#selkie pelts are like the only source of animal skin out there as well unless you live somewhere very weird like The North

[mantisgodsaus]

Selkieposting on Our Own Blog now! Although selkies technically can carry their pelts on their backs, and said pelts have limited shapeshifting abilities, this isn't done often. Why? Because, though they have limited abilities, they are still pelts - some sections of them have additional structure in the form of bones, even!

As such, especially with the very limited number of pelts in general that Exist, it's immediately obvious you're carrying around a selkie pelt - which in turn means that either you're a selkie, or that's Someone Else's Pelt (which is most likely stolen, by statistics alone), and with how valuable selkie pelts are (especially living ones, with the shapeshifting abilities that they can offer), most people really don't want to advertise that they have that big glaring weak point. A mix of safety in obscurity and not showing off your most valuable possessions every day.

[scotiaeire]

SHAPESHIFTING

“Out of the numerous terms associated with shape-shifting in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, the most common one must be hamr, a rather obscure and multi-faceted concept that needs to be presented and explained before going further. On a practical level, the word hamrhas been defined by Finnicist Clive Tolley as referring to the pelt of an animal or a bird (Tolley, 2009: I, 193). However, it differs from the word serkr(“animal pelt”) in that it is most common used to describe much more than a simple animal skin. As shown by Icelandic scholar Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, there are numerous instances where the word hamrrefers not strictly to such pelts but also to the shape, the appearance and form of someone who is able to change shape (Guðmundsdóttir, 2007: 280). Within the Norse-Icelandic corpus, the word is found both in narratives set in historical, legendary, mythical and even fictional times, ranging from 10th-century skaldic poetry to late-Medieval rímurpoems. In these tales, the hamris most-often described as a physical garment that can be worn and removed and which in and of itself can be a cause for transformation. A good example of the physicality of the hamrcan be found in the prose introduction of the Eddic poem Vǫlundarkviðain which human-looking women are in possession of swan-pelts (álptarhamir) and later leave the narrative’s protagonists by flying in the air (Vǫlundarkviða, 2014: 428).4This narrative is, as will be demonstrated later on, only one of many in which saga characters assume the appearance of an animal or a monster by donning a supernatural pelt.”

SOURCE: “SHAPESHIFTING IN OLD NORSE -ICELANDIC LITERATURE” BY LYONEL PERABO.

THIS IMMEDIATELY BROUGHT TO MIND THE SELKIE OF CELTIC MYTH. IF YOU GROW UP IN SCOTLAND OR IRELAND, THE ORKNEY OR SHETLAND ISLES, YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY THE SEAS AND THE MYTHS THAT ACCOMPANY THEM.

ONE OF THESE IS SELKIES, OR SEAL-FOLK. TRADITIONALLY WOMEN (BUT SOMETIMES ALSO MEN) THEY ARE SEALWIVES. THEY WILL COME TO LAND, HAVING FALLEN FOR A HUMAN MALE, SOME OF THEM TRUSTING ENOUGH TO HAND OVER THEIR SEALSKIN TO THEIR NEW LOVE TO KEEP SAFE FOR THEM (WITHOUT WHICH THEY CAN’T SHIFT BACK INTO SEALFORM). USUALLY THE STORY ENDS WITH TRAGEDY, BECAUSE THE HUMAN, WANTING TO KEEP HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE, WILL HIDE THE SEALSKIN FROM HER. IN MOST TALES, SHE FINDS AND OR RECOVERS IT WITH HELP AND ALWAYS LEAVES HER LOVE TO RETURN TO THE SEA, SOMETIMES TAKING ANY OFFSPRING WITH HER.

A GOOD INTRO TO SELKIE FOLKS IS HERE: http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/selkiefolk/

THE ORIGINAL SHAPESHIFTING ARTICLE ALSO BROUGHT TO MIND THE OLD CELTIC RITUAL OF YOUNG MEN BEING SEWN INTO BULLHIDES, TO BIDE THERE FOR A SPECIFIED LENGTH OF TIME. THIS ALSO REMINDS ME OF THE MORE MODERN SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANKS. IN THOSE, PEOPLE REPORT ACUTE SHIFTS IN AWARENESS, LOSS OF THE PASSING OF TIME, AND A SHARPENING OF OTHER SENSES THAN THE ORDINARY SIGHT AND SOUND, TASTE AND TOUCH. IN OTHER WORDS, BY DEPRIVING THE HUMAN OF THE MUNDANE SENSES, THEIR MINDS ARE FREED TO WANDER. AND WANDER THEY DO...

WELL, A FEW DAYS INSIDE THAT BULLHIDE...DARK, QUIET, WARM, THE SCENT OF THE BEAST IN YOUR NOSTRILS...THE RELEVENCE OF CATTLE TO THE CELTS IS WELL KNOWN. BUT OTHER CULTURES SUCH AS SOME STEPPE TRIBES HAVE USED HORSEHIDES FOR SIMILAR RITES.

