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Title: The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races
An Interpretation
Author: Sanger Brown, II
Contributor: James H. Leuba
Release Date: December 24, 2009 [EBook #30750]
Language: English
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THE SEX WORSHIP AND
SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE
RACES
AN INTERPRETATION
BY
SANGER BROWN II., M. D.
_Assistant Physician, Bloomingdale Hospital_
_With an Introduction by James H. Leuba_
BOSTON: RICHARD G. BADGER
TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK CO., LIMITED
_Copyright 1916, by Richard G. Badger_
_All rights reserved_
_The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A._
DEDICATED TO MY WIFE
HELEN WILLISTON BROWN
PREFACE
The greater part of the first three chapters of this book appeared in
the _Journal of Abnormal Psychology_ in the December-January number of
1915-16 and the February-March number of 1916. This material is
reprinted here by the kind permission of the Editor of that Journal.
This part of the subject is chiefly historical and the data here given
is accessible as indicated by the references throughout the text,
although many of these books are difficult to secure or are out of
print. For this historical material I am particularly indebted to the
writings of Hargrave Jennings, Richard Payne Knight and Doctor Thomas
Inman. Most of the reference matter coming under the general heading of
Nature Worship was obtained from comparatively recent sources, such as
the publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, of the Smithsonian
Institute, and certain publications of the American Museum of Natural
History. Frazer's _Golden Bough_ and other writings of J. G. Frazer on
Anthropology furnished much valuable information. The writings of
special investigators, among others those of Spencer, and A. W. Howitt,
on Primitive Australian Tribes, and W. H. R. Rivers on the Todas have
been freely drawn upon. A number of other books and references have been
made use of, as indicated throughout the text. I have found two books by
Miss J. Harrison, _i. e._, _Themis_ and _Ancient Art and Ritual_, of
great value in interpreting primitive ceremonies and primitive customs
in general.
My main object has been to give the life history of a primitive motive
in the development of the race, and to emphasize the dynamic
significance of this motive. Later other motives may be dealt with in
more detail if it is proved that both in normal and abnormal psychology
we may best understand the mental development of the individual through
our knowledge of the development of the race.
I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the
assistance rendered me by my wife.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Simple Sex Worship 13
II Symbolism 34
III Sun Myths, Mysteries and Decadent Sex Worship 69
IV Interpretations 96
References and Bibliography 137
Index 141
INTRODUCTION
Our knowledge of religion receives contributions from every quarter;
even the student of mental diseases finds information that is of service
to the student of religion. The reverse is equally true: a knowledge of
religion sheds light upon even the science of mental disorders.
In this short book, a psychiatrist seeks in the study of one aspect of
religious practice--the worship of the procreating power--to gain a
clearer understanding of the forms taken by certain kinds of mental
diseases. His theory is that we may expect diseased minds to reproduce,
or return to expressions of desire customary and official in societies
of lower culture. This is, as a matter of fact, less a theory than a
statement of observed facts; of this, the reader of these pages, if
familiar with certain mental disorders, may readily convince himself.
But Doctor Brown's intention is not merely, perhaps not primarily, to
draw the attention of the Psychiatrist to a neglected source of
information, he aims at something of wider import and addresses a wider
public. His purpose is no less than the tracing of the history of that
great motive of action, the sex passion, as it appears in religion and
the interpretation of its significance. Those who come to this book
without the preparation of the specialist will find it not only replete
with novel and surprising facts, but will find these facts placed in
such a relation to each other and to life in general, as to illuminate
both religion and human nature. This important result is made possible
by the point of view from which the author writes, the point of view of
racial development which has proved its fertility in so many directions.
JAMES H. LEUBA.
THE SEX WORSHIP AND
SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES:
AN INTERPRETATION
CHAPTER I
SIMPLE SEX WORSHIP
Psychiatry, during recent years, has found it to its advantage to turn
to related sciences and allied branches of study for the explanation of
a number of the peculiar symptoms of abnormal mental states. Of these
related studies, none have been of greater value than those which throw
light on the mental development of either the individual or the race. In
primitive races we discover a number of inherent motives which are of
interest from the standpoint of mental evolution. These motives are
expressed in a very interesting symbolism. It is the duty of the
psychiatrist to see to what extent these primitive motives operate
unconsciously in abnormal mental conditions, and also to learn whether
an insight into the symbolism of mental diseases may be gained, through
comparison, by a study of the symbolism of primitive races. In the
following discussion one particular motive with its accompanying
symbolism is dealt with.
A great many of the institutions and usages of our present day
civilization originated at a very early period in the history of the
race. Many of these usages are carried on in modified form century after
century, after they have lost the meaning which they originally
possessed; it must be remembered, however, that in primitive races they
were of importance, and they arose because they served a useful end.
From the study of these remnants of former days, we are able to learn
the trends of thought which activated and inspired the minds of
primitive people. When we clearly understand these motives, we may then
judge the extent of their influence on our present day thought and
tendencies.
