Selkies, also known as Silkies are mythical seal creatures in Irish and Scottish mythology who can transform themselves into humans. The north and western coasts of Scotland and into Ireland are rich in Selkie lore making it likely to be Celtic in origin. Some believe these legends originated from Orkney Islands where selk(ie) or selch is the Scots word for seal (Old English seohl). Some though link the Selkie myths to Finland or Scandinavia.
The Selkie is a shape shifting faery that lives off the coast of the Shetland and Orkney Islands in Great Britain. They appear as seals, with distinctly human eyes. When it shape-shifts, the Selkie shows itself as a beautiful woman, or handsome man. The men, apparently, made good lovers and were happy to please any unsatisfied woman on the islands. If a woman wanted a Selkie lover, she just had to go to the sea and cry seven tears into the ocean.
During the day the magical seals dwelled in their grand ocean palaces. At night they would shed their seal skins and dance or frolic on the beach in their human form. The selkies had mystical seductive powers over humans. Occasionally a mortal man would desire to have a Selkie woman for his wife. To have the love of a faery wife, it is said, is to have heaven on earth. If he found, stole and hid away a Selkie skin, this enchanted creature would be bound to him and they would wed. Female Selkies were devoted wives and although the couple would be happy, the sea would always call to the Selkie woman. If she found her magical seal skin she would return to the sea and her home under the waves.
Once a long time ago, a man found a Selkie’s skin and gained himself a faery wife. They had three children and were married for many years. She was a faithful, dutiful wife but her heart longed to return home to the sea. One day her children were playing and they found an old trunk. At the bottom of the trunk was a mysterious skin. They asked their mother if she knew what it was. It was her seal-skin cloak. She took it to the seashore and vanished into the sea. Her husband, they say, died of a broken heart. For once having tasted the love of a faery woman, no mortal woman could ever compare. Some say that the Selkie occasionally returned to the beach to teach her children faery healing.
The moral of this story is to remind us of the power of our connection to our native lands, the homeland of our ancestors. Although the Selkie loved her husband and children, the sea was in her soul. Somewhere in our past, the land of our ancestors (or our past lives) call to us and we too feel the longing to be back home.