A popular hypothesis is that sheela na gigs represent a pagan goddess, but academics believe the situation was more complex, with multiple interpretations and roles for the female character as spiritual traditions changed over time. The goddess in question usually is identified as Celtic, the hag-like Cailleach figure of Irish and Scottish mythology. Margaret Murray proposed this, as did Anne Ross, who wrote in her essay, ``The Divine Hag of the Pagan Celts'', ``I would like to suggest that in their earliest iconographic form they do in fact portray the territorial or war-goddess in her hag-like aspect...''
Margaret Murray
Anne Ross