It has only been during comparatively recent times that the importance
of primitive beliefs and practices, from the standpoint of mental
evolution, has been appreciated. Formerly, primitive man was regarded
merely as a curiosity, and not as an individual from whom anything of
any value whatever was to be learned. But more recent studies have
changed all this. In order to illustrate this matter of the evolution
and development of the human mind we can very profitably quote from Sir
J. G. Frazer:[1] "For by comparison with civilized man the savage
represents an arrested or rather a retarded state of social development,
and an examination of his customs and beliefs accordingly supplies the
same sort of evidence of the evolution of the human mind that an
examination of the embryo supplies of the evolution of the human body.
To put it otherwise, a savage is to a civilized man as a child is to an
adult; and just as a gradual growth of intelligence in a child
corresponds to, and in a sense recapitulates, the gradual growth of
intelligence in the species, so a study of savage society at various
stages of evolution enables us to follow approximately, though of course
not exactly, the road by which the ancestors of the higher races must
have travelled in their progress upward through barbarism to
civilization. In short, savagery is the primitive condition of mankind,
and if we would understand what primitive man was we must know what the
savage now is."
To properly interpret these beliefs and conduct, certain facts must be
kept in mind. One is that with primitive races the group stands for the
unit, and the individual has little if any personality distinct from the
group. This social state gives rise to what is spoken of as collective
thought, collective feeling, group action, etc. Miss J. Harrison[2]
considers this conception a very important one in primitive religious
development. All that the race expresses, all that it believes, is an
expression of collective feeling. As a result of this group thought,
feelings and beliefs are developed which are entertained by every
individual of the community. These racial feelings become a part of the
race itself; they are inseparable from it, and they find expression in
the loftiest of sentiments and the most earnest of religious beliefs.
Our study is not primarily concerned with religious development, but
since early man's deepest feelings found expression in what later became
a religion, it is necessary to search for racial motives in primitive
religions. These feelings are in no way comparable to the conscious
religious beliefs of later times, which were worked out in many
instances by an ingenious priesthood. The period when group feeling
predominated far antedated such civilizations as those of Egypt and
later Greece, for example, in which very elaborate religious systems
existed.
With primitive people these deeper feelings appear to arise
unconsciously rather than consciously. Moreover, probably as a result of
collective thought and feeling, motives and beliefs are developed and
elaborated in a way quite beyond the mental capacity of any one
individual of the community. Beliefs are formulated which have a
grandeur of conception and a beauty of expression well worthy of
admiration. The beauty and native vigor of some of the earlier myths are
examples of this. They live in the tribe as traditions. No one person
seems to have written them; in fact, they are added to, changed and
improved until they represent the highest expression of national
feelings. Gilbert Murray has indicated this in the _Rise of the Greek
Epic_. He emphasizes that there is found an expression of racial
feelings, built up from many sources. Such Sagas are not the property of
any one individual. The feelings they express are associated with the
unconscious of the race, if such a term is permissible. Gilbert
Murray,[3] in interpreting this element in primitive literature states:
"We have also, I suspect, a strange unanalyzed vibration below the
surface, an undercurrent of desires and fears, and passions, long
slumbering yet eternally familiar, which have for thousands of years
lain near the root of our most intimate emotions and been wrought into
the fabric of our most magical dreams. How far in the past ages this
stream may reach back I dare not even surmise; but it sometimes seems as
if the power of stirring it or moving with it were one of the last
secrets of genius."
The importance of the collective or group feeling has been emphasized as
thereby one sees how a fundamental racial motive becomes an integral
part of the mental life of each and every member of the group. In
primitive life every individual contributes something to this motive and
in turn receives something from it. It enters into the developing mind
and becomes inseparably associated with it. In studying the evolution of
these motives one is studying the evolution of the human mind.
The motive which we have undertaken to explain has to do with one of the
most important of instincts, _i. e._, that of reproduction. The feelings
associated with this instinct were raised to the dignity of religion,
and in this we have the worship of sex. This worship is to be regarded
as an unconscious racial expression, the result of group or collective
feeling, the dynamic significance of which, from a biological
standpoint, will appear later.
Before proceeding, it is desirable to make reference to some of our
sources of information. There are plenty of books on the history of
Egypt, the antiquities of India or on the interpretation of Oriental
customs, which make scarcely any reference to the deification of sex. We
have always been told, for example, that Bacchus was the god of the
harvest and that the Greek Pan was the god of nature. We have not been
told that these same gods were representations of the male generative
attribute, and that they were worshipped as such; yet, anyone who has
access to the statuettes or engravings of these various deities of
antiquity, whether they be of Egypt, of India or of China, cannot fail
to see that they were intended to represent generative attributes. On
account of the incompleteness of many books which describe primitive
races, a number of references are given throughout these pages, and some
bibliographical references are added.
