Ghostly Women
A Community Exhibition brought to you by Magical Women artists
and
Magical Women community artists from our Facebook Group.
“Before you enter...
You might notice something
tricksy
The art might be messier
Photos at odd angles
That sort of thing.
Community Art is about
embracing the doodles
the ideas
sketches
all sorts!
It’s a messy mind that creates
art!
Welcome in! ”
“Originating from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition is Samhain, a pagan religious festival.
In modern times, Samhain (a Gaelic word pronounced “sow-win”) is usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1 to welcome in the harvest and guide in “the dark half of the year.”
Samhain marks the time when the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world break down, allowing more interaction between humans and denizens of the Otherworld.”
Caroline Elizabeth Howells, ink and pen on paper.
Becky Atherton, “Look at My Beautiful Self”
Maddie Millett, Felt tip on paper
Maddie Millett, Felt tip on paper
“Samhain was marked by ancient Celts as being the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals. It took place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice.
This time of year saw hearth fires in family homes left to burn out while the harvest was gathered.”
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
Lois Acari
Maddie Millet - Felt tips on paper
Becky Atherton
“It was believed by the Celts that the barrier between worlds was breachable during Samhain, so offerings were left outside villages and fields for faeries, or Sidhs.
Ancestors might cross over during this time as well, and Celts would dress as animals and monsters to prevent faeries from being tempted to kidnap them.
Specific monsters associated with the mythology surrounding Samhain included:
- A shape-shifting creature called a Pukah that receives harvest offerings from the field.
- The Lady Gwyn, a headless woman dressed in white who chases night wanderers and was accompanied by a black pig.
- The Dullahan sometimes appeared as impish creatures. They were also sometimes headless men on horses who carried their heads. Riding flame-eyed horses, their appearance was a death omen to anyone who encountered them.
- Finally, a group of hunters known as the Faery Host also haunted Samhain to kidnap people.
- Similar are the Sluagh, who would come from the west to enter houses and steal souls.”
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
“After the harvest work was complete, celebrants joined with Druid priests to light a community fire using a wheel causing friction that would spark flames.
The wheel represented the sun and was used along with prayers and sacrificed cattle for participants to take a flame from the communal bonfire back to their home to relight the hearth.
Early texts indicate that Samhain was a mandatory celebration lasting three days and three nights (although it says six in other places!) where the community was required to show themselves to local kings or chieftains. If they failed to participate then this resulted in punishment from the gods, usually illness or death.”
Maddie Millett - Felt tip on Paper
Gemma Abbott
Becky Atherton
Wendy Young
“The Middle Ages saw fire festivals being celebrated much more. Bonfires known as Samghnagans were more personal Samhain fires nearer farms and became a tradition, purportedly to protect families from faeries and witches.
Carved turnips attached to strings on sticks called Jack-o-lanterns began to appear, embedded with coal. Later Irish tradition switched to pumpkins.
In Wales, men tossed burning wood at each other in violent games and set off fireworks. In Northern England, men paraded with noisemakers.”
Elinor Rowlands
But what of the Magical Women, those right now those who stand staring at us, through us, who are all around us, dancing, inviting us to dance with them.
Won’t you dance?
Won’t you dance with our Ghostly Women?
Lois Acari
Becky Atherton
“I am a Queen
Magnificent being
I am an Empress
Goddess supreme
I am worshipped
I am adored
I taste the blood on my avenger’s sword
I am moon flight – I am solar
The blackest hole - the brightest star
the sparkle - feather of the Nightjar
Small beak - big mouth – gape into the dark
Feeding on small pleasures – beat my (he)art
the glisten – the vision - the listening ear
the spine of the temple of the book
the words you spell and weave – supply the succour – hold you up
caught in a web – a thorny bush – delving – look
a spell in my finger makes me bleed – a tiny scrape of wood
could kill me - yet battle storms – o’ercome threats – to protect my loves
Spelt – I grow – to feed your bellies – swell your ego – delve at your leisure – caress my flesh
My body is yours at MY behest
Now the tide’s turned – equal measures
no more 47s to say no to pressure
flashes of magic on 220 buses rake my ashes
walking gravelly paths through graveyards absorbing the bones
breathing in praise of the Magical wise ones
Awesome enchantress – behold my bladed tongue
sovereign gold autumn chanter - yours for the taking but
take care to smear – to wear out my trust – ashes to ashes – you are dust
Mantra
I am a Queen
A magnificent being
I am an Empress
A Goddess supreme
I am worshipped
I am adored
I am the blood on my avenger’s sword
I am a moon flight
I am a star
I am the sparkle
In the wing of the Nightjar”
Caroline Cardus
“Did you come as wildness?
As barely there, barely existing, stuck between worlds
In limbo?
Did you come as trying her hardest?
Or as the enchantress who beckons.
Did you come as the dancers in flight as a trio?
Or
Did you turn to fire?
A flame
A silhouette
A once was and never more?
A who are you and who am I?
A wondering?
A stream of thoughts and wilding.
Did you come as
A forever and ever more
A forever and never burns out
A memory existing in the walls
haunting the entire dance? ”
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
Wendy Young
Wendy Young
Elinor Rowlands
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
Wendy Young
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
“Here she is naked
As naked as a flame
Her nipples
Ripe
And her curves
a delight but what of those in costume
and masked?
What of those who reveal the second skin,
the new layer of the archetype
of their soul? ”
Becky Atherton
“There is a transformation happening
during Samhain and it occurs
when we choose our Halloween Costume
because our Halloween costume
evokes deep inside which is more permanent,
that which is archetypal,
which is more eternal within us than the
secular character that we represent in the world. ”
“What have you come as? ”
“A feline? ”
Judith Rowlands
“Ah, un très chic.... suited and booted feline of the night...”
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
They do say the best come in threes…
Teal Fraser “Spirit With Her Familiar”
“Or a nude along a chaise longue... red of course!
Of course!”
And if you will not dance,
If you’ve not already stolen a glance…
Prepare to be taken into a trance with us,
Surrender your body and come dance with us.
Under a fire burnt sky
by the light of a full moon,
by the hearth of the fire in our homes.
Caroline Elizabeth Howells
“What does it mean
to be a ghostly woman?
To be existing in and breathing in
these other worlds ?
To let these other worlds merge?
What does it mean to dream of things beyond the glass? ”
“Paying close attention to the message we leave behind”
Roseanna Chew
“Play
Experiment
Pay Attention
Beware!
We hope you will come again! ”