The Magic of Mermaid's Purses

 

On my recent walk along the seashore, along the long line of detritus washed up by the stormy waves of winter, I could not help but notice the sheer number of Mermaid's Purses that have washed up. They were everywhere I looked, at least one per each square metre on average. Some were spread out while others were huddled together in clusters.

I love the name Mermaid's Purse for it conjures up images and stories of the maids of the sea, who are clearly lacking pockets in their scaled, fish-like bottom half. Mermaids love their beauty; they are well known for combing their long hair for hours on end as they gaze at themselves in silvery, moonlike mirrors. When not in use clearly the maids of the sea need somewhere safe to put their mirrors, combs, salves and other bits and bobs hence the nickname of Mermaid's Purse. The scientific name for these is Chondrichthyes which just isn't as enigmatic.

Mermaid's Purses may well be used by Mermaids to carry their valuables on their travels, but they begin life carrying a far more precious cargo for they are the egg sacks of various species of fish including skates, chimaeras (including the sinisterly named Ghost Shark and Spookfish) and oviparous sharks (such as the Catshark, which is also really confusingly known as the Lesser Spotted Dogfish).

Leathery in appearance as a result of the fact they consist of collagen protein strands, these peculiar beauties are usually rectangular in shape with horns or tendrils at each corner by which they were originally attached to kelp forests or the sea floor. Some purses house multiple eggs, while in the case of rays or skate, there is one egg per sack.  Sacks contain yolk on which the baby survives before its ready to take on the world. Some Mermaid's Purses are washed up long after their original inhabitants have grown up and left the safety of the sack while others - often due to storms and human action - wash up with their inhabitants, sadly dead, still inside. Personally I prefer seeing the empty sacks and wondering what their inhabitants are up to now in the vast seas.

As a Sea Witch I view Mermaid's Purses, like other natural objects that wash up on the shore, as gifts from the sea. As one gift always calls for another, in return it is polite to offer a reciprocal gift to the sea in terms of an offering or by collecting harmful human rubbish from the seashore.

For the Sea Witch a Mermaid's Purse is the marine version of the chicken's egg that can be used in magic for its symbolism of fertility, birth, rebirth, growth and development. While Mermaid's Purses can and do wash up on the shore at any time, I've noticed where I live that there are two big influxes each year, one in late October and the largest in March - around the time of the Spring Equinox / Ostara / Eostre which further connects these egg sacks to the fertile energies of Spring.

If you are looking to develop new skills or develop your existing skills, say for divination, then placing dried Mermaid's Purses near, around or on your divination tools and books on the subject can help you to grow your skills.

Dried and empty Mermaid's Purses can be placed on your altar as a reminder of your constant spiritual growth, or sewn up in in magic bundles along with relevant plants such as hawthorn, poppy, rose, red clover and wheat for fertility magic. Some Sea Witches place a Mermaid's Purse in the base of a pot before adding compost when repotting plants so that it will fertilise the plant as it decomposes. Due to their nickname Mermaid's Purses can also be used in wealth charms and to dream of them is said to portend a little windfall.

As Mermaid's Purses once protected the growing young and are from the salty sea, they can also be used for protection magic, for example burying four purses, one at each corner of your property, to invoke protective energies. In meditation and magic Mermaid's Purses can connect us to the species from which they came - to the various skates and sharks and their 'medicine' and wisdom, to the magical Mermaids who use them a purses and to the mysteries of the oceans.

As a Power Animal / Totem / Spirit Animal the Sharks - even the little ones - teach us about survival, independence, adaptability, unpredictability, fearlessness and overcoming our fears, embracing challenges, learning to appreciate our alone time, keeping ourselves active and protection.  The Skate's lessons are adaptability, gracefulness, finding balance in our lives and between ourselves and others, embracing life for all its good and bad, and going with the flow.

The Mermaid's Purses that I saw en masse and are pictured here are from members of the skate family. If you are fortunate to find Mermaid's Purses near you and you are curious about which species it is from there is a handy online identification guide from the Shark Trust - https://www.sharktrust.org/en/eggcase_species.