introducing: the SELKIE CIRCLE
One Month A Swim: March | will you swim in the selkie's wake with me?
One Month A Swim is a monthly update, where I look back on the month that was through my sea swimming, but also through the things that caught my eye and ears, and most importantly, my heart. If you’re new to Another World is Possible, you are so welcome! And if you’re not so new, thank you for being here!
NEW! the SELKIE CIRCLE
Come swim with me on a 7-week journey inspired by the seven stages of the Selkie’s tale, exploring how we women can reclaim our true skin in a world that insists we are powerless.
We’re starting on 8 May and booking is now open! Scroll down for all details.
PS. This bumper edition will be clipped, so you may have to read it in your browser or in the Substack app.
That morning, before meeting some friends at a local café, I went for a solo dip for the first time in ages. It was a real solo swim: no-one else there. Really high tide, fierce north-northeasterlies whipping my hair, lifting my dryrobe and ruffling the sea, yet calm water. I went in from the steps, for ease and convenience. Texted B before and after. It felt good to walk in, step by slippery, mossy, step, hanging onto the railing, until the sea lifted me off my feet. The gasp of wind on my face, of cold seizing my skin, tautening it. I breaststroked down a bit, stopped to turn around and look at the swell flowing and sloshing over the rocks and steps. Just me and the sea.
I like me a solo swim every so often. The obligatory chats of shared swims always “take me out of my body-in-nature and back into the human space”, as Sharon Blackie writes here.
It’s different when I swim with B; there is no need for chit-chats.
A friend recently commented that I seem to have disappeared. It’s true that I have kept to myself, deliberately. Not because I’m super busy. I’m not. Just because it’s what I need, introvert that I am. It’s who I am.
For all that, I still miss, more than I can say, the easy-going, twice-weekly, shared swims of my first year of sea swimming. This was early 2020, pre-covid (how has it been five years already??), when I found my pod of Seagirls.
Less than a week before the first covid lockdown, some 70 women gathered on the beach at 6.30am for the Greystones Seagirls’ IWD Swimrise1. Under the overcast sky, the air sparkled with excitement.
When it was time to disrobe and take the plunge, like a waddle of penguins, we all waded in, with a hop and a squeal. The Irish Sea welcomed us all in her cold embrace. With so many bodies in the water, it somehow felt warmer than it had in months.
The rising sun was a no show, only streaking the overcast sky in pink and orange hues. Nevermind. We took the plunge anyway. Braving the cold water together, facing down the ever-present fear, and coming out empowered for it. Nervously tip-toeing in, only to come out a few minutes later walking tall and proud, holding hands, fully alive.
The cove rang out with the laughter, nervous at first, exhilarated after, with the whoops and the splashes and more laughter. The cakes and the laughs, the squeals and the buzz – the euphoric smiles said it all.
It was a beach party like no other. Friendships were formed, new Seagirls were found, and the magic of the moment had us buzzing throughout the day and beyond.
All day, our WhatsApp group chat hopped with photos and messages of love and friendship. Never before had I experienced such a sense of togetherness. Sisterhood. Belonging. Me, the introverted non-swimmer, the non-joiner often to be found lurking self-consciously on the sidelines, the anonymous onlooker always trying to melt in the background – there I was, at the heart of a community of women.
Hope is a circle of women, I wrote around the time of Imbolc, when I hosted a women’s circle for the first time. Some of you may remember that an idea had just landed for me, a seed that I have been tending ever since. Well, it is now ready to sprout.
Introducing: the SELKIE CIRCLE
“A circle of women may just be the most powerful force known to humanity. If you have one, embrace it. If you need one, seek it. If you find one, for the love of all that is good and holy, dive in.”2
Dive in indeed…
Three years ago, I began attending a small women’s circle held on the beach, and it has changed me in countless soft and tender ways. I wrote before about the clarity and wisdom, the solace and courage I have found, time and time again, sitting in circle with other women. Because of this, I now want to extend this gift to other women.
Will you sit around the fire with me?
In Celtic folklore, selkies are magical seals with the ability to change into humans, most often a woman. The story goes that, once upon a time, a man stole a selkie’s skin as she danced on the beach with her sisters, thus trapping her on land. When seven years later he reneged on his promise to return her sealskin, she set off on a harrowing journey to find her true skin, and return home to the sea.
(You can find my own version of the selkie’s tale here.)
When I first read the tale of the selkie3, it felt like a homecoming – a story to hold and frame my own, at last. As
says, “we are stories”; I am the selkie’s story – perhaps you are too?There is no denying the chaos and darkness of our times. There are mighty forces at work that want us helpless and powerless, and we’re not going to give them the satisfaction. Let’s take refuge in story, in myth and fairytale: because imagination bows to no-one.
Will you swim in the selkie’s wake with me?
We need to move on from a false sense of inevitability and powerlessness, to a grounded sense of agency – from ‘fuck no’ to ‘holy yes!’
My hope is to give you a glimpse of the future our hearts are aching for, by fostering meaning and community. Because we all are fite fuaite4.
What to expect from the SELKIE CIRCLE
As befits the seal-woman’s story, the SELKIE CIRCLE will be a journey of seven stages. Each session will open with a short reading (poems, prose snippets, etc), followed by one or two questions, then going around the circle to discuss our answers to said question(s).
