Hello Shining Ones,
What does the colour red symbolise for you? If I invite red to flow as a stream of consciousness, I see the setting sun, passion, fire, lust, jealousy, ripe apples, lips, tongues, blood, life, death, earth, alarm, red-hair, berries, flow, swirling silk… I could go on, what about you? Red is often described as the colour of life as we are made of it in blood, it is a bringer of life, but also a taker of life.
‘The most common and emotionally strong human experiences of red down on earth are blood and glowing fire. Blood connects red to life, biological drives, emotions, feelings of love and hatred, passion, sensuality and sex; while the red of the glowing fire associates red with warmth but also with destructive heat.’
Theodor Abt, Introduction to Picture Interpretation
Red women feature in our mythology and so for this month, we will spend time with this image. As Irish folklorist Gearóid Ó Crualaoich says, ‘The red-haired woman has, in traditional perspective, the air of an otherworld figure.’1 We’ll explore a strange, enchanting tale of The Red Woman from the Fenian legends inspired by retellings of her story by Ella Young and Lady Augusta Gregory during the Celtic Revival and also, circle back to other goddesses we have worked with who embody the colour red.
The Red Goddess
