The Selkie's Tale : A Journey Through Stories of Our Souls
Pull on your soft seal skin and dive.
Dive deep into the realms of metaphor and poetry.
Dive into the story of your life to find pearls of wisdom in the depths and the mud, and bring them glistening to the surface.
Discover the other Selkies swimming with you in the deep, your wild and knowing kin.
Transmute your pain, your lessons your joys, your gratitude into a personal fairy tale packed with symbolism and power.
Create a tale to help you see the beauty in your unique path, and perhaps share that story with others.
This is a very special creative writing programme.
We will follow the well-worn path of the storytellers of old, beginning with your own story and transforming it into something unrecognizable yet something even more true.
Our times call for new stories.
New paths through the woods, new tricks for befriending the wolves, rescuing ourselves from the dragon, and falling in love with ourselves.
We will be meeting together weekly to craft our own fairytales, inspired by the things that have happened in our lives., and weaving them into a new book: a compendium of stories
Come, be part of our next book...
"Just as she was getting closer, she saw the boat tip to one side. The man threw himself against the treasure chest, wrapping his arms around it, trying to hold it safe and secure..."
Our first book is out now, and the 9 stories are woven together by one over-arching tale of a Selkie finding a treasure chest of tales.
After the end of the 11 week story-creating journey, Sam draws together all the stories to edit, illustrate, design and publish a book with all the tales in.
Some members of our first group of Selkies from 2022 have shared their breathtaking, beautiful, inspiring stories, with many of them becoming published authors for the first time in this book.
We have included journal prompts, recipes and ritual ideas inspired by the stories to help the reader go deeper into their own practice and reflecting.
We are going to be creating Volume Two of the book after the next round of the course in 2023.
Whether you are already a published author, or desire to dip your toes in and and become one, we would love you to join us.
What to Expect from the course:
• 11 weeks of pre-recorded content from Jessi and Sam, leading you through the process of crafting a tale drawn from the threads of your life.
+ weekly live Zoom calls with Sam and other course participants to reflect on the taught materials and hold space for each other as your personal fairytale of transformation begins to emerge.
• Creativity ritual practice to activate your direct connection with the stories inside YOU that need to be told.
• We will focus on a part of your story each week and give prompts to help your stories to find their way out through words, drawing, singing.
• In between sessions you are invited to keep drawing out your story, collecting words and images, stirring the cauldron and brewing.
• At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to include your tale in a published book of new fairy stories, to provide guiding lights in the darkness for others.
Your Guides for this journey:
Jessi Marino
CEO + Muse of Wild Essence : Heathen Witch Siren
Jessi is an artist of anarchy who spits fire at any system that would seek to confine her and poetically cracks open soul-cages of all we think we know for sure. She is an animist creature who dances her own harmonic threads of the natural web. A blood and bone ritualist Witch of alchemical embers, she is known for her provocative ways of being and strumming against the grains. In all of her creations, she brews a decadent potion extracting the nectars of neuroscience, somatic psychology, trauma sensitive embodiment practice, Celtic witchcraft, herbalism, feminism, and sensual empowerment. Attuned by the melody of the more, the original song - Jessi offers herself as artist poet, muse mentor, flame tender, way seeker, with trust that the greatest symphonies unfold in the deepest presence. And so she is today, ask again in a year for another lense ;)
Sam Goodlet
Sam Goodlet (she/they) is an artist, writer and animist, and a practicing British witch, drawing on Brythonic and Celtic traditions and ancestral connections. She has a background in nature conservation and environmental education and an MA in natural history interpretation, and is a trained Spiral Practitioner and coach. Dive Down: Drawings from the Deep was their first book, with new books due out in 2022.
Sam is a visual creatrix who’s worked in libraries, schools, nature conservation, environmental education and as a freelance illustrator.
They run online courses and one-to-one coaching based on two key principles: helping humans remember that they are animals too, and using enchantment and wonder as the ultimate form of self care. Sam lives just outside Winchester in the South of England with her partner, rescue dog and little boy. She walks through the world interwoven in wild whispers and in the paw prints of ancient animals.
Schedule :
Please note that the course materials and meeting links will be provided inside the course in the Wild Essence Kajabi portal. You will get access to the portal and the pre-recorded materials as soon as you sign up. You can start exploring and writing straight away!
All live sessions will be held between October '23 and February'24. Dates and times TBC.
We are aiming to reease book 2 around March '24.
Sarah's Testimonial
"Each week, a new portal opened for me. Around the third week, something shifted and an entire world was born. An entirely new way of writing for me developed.
Each week we dove into concepts that ultimately shaped and morphed not only my style of writing, but released a tidal wave of characters, storylines, and a way for me to tell the story I needed to in a protected, honorable, and interesting way.
I had a moment of self-doubt, a moment of "I am not good enough" to pull this off. But the container we created would never have allowed that to happen, never left me behind. Every week we were supported, encouraged, guided, in a way I have never been before in the world of writing. The process took on a life of its own and it was glorious.
When it was time to publish, then it became terrifying for me. It still kind of is. Terrifying to put yourself out there and beautiful to have had the experience and to continue to have the experience.
It is all of those things and more. I now have a story of mine, in print, out in the world, in people's hands. I also now have to keep going. My story is a 'to be continued', and I will continue. I most likely will also make it a book of its own when it is done. This would never have happened without The Selkie's Tale.
