![]() ![]() One of the first female scholars of the Sheelas, Margaret Murray, in her 1934 “Female Fertility Figures,” calls them fertility figures belonging to a category of goddesses she names the Personified Yoni. ![]() Such folk customs are not just local but reflect the universal numinous energy in the image of the vulva. These later rural traditions expanded on the Sheela’s first use as a guardian rooted in the apotropaic display of her naked sex. In the popular belief of country people, Sheelas were employed to help with fertility, to heal, and to bring good luck. Puzzled by these strange images, they began to question why carvings of nude females in brazen sexual display of themselves appeared on medieval churches throughout the islands of Ireland and Britain. The debate about their meaning started in the 19th century when Antiquarians were stirred by a passion for things of the past. Whatever the original purposes of the Sheela na gigs, over the years many folk customs have become associated with the figures. ![]() ![]() The Power of Display: Sheela na gigs and Folklore Customs ![]()
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