Sheela Na Gig
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Basic Information

The Sheela Na Gig is a form of architectural grotesque common to Ireland and characterised by an exaggerated, cavernous vulva. Like most forms of art with exaggerated sexual features, they are usually thought to be fertility symbols1, but may also have an apotropaic role - much like the various hyperphallic male images more common in continental Europe. Notably, unlike many female fertility images, the rest of the figure apart from its vulva is often sexless and even skeletal2. There are also suggestions that, like Green Man grotesques they may be a pagan hangover.

Sources

Bibliography
1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

  • As noted in the gargoyle entry, the possibility of one of these becoming an animated grotesque is something most people won't want to consider too deeply.
  • A weird and jarring thing to find anywhere, especially on a church building or in its graveyard.
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