The Sheelnagig
by Jeremy Schewe (recorded 1/11/2025)
A wonderer, led by a gnome in search of the hall of Fionnbharr in the Summerlands, stumbles semi-graciously into the realm of a Sheelnagig.
Click the play button below to listen.
The yoni of the Great Mother calls her lovers home.
A sheelnagig (Irish: Síle na gcíoch) is a stone carving, typically on the keystone over the entrance to a church or chapel. Most of them were carved from the 11th century onwards by the Normans in France and later in the 12th century in Ireland, Wales, and England. Sheelnagig's can be found all over Ireland, most typically on abandoned churches, and frequently carved from the Irish red sandstone. Síle na gcíoch, meaning "Julia of the breasts" (sort of). And while breasts are not typically even hinted at in the sculptures, the aggrandized vulva's, similar to a Brigid's cross, are believed to be a type of apotropaic magic, for warding off malevolent spirits, attracting good ones, and blessing those who cross the threshold into the inner sanctum.
Come, meet the Great Mother in her most delicate of initiations to the seeker.