Ask anyone in a coastal community in Ireland or Scotland about selkies, and you're likely to hear a fascinating tale or two. A selkie is a mythical marine shapeshifting being - aka the seal people - grand, ethereal and magical folk made up of both land and sea. In the water, they are seals, but on land, they shed their skin and take on human form. And for some reason, they are irresistible to ordinary humans, who are apt to fall in love with the seal people. The legend of the selkie is an enduring myth that has captured the hearts of many an islander or seafarer. 
 
Legend has it that in order to come ashore, selkies must first shed their skin. And if you manage to find a selkie sunning on a beach with her cloak of sealskin removed and hide it away, the selkie cannot return to the sea. Irish & Scottish folklore is littered with tales of men and women (usually men) finding a selkie skin and hiding it, then marrying the selkie woman and trapping her on the land for years and years, all the while yearning for her home in the deep blue sea. 
 
Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted, says this about selkies: 'The Selkie story is the story of a woman who breaks. Taken literally out of her element, trapped on the land, where she cannot find a way to belong. She has lost her place in the world, and consequently has lost her stories. Like the Selkie, so many of us lose our skins, and all too often we lose them early. This can happen in so many ways: it may be stolen by another who does us harm; we might give it away to someone we trust, who then betrays us; or we might hide it for safekeeping and then forget where we hid it. This skin which we lose is our power: our unique, authentic power as women. The power to create, to guard, to transform. We become disconnected from our female body-wisdom and instincts." Hold tight to your skin, my ladies. 
 
Our striking blue Selkie bar evokes images of graceful seals plunging into the depths of the sea. The scent opens with a whiff of salty ocean breeze and a hint of mystique - top notes of cardamom and orange peel lure you into the rich heart of sea salt that rests on an aquatic base of palm, light musk, and amber. Legendary! 
 
Second  image is the bronze statue of Kópakonan – the Seal-wife – on the Faroe Islands by Hans Pauli Olsen in 2014. Photographer Marita Gulklett
Third image is by Amanda Clark, artist
 
Approx 4-4.5oz bar
Handcrafted soap will continue to evaporate water and lose weight over time. This makes for a finer, harder, and longer lasting bar. 
 
Ingredients: Distilled water, Coconut oil, Hi-oleic Sunflower seed oil, Olive oil, Sodium hydroxide*, Mango butter, Cocoa butter, Avocado oil, Castor oil, Fragrance, Sodium lactate, Citric acid, Micas, and Titanium dioxide; topped with black lava salt
*None remains in final product