Jabme-Akka

Jabme-Akka is the akka of the dead in Sami mythology. She rules over Jabmiaimo, which mirrors the land of the living. The dead live as they did on earth, but in a youthful state. Source: Patricia Monaghan's Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. Jabme-Akka soothes babies that enter her land unaccompanied. (Source)

Jabme-Akka original painting and prints available through Saatchi Art.

Entrances to the underworld were located around "sieidis, places that have unusual land forms different from the surrounding countryside, and that can be considered to have spiritual significance." The Sami worldview was "that the living and the departed were regarded as two halves of the same family." The sieidis were places that were close to the underworld and where offerings could be left. (Source). The sieidis were also places for burials.

My painting is set near a sieidi in Saltfjellet.

Sadly, "like many other indigenous groups, Sami activists have been fighting for decades to recover the bones of their ancestors. Between 1850 and 1940, many graves were disturbed to feed theories based on phrenology. These were not only ancient sites. A pair of Sami men executed in 1854, for example, ended up with their skulls in the collection of the University of Oslo. Their bones were only returned to their families in 1997. The treatment of Sami remains and their academic value is still a subject of controversy." (Source)

Painting this version of the underworld made me consider beliefs that I was brought up with, the importance of baptizing babies to save them from Hell. What a terrible thought. At one point, the summer Bible camp pastor convinced me that everyone I knew and loved who wasn't born again was going to burn in Hell for eternity. That was intense for a sensitive child. I like this afterlife better.

Additional Sources:

An Introduction to the Sami people

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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...

Branwen, Reinterpreted

I started painting Goddesses in December 2020 as part of a Goddess art challenge, one Goddess per day from a prompt list. Many were new to me, so I had to research. Branwen was Goddess #7. Her story was mostly about her brother, Bran, as was my Branwen painting . She ended up dead of a broken heart. Death by patriarchy. After I had read more feminist angles, I repainted Branwen, and referenced an article by Judith Shaw, reinterpreting her (included in link above). It was a better interpretation than my first, but, I just read another section of The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas , and I need to reinterpret her again. Branwen with her white raven, in front of Cadair Bronwen. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Branwen is associated with the white raven. She is a Welsh goddess of sovereignty, and in the landscape she is represented by Cadair Bronwen, a rounded mo...

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 ...

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. 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 favorit...

Tawaret

Tawaret is an ancient Egyptian Great Mother Goddess who oversees childbirth. She has the head of a hippo, tail of a crocodile, limbs of a lioness, and torso of a pregnant woman. Saturday was International Worker's Day aka Labor Day in much of the world. Labor Day, Labor Goddess, because being a mom is job and the U.S. needs paid maternity leave like the rest of the developed world. Also, universal healthcare. The average price of hospital births in Pennsylvania is $19,764. That makes Tawaret and I displeased. Tawaret original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art . Prints and other merch also available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . The Glencairn Museum writes, "Her very name emphasizes her power. Taweret (T3-wr.t) means “the great (female) one.” Greeks rendered her name as Thoeris. Further emphasizing her protective nature, Taweret usually carries or rests upon the s3 symbol, whi...

Nut

Nut is one of the oldest goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, Mother of Isis, Osiris, Set, and Nephthys. She swallows the Sun every evening and rebirths it every morning. She is the Goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, mother of the gods, she who holds a thousand souls. Her fingers and toes touch the four cardinal directions, north, south, east, and west. In her human depiction, she is represented by cat pose in yoga. Nut original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . She is also sometimes represented as a cow, with her milk representing the heavenly river, the Milky Way. Interesting, cat and cow poses alternate in yoga practice. The first domestic cattle were bred from the wild aurochs. Both male and female aurochs had large horns. Modern Texas longhorns are thought to be a relatively close relation to the aurochs. I once slept ...

Echoing Multiverse

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