* * * * *
As will be presently indicated, we have evidence from a number of
sources to show sex was at one time frankly and openly worshipped by the
primitive races of mankind. This worship has been shown to be so general
and so wide-spread, that it is to be regarded as part of the general
evolution of the human mind; it seems to be indigenous with the race,
rather than an isolated or exceptional circumstance.
The American Cyclopedia, under Phallic Worship, reads as follows: "In
early ages the sexual emblems were adored as most sacred objects, and in
the several polytheistic systems the act or principle of which the
phallus was the type was represented by a deity to whom it was
consecrated: in Egypt by Khem, in India by Siva, in Assyria by Vul, in
primitive Greece by Pan, and later by Priapus, in Italy by Mutinus or
Priapus, among the Teutonic and Scandinavian nations by Fricco, and in
Spain by Hortanes. Phallic monuments and sculptured emblems are found in
all parts of the world."
Rawlinson, in his history of Ancient Egypt, gives us the following
description of Khem: "A full Egyptian idea of Khem can scarcely be
presented to the modern reader, on account of the grossness of the forms
under which it was exhibited. Some modern Egyptologists endeavor to
excuse or palliate this grossness; but it seems scarcely possible that
it should not have been accompanied by indelicacy of thought or that it
should have failed to exercise a corrupting influence on life and
morals. Khem, no doubt, represented to the initiated merely the
generative power in nature, or that strange law by which living
organisms, animal and vegetable, are enabled to reproduce their like.
But who shall say in what exact light he presented himself to the
vulgar, who had continually before their eyes the indecent figures under
which the painters and sculptors portrayed him? As impure ideas and
revolting practices clustered around the worship of Pan in Greece and
later Rome, so it is more than probable that in the worship of Khem in
Egypt were connected similar excesses. Besides his priapic or
'Ithyphallic' form, Khem's character was marked by the assignment to him
of the goat as his symbol, and by his ordinary title _Ka-mutf_, 'The
Bull of His Mother,' _i. e._, of nature."
This paragraph clearly indicates that the sexual organs were worshipped
under the form of Khem by the Egyptians. The writer, however, has fallen
into a very common error in giving us to understand that this was a
degraded form of worship; from numerous other sources it is readily
shown that such is not the case.
The following lines, from _Ancient Sex Worship_, substantiate the above
remarks, and at the same time, they show the incompleteness of the
writings of many antiquarians. In this book we read: "Phallic emblems
abounded at Heliopolis and Syria and many other places, even into modern
times. The following unfolds marvelous proof to our point. A brother
physician, writing to Dr. Inman, says: 'I was in Egypt last winter
(1865-66), and there certainly are numerous figures of gods and kings on
the walls of the temple at Thebes, depicted with the male genital erect.
The great temple at Karnac is, in particular, full of such figures and
the temple of Danclesa, likewise, although that is of much later date,
and built merely in imitation of old Egyptian art.'" The writer further
states that this shows how completely English Egyptologists have
suppressed a portion of the facts in the histories which they have given
to the world. With all our descriptions of the wonderful temple of
Karnac, it is remarkable that all mention of its association with sex
worship should be omitted by many writers.
A number of travellers in Africa, even in comparatively modern times,
have observed evidences of sex worship among the primitive races of that
continent. Captain Burton[4] speaks of this custom with the Dahome
tribe. Small gods of clay are made in priapic attitudes before which
the natives worship. The god is often made as if contemplating its
sexual organs. Another traveler, a clergyman,[5] has described the same
worship in this tribe. He has observed idols in priapic attitudes,
rudely carved in wood, and others made of clay. On the lower Congo the
same worship is described, where both male and female figures with
disproportionate genital organs are used for purposes of worship.
Phallic symbols and other offerings are made to these simple deities.
Definite examples of the sexual act having religious significance may be
cited. Richard Payne Knight[6] quotes a passage from Captain Cook's
voyages to one of the Southern Pacific Islands. The Missionaries of the
expedition on this occasion assembled the members of the party for
religious ceremonies in which the natives joined. The primitive natives
observed the ceremony with great respect and then with due solemnity
enacted their form of sacred worship. Quite to the astonishment of the
white people, this ceremony consisted of the open performance of the
sexual act by a young Indian man and woman. This was entirely a
religious ceremony, and was fittingly respected by all the natives
present.
Hargrave Jennings[7] describes the same custom in India. An Indian woman
of designated caste and vocation is selected. Many incantations and
strange rites are gone through. A circle, or "Vacant Enchanted Place" is
rendered pure by certain rites and sprinkled with wine. Then secret
charms are whispered three times in the woman's ear. The sexual act is
then consummated, and the whole procedure before the altar is distinctly
a form of sacrifice and worship.
Hodder M. Westropp in _Primitive Symbolism_ has indicated the countries
in which sex worship has existed. He gives numerous instances in ancient
Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome. In India, as well as in China and
Japan, it forms the basis of early religions. This worship is described
among the early races of Greece, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and among
the Mexicans and Peruvians of America as well. In Borneo, Tasmania, and
Australia phallic emblems have been found. Many other localities have
been mentioned by this writer and one seems fairly justified in
concluding that sex worship is regularly found at one time in the
development of primitive races. We shall now pass to another form of
this same worship, namely, sacred prostitution.
