If you've ever felt torn between two worlds, drawn to the ocean's call while rooted on land, you might find yourself naturally aligned with the energy of selkies. These supernatural beings from Celtic and Norse pantheon offer profound teachings about transformation, authenticity, and the courage to honor our true nature.

This article is a deep dive (literally!) into who are the Selkies, what do they teach us, and how to incorporate selkie magic into your practice.

Who Are the Selkies?

Selkies are shapeshifting beings who live as seals in the ocean but can shed their seal skins to walk on land in human form. They are often described as being very beautiful women or handsome men when in human guise.

Found primarily in the folklore of Scotland, Ireland, and the Faroe Islands, they represent the liminal space between worlds—neither fully of the sea nor the land, but belonging to both. The word "selkie" comes from the Scottish (Orcadian) word for "seal".

Traditional stories often tell of selkies who have their seal skins stolen, trapping them on land in human relationships. But beyond these tales of capture and loss lies a deeper spiritual truth: selkies embody the eternal dance between our wild, authentic selves and the roles society expects us to play. They teach us about themes of transformation and longing.

Selkies are neither inherently good nor bad; their nature is dual, capable of both kindness and malice depending on the situation. Some legends depict them as gentle, while others portray them as dangerous beings who may bewitch or lure humans to their doom, often driven by revenge for the killing of seals.

Some say you can tell a selkie seal by the unusual intelligence in their eyes.

What Selkies Can Teach Us

Working with selkie energy offers several powerful lessons for modern pagans:

Embracing Dual Nature: Like selkies moving between seal and human form, we reflect a broad spectrum. Selkie work helps us honor different aspects of ourselves without feeling we need to choose just one identity.

Authentic Transformation: Unlike forced change, selkies teach us about conscious shapeshifting—transforming ourselves from a place of choice and power rather than external pressure.

Emotional Fluidity: Connected to water and tides, selkies help us navigate our emotional depths with grace, teaching us when to dive deep and when to surface for air.

Reclaiming Personal Power: The stories of stolen seal skins speak to reclaiming what's been taken from us—our wild nature, our authentic voice, our personal space.

Practical Ways to Work With Selkie Energy

Creating a Selkie Altar

Set up a dedicated space that honors both land and sea elements:

Use a blue or sea-green cloth as your base
Include shells, sea glass, or driftwood you've personally collected
Add a bowl of salt water (change it regularly)
Place images of seals or artistic representations of selkies
Include a piece of soft grey or blue fabric to represent the seal skin
Add moonstone, aquamarine, or labradorite crystals

Check out my coloring books - designed to help you relax and focus your creative energy. Great for your grimoire!

5 Selkie Rituals

1. Seal Skin Reclamation Ritual

Purpose: Reclaiming personal power, identity, or spiritual freedom after loss, trauma, or suppression.

Selkie stories often center around a selkie whose seal skin is taken—symbolizing lost agency or the parts of ourselves we’re forced to hide. This ritual invites you to reclaim your spiritual or emotional “skin” and return to your true self.

Tools:

A piece of blue, gray, or seal-brown fabric to symbolize your selkie skin
A mirror
A bowl of salt water (or ocean water if available)
Optional: shells, sea glass, moonstone for altar decoration
A journal and pen

Steps:

Create a quiet space with your items, ideally near a body of water or during a full or new moon.
Place the fabric around your shoulders or lap. Say aloud:
“This is the skin of my spirit, once lost, now reclaimed.”
Look into the mirror and speak affirmations of who you truly are:
“I am free. I am whole. I am the daughter/son/child of the sea.”
Dip your fingers in the salt water and anoint your heart and third eye.
Meditate for several minutes on what you’re reclaiming—your voice, your power, your wildness.
Afterward, journal your thoughts or write a vow of freedom.

2. Ocean Blessing Spell

Purpose: To connect with the healing and intuitive energy of the ocean, especially helpful during emotional times or to refresh your spirit.

