Tonight was the first time i have ever truly and completely felt connected to my selkie side.
For the first time in years, my country was directly in the path of a total lunar eclipse, which isn’t particularly rare, but what does make it rare is the fact that the sky was actually clear, and we were able to see the whole thing.
i went down to the beach with my family and fiddled around with my phone trying to take an image (did not work unfortunately) before eventually giving up and just watching the eclipse right before totality. Because the moon was full, the tide nearby was at its peak and i could hear it crashing onto the rocks. I then had the sudden urge to go down and stand in the water, so naturally i ran across the grass and carefully climbed down the wet rocks and slipped a couple times before making it to the water and looking up at the moon.
because i’m part human and was raised in a human environment, i was never taught any real selkie songs. no melodies or words come to me naturally, but i knew that it didn’t really matter to the moon and sea what i sung, and so i sang some of my favourite songs that i hold a lot of sentiment towards. I started off quiet at first because it wasn’t something i did often, but then as the waves surged harder and the moon glowed orange i think it urged me to sing properly, and then i looked down and i saw bioluminescence.
i ran to get my family and brought them down to the water, and as the full moon shone red-orange above and the wind blew against my wet skin and my clothes became soaked and the cold water settled in my bones and the stars of the sea twinkled on my skin, i sang to the sea and i sang to the moon and i danced and danced until i felt sick and couldn’t dance anymore, and then i played with my siblings in the water and showed my mother how the washed up seagrass glowed when you shook it hard enough and for the first time ever, i think this is what it truly truly means to be a selkie. I’ve always wanted to perform in the full moon rites that my kind traditionally partake in to celebrate their existence and their creator, but i’d never really had the chance to until now.
There won’t be another blood moon like this until in two years time, and even then i doubt it’ll be the same, because tonight was so special and so incredibly meaningful to me that i doubt i’ll ever experience something like it again. These are the kinds of things that make me really believe that magic exists, and you just have to know how to find it.
tomorrow i will most likely be even sicker and i will be utterly and completely miserable, but it was all worth it for that half hour in the glittering water with the red moon above. I’ve finally started to truly connect with my selkie side, and i hope that i can do my own little rites every full moon.
tonight i hope to dream of the sea and the moon.