There is abundant evidence to show that there was a time in the
centuries before Christ when prostitution was held as a most sacred
vocation. We learn of this practice from many sources. It appears that
temples in a number of ancient cities of the East, in Babylonia,
Nineveh, Corinth and throughout India, were erected for the worship of
certain deities. This worship consisted of the prostitution of women.
The women were consecrated to the support of the temple. They were
chosen in much the same way as the modern woman enters a sacred church
order. The returns from their vocation went to the support of the deity
and the temple. The children born of such a union were in no way held in
disgrace, but on the contrary, they appeared to have formed a separate
and rather superior class. We are told that this practice did not
interfere with a woman's opportunities for subsequent marriage. In India
the practice was very general at one time. The women were called the
"Women of the Idol." Richard Payne Knight speaks of a thousand sacred
prostitutes living in each of the temples at Eryx and Corinth.
A custom which shows even more clearly that prostitution was held as a
sacred duty to women was that in Babylonia every woman, of high rank or
low, must at one time in her life prostitute herself to any stranger who
offered money. In _Ancient Sex Worship_ we read: "There was a temple in
Babylonia where every female had to perform once in her life a (to us)
strange act of religion, namely, prostitution with a stranger. The name
of it was Bit-Shagatha, or 'The Temple,' the 'Place of Union.'" Moreover
we learn that once a woman entered the temple for such a sacred act she
could not leave until it was performed.
The above accounts deal exclusively in the sacrifice made by women to
the deity of sex. Men did not escape this sacrifice and it appears that
some inflicted upon themselves an even worse one. Frazer[8] tells us of
this worship which was introduced from Assyria into Rome about two
hundred years before Christ. It was the worship of Cybele and Attis.
These deities were attended by emasculated priests and the priests in
oriental costume paraded Rome in religious ceremony.
On one occasion, namely, "the day of blood" in the Spring, the chief
ceremony was held. This, among other things, consisted in fastening an
effigy of the god to a pine tree, which was brought to the temple of the
Goddess Cybele. A most spectacular dance about the effigy then occurred
in which the priests slashed themselves with knives, the blood being
offered as sacrifice. As the excitement increased the sexual nature of
the ceremony became evident. To quote from Frazer: "For man after man,
his veins throbbing with the music, his eyes fascinated by the sight of
streaming blood, flung his garments from him, leaped forth with a shout,
and seizing one of the swords which stood ready for the service,
castrated himself on the spot. Then he ran through the city holding the
bloody parts in his hands and threw them into one of the houses which he
passed in his mad career."
We see that this act directly corresponds with the part played by the
female. The female prostituted herself, and the male presented his
generative powers to the deity. Both the sacred prostitutes and
emasculated priests were held in religious veneration.
The above references are sufficient to show that a simple form of sex
worship has been quite generally found. It becomes apparent as we
proceed that the worship of sex not only plays a part, but a very
prominent part, in the developing mind of man. In the frank and open
form of this worship it is quite clear that we are dealing with a very
simple type of mind. These primitive people exhibit many of the
qualities of the child. They are quite without sex consciousness. Their
motives are at once both simple and direct, and they are doubtless
sincere. Much misunderstanding has arisen by judging such primitive
people by the standards of our present day civilization. Sex worship,
while it held sway was probably quite as seriously entertained as many
other beliefs; it only became degraded during a decadent age, when
civilization had advanced beyond such simple conceptions of a deity, but
had not evolved a satisfactory substitute.
CHAPTER II
SYMBOLISM
As civilization advanced, the deification of sex was no longer frank and
open. It came to be carried on by means of symbolism. This symbolism was
an effort on the part of its originators to express the worship of the
generative attributes under disguise, often understood only by the
priests or by those initiated into the religious mysteries. The
mysteries so frequently referred to in the religions of antiquity are
often some expression of sex worship.
Sexual symbolism was very general at one time and remains of it are
found in most of the countries where any form of sex worship has
existed. Such remains have been found in Egypt, Greece, Italy, India,
China, Japan, and indeed in most countries the early history of which is
known to man.
One important kind of symbolism had to do with the _form_ of the object
deified. Thus, it appears that certain objects,--particularly upright
objects,--stones, mounds, poles, trees, etc., were erected, or used as
found in nature, as typifying the male generative organ. Likewise
certain round or oval objects, discs, certain fruits and certain natural
caves, were worshipped as representing the female generative organ. (The
yoni of India.)
