Skip to main content

Sheela Na Gig and the Power of the Vagina

 The Guardian published a piece on Sheela Na Gigs for International Women's Day on Monday.  Here's a link.  A few weeks ago, I painted two Sheelas.

Sheela Na Gig

Found on churches throughout the British Isles and Europe, Sheela Na Gigs are "figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva."  There are over 100 documented examples just in Ireland.  The carvings may be remnants of a pre-Christian mother goddess.  They may also have been thought to ward off evil spirits.  They're often found over doors or windows, and they're generally smiling.  

The two I have painted are from the Church of St. Mary and St. David at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England and the Parish Church of Oaksey, Wiltshire.

While I was researching the Sheelas I came across other related stories of, as the Guardian so deftly put it, "big vagina energy".  The power of women (especially the nude form) to create life, protect it, or - conversely - take it away.

My favorite was the story of a group of women in Nigeria in 2002 who successfully won concessions from Chevron Oil using nothing but the threat of big vagina energy.

Chevron, Niger Delta, women, apotropaic, threat of nudity, curse, vagina power, protest
On July 8, 2002, 600 Niger Delta women took over the largest oil production facility in Nigeria.  For ten days, unarmed, they stopped the production of 500,000 barrels of oil per day from Chevron, one of the wealthiest and most powerful corporations in the world, by threatening to strip naked in public.  Mothers stripping naked is a powerful curse in Nigeria.  The security forces refused to touch the women.

According to anthropologist Terisa Turner, "We come into the world through the vagina.  By exposing the vagina, the women are saying: 'We are hereby taking back the life we gave you.'  It's about bringing forth life and denying life through social ostracism, which is a kind of social execution.  Men who are exposed are viewed as dead.  No one will cook for them, marry them, enter into any kind of contract with them or buy anything from them."

Sheela Na Gig, Kilpeck ChurchThe women's threat was successful.  After ten days they won an agreement from Chevron to hire villagers and to build schools and water systems.

Sheela Na Gig, Oaksey Church

Do you need some vagina power?  Sheela stickers and other merch are available:  Redbubble, Fine Art America, Saatchi Art Gallery.






Comments

  1. Ben HellmanMay 23, 2021 at 10:06 AM

    I wrote a Sheela Na Gig post after the Portland woman spread her legs against the line of police during the protests last summer; I couldn't help but see a parallel. https://www.newenglandbard.com/post/the-protester-and-the-power-of-ancient-ireland

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LauraMay 23, 2021 at 11:20 AM

      Yes! I planned on painting her as part of a series, but I got distracted. Total parallel.

      Delete
    2. LauraMay 23, 2021 at 11:22 AM

      Great blog post! I love that you interviewed an expert. I should someday try that. Thanks for the idea.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

 In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt.  These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist.  The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John.  A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo.  "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power...  The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...
3 comments
Read more

Asherah

 An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East.  From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah.  Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna.  Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles.   Asherah original painting available through  Saatchi Art .  Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through  RedBubble  or  Fine Art America.   All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...
1 comment
Read more

Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism

 Ardipithecus ramidus.  Our first great grandmother to walk upright.  The Eve of bipedalism.  Dating to about 4.4 million years ago.  Males and females of the species are similarly sized and both have canine teeth that are feminized.  The males don't bare their fangs to scare off rivals.  They don't have fangs.  Based on these features, it can be assumed that Ardipithecus society was likely relatively egalitarian and cooperative.  That's nice.  Inspired by Cat Bohannon's new book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Ardipithecus ramidus, Eve of Bipedalism, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America .
Post a Comment
Read more

Feminist Protest Fist

 I first saw a version of the feminist protest fist symbol on a t shirt that said, "I'd rather be fighting the man."  I really wanted it, but didn't have the money to buy it at the time.  If I was making a new version, I'd pair the symbol with "I'd rather be fighting the patriarchy."  It's a system, not an individual.   Feminist Protest Fist - I'd Rather Be Fighting the Patriarchy, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers, t shirts, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Patriarchy is also not a universal system.  There are many matrilineal cultures still existing in the world, even with the global imperial capitalist missionary patriarchy actively working to squash them into submission.  Patriarchy with patrilineal descent is not the natural state of humanity.  It is one possibility, that is actually pretty rare historically.  Fighting the patriarchy is not futile. Fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chang e, Moon Goddess

Chang e or Chang o, the Chinese moon goddess. The details of her story vary, but generally she is married to an archer who shoots 9 of the 10 suns to prevent the Earth from scorching drought.  He is awarded elixir of immortality by the Great Queen Mother Goddess of the West.  To keep the elixir from burglars, Chang e drinks it.  The elixir causes her to float up to the moon, where she is separated from her husband, but at least has a jade rabbit and busy woodcutter for company. China's lunar landers are named after her. Chang E, Moon Goddess original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art .  Stickers, prints, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . In older stories, she also births the 12 moons.  In some versions of the story with the archer, Chang e is reunited with him during the 8th moon of each year.  The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates this reunion, and is one of the largest holidays in China.  According...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cycle of Venus

Learning about goddesses has led me to learn a bit about astronomy.  Many goddesses and a few gods throughout history have been associated with the morning star and the evening star .  Different cultures discovered at different times that both of these stars are the same celestial object, known today as the planet Venus - the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the moon.  The internet contains diagrams of the cycle of Venus, but I couldn't find one that put all of the pieces together.  So I drew one!  Here, I use a symbol from reliefs of Inanna to represent Venus's current position in her cycle. She just transited behind the Sun (represented by the Norse goddess Sol), and has reappeared low on the horizon as the evening star, which she will embody for the rest of 2021 before vanishing for 8 days to reappear as the morning star for most of 2022 ( source ). The Cycle of Venus, as viewed from Earth, not to scale The disappearance and reappearanc...
Post a Comment
Read more