Sealskin Soulskin
Some magical moments should be contemplated and others that must be captured like the green flash of sunset over the ocean or the flight of a faery. Tonight's New Moon Magick was of the latter ilk. It must be captured. Now. So though, its past midnight....
Tonight, my dearest friend Pilar and I walked on the beach under a star filled sky with a bottle of wine to synthesize the magick we would conjure for our collage ritual this Friday night. We spoke of our deepest desires that surpassed material or mundane impressions - always trying to keep our thoughts focused on heart magick and the feeling we wanted to most abide in. In time, our conversation simmered down to the fact that we must unapologetically embrace our true wild selves in order to manifest the life situations we hoped these collages would help us visualize.
After walking close enough to the sea to feel subtle kisses from the incoming tides, we moved to higher ground and sat on the sandy berm. I told Pilar about a favorite movie, Secret of Roan Inish, about the selkie, a woman who was half woman/half seal... torn as she was between two worlds, one mundane - the other wild - one of the sea, the other of land. She spoke of being a child, feeling the expansiveness, freedom and power of the ocean - how she would swim beyond where she could touch land and feel part of that vast world.
As we walked back, we fell under the spell of the enticing tidal waves, deep conversation, wine, our awakened wild selves and stripped to our skivvies and dove into the waves. Suddenly I realized that our collage work was the reclaiming of our soulkin.. the very story of the selkie.. the woman's journey to uncover and reclaim her soul.. her true wild self – the childish, impish delight that moved us to ultimate freedom. Chills covered our wet, sandied bodies.
We dressed and spoke of other myths of Wild Children and moments later, saw a baby seal not twenty paces in front of us. We dropped to our knees and slowly crawled through wet sand to get closer. I got about 6 inches from his big brown eyes and quivering whiskers. He was tagged on both fins and finally I realized the spike in his back that I feared was hurting him and looked like a thin spear was a radio embedded into his back. I put out my hand in deference as one might do to a strange dog. He barked and I understood I needed to leave. The seal turned to the ocean and dove under the waves.
Another five minutes later as we spoke of omens, a much larger seal appeared and loped to the ocean in front of us.
We were so very blessed tonight. The Legend of the Selkie teaches of the importance of remembering the soul-self… of staying very connected to our wild self. To never put Her in a closet or make excuses for her impetuous behavior but celebrate her freedom… after all, she is the muse that sustains us.