In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek ὑπέρ Βορέᾱ, “beyond Boreas” (the God of the North Wind)

The northern portion of the earth was supposed to be inhabited by a happy race named the Hyperboreans, dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of Hellas (Greece). Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare.

Moore has given us the “Song of a Hyperborean,” beginning …

“I come from a land in the sun-bright deep,
Where golden gardens glow,
Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep,
Their conch shells never blow.”

“The swan represents the divine intermediary between this world and the world of the Goddess, the Otherworld. It also represents the inner light of the spirit. As the swan wings its way homeward, so, too, does our spirit throughout its journeying seek to return home to the Source.”
– Lorraine MacDonald