We also find that certain _qualities of animal or vegetable_ nature were
equally venerated, not because of their form, but because they stood for
some quality desirable in the generation of mankind. Thus we find that
some animals--the bull because of its strength and aggressive nature,
the snake, perhaps because of its form or of its tenacity of life,--were
male representatives of phallic significance. Likewise the fish, the
dolphin, and a number of other aquatic creatures came to be female
representatives. This may be shown over and over again by reference to
the antique emblems, coins, and engravings of many nations.
Another later symbolism, which was adopted by certain philosophies, was
more obscure but was none the less of distinct sexual significance.
_Fire_ is made to represent the male principle, and _water_, and much
connected with it, the female. Thus we have Venus, born of the Sea, and
accompanied by numerous fish representations. Fire worship was secondary
to the universally found sun worship. The sun is everywhere the male
principle, standing for the generative power in nature. At one time the
symbolism is broad, and refers to generative nature in general. At
another time it refers solely to the human generative organs. Thus, the
Greek God Hermes, the God of Fecundity in nature, is at times
represented in unmistakable priapic attitudes.
Still another symbolism was often used in India. This was the addition
of a number of members to the deity, possibly a number of arms or heads.
This was in order to express a number of qualities. Thus the deity was
both generator and destroyer, one face showing benevolence and kindness,
the other violence and rage. In many of the deities both male and
female principles were represented in one,--an Androgyne deity--which
was an ideal frequently attempted. The idea that these grotesque deities
were merely the expression of eccentricity or caprice on the part of
their originator is not to be entertained. Richard Payne Knight has
pointed out that they occur almost entirely on national coins and
emblems, and so were the expression of an established belief.
We shall refer first to the simpler symbols, those in which an object
was deified because of its form.
It is perhaps not remarkable that _upright objects_ should be selected
because of their form as the simplest expression of phallic ideas. The
simple upright for purposes of sex worship is universally found. An
upright conical stone is frequently mentioned. Many of the stone idols
or pillars, the worship of which was forbidden by the Bible, come under
this group. Likewise, the obelisk, found not only in Egypt, but in
modified forms in many other countries as well, embodies the same
phallic principle. The usual explanation of the obelisk is that it
represented the rays of the sun striking the earth; when we speak of sun
worship later, we shall see that this substantiates rather than refutes
the phallic interpretation. The mounds of religious significance, found
in many countries, were associated with sex worship. The Chinese pagodas
are probably of phallic origin. Indeed, there is evidence to show that
the spires of our Churches owe their existence to the uprights or
obelisks outside the Temples of former ages. A large volume has been
written by O'Brien to show that the Round Towers of Ireland (upright
towers of prehistoric times) were erected as phallic emblems. Higgins,
in the Anacalipsis, has amassed a great wealth of material with similar
purport, and he shows that such "temples" as that of Stonehenge and
others were also phallic. The stone idols of Mexico and Peru, the
ancient pillar stones of Brittany, and in fact all similar upright
objects, erected for religious purposes the world over, are placed in
this same category. We shall presently give a number of references to
show that the May-pole was associated with phallic worship and that it
originated at a very remote period.
We shall now quote from some of the authors who have contributed to our
knowledge of this form of symbolism, as thereby a clear idea of their
meaning may be set forth. These interpretations are not generally
advanced, and therefore we have added considerable corroborative
evidence which we have been able to obtain from independent sources.
In an Essay on the Assyrian "Grove" and other Emblems, Mr. John Newton
sums up the basis of this symbolism as follows: "As civilization
advanced, the gross symbols of creative power were cast aside, and
priestly ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in inventing a crowd of less
obvious emblems, which should represent the ancient ideas in a decorous
manner. The old belief was retained, but in a mysterious or sublimated
form. As symbols of the male, or active element in creation, the sun,
light, fire, a torch, the phallus or lingam, an erect serpent, a tall
straight tree, especially the palm or fir or pine, were adopted. Equally
useful for symbolism were a tall upright stone (menhir), a cone, a
pyramid, a thumb or finger pointed straight, a mask, a rod, a trident, a
narrow bottle or amphora, a bow, an arrow, a lance, a horse, a bull, a
lion, and many other animals conspicuous for masculine power. As symbols
of the female, the passive though fruitful element in creation, the
crescent moon, the earth, darkness, water, and its emblem, a triangle
with the apex downward, "the yoni"--the shallow vessel or cup for
pouring fluid into (cratera), a ring or oval, a lozenge, any narrow
cleft, either natural or artificial, an arch or doorway, were employed.
In the same category of symbols came a boat or ship, a female date palm
bearing fruit, a cow with her calf by her side, a fish, fruits having
many seeds, such as the pomegranate, a shell, (concha), a cavern, a
garden, a fountain, a bower, a rose, a fig, and other things of
suggestive form, etc.
"These two great classes of conventional symbols were often represented
_in conjunction_ with each other, and thus symbolized in the highest
degree the great source of life, ever originating, ever renewed.... A
similar emblem is the lingam standing in the centre of the yoni, the
adoration of which is to this day characteristic of the leading dogma of
Hindu religion. There is scarcely a temple in India which has not its
lingam, and in numerous instances this symbol is the only form under
which the god Siva is worshipped."
