Sheela World front door

Sheela na Gig, Síla na Géige.
Primary historical, etymological, and spiritual research into these mysterious Celtic images. Traditional and original Sheela artwork, tales and links.
Enter Sheela-World (Kilpeck Sheela -- 12th cent CE -- original sculptor unknown. Drawing copyright Š1998 kpt/katharsis ink)

Enter Sheela-World (Kilpeck Sheela -- 12th cent CE -- original sculptor unknown. Drawing copyright Š1998 kpt/katharsis ink)

Enter Sheela World
(if she'll let you...)

At some point I will be integrating these findings into the main article but, for now, check out what my dear friend and colleague, Annie, turned up: Sheelah's Day. Finally. Confirmation for why that dictionary fell open to that page years ago and led me to investigate the etymology of géag. While Frietag may have gotten the idea from me (it's really not clear), the other sources on this are over 100 years old. Yet we first heard of them last month. Sheelah's Day was not celebrated, or spoken of, where I grew up in the diaspora (Chicago and Boston). I've also asked among my contemporaries in various parts of Ireland, both Catholic, Protestant and polytheist, and none of them have heard of this either. So it looks like it was not a widely-known celebration and, like the Sheelas, we really can't be certain how old it is. But since it's clearly a variation on the tales of the Cailleach, and the Cailleachan, as beings who control the weather, I think the connection is clear.

It's been six years since my last update, and fourteen years since the first version of this article was published. In working with Síla daily (as she who opens the way to the spirit world), some of my conclusions have morphed a bit over the past twenty years. I now see her as most definitely a name of, and depiction of, the Cailleach as Creator. I came to this conclusion years ago, and had suspected it at the initial writing, but had not updated the article to state this more clearly. I believe that Síla is a depiction of the Hag in the act of creation. My theory is that the sheela figures depict the power of a woman to give birth to a child, and our oldest female ancestor who gave birth to many tribes of humans, and a Spirit Woman who creates features of the landscape (mountains, rivers, and perhaps the world itself). Check out the Cailleach tag on my blog, and the Gaol Naofa FAQ for more on her role as a Creator.

I have updated the etymology sections a bit, including some more Gaelic folklore on Géige as a Gruagach-type figure.

Updated with Gay Cannon's photo of the Bronze Age proto-Sheela, and Shae Clancy's photo of the Boa Island figure (where you can see that people have been leaving her offerings). A few more etymological explorations, some footnotes on material found in waulking songs and Scottish harvest rituals, and a couple more things on Sheela and gynandry/gender-variance.

I've done some major revisions to Síla na Géige - Sheela na Gig and Sacred Space. The text is only changed in a few places, but I have substantially changed my views on some of the historical theories concerning the Sheelas. I have also added a couple more photos (real, historical Sheelas on standing stones!) and updated some links.

One of the fabulous things about the Internet, and this website, is that I'm now in touch with Sheela scholars from all over the world -- a gift I did not have when I wrote the original version of the article. Consequently, I'm now revising some of my theories. This is common in historical research, and readers may be glad to know that I am now questioning the possible biases of Ronald Hutton, who was a major source for my initial research. I now feel that Hutton has neglected key evidence. Whether this neglect is due to lack of awareness -- he, too, was dealing with a largely-unresearched area in writing about the Sheelas -- or due to the alleged anti-Pagan and anti-Woman agenda of which many feminist scholars have accused him, I cannot say. The problem may simply be that he tried to cover too much material at once, and so only skimmed the surface in some areas.

What I will say about all of us doing research in this area, is that up until very recently very little was written about the Sheelas, and almost none of it from a scholarly viewpoint. In the US you could find almost nothing on them. And what little material was available was often heavily biased towards romantic fantasies. So perhaps, in an effort to bring some balance to the debate, there was a tendency, on my part, and Hutton's, to swing too far to the contradictory and more conservative of archaeological theories.

But now things are different. We e-mail and e-publish our data, we share our experiences, images and theories. Research has speeded up to an astonishing degree. For those of us willing to be flexible and open-minded, to have courage, humility, compassion and the ability to ride the waves of change, it is truly an exciting time.

copyright ©1999, 2012 Kathryn Price NicDhàna
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