SO, WE HAVE SACRED BEASTS BEING USED.

WHEN IT CAME TO THE OLD ARGUMENT ABOUT WHETHER VIKINGS WORE HORNED HELMETS OR NOT (I *THINK* ONLY ONE HAS EVER ACTUALLY BEEN FOUND, BUT CAN’T FIND THE SOURCE FOR IT SO PLEASE DON’T QUOTE ME ON THAT...GENERALLY THEY HAD NO HORNED HELMETS) THERE IS A FAMED STONE ENGRAVING OF WHAT’S CONSIDERED TO BE AN IMAGE OF ODIN. SIMILAR TO THE GUNDESTRUPP CAULDRON, HE WEARS A HELMET WITH HORNED APPENDAGES..I SAY THAT BECAUSE THE TIPS ARE BLUNTED, ALMOST ROUNDED OR WITH SOMETHING ROUNDED ATTACHED.

IS IT POSSIBLE THIS WAS PART OF AN OUTFIT OF A SACRED BEAST WORN BY THE GOD ODIN WHO WAS HIMSELF A KNOWN SHAPESHIFTER?

EVEN TODAY, FOLKS NEW TO PAGANISM AND HEATHENRY ARE DRAWN TO IMAGES OF “HUMAN-BEASTS”...AND DECORATE THEMSELVES WITH STAG ANTLERS, FURS, NECKLACES OF BONES, TEETH, ETC. I POSTED RECENTLY THE MUSIC VIDEO BY THE GROUP FAUN, “WALPURGISNACHT” AND YES, IT’S A MUSIC VID. BUT...THE IMAGES OF THE CLOVEN HOOFED, RAM HORNED MEN, THE OBVIOUS MATING OF THE MOON GODDESS WITH THE STAG GOD OF THE FOREST..WELL, POINT IS, PAGANS AND HEATHENS *DO* GENERALLY FIND THESE IMAGES APPEALLING. EVEN THE BIG BRAWNY VIKING BERSERKER TYPES WANT TO DRAPE THEMSELVES IN BEARHIDES OR WOLF PELTS.

I’VE DONE IT MYSELF...THERE’S A PIC OF A COUPLE OF DECADES AGO OF ME SOMEWHERE ON MY HARD DRIVE, A HELMET I’D MADE OF SADDLE LEATHER, WOOD AND RAM’S HORNS, WEARING A FUR CORSET (YES, IT *WAS* BONED,) AND LEATHER BREEKS AND BOOTS. I CAN FISH IT OUT BUT HEL, I WAS TWENTY YEARS YOUNGER AND A GOOD DEAL SKINNIER BACK THEN. CAN’T FIT INTO THAT NOW. (THAT IS “REAL” SHAPESHIFTING FOR YE...AS WE AGE, OUR BODIES BROADEN. IT’S A BUGGER.) I STILL OWN MY WILD BOAR’S TEETH NECKLACE, SEAL TOOTH NECKLACES AND RABBIT BONE HAIRPINS.

ANYWAY, IN ALL MY STUDIES HITTING ON SHAPESHIFTING, ONE COMMON THREAD RUNS THROUGH IT. THE SHAPESHIFTER MUST RELINQUISH HIS OR HER HUMANITY.

SEE, MANY FOLKS HUMANISE ANIMALS. “CUTE” THEM UP. APPLY HUMAN QUALITIES TO THEM THAT SIMPLY DON’T EXIST. LIKE THOSE PHOTOSHOPPED IMAGES OF HUGGING CATS AND DOGS, OR GRINNING PUPPIES ETC. OR THE HORRIBLE ONES OF DANCING CATS (WHAT IS SEEN CAN NEVER BE UNSEEN..SHUDDER...)

AND YOU SEE IT IN THE LITTLE HANDBAG DOGS, BRED SMALLER AND SMALLER TO SUIT THE NEED FOR EASE OF CARE, SAT IN HANDBAGS OR CARRIED OVER A CROOKED ARM, BEDECKED IN JEWELLED COLLARS OR, GODS FORBID, TUTUS AND OTHER EQUALLY RIDICULOUS OUTFITS.

THE SHAPESHIFTER MUST TRULY, GENUINELY, *KNOW* THE BEAST, TO IT’S CORE, THAT THEY’LL CHANGE INTO, THAT THEY’LL EMULATE TO THE POINT THAT THEIR AUDIENCE WILL *BELIEVE* WHAT THEY’RE MEANT TO SEE.

AND THAT TAKES TRAINING OR A SENSE OF KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS ABOVE AND BEYOND THE NORM.

IT TAKES A KENNING OF THEM, IN THE OLD SENSE OF THE WORD. AN INTIMATE KNOWING OF HOW THEIR MINDS WORK, OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO *BE* ONE OF THEM, AND AN ABSOLUTE DETACHMENT FROM THEIR OWN HUMANITY WHICH HAS A HABIT OF “TAINTING” EVERYTHING IT SEES, HEARS AND EXPERIENCES BY DEFAULT.

