings, fill your dreams with wonder, and lead you to magic!

Kelley