As Shortcake was making her way into the world, I was listening to Aine Minogue’s (an Irish harpist, singer, and folklorist) song The Selkie on my iPod. It’s beautiful, and it resonated deeply with me the first time I heard it. But I had no idea what she was saying! I had heard of the mythological selkie, but knew only that it had something to do with water.
Recently, the Celtic myth of the selkie has come back into my life en force. She is a shape-shifter, a sea creature whose sealskin allows her to live in the depths of the ocean. Her home is there, in Sule Skerry, but she can take off her sealskin and become human for a short time as well. In the myth I’ve just read, a human man falls in love with her in this form, as she is sunning herself on the warm rocks, and she becomes his wife. The husband (jackass!) hides her sealskin, so she remains on land, gives birth to his son, and starts to get all parched and peely and icky. She can live without her sealskin, but only for so long (7 years, I think?) before she needs to return to her watery home. It is her son who later finds her sealskin, and she returns to Sule Skerry. Her son is able to travel between the two worlds, and he is who I really identify with. But enough about me . . .
Here the selkie looks out to the ocean, dreaming of Sule Skerry and longing for her sealskin, pregnant with the child who will eventually aid her return.
I know this feeling well. Don’t you?
I’ve listed the original painting on my Etsy, and will be listing prints soon.



