Part of the Sky Above Earth Below Oracle Deck I created in 2014. Mixed Media

Seal (Creativity, Longing)
Seal lounges on the shore. Seals are a widely distributed, and diverse, species scientifically known as pinnipeds. This family also includes sea lions and walruses. Sea lions will use large, front flippers to propel themselves; whereas seals and walruses mostly use their back flippers. Despite being large, often with a layer of blubber, pinnipeds have streamlined bodies well suited for swimming. Sea lions and walruses can pull their hind section under their body, allowing it to be used almost like a leg. This gives them greater terrestrial locomotion than seals; which don’t have that ability. All pinnipeds have good senses. Their hearing and eyesight function well both in and out of the water. The whiskers, on the snout of a pinniped, act as an extra sensory organ and has advanced tactile capabilities. Males of the species will mate with several females and the offspring will stay with their mothers to nurse. As semi-aquatic creatures pinnipeds spend most of their lives in the water but will come ashore to mate, give birth, and escape predation. Strict carnivores, pinnipeds eat mostly fish. Their lungs are specially designed to allow them to dive deep and hold their breaths for extended periods of time.

Seals and their brethren intersect with humans on several levels. Some species have been kept in captivity. They can be trained to do perform; sea lions are particularly well known for this ability. Among the Inuit people seal is of great importance. They are hunted not only for food but for their skins as well. In Inuit mythology the Goddess Sedna rules over the sea and all marine life. She is often depicted as having the lower half of a seal. Among other Native American tribes seals are thought of as good luck at sea. Because of the belief that the ocean was a wellspring of creativity, the ability of pinnipeds to so deftly move in and out of this realm gave rise to them being symbolic of creativity. In Celtic myth seals were sometimes depicted as selkies, creatures that could become human. These creatures would shed their seal skins but would always long to return to the sea. Legends of selkies say that if a man found a selkie skin the selkie woman would become his wife; but if she ever found her skin, she would return to the sea.

When seal lounges in a reading it can speak to a deep well of creativity and longing. What are you longing for most? How are you feeding your creative side? Is it time to shed your skin, or is it time to return to your old ways? Seal is linked to the element of water and the ocean biome.

Stars and Constellations
Inner and Outer Worlds, Imagination, Yearn, Love, Dilemma