What are Selkies?

Have you heard the tale of the selkie?

A selkie is a mystical faerie in Celtic folklore whose tales originate from Scotland, Ireland, and adjacent islands. While dwelling in the enchanting sea, the selkie gracefully dons a seal's skin. Upon departing the sea, the selkie possesses the ability to shed its silken fur, assuming the guise of a human. With a pair of unfamiliar, foreign limbs, she dares to walk amongst the land folk and risk her very essence. Her most essential task is to hide her skin; if someone were to find and keep it, she would be unable to return to her home in the watery depths of the Celtic sea.

There are numerous, captivating tales of their adventures on land, yet the stories told maintain consistent themes. A typical folklore account centers around a female selkie, though there are a few accounts of male selkies, who sheds her skin near the water’s edge. A human male onlooker spots the beautiful, captivating woman beneath the silken taupe fur and knows exactly what she is, eyeing that very piece of her laying in the sand. Careful to not be heard, he stalks closer to the unknowing woman taking her first steps on land. Reaching the very essence of her selkie identity, the man steals her fur, thereby trapping her on land. Shackled by invisible chains to the human who audaciously pilfered her only chance to rejoin her sisters in the sea, she is forced to remain with him. As long as he sequesters her skin well, she remains bound to him for her is the sole connection to the missing piece of her.

In many of the traditional folklore tales, the selkie woman eventually discovers her skin, whether it be herself or her children with her captor unearthing its hiding spot. With the heated, pulsating remnant of who she once was sending tendrils of magic throughout her being, she is pulled in an unrelenting undertow back to the sea. Where these stories vary is what becomes of her children. In some accounts, she abandons her children and her captor while in others, she finds a ways for her children to join her in the sea.

A few of the themes highlighted include male dominance, duality, and transformation. Patriarchal tones are littered throughout traditional recounts of the selkie. Namely, a helpless woman who is stolen from her home and forced to marry her captor, ultimately bear his children. The theme of duality takes many forms in selkie folklore. A selkie is a magical fae who harnesses the power and energy of the sea, yet only while wearing her skin. Naked and bared on land, she is stripped of her power. Weaving the two aforementioned themes, in some spoken tales, the selkie falls in love with her male captor. Another layer is added when the selkie is once again reunited with her skin, yet now faces the internal battle of whether to return to her home and her true self or remain on land to care for her children and be with the man she now loves. The theme of transformation is perhaps the most obvious and falls parallel with duality. The selkie travels through several transformations in her adventures, first becoming a woman and discovering humanity, then ultimately returning to who she truly is, a sea dwelling fae.

Alexandra’s upcoming book, “Losing My Skin”, retells traditional selkie folklore through resilient female characters, dismantling patriarchal themes.

Commissioned painting by Erika Mihalec.