Tools:

Seashells, driftwood, or seaweed
A blue candle
A small bowl of sea water or salt water
Moonstone or aquamarine (optional)
Incense with oceanic or cleansing properties (e.g., sea breeze, myrrh, frankincense)

Steps:

Set your altar with the candle in the center, water bowl in front, and seashells or natural elements around it.
Light the candle and incense.
Speak a blessing to the water:
“Great Ocean Mother, cleanse me with your tide. Bring healing where there was hurt, bring clarity where there was cloud.”
Dip your hands in the water and either anoint your face or let the water drip through your fingers, visualizing emotional burdens washing away.
Let the candle burn safely or extinguish it with a seashell to close the ritual.

3. Dreamwork with Selkies

Purpose: To receive intuitive insights, emotional healing, or ancestral messages through dreams.

Tools:

A printed or drawn image of a selkie
A mugwort sachet or tea (for dream enhancement; optional)
Moonstone, lapis lazuli, or aquamarine crystal
A bowl of water placed near your bed (acts as a dream portal)
A journal or dream diary

Steps:

Prepare your space for bed. Place the water bowl and selkie image on your nightstand.
If using mugwort, place the sachet under your pillow or drink a tea made from it (ensure it is safe for your health condition).
Hold your crystal and say:
“Spirit of the Selkie, I call to you. Guide me across the tides of sleep. Send me dreams of wisdom, healing, and truth.”
As you drift off, visualize swimming through the sea, diving beneath the waves, and meeting a selkie guide.
Upon waking, write down any dreams, emotions, or messages received.

4. Full Moon Shoreline Meditation

Purpose: Connect with feminine lunar energy, the tides, and the selkie archetype for spiritual insight or healing.

This ritual is best done outside at a shoreline or in a private space using water elements indoors.

Tools:

A silver or white candle
A bowl of sea water or moon water
Crystals: Moonstone, selenite, or pearl
A printed selkie myth or poem (such as “The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry”)

Steps:

Create a sacred circle and place the water bowl and candle at the center.
Light the candle and gaze into the water.
Read or recite the selkie story aloud, allowing it to stir your emotions and awaken your intuition.
Speak this affirmation:
“Like the selkie, I hold the power to return to myself. The tides guide me, the moon heals me.”
Sit in silent meditation, breathing with the rhythm of imagined ocean waves.
When done, blow out the candle and thank the moon and sea spirits.

5. Selkie Spell for Emotional Release

Purpose: To let go of emotional pain, grief, or unspoken feelings, especially when feeling trapped or unable to express yourself.

Selkies are a great guide for friends in the LGBTQ+ Community

Tools:

A seal-shaped object (toy, stone, carved shell, etc.) or simply a stone from the beach
A blue or teal ribbon
A notecard or paper
Salt water or sea water
A private place where you can bury something or release into moving water

Steps:

Write your emotional burden on the card—grief, fear, resentment, heartbreak.
Wrap it with the selkie stone and ribbon.
Speak this incantation:
“Selkie soul, seal of the sea, carry this sorrow away from me. I release what no longer serves.”
Gently toss it into a river or bury it near water. Alternatively, burn the paper safely and scatter the ashes.
Afterward, perform a grounding activity—walk barefoot, eat a grounding meal, or wrap in a warm blanket.

Learn all about Selkies and how we can integrate their teaching in our magical practices.

Selkie Journaling Practice

Keep a dual-nature journal to explore your own shapeshifting abilities:

Each week, write about one aspect of yourself that feels more "seal-like" (your private, instinctual, or emotional self)
Then write about your "human-form" aspects (how you present to the world, your social roles)
Reflect on how these parts of yourself can work together rather than being in conflict
Notice patterns and celebrate the richness of your complexity

Transformation Meditation

Practice this visualization when you're facing a major life change:

Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Imagine yourself standing on a rocky shore at twilight. Feel the seal skin in your hands—soft, warm, and alive with possibility. This skin represents your authentic self, your power to change and grow.

When you're ready for transformation, see yourself putting on the skin and sliding into the waves. Feel the freedom of moving through your new environment with grace and confidence. Know that you can return to shore whenever you choose, and that both forms are equally valid parts of who you are.

