Episode 4

The Skerries Selkie with Jen Murphy | Ep 4

Published on: 16th February, 2022

Guest and storyteller Jen Murphy is a Feminine Embodiment Coach, Mythologist and Anthropologist. She is the creator of Celtic Embodiment, a cutting-edge modality that fuses the ancient wisdom of Celtic Mythology with the emerging field of Feminine Embodiment Coaching, to transform modern life for women.

I have the good fortune of being part of Jen’s yearlong program, the Celtic Women’s Voyage where Jen takes us on an imram, a mystical, embodied journey to the otherworld and to the realms within.

Learn more about Jen and her brilliant work at www.celticembodiment.com

Jen comes to KnotWork with her own story, The Skerries Selkie, which is set in Skerries, County Dublin, right beside the Irish Sea. In our deep diving conversation, Jen and I explore:

  • The parallels between the Selkie and An Mhaighdean Mhara, the mermaid
  • How important it is to reclaim the feminine from the patriarchy and recover the lost self 
  • The masculine and feminine energy that exist in all of us and how we leave behind seal skin (the feminine) when we suit up and head off to work and enter the masculine world
  • The problem with “doing the feminine in a masculine way”
  • Valuing doing over being, logic over intuition, linear over the cyclical
  • The bean feasa, the wise woman who comes in to help and heal the mother who has lost herself
  • Sisterhood, rupture and separation, the quest to return to companionship and the arms of the sea.
  • The sacred geometry of the Celtic Embodiment logo, with all of its straight lines and spirals and how evocative it is of this story and these ideas.
  • How systems of oppression can play out in the body
  • Animism: the belief that everything has a soul. The Brehon Law, the original laws of Ireland that protect trees, proving the way that everything had an essence and a soul.
  • The way the body remembers. A book recommendation from Jen: Kimberly Ann Johnson Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use it for Good
  • What it means to be a mother of sons (as well as daughters and non-binary children) in a culture with so much trouble with “toxic masculinity”

Our show music is a compilation of traditional tunes, including "The College Grove," performed by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: http://billyandbeth.com/

Do you want to explore and tell your own stories?

Marisa's Sovereign Writers’ Knot online community is accepting new members now. Learn more and apply to join this unique space for writers who want to dive deep into stories that are at once personal and universal.

Explore Marisa's work and get a copy of The Sovereignty Knot : www.marisagoudy.com

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About the Podcast

KnotWork Storytelling
Untangling Our Myths, Reweaving Our Stories
In each KnotWork Storytelling episode, we'll explore a different story from mythology, folklore, or history, particularly from Ireland and the Celtic World. Then, my guest and I dive deep into why these ideas and characters still resonate today.

Your host is Marisa Goudy, author of The Sovereignty Knot: A Woman’s Way to Freedom, Power, Love, and Magic. She is a Word Witch, a Story Healer, a Writing Coach, and a has an MA in Irish literature from University College Dublin.

Join us as we wander through these ancient storylines as we set out on a quest to learn from the past, better understand the present, and craft a sustainable future.

Every episode reminds us that ancient stories are medicine for our ancient maladies.

About your host

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Marisa Goudy

Marisa Goudy is a story healer, a writing coach, and a word witch. Her book, The Sovereignty Knot: A Woman’s Way to Freedom, Power, Love, and Magic, was released in 2020.
Marisa nurtures writers and storytellers in her long-running online writing community, the Sovereign Writers’ Knot.
On this show, Marisa combines her passion for story with her love of Irish literature, culture, and folklore and her fascination with the Celtic world. She has a particular love of stories of heroines, goddess, and women whose tales were forgotten by history.