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Sheela-na-Gigs of Ireland and Britain: The Divine Hag of the Christian Celts - An Illustrated Guide

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I first stumbled across a drawing of one of these unusual stone effigies in a book of horror stories called "The Angry Dead." To see the actual images in Dublin's National Museum, was still a bit of a shock as the anatomical detail proudly displayed by these Sheelas is normally only visible to a gynecologist or lover.

So I turned to this interesting and well-written book to learn more about the Sheela-Na-Gigs. Oddly enough, they are not fertility figures. Most of them are portrayed as ferocious and gaunt, with the ribs clearly delineated. Here is one of the earliest references to a Sheela found at Barnahealy, County Cork: "This is one of those old Fetish figures often found in Ireland on the fronts of churches as well as castles, they are called 'Hags of the Castle' and when placed above the keystone of the door arch were supposed to possess a tutelary or protective power so that an enemy passing by would be disarmed of evil intent against the building on seeing it."

Typically in Gaelic oral traditions, a central character in many of the stories was a fearsome female figure, typically described as "an old woman with a bald head, cadaverous ribs, sagging abdomen, and small flat breasts." She is the crone, the third aspect of the Earth goddess which also includes a maiden and a woman in her sexual prime.

It is rather delightful to think that the Sheela-na-Gigs migrated from Celtic mythology into Christian iconography and could be found perched above many a monastery or church door where generations of monks filed under her, protected (although they may not have known it) from the evil eye by an exaggerated carving of female pudenda. It's a pity that more recent churchmen (especially since the Reformation and most especially since Victorian times) were more prudish than their early counterparts and destroyed or hid many of these Sheelas.

This book contains drawings of all known Sheela-na-Gigs of Ireland and Britain, and also figures that might be related to them. The authors also list a website where further research on Sheela-Na-Gigs is being published: jharding.demon.co.uk.

You might want to plan your next trip to Britain or Ireland to include viewings of these fascinating, archaic Divine Hags.

I have had a fascination with Sheela Na Gigs for a long time, but to be honest my knowledge on her was scant. I have worked with her as a personal deity for about 8 years (when she first appeared to me), so I had some idea of how I viewed her, but this book has refreshed my connection with Sheela to a profound level.

This book puts fowards some very interesting ideas as to the origins of the Sheelas & her name, and her possible basis in the hag aspect, which is the type of energy that I myself have found her to have. I have also gleaned some new ideas as to possible symbolic interpretations of her physical appearance, which has set me off on new avenuse of thinking.

The end of the book has a catalogue of Sheelas in England, Ireland, Wales & Scotland, and each entry has sketches of them. With this book in hand I have been to see two of them, one in Oxford & another in Fiddington. There is a Sheela about 20 minutes from my house and that will be my next visit!

This pictorial catalogue is extremely useful in that it allows you to see the particular Sheela refferred to in the main body of the text, thus enabling you to make up your own mind as to whether it supports the claims or not.

I must say it's a great shame I'm the first person to write a review of this book, I just wish there were as many people interested in Sheelas & their origins as Green Men, because to be honest Sheela is far more interesting!

During a vacation in Ireland I stumbled across this book. And it was the first time I ever heard about Sheela-na-Gigs. Rediscovered around 160 years ago they are still a mystery. But whatever they are - they are most certainly fascinating. Alone in Ireland there are over 110 of those carvings scattered across the country. But not only in Ireland. You can find them in England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Germany, France and Norway. They can be found on castles and in museums. But the majority of these figures occur in small country churches; the oldest of them dating around 1200 AD.
This book is an easy and most interesting read and puts forward some interesting theories on the figures' origins. The end of the book has a catalogue of the Sheela-na-Gigs so far discovered in England, Ireland, Wales & Scotland.'Sheela-na-Gigs of Ireland and Britain' is a good starting point to get introduced to a most interesting subject.