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Hello, welcome to 'Bathing With The Sheela' ...

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This is the home of my latest book in my Bathing series. The full book title is   Bathing With The Sheela and this website is   thesheela.com This is not the final book cover design  but a work in progress cover Sheela is short for Sheela na Gig, but this book will explore folklore I have been told about relating to the Sheela na Gig,  but more of how she has been revered in the landscape more than from the carved stones for Medieval times onwards. Being Sheela, I include reference and reverence to folklore of the Sí, Sidhe, and faery world, especially in connection to water. While my last book, Bathing In The Fae's Breath is a Tree Hugger's Companion, Bathing With The Sheela is an evolving Water Bather's Companion. This water will be more than sea, loughs, rivers, streams, and sacred wells, as it includes folklore of the flow of memory and consciousness in water. Bathing With The Sheela is starting as a book organically growing from this space. Any proce

Introducing - Bathing With The Sheela

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The original intention of this book was to be a compendium for water bathing lovers, with a bunch of fae, fairy and Sidhe stories thrown in, but ... Just as my previous book, Bathing In The Faes Breath started in hospital after a paralytic stroke that served all kinds of wonderful new experiences ... this book also started with an unexpected extended hospital time. I had all kinds of twilighty visions but finding myself crawling right into what I imaged as a Sidhe water and fire world, the faluchtra ... so that’s what the core of this book has evolved into. Originally, my intension was being a human attempting to engage, relate to, and serve a personal interpretation of the fae and sidhe world. But this changed. Due to the denied seriousness of this bad luck infection illness, I got a bit delirious at times. I believed I was locked into being an actual sidhe being, relating to the human world. What does a Sidhe being look like? No idea! A mirror did not come into focus. But

Bathing In Our Faluchtra Pool

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! As a bright sun rose on Imbolc morning, as it has done consistently for 5 or more years now. For a moment there is a fleeing of snow and rain. I think of our inner Faluchtra as we awake now for Spring, even though we may soon think it is slow coming, here in Ireland. The Faluchtra,  our inner hearth flame ignited at Midwinter,  ... and brooding with stronger ideas and affirmations until the the pool of them all flows out and into action from Imbolc. Obviously I am not thinking the intense weight loss operation transformation here but a wholesome seeding of our new ideas for these upcoming seasons. A first thought is that there is still more darkness than light in our day here. I am thinking of the Spring flowers. The first dandelions will be here soon and calling the bees. Their bright yellow heads with petals in fractal per

Sheela na Heroes part one ...

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! Various visitor’s to our Labyrinth Gardens use one of the Labyrinth walks to aid what they call  ‘A Hero’s Journey’. It’s not surprising as they can apply the three stages of a Labyrinth to three stages of a Hero’s Journey. Departure  - the call for adventure. breaking from the mundane Initiation  - the meeting with the Goddess, Fae, Sidhe, your spirit mentor Return  - the courage and freedom to journal and live from your inspiration I will continue now with a location.  It is south of Sligo town, south of. Lough Gill and there is Lough Lumman. Surrounding this lough are the Ballygawley Hills. On those hills are the remains of ancient stone cairns. Around 1974 was when I first heard the story of the Briefne chieftains being buried on the hills, covered by those stone cairns, so that as their bodies perished, the water

Daghda And The Coire Cíuín part one

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! I return to Sheela na Heroes part two at the end of this five part series. This is a legend of the deeds of Daghda, often pronounced like Doyda. I think this is a lovely ancient story example of passage through three stages of what some call a Hero’s Journey. I sometimes tell a shorter version to start a Tree Labyrinth session here at Carrowcrory. Departure  - the call for adventure. breaking from the mundane Initiation  - the meeting with the Goddess, Fae, Sidhe, your spirit mentor Return  - the courage and freedom to journal and live from your inspiration I live outside a village called Keash. There is a hill above Keash where  local people say the White Hag lives.  They say its impossible for anyone to enter the hill far, and be able to come back out out again. I cannot confirm that, because this is why I am here no

Daghda And The Coire Cíuín part two

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! To recap, for this third part of a five part series ... This is a legend of the deeds of Daghda, often pronounced like Doyda, that is a lovely ancient story example of passage through three stages of what is called a Hero’s Journey. Departure - the call for adventure. breaking from the mundane Initiation - the meeting with the Goddess, Fae, Sidhe, your spirit mentor Return - the courage and freedom to journal and live from your inspiration Daghda had approached the well of the Cailleach to drink and bathe and return his stamina, so he could return as the god of harvest and abundance each autumn harvest time At the well he met the three hags, the Morrigna, and actually not bad looking. Their names are Badb (Medb, Maeve), Macha and Nemain, (Fea, Fae). They had invited Daghda back to stay with them, lay with them, love

Daghda And The Coire Cíuín part three

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! Brideog and Coire Chrann To recap, for this fourth part of a five part series ... This is the third and connecting cycle part of a legend of the deeds of Daghda, often pronounced like Doyda. The story moves into the deeds of Brideog and Coire Chrann, the children of the Mör na Coire Cíuín. To recap the first two parts, this is a lovely ancient story example of passage through three stages of what is called a Hero’s Journey. Departure  - the call for adventure. breaking from the mundane Initiation  - the meeting with the Goddess, Fae, Sidhe, your spirit mentor Return  - the courage and freedom to journal and live from your inspiration Daghda had approached the well of the Cailleach to drink and bathe and return his stamina, so he could return as the god of harvest and abundance each autumn harvest time. At the well he

Sheela na Heroes part two

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Please support Bathing With The Sheela, and our Labyrinth Gardens work, as a Patron, from a dollar, a euro, a pound, a month ... Become a Patron! Today's feature closing article connecting this 5 part series on this glorious sunny Gregorian fixed Brighid’s Day here , also introducing ‘Bathing With The Sheela’ new book and new session theme for the Tree Labyrinth here. Click the ‘See more’  ... Wishing you a wonderful day, and.  .. tomorrow a special Saturday poem feature to round this up. To bring this five part series into a cycle, I am joining the return narratives of Daghda, Brideog, and Coire Chrann back to a new adventure. A summary of that story seems to be that it is essential nutrition for all of us to have space that is perhaps not space, where the human calibrations of time and space do not exist. I am convinced this is essential re-wilding for us.  It connects us to all other vessels on earth that carry life. No other vessel of life on earth lives accord