The Raven

Raven Graphic by Bill Worthington from The Druid Animal Oracle

By being able to travel from this world to the next, the raven symbolizes the power of healing - but the type of healing that comes about through a radical confrontation with the unconscious, with the hidden, with the Shadow...
Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm

Corvus Corax The Raven

The Aviary

Raven Totem Guide

Death Goddess

The Terrible or Devouring Mother. The Warrior Goddess. Bone Mother. In Celtic mythology, the triple goddess collectively called the Morrigan has as aspects Anu (or Nemain), Badbh and Macha. The raven is one of the symbols of the Morrigan, for ravens, being scavengers, were often seen devouring corpses on the battlefield. She is one aspect of the Goddess of Sovereignty, related to later Arthurian stories of the Loathly Lady. The little known secret is that the War Goddess brings regeneration: new life arises out of apparent spiritual death.

alt.culture.warrior-women

WAR GODDESS: The Morrígan and her Germano-Celtic Counterparts: A dissertation by Angelique Gulermovich Epstein

The Morrigan at Druidry.Org

The Morrigan by Danielle Ni Dhighe

Warrior Goddesses and Women

The Morrigan

Macha, Brighid, The Ancient Goddess of Ireland

The Lament of Macha

The Grove of Sinann: Rath Cruachan and the Morrigan

Morrigan Healing

BrennaGwyn WhiteRaven

Sheela-Na-Gig

In Britain and Ireland you can find carvings, often on church walls, of female figures squatting and displaying their genitalia. Their faces are either twisted with rage or smiling. No one really knows for sure what these figures represent, but when you know the story of Macha, you have to wonder.

Sheela World

Sheela-Na-Gig by Chris Thompson

Sheela-na-Gigs by Jack Roberts

Some Sheelas in Ireland (Fethard)

Tara's Sheela na gig page (photographs)

Sheela na Gig, Lavey, Co. Cavan

The Sheela Na Gig Project

Ever wonder why the horseshoe is supposed to be lucky?

JBL Statues' Sheela

At The Edge: The Green Man. The Green Man is another pagan symbol often found carved on churches.

Boadicea "The Warrior Queen"

Whether spelled Bunduica, Voadicia, Bonducca, Boudicca, Boudica, Boudicea or Boadicea, the memory of the great Celtic Queen of the Iceni people is still preserved. After the death of her husband, the ruling Romans decided to remove the threat she presented by humiliating her: by raping her two daughters and flogging her. As history shows, she refused to just take the abuse. She amassed an army of 20,000 Celts and extracted a terrible price, sweeping through the countryside and destroying three cities, including London. Although the Romans, led by Suetonius, were eventually able to subdue her, by gathering and throwing against her all the Roman troops in South Britain, their policy toward the Britons did change to one of appeasement for the remaining 300 years of Roman rule. As for Boadicea, her memory has stayed with us as one of the most well known figures of the first century. A monument was placed near the British Houses of Parliament in 1902 by the London County Council in recognition of the bravery of their Celtic ancestor. The plaque praises her defense of her homeland against the Roman invaders.

Queen Boudicca And The Events Leading To The Iceni Rebellion of 60 A.D.

Boudicca Queen of the Iceni

Destruction of Mona, Revolt of the Iceni

Several Links on Boadicea at ancienthistory.miningco.com. You need to choose Bios - Women. Be sure to check out the 2 part essay there.

Boudicca, artwork

The Rise of Venta

Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe? Expediency asks the question, Is it politic? Vanity asks the question, Is it popular? But conscience asks the question, Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right...
Martin Luther

"From this hour the ignominy that you have inflicted on me will rebound to the shame of each one of you. When a time of oppression falls upon you, each one of you who dwells in this province will be overcome with weakness, as the weakness of a woman in childbirth, and this will remain upon you for five days and four nights, to the ninth generation it will be so."

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience
in which you really stop to look fear in the face . . .
YOU MUST DO THE THING YOU THINK YOU CANNOT DO
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Updated November 23, 1998
As this page commemorates a relationship at a particular moment in time, all further updates are restricted to checking for broken links
Links checked February 9, 2002