On Sheela's Day We Celebrate Ireland's Ancient Divine Feminine

Have you met Sheela?

Sheela-Na-Gig carvings are found across Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England. No one really knows what on earth they meant to the medieval folks who put them there, but these bold, often scary big-headed women bear their vulvas wide and dare you to look them in the eye as they do it.

There’s something about the ancient recognition of the divine feminine and the understanding of birth, death, and rebirth. There’s something about luck, too. There’s a whole lot of subversive magic that has allowed them to endure in plain sight for so long.

And now, there’s a whole lot of reclaiming of their bold, shameless power.

Bandia Publishing put out this poster/guide in 1997, and I picked it up in Galway in 1999. It hung on the walls of dorms and my first couple of apartments, but then, this explosion of sacred sexuality and feminine power got…