If you love to write, or even are simply exploring, and have the opportunity, jump in with us, there will be more!"
Mary's Experience
"I was fresh out of the 'Fires of Desire' event for Beltane with Jessi Magick’s, when I got in touch with longings I had long denied, one of which was writing.
I wanted to keep my momentum strong, so I signed up for The Selkie’s Tale scared out of my wits!
The idea of creating a story and finishing it seemed daunting, but with the guidance of Sam Goodlet I was able to write a story that made me proud.
Our weekly gatherings were intimate, productive, and enormously supportive.
It was profoundly personal in that we cried tears of frustration at our setbacks, and tears of joy for our successes. It was worth every moment of commitment as it led me to a place I never thought I could go, and sparked a hunger for a craft I thought was out of my reach.
Because of this experience I am forever changed and boundlessly grateful."
FAQs
The second round of The Selkie's Tale will be a hybrid pre-recorded and live course offering from Wild Essence and is hosted by our heathen witch Siren Jessi Magick and British animist, artist and writer Sam Goodlet. It is focussed on looking back into the things that make us who we are, and weaving a new story from the events of our lives into a mythical fairy tale format. At the end of the course we are going to make a book with the stories in from everyone who participates and wants to share their tale wider. The course is inspired by the Celtic stories of the Selkies: the shapeshifting seal folk, and the need for new folk tales to help us help each other navigate life's challenges.
What's the aim of the course?
We are holding a container to facilitate creativity and story telling for the purpose of personal and collective healing. We are inviting everyone that joins us to look back into their lives and see how they were shaped by the things that happened to them, and to create a fairy tale style story inspired by their life. Your tale might be one of conquering a self doubt dragon, of being a beautiful princes who rescued herself from a life that wasn't suiting her, a wood cutter who finds his kind heart and befriends a wolf rather than slaying it...All of our stories are unique. We are running the course both for the process of creating as a really healthy way of dealing with and understanding the world, and as a potential way to share our stories with others and help them find their way out of the dark.
What is the schedule?
The 2023 schedule is still to be confimred, but will be in autumn and run for 11 Sundays with live calls. Jessi and Sam have prerecorded 11 sessions with rituals, story prompts and magickal offerings that you can dive into at your own paces, and there will be 11 live calls with Sam to help you craft your unique story. In each session, we will be focussing on a different part of your story, starting with the theme of home and beginnings. We will be holding a 1-1.5 hour session each week where we offer invitations for building your creative writing and storytelling practice, and make space for the stories that want to come through.
What if I can't make a session?
Everything will be recorded and uploaded to Teachable so you can catch up or replay in your own time.
Do I need to be good at writing?
No. It's great if you are already confident with words, but this is really for anyone who feels the call of a story needing to be told, a story waiting to get out into the world. It might come out through words, and we will be offering up creative writing tools and prompts and ideas to help with that. But equally, it might become a story told in pictures, a song, a poem. We know that creativity doesn't always conform to a pattern, and we are going to be encouraging your story to come out in the way that feels best for you.
Do I need to know in advance what the story is going to be?
No. You might! But you might also simply have a feeling that there is something in your life that wants to be better understood, shared or processed. It's totally ok to come to the first session not quite knowing why you are there, just knowing in your bones that it's where you need to be!
What happens in between sessions?
You can work through the materials at your own pace, and access our Circle online community where we will be supporting each other, sharing ideas, playing with creative tools, and holding space for the sticky bits as they come up. Sam will be hosting the online community side and can support you there as needed in between sessions.
Are you just asking us to think about the traumatic things that have happened to us?
Not at all. We have all experienced so many different events and happenings in our lives; many of them leave an impression on us that carries on affecting our choices and ways of being in the present. This course is about looking into some of those things, big and small, and playing with new and creative ways to interpret them, taking the opportunity to understand ourselves better as we do so. You might let something go or lay it down through this process, you might get a new lens on the things you are carrying and how they have shaped you. Jessi and Sam are trauma informed and will also be sharing tools to help your nervous system and body move the emotions you might feel around. You only have to go as deep as you feel safe. You will be in control of your own experience and invited to do lots of self care along the way, and there will be aftercare invitations too.
Is this course just for cis women?
Nope. Wild Essence sometimes offers courses and spaces that are female focussed, but this course is open to people of all genders, and we are really excited to meet anyone who feels excited to come and join us.
You're talking about a book. Will the things I share be confidential? Do I have to contribute to the book?
At the end of the programme, we will be making a second volume of The Selkie's Tale Book - an anthology of fairy tales for adults. This is totally optional - sometimes when we do this work, the sharing feels vital to the person that creates the story. In the tradition of our ancestors, sometimes these stories are created to help others avoid the wolf in the woods or learn how to rescue themselves. But equally, sometimes the process of creating the story in itself is the thing, and it's a very private process. Everyone will be invited to contribute to the book, and to share anything related to the course during our live sessions, but it's completely optional. You could also share your story in the book anonymously if you desire.
What are the payment options?
There is a payment plan of 6, 3 or 1 x payment.
If you wold like other options, please email howl@wildessence.org
If you are part of the book, you keep the copyright to your tale and also earn royalties on any book sales.