From: jack@cee.hw.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Subject: Re: sheela-na-gigs
Date: Wed, 4 May 1994 17:49:31 GMT

bbeistle@mail.sas.upenn.edu (Bronwyn S. Beistle) wrote:
> My friend and I, who are in Irish Studies, are wondering about sile.
> (Sorry about the cheesy spelling in the header). Does anybody know
> about her origins, or about her possible relationship to the green
> man who also turns up all over European churches? or about how
> either or both relate to gargoyles? Inquiring minds want to know.

This looked like an interesting book on this stuff:

     LC Call Number: NB1952.E76 W45 1986
             Author: Weir, Anthony.
              Title: Images of lust : sexual carvings on medieval churches /
                      Anthony Weir and James Jerman.
   Publication Info: London : B.T. Batsford, 1986.
  Phys. Description: 166 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.

I only looked at it briefly before giving it to a stonecarver friend a
few years ago; it documents all known sexual images on churches in
England and France (lots of pictures).  I don't recall what his theory
of their purpose was.

-- Jack Campin -- Room 1.36, Department of Computing & Electrical Engineering,
   Mountbatten Building, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS
TEL: 031 449 5111 ext 4195         HOME: 031 556 5272        FAX: 031 451 3431
INTERNET: jack@cee.hw.ac.uk   BITNET: via UKACRL   BANG!net: via mcsun & uknet

===
From: pcb@pinn.nacjack.gen.nz (Peter C-B)
Subject: Re: sheela-na-gigs
Date: Mon, 09 May 1994 20:08:13 -0500

In article <2q25e1$d88@netnews.upenn.edu>, Bronwyn S. Beistle wrote:
> My friend and I, who are in Irish Studies, are wondering about sile.
> (Sorry about the cheesy spelling in the header). Does anybody know
> about her origins, or about her possible relationship to the green
> man who also turns up all over European churches? or about how
> either or both relate to gargoyles? Inquiring minds want to know.
> [...]

Over the past year or so, I have gathered a good deal of info about
Sile and the Green Man.  They are ancient archetypal images that have
common origins that certainly predate Christianity, though surviving
carvings appear to date from the 9th to the 12th centuries.  They are
among many indications of the survival of pagan beliefs that were
condoned by the clergy.  They are connected with the old fertility
rites.

The best references are in _The_Witch_on_the_Wall_ by Jorgen Andersen
and _Green_Man_:_The Archetype of our Oneness with the Earth_ by
William Anderson, but pp 91-92 of _A_Witch_Alone_ by Marian Green also
refer, as does Doreen Valiente's _ABC_of_Witchcraft_ (not here just
now).

Peter C-B