Eileen's Sharman Doll "Fionella"
For years I've been tapping into the healing powers in nature" our "place in it and particularly when in harmony
with nature. That is accepting in a responsive and responsible way.
"Fieonella" is a compassionate healer -she is fashioned from orange wood, jarrah, painted canvas, brown paper
silk, feathers, brass bells, shells, chicken bones & icons -all natural substances.
The icons are important especially in the context of who the doll was made for, to comfort, heal and give courage.
A dear friend of mine, who suffers bouts of depression, was quite ill last year and since she turned "60" in
December 03, I gifted her with "Fionella".
The name "Fionella" is the feminine of "Fion" who in Celtic Mythology was a wise man of the "Tuatha
de Danaan , the Gifted People. He found the Salmon of Wisdom and accidentally ate it, since he was in the forest and hungry.
The Salmon was disguised as an ordinary fish, but when the salmon cried out from the Spit. "Fion, Fion I am a great Wisdom
Totem" Fion was greatly distressed but ate the feast none the less and became even wiser than before.
The icons are of Christ, a great wisdom figure & Healer. The Divine Feminine Images are of Mary; the Black Madonna
of Poland & Spain. The other images are paintings by an American artist Meinrad Craighead who previously was a Benedictine
nun in England and left to live in the Californian Desert as an active contemplative artist.
Since my friend and I are from the Catholic Tradition, the shared icons and hidden Crucifixion frame of the Doll are hugely
meaningful, and we both share Celtic Ancestry
Eileen Bouwman
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