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Sheela-Na-Gig:
The Goddess Displaying Her Parts. This Celtic archetype of the Great Mother
appeared in folk and church art by at least 1080 AD, but undoubtedly is of much
earlier origin. She may be identical with the war goddess Morrigan, consort to
the Dagda. One of her images is found near the ancient goddess shrine of
Avebury, where she symbolized fertility; displaying her sexual parts was
believed to ward off evil. Carvings of Sheela-na-Gigs may have accompanied the
seasonal harvest custom of weaving corn dollies which dates from North European
antiquity.
[Church of St. Mary and St. David. Kilpeck. Herefordshire, U.K.
850 A.D. Celtic Wall Hanging, 1140 CE]
Victorian prudery resulted in the defacement or destruction of large numbers of
these figures. Some have been embellished. She is represented usually as a naked
woman, squatting with knees apart, displaying her vulva and often presenting it
with both hands. The term Sheela-Na-Gig means something like
"Vulva-Woman".
Celts generally protected doorways with some female-genital fetish.
Sheela-Na-Gig figures closely resembled the yonic statues of Kali which still
appear at the entrance to Hindu temples where visitors lick a finger and touch
the yoni for luck.
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