In _Ancient Sex Worship_ we read, "As the male genital organs were held
in early times to exemplify the actual male creative power, various
natural objects were seized upon to express the theistic idea and at the
same time point to those points of the human form. Hence, a similitude
is recognized in a pillar, a heap of stones, a tree between two rocks, a
club between two pine cones, a trident, a thyrsus tied around with two
ribbons with the end pendant, a thumb and two fingers. The caduceus
again the conspicuous part of the sacred Triad Ashur is symbolized by a
single stone placed upright,--the stump of a tree, a block, a tower, a
spire, minaret, pole, pine, poplar or pine tree."
Hargrave Jennings, the author of several books on some aspects of
religions of antiquity, among them one on phallicism, deals freely with
the phallic principles embodied in these religions. As do many other
writers, he identifies fire worship with sex worship, and the following
short paragraph shows his conception of their interrelationship, as well
as the significance of the upright of antiquity. In the Rosicrucians he
says: "Obelisks, spires, minarets, tall towers, upright stones,
(menhirs), and architectural perpendiculars of every description, and,
generally speaking, all erections conspicuous for height and slimness,
were representations of the Sworded or of the Pyramidal Fire. They
bespoke, wherever found and in whatever age, the idea of the First
Principle or the male generative emblem."
We might readily cite passages from the writings of a number of other
authors but the above paragraphs suffice to set forth the general
principle of this symbolism. As stated above, such interpretations have
not been generally advanced to explain such objects as sacred pillar
stones, obelisks, minarets, etc. It is readily seen how fully these
views are substantiated by observations from a number of independent
sources.
In a book of Travel[9] in India we are able from an independent source
to learn of the symbolism of that country. The traveller gives a
description of the caves of Elephanta, near Bombay. These are enormous
caves cut in the side of a mountain, for religious purposes to which
pilgrimages are made and where the usual festivities are held. The
worship of generative attributes is quite apparent. The numerous
sculptured female figures, as remarked by the traveller, are all
represented with greatly exaggerated breasts, a symbolism which is
frequent throughout oriental countries for expressing reproductive
attributes.
In an inner chamber is placed the symbol which is held in particular
veneration. Here is found an upright conical stone standing within a
circular one. The stone is sprinkled with water during the festival
season. The writer states that this stone, to the worshippers,
represents the male generative organ, and the worship of it is not
considered an impropriety. In this instance we feel that the symbolism
is very definite, and doubtless the stone pillars in the other temples
of India and elsewhere are of the same significance.
A clergyman in the Chinese Review of 1876, under the title _Phallic
Worship in China_, gives an account of the phallicism as he observed it
at that time. He states that the male sexual organ is symbolized by a
simple mound of earth and is so worshipped. Similarly, the female organ
is represented by a mound of different form and is worshipped as the
former. The writer states that at times these mounds are built in
conjunction. He states this worship is similar to that of Baal of
Chaldea, etc., and that probably all have a common origin. It appears to
be a fundamental part of the Chinese religion and the symbolism of the
Chinese pagoda expresses the same idea. He says that Kheen or Shang-te,
the Chinese deities of sex, are also worshipped in the form of serpents,
of which the dragon of the Chinese is a modification. This furnishes a
concrete instance in which the mound of earth is of phallic
significance, and substantiates an interpretation of serpent worship to
which we shall presently refer.
Hodder M. Westropp has given us an excellent account of phallic worship
and includes in his description the observations of a traveller in Japan
at as late periods as 1864 and 1869.
A temple near the ancient capital of Japan was visited by a traveller.
In this temple the main object of worship was a large upright, standing
alone, and the resemblance to the male generative organ was so striking
as to leave no doubt as to what it represented. This upright was
worshipped especially by women, who left votive offerings, among them
small phalli, elaborately wrought out of wood or other material. The
traveller remarked that the worship was most earnest and sincere.
The same traveller observed that in some of the public roads of Japan
are small hedged recesses where similar stone pillars are found. These
large pillars unquestionably represent the male organ. The writer has
observed priests in procession carrying similar huge phalli, painted in
color as well. This procession called forth no particular comment and so
was probably not unusual. It is stated that this is a part of the
ancient "Shinto" religion of Japan and China.
There are frequent references to certain of the gods of the Ancients
being represented in priapic attitudes, the phallus being the prominent
and most important attribute. Thus Hermes, in Greece, was placed at
cross-roads, with phallus prominent. This was comparable to the phallus
on Japanese highways. In the festivals of Bacchus high phalli were
carried, the male organ being represented about the size of the rest of
the body. The Egyptians carried a gilt phallus, 150 cubits high, at the
festivals of Osiris. In Syria, at the entrance of the temple at
Hieropolis, was placed a human figure with a phallus 120 cubits high. A
man mounted this upright twice a year and remained seven days, offering
prayers, etc.
