Sheela-Na-Gig
Sheela-Na-Gig Day is on March 18th, the day after St. Patrick’s, and is celebrated in Ireland by drinking whiskey! A shamrock is placed in the last glass consumed to ensure that you drink in good luck, protection, and fertility.
The Sheela-Na-Gig is found in Celtic and medieval stonework, often positioned over entrances and doorways, carved into cathedrals and stone churches all over Ireland, Wales, England, and throughout Europe. Sheela Na Gig is depicted as a squat, ugly, female creature, using her hands to display grotesquely large genitals. The prominently displayed vulva of the Sheela Na Gig is a Celtic holy symbol of the renewal of life and the regenerative powers of the Great Mother Goddess symbolizing both fertility and protection against evil.
During the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages passage graves were built in the shape of the Goddess, with the passage the vagina, and the tomb representing the uterus. Tomb and womb were equated, thus ensuring the regeneration and continuity after death, like a dead seed planted into Mother Earth, new life would sprout and grow into completion.
To celebrate Sheela-Na-Gig Day, ritually plant new life into the womb of the Goddess. You will need a peat pot, a little water with a drop of Irish whiskey added if you have some, a tiny glass of whiskey, some earth and a seed or two. You will name the seed(s) with an idea, goal or change that you wish to bring into your life. Take your time to firmly fix in your mind what you would like to bring to life with the seed.
Fill the pot with earth and then bless it in the following manner:
Hold the pot in both of your hands and visualize the earth within it teeming with micro-organisms, like a rich soup of fertility anxiously awaiting a seed to bring to life. Hold this visualization for as long as possible and then say:
Womb of the Goddess.
Put down the pot and hold the seed(s) in your hand and visualize new life sleeping curled within the seed, like an embryo waiting for the moment of birth. Hold this visualization for as long as possible and then say:
Seed of Potential I name you ___________
Immediately plunge the seeds into the earth and chant:
Fertile womb of Water and Earth,
The combination will give birth.
I will have what I desire,
The wind is Air and Sun is Fire.
Pour some of the whiskey- water on the newly planted seeds and say:
Water of Life, of River and Sea,
Magick is done, So Mote it Be!
Drink the small glass of whiskey after toasting Sheela Na Gig by saying slainte mhaith (slantia maith)- good health in Irish.
Once your plant sprouts, be sure to nurture it and watch the magick grow!
Rowan Morgana 2015
Sources
:Wikipedia
The Sheila Na Gig Project
White Dragon – Sheila Na Gigs
http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/sheilanagig.php
Goddess Sheelah Na Gig - Journeying to the Goddess
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