SHAPESHIFTERS, I BELIEVE, HAVEN’T GONE AWAY. BUT WE LIVE IN A WORLD IN WHICH WE ARE INCREASINGLY DENIED ACCESS TO THE CULTURE OF OUR ANCESTORS IN MEANINGFUL WAYS.

MY DAD USED TO TELL ME (HE WAS A POACHER BTW, FOR THE DINNER TABLE, NOT FOR PROFIT) THAT EVERY MAN SHOULD HAVE THE *RIGHT* TO FEED HIS FAMILY FROM THE LAND OF HIS BIRTH.

HOW MANY OF US ARE PERMITTED TO HUNT FOR OUR DINNERS THESE DAYS? UNLESS YOU PAY EXHORBITANT FEES FOR GUN LICENSES, UNDERGO INTENSIVE POLICE SCRUTINY AND IN MANY CASES, OBLIGATORY TRAINING, IN PLACES BOW HUNTING IS FORBIDDEN, AND SO WHERE I USED TO SEE MANY AN AULD FELLA WALKING ALONG WITH A BRACE OF PHEASANT UNDER HIS JACKET OR A BUNDLE OF RABBITS SLUNG OVER ONE SHOULDER, YOU NEVER SEE IT NOW.

AND THEN THERE’S THE ECO LOT, WHO, IF YOU SO MUCH AS DON A LEATHER SHOE, WANT YOU SHOT.....

WELL, I WAS LUCKY TO BE TAUGHT MY TRADE IN LIFE, AN ANIMAL HIDE TANNER. I STILL HAVE A SMALL STASH OF DEER AND SHEEP HIDES, CALF HIDES AND RABBIT PELTS. ANTLERS AND HORNS.

AND I CAN CONFIRM THAT THE APPEAL OF THEM IS STILL AS STRONG AS EVER.

WHATEVER THE REASONING BEHIND THE ORIGINAL SHAPESHIFTERS, TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO “GET UNDER THE SKIN” OF ANOTHER SPECIES AND TRULY UNDERSTAND THE CREATURE, TO COMMUNICATE THROUGH IT TO OTHERS OF YOUR KIND, MUST BE A PARTICULARLY SPECIAL ABILITY AND SKILL.

FROM SHAPESHIFTING SWANS IN NORSE AND IRISH MYTHOLOGY TO THE SELKIES OF THE NORTHERN ISLES AND NORTHERN SCOTLAND, TO THE BULLS, BOARS AND STEPPE HORSES OF OTHER PLACES, WE SEEM TO HAVE AN INHERENT DESIRE TO BECOME THOSE CREATURES AND KNOW AND RETAIN THEIR QUALITIES OR AT THE LEAST, TO CREATE A BOND WITH THEM THAT CAN BE USED IN RITUAL TO HEAL AND CURE, CURSE AND KILL OR SIMPLY BEGUILE. IT HASN���T LEFT US.

BUT WE’RE ALLOWING IT TO BE TAKEN FROM US.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES STRUGGLE TO KEEP THEIR CULTURE AND HERITAGE ALIVE TODAY.

SAY THE WORD “INDIGENOUS” AND MOST THINK NATIVE AMERICAN, AFRICAN, ANYWHERE EXCEPT EUROPEAN. YET OUR CELTIC, NORSE, AND GERMANIC ANCESTORS WERE PAGANS TOO, HAD THEIR RITUALS AND PRACTICES TOO.

AND THOUGH I’M NOT ADVOCATING A RETURN TO THE DAYS OF THE HEAD HUNTING CELTS (THOUGH, IF ANYONE’S UP FOR THAT I’VE A LIST BEGINNING WITH THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT, JUST SAYIN’...) WE TOO DESERVE THE RIGHT TO RE-DISCOVER OUR ANCIENT ROOTS, AND TO KEEP ALIVE THOSE FEW PRACTICES THAT STILL REMAIN.

WHEREVER YOU’RE FROM, LEARN YOUR HISTORY. NOT JUST THE RECENT HISTORY BUT THE ANCIENT. KNOW THE LANDSCAPE YOU BELONG TO THROUGH IT’S ARCHAEOLOGY AND IN THIS WAY, COME TO KNOW A LITTLE MORE ABOUT WHO THE PEOPLE THAT TROD THE GROUND BEFORE YOU WERE, HOW THEY LIVED, WORKED AND COMMUNICATED WITH THEIR NATURAL WORLD, THE SEEN AND THE HIDDEN. AND KEEP IT ALIVE. THEY SAYING GOES, “WALK IN ANOTHER’S SHOES FOR A WHILE”. MAYBE THE SHAPESHIFTER WOULD SAY “DON ANOTHER’S SKIN FOR A WHILE”.