In Peru in the Temple of the Sun an upright pillar has been described
covered with gold leaf, very similar to those existing elsewhere and to
which has been ascribed similar significance.
A number of writers have expressed the belief that the May-pole is an
emblem of ancient phallic worship. We know that May-day festivals are of
the most remote antiquity. We are indebted to R. P. Knight for a
description of what May-day was like about four centuries ago in
England. The festival started the evening before. Men and women went out
into the woods in search of a tree and brought it back to the village in
the early morning. The night was spent in sexual excesses comparable to
those of the Roman Bacchanalia. A procession was formed, garlands were
added to the May-pole, which was set up in the village square. The
Puritans referred to it as an idol, and they did not approve of the
festivities. Until comparatively recent years there was a May-pole in
one of the squares of London, and Samuel Pepys,[10] writing of his time,
speaks of seeing May-poles in the front yards of the prominent citizens
of Holland. A festival much the same as this was held in Ancient Rome
and also in India. The May-pole properly pierces a disc and thus
conforms with the lingam-yoni of India. We also know that the first of
May was a favorite time for all nature worship with the ancients. For a
number of interesting suggestions the reader is referred to R. P.
Knight, _Worship of Priapus_ and Hargrave Jennings, _Indian Religions_
(Page 66).
Tree worship is frequently mentioned in the religions of antiquity. We
are told that the mystic power of the mistletoe comes from the fact that
it grows on the oak, a once sacred tree. The pine of the North, the palm
and the fig tree of the South, were sacred trees at one time. John
Newton made a study of tree worship, especially the Ancient Grove
Worship of Assyria. He shows that the object of veneration was a male
date palm, which represented the Assyrian god Baal. Sex was worshipped
under this deity, and it is shown that the tree of the Assyrian grove
was a phallic symbol. Palm Sunday appears to be a relic of this worship.
In France, until comparatively recent times, there was a festival, "La
Fête des Pinnes," in which palms were carried in procession, and with
the palms were carried phalli of bread which had been blessed by the
priests.
Richard Payne Knight tells us that Pan was worshipped by the Shepherds
under the form of the tall fir, and Bacchus "by sticking up the rude
trunk of a tree." It is shown throughout these pages that sexual
attributes were worshipped under both these deities. In reference to
other symbols, the writer continues;[11] "The spires and pinnacles with
which our churches are decorated come from these ancient symbols; and
the weather cocks, with which they are surmounted, though now only
employed to show the direction of the wind, were originally emblems of
the sun; for the cock is the natural herald of the day, and therefore
sacred to the fountain of light. In the symbolical writings of the
Chinese the sun is still represented by a cock in the circle; and a
modern Parsee would suffer death rather than be guilty of the crime of
killing one. It appears on many ancient coins, with some symbol of the
passive productive power on the reverse; and in other instances it is
united with priapic and other emblems and devices, signifying other
attributes combined."
Dr. Thomas Inman has made a study to show how this phallic symbolism
found its way into ancient art, and even into some designs of modern
times. Thus, many formal designs are studied in which the upright plays
a part; likewise, the oval and the circle receive a similar explanation.
The architectural ornaments spoken of as eggs and anchors, eggs and
spear heads, the so-called honeysuckle ornament of antiquity, and the
origin of some church windows and ornaments, are all studied by this
writer, and his text is accompanied by illustrations. Hargrave Jennings
has also traced the origin of the symbols of Heraldry, the emblems of
Royalty and of some church orders with similar explanations.
We may add that the crux ansata of the Egyptians, the oval standing upon
the upright, or letter Tau, may be shown to be a sex symbol, the union
of the oval with the upright being of symbolic significance. The crux
ansata is found in the hand of most of the Egyptian deities. It is found
in the Assyrian temples and throughout the temples of India as well.
Prehistoric monuments of Ireland have the same design. Priests are
portrayed in adoration of the crux ansata before phallic monuments. This
symbol, from which our modern cross is doubtless derived, originated
with the religions of antiquity. Much additional evidence could readily
be given to illustrate this prehistoric origin. The present Christian
symbol affords another example of the adoption by a new religion of the
symbols of the old.
Some reflection will show that the origin of many church customs and
symbols, and indeed of a great number of obscure customs and usages, may
quite properly be traced to the religions and practices of primitive
races. Lafcadio Hearn has insisted upon this in the interpretation of
the art and customs of the Japanese. He says,[12] "Art in Japan is so
intimately associated with religion that any attempt to study it without
extensive knowledge of the beliefs which it reflects were mere waste of
time. By art I do not mean painting and sculpture but every kind of
decoration, and most kinds of pictorial representation--the image of a
boy's kite or a girl's battledore not less than the design upon a
lacquered casquet or enameled vase,--the figure upon a work-man's trowel
not less than the pattern of the girdle of a princess,--the shape of the
paper doll or wooden rattle bought for a baby, not less than the forms
of those colossal Ni-O, who guard the gateways of the Buddha's
temples," etc.