Begin
Tell us about your eco-feminist awakening. Was there a catalyst: event, relationship, book, friend?
Rise
In what ways have you lost your true skin/power?
What are you saying “fuck no” to?Root
What is it that sustains you when everything else dissolves?
If “what we pay attention to, grows”, what do you want to pay attention to and grow over these 7 weeks and beyond?Dare
What is your relationship to your body? To desire, pleasure, rest?
Imagine
What if things turned out for the better?
Where do you see possibility alive and growing?Gather
Who are your role models?
How can you become a good ancestor, rather than a dutiful descendant?Belong
What are you saying “holy yes!” to?
Now for the logistics…
The inaugural SELKIE CIRCLE will run from Bealtaine to Summer Solstice: 7 sessions over 7 weeks, starting on Thursday 8 May at 8pm Irish/UK time.
We will meet on Thursday 8, 15, 22, 29 May & 5, 12, 19 June at 8pm Irish/UK time, for 60-90 minutes on Zoom.
Who can join?
Any woman who signs up between now and 4th May. I would like to keep the group small –max 12– but I may run it again later in the year.
Enrollment is only open for a short window (April 2025), and it will be the same group of women meeting every week, so we can all get to know each other.
How much is it?
€45–75 (as per your means), which includes an annual subscription to Another World is Possible + signed copy of Sensual Soul Shine (EU+UK addresses only)
If you are a paid subscriber and you would like to join the Selkie Circle, you will have to upgrade your subscription.
Please do not let the cost stop you. If you want to join the SELKIE CIRCLE but can’t afford it, or can’t figure out how to do so on Substack, please message me or drop me an email me at annettevaucansonkelly@substack.com.
Where do I join the SELKIE CIRCLE?
Click here:
Alternatively, go to your Substack settings here, click on Another World is Possible and when you get to this screen, select “Selkie Circle”:
Message me if you have any other questions!
Friends,
In other news, this month, I’ve had the honour of being included in not one, but two, Substack directories–
The GaelStack, for all things Irish on Substack, is curated and brought to you by
, who writes . Over 100 newsletters – many of them firm favourites of mine – across 24 categories, ranging from politics and ecology, to creativity and women, and plenty more in-between.The MotherStack Guide, compiled by
on , is a guide to mother-writers and space-holders on Substack. The first edition went live for spring equinox, and submissions are open for the summer solstice edition. Aoibhín has great plans and ideas, and I can’t wait to see how this space evolves.
I also received confirmation that a piece I submitted to Womancraft Publishing will appear in their second compendium, Creating Community – A Women's Circle Handbook, to be published in November 2025!
I will be back on Sunday with a Mothers’ Day post with a difference. In the meantime, mind yourself and each other in these strange and trying times.
Much love,
Annette
In March I loved…
Weaving our Way Beyond Patriarchy: A Womancraft Publishing Compendium (2024)
Through poetry, prose, letters, articles and artwork, more than 80 women reflect on what it might look like beyond patriarchy and how we might get there, from the big picture to the domestic details.
Adolescence is a good depiction of how masculinity in crisis doesn’t collapse but consolidates, by the amazing
, of The Power of Women’s Anger TED Talk fame.Hands down the best piece I’ve read so far about Netflix’s mini-series Adolescence! (which I have just started watching)
“The truth is that many parents aren’t powerless—they’re just patriarchal. They’ve already taught their boys, often without realizing it, to equate masculinity with dominance, emotional suppression, and entitlement. It’s in who got to speak at the dinner table, who did the emotional labor, who took time off for child care and school volunteering; chores, allowance, what boys were praised for and what girls were punished for. It’s in the jokes, the clothing, the family friendly entertainment. It’s in the fact that we generally don’t think of our traditions and habits as what they are: outcomes of ideology.”
Dropping Keys, a poem by Hafiz
The small woman Builds cages for everyone She Knows. While the sage, Who has to duck her head When the moon is low, Keeps dropping keys all night long For the Beautiful Rowdy Prisoners.
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Disclosure: Buying any of the books recommended in this post may earn me a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.
‘Swimrise’ is short for “sunrise swim”.
Quote by JEANETTE LEBLANC: “A circle of women may just be the most powerful force known to humanity. If you have one, embrace it. If you need one, seek it. If you find one, for the love of all that is good and holy, dive in. Hold on. Love it up. Get naked. Let them see you. Let them hold you. Let your reluctant tears fall. Let yourself rise fierce and love gentle. You will be changed. The very fabric of your being will be altered by this, if you allow it. Please, please allow it.”
The myth of the selkie is common in Ireland and Scotland, but also in Nordic cultures. My favourite rendition is by Sharon Blackie in If Women Rose Rooted, with Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Sealskin, Soulskin (in Women Who Run with the Wolves) a close second. Storyteller Jennifer Murphy also weaves a beautiful audio version, The Skerries Selkie, on Marisa Goudy’s Knotwork Storytelling podcast.
The Irish fite fuaite translates as “interwoven”.
GRMA for mentioning GAEL-Stack and the Gaelic Effect. So great to have a selkie in our community! BTW, have you seen the film the secret Ronan Inish??
This is so beautiful and stirring~ a girl this side of the pond joins you in spirit! I am headed to the isle of Iona in June, though, where I will be solo fasting for several days (!!!) and hopefully, swimming in the sea!