Traces the origins of the Sheela na gig from Medieval times to
Paleolithic cave art
- Reveals the sacred display of the vulva to be a universal archetype
and the most enduring image of creativity throughout the world
- Provides meditations on the Sheelas the author encountered in
Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, allowing readers to commune with
the power of these icons
- Includes more than 150 photographs and illustrations from around the
world
For millennia, the human imagination has been devoted to the Goddess, so
it is hardly a surprise to find images of supernatural females like
Sheela na gigs adorning sacred and secular architecture throughout
Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. Appearing on rural churches,
castles, bridges, holy wells, tombs, and standing stones, these powerful
images of a figure fearlessly displaying her vulva embody the power of
the Dark Goddess over the mysteries of sex, life, death, and rebirth.
Exploring the art and myth of the Sheela na gig from Celtic and
Classical times back to Paleolithic cave art, Starr Goode shows how the
Sheela embraces a conundrum of opposites: she clearly offers up her ripe
sex yet emanates a repelling menace from the upper half of her hag-like
body. Through more than 150 photographs, the author shows how the Sheela
is a goddess with the power to renew, a folk deity used to help women
survive childbirth, and, as a guardian of doorways and castle walls, a
liminal entity representing the gateway to the divine. She explains how
these powerful images survived eradication during the rise of
Christianity and retained their preeminent positions on sacred sites,
including medieval churches.
The author provides meditations on the individual Sheelas she
encountered during her 25 years of research, allowing readers to commune
with these icons and feel the power they emanate. Exploring comparable
figures such as Baubo, Medusa, the Neolithic Frog Goddess, and vulva
depictions in cave art, she reveals the female sacred display to be a
universal archetype, the most enduring image of creativity throughout
history, and illustrates how cultures from Africa and Ecuador to India
and Australia possess similar images depicting goddesses parting their
thighs to reveal sacred powers.
Explaining the role of the Sheela na gig in restoring the Divine
Feminine, the author shows the Sheela to be an icon that makes visible
the cycles of birth, death, and renewal all humans experience and a
necessary antidote to centuries of suppression of the primal power of
women, of nature, and of the imagination.
