The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling is a beautiful story. Most people look at this story and think it’s about someone who just wants to fit in.  A story of someone who looks and acts different, so everyone makes fun of them.  That is the story for the masses, as you will see this is a story of enlightenment.

The original version of The Ugly Duckling was written by Hans Christian Andersen. He has stories where it is easy to see the moral like The Emperor’s New Clothes. Then he has other stories like this one where you need to be in on the secrets. Andersen was in on the secrets. He wrote “The Little Mermaid” which is full of occult history and symbolism(See Mermaid). I see him kinda like the Brothers Grimm. He wrote these stories to get some secrets out to ordinary folks like me and you. Writing all of these stories right under the nose of the establishment. If they were smart enough to have caught him they would not have burned him at the stake, but they would have found  a way to ruin him. Sometimes I wonder if it was because of him that the Wachowskis gave Neo the name Mr. Anderson. Calling him Mr. Grimm would have been a bit obvious.

The first key to understanding this story is the symbol of the swan. The swan always has represented a person who has reached the ultimate realm of consciousness or a fully enlightened person. The second key is know what the enlightenment process is like. If you have truly gone through this process you understand this story.

The story begins with all the other ducks hatching first and the mother telling them that this is a much bigger world than your shell. The mother duck says “ Wait till you see the garden it stretches out beyond the parson’s field, but I have not ventured that far”. Parson means ‘clergy’ as in religion. She has not ventured that far, so she is only going to teach them what she knows. Perfect analogy of our world. The ugly duckling finally hatches and he is bitten, pushed around and made fun of by all the other animals and humans. His hatching represents him breaking the walls down of his upbringing and starting to see the lies of this world. The beginning of becoming an authentic self.

He finally leaves the farm because he is tired of the way he is treated. This is when he meets some wild ducks and geese. He is hoping maybe that he will find a new home. He finds out quickly that they are all bout looks and fitting in. The hunters showing up is the chaos that happens that takes you deeper into your journey of enlightenment. To reinforce this there is a severe storm that arose.

He gets to the cottage and meets the hen and cat. This is where he sees that as long as you do what your told you will be treated great or as long as you are ‘like us’ you will fit in. Just because he has different ideas of what is delightful, they tell him he is full of nonsense. They tell him “Learn to be like us and you will be very comfortable”. Not wanting to be like them he leaves the cottage.

The ugly duckling goes out into the forest where he finds water so he can be himself. None of the other animals want anything to do with him. The story says that it is autumn and winter is approaching. Autumn symbolizes the beginning of the underworld and winter and the forest always symbolize the underworld. At this time he sees a group of swans and calls out to them as they fly off. They don’t hear him, so he is left behind. This is showing someone who is on the road to enlightenment and sees others, but can’t quite fit in with them yet.

The ugly duckling makes it through winter, or the underworld, and sees the swans again. He has had enough of the world and will take a chance on fitting in with the swans. He swims up to them and they greet him with outstretched wings. He looks down in the stream and sees his reflection. He has become a swan and notices it for the first time. Just like I showed in Medusa, this is symbolizing that if you are truly enlightened you will see yourself as perfect. All the others see him as perfect and beautiful and tell him. He feels ashamed because he is not used to the positive attention. He exclaims “I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling”.

Become the swan you were meant to be! Become your authentic self. As I always say “We are who we have been waiting for”.