Emotional Flow Work

When feeling overwhelmed by emotions, try this selkie-inspired practice:

Find a bathtub, natural body of water, or even just a bowl of water
As you enter or touch the water, imagine your emotions as ocean currents
Instead of fighting difficult feelings, practice moving with them like a seal navigating tides
Remind yourself: "I am not drowning in these emotions; I am learning to swim through them with grace"

Honoring Selkies in Daily Practice

Working with selkie energy doesn't require elaborate rituals. Simple daily practices can keep you connected to their wisdom:

Take baths or showers mindfully, imagining yourself shedding old energy like a skin
Spend time near water when possible, even if it's just listening to recorded ocean or stream sounds
Practice saying "no" to roles that don't serve your authentic self
Notice when you're forcing yourself into shapes that don't fit, and gently return to your true form
Honor your need for both solitude (seal time) and community (human time)

A Scottish Selkie made of willow and one of 15 at at Culzean Castle. Artist David Powell

Scottish Tales

The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry - This is one of the most famous selkie ballads, telling of a selkie who fathers a child with a human woman. The selkie returns from the sea to claim both the woman and child, prophesying that the woman's new human husband will kill both the selkie and their son during a seal hunt.

The Orkney Fisherman Alick - A fisherman named Alick supposedly gained a wife by stealing the seal-skin of a selkie, in a tale told by an Orkney skipper Selkie • Scotland Notes. This story was collected as a real account from John Heddle of Stromness, showing how these tales were woven into local communities as lived experiences.

The legend goes that the fisherman was going to the beach and spotted a beautiful woman emerging from her seal skin. He feel in love with her, in a selfish way and wanted her for his own. So he picked up her seal skin and lured her to his cabin where he hid the seal skin from her so she was his captive.

The fisherman and the selkie were married and had two children whom she loved very much. But the pull of the sea kept calling her. She was sad. And even though she did love her family the call was powerful.

After finding their mother crying and distraught the children decided to go in search for her seal skin. They found where their father had hidden it and brought it to there mother.

She was overjoyed. Hugging her children in gratitude she let them know she will always love them and be watching over them. Then she donned her seal skin and returned to her home in the sea. She comes to the shore often to check on her children but she is happiest in the sea.

The Captive Selkie Wife - The most common Scottish tale pattern involves a man who steals a female selkie's skin, finds her naked on the sea shore, and compels her to become his wife. But the wife will spend her time in captivity longing for the sea, her true home, and will often be seen gazing longingly at the ocean. These stories typically end with the selkie finding her hidden skin and returning to the sea, sometimes taking her children with her.

How do we connect with water? Watch my video to learn ways to use water in magic and some interesting water deities.

Norse/Icelandic

The Pharaoh's Army - Icelandic and Swedish folklore links the selkies to the story of the pursuit of Moses and the Jews by the Pharaoh across the Red Sea. The Pharaoh and his men were drowned by a huge wave and they then became seals Selkies, Sex, and the Supernatural - The Bottle Imp. This creates a unique origin story connecting selkies to biblical mythology.

Irish

While the search results mention Irish selkie traditions, they're often grouped with Scottish ones. The Irish stories follow similar patterns of seal-wives being captured and eventually returning to the sea, particularly around Ireland's western islands and rugged coastlines.

Seals As Spirit Animals

Seals are important animals in the Celtic tradition and there are two types of seal found around the British Isles – the common (harbor) seal and the gray (or grey) seal.

As spirit animals, seals symbolize adaptability, playfulness, intuition, and transformation. They represent the ability to navigate challenges with grace, reminding us to embrace joy and flexibility, and to trust our inner voice. Seals can also be seen as protectors and guides that help connect the spiritual and physical worlds.

Cultural Variations

Although most stories revolve around female selkies, selkies are not only female. There are also tales of male selkies who are said to have very handsome human forms and seductive powers that are irresistible to human women. Unlike their female counterparts, whom humans often capture, male selkies intentionally lure humans to the sea The Legend of the Selkies | Ultimate Mythology Blog - Top Selkie Facts - ConnollyCove.

The stories also reflect deeper cultural beliefs - some believed selkies to be the cursed children of kings, witches who lost control of their own power, or the fate of those drowned at sea.

These folklore examples show how selkie stories served multiple purposes: explaining mysterious seal behavior, teaching about respecting the sea, exploring themes of captivity and freedom, and processing the complex relationships between coastal communities and the ocean that sustained them.