In the above pages, we have given an account of the views of a number of
writers upon certain forms and symbols, and at the same time we have
offered considerable evidence in substantiation from independent
sources. These origins, found associated especially in art and religious
usages, have not been generally understood. Yet when we reflect upon the
fact that many religious customs are of great antiquity; that when once
a certain form or custom becomes established, it is well nigh
ineffaceable, although subject to great change or disguise throughout
the centuries; when we reflect upon these conditions, and realize the
fact that sex worship with its accompanying symbolism is found
throughout primitive religions, we may then more readily appreciate the
entire significance of the above interpretations.
It must, of course, be borne in mind that no one now gives these
interpretations to spires, minarets, and to the various monumental
symbols of which we have been speaking. We are here dealing exclusively
with pre-historic origins, not with present day meanings. The antiquity
of certain symbols is truly remarkable. The star and crescent, for
example, a well known conventionalized symbol, is found on Assyrian
cylinders, doubtless devised many centuries before Christ.
The full force and meaning of these various symbols may be very readily
grasped by reference to a number of designs, ancient coins, bas-reliefs,
monuments, etc., which have been reproduced in plates and drawings by
C. W. King, Thomas Inman, R. P. Knight and others. To these we refer the
reader.
* * * * *
A number of _plant and flower symbols_ have a different significance
from that which is generally given to them. We are all quite familiar
with the grape vine of Bacchus and the association of that deity with
grapes. According to R. P. Knight, this too, symbolizes a sexual
attribute. Speaking of Bacchus, he writes, "The vine was a favorite
symbol of the deity, which seems to have been generally employed to
signify the generative or preserving attribute; intoxicating liquors
were stimulative, and therefore held to be aphrodisiac. The vase is
often employed in its stead to express the same idea and is often
accompanied by the same accessory symbol."
We have often seen in sculptures and paintings, heads of barley
associated with the God of the Harvest. This symbol would appear to be
self explanatory; yet we are told by more than one writer that it
contains another symbolic meaning as well. H. M. Westropp, speaking of
this says, "The kites or female organ, as the symbol of the passive or
productive power of nature, generally occurs on ancient Roman Monuments
as the Concha Veneris, a fig, barley corn, and the letter Delta." We are
told that the grain of barley, because of its form, was a symbol of the
vulva.
A great many other female symbols might be mentioned. The pomegranate is
constantly seen in the hands of Proserpine. The fir-cone is carried by
the Assyrian Baal, and the fig in numerous processions has a similar
significance. When we add to these the various forms of tree worship
described above, we see to what an extent the products of nature were
used as symbols in the worship of sex.
Among flower symbols there is one which recurs constantly throughout the
art and mythology of India, Egypt, China, and many other Eastern
countries. This is the lotus, of which the Easter lily is the modern
representative. The lotus appears in a number of forms in the records of
antiquity. We have symbolic pictures of the lion carrying the lotus in
its mouth, doubtless a male and female symbol. The deities of India are
depicted standing on the lotus, or are spoken of as being "born of the
Lotus." "The Chinese,"[13] says the author of Rites and Ceremonies,
"worship a Goddess whom they call Puzza, and of whom their priests give
the following account;--they say that 'three nymphs came down from
heaven to wash themselves in the river, but scarce had they gotten in
the water before the herb lotus appeared on one of their garments, with
its coral fruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence it could
proceed; and the nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist the
temptation of indulging herself in tasting it. But by thus eating some
of it she became pregnant, and was delivered of a boy, whom she brought
up, and then returned to heaven. He afterwards became a great man, a
conqueror and legislator, and the nymph was afterwards worshipped under
the name of Puzza.'" Puzza corresponds to the Indian Buddha.
In Egyptian architecture the lotus is a fundamental form, and indeed it
is said to be the main motive of the architecture of that civilization.
The capitals of the column are modelled after one form or other of this
plant. That of the Doric column is the seed vessel pressed flat. Earlier
capitals are simple copies of the bell or seed vessel. The columns
consisted of stalks of the plant grouped together. In other cases the
leaves are used as ornaments. These orders were copied by the Greeks,
and subsequently by western countries.
We may ask ourselves, what is the meaning of this mystic lotus which was
held in sufficient veneration to be incorporated in all the temples of
religion, as well as in myths of the deity. This, too, refers to the
deification of sex. O'Brien, in the _Round Towers of Ireland_ states:
"The lotus was the most sacred plant of the Ancients, and typified the
two principles of the earth fecundation,--the germ standing for the
lingam; the filaments and petals for the yoni."
R. P. Knight states, "We find it (the lotus) employed in every part of
the Northern Hemisphere where symbolical worship does or ever did
prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, Japanese or Indians, are all
placed upon it and it is still sacred in Tibet and China. The upper part
of the base of the lingam also consists of the flower of it blended with
the most distinctive characteristics of the female sex; in which that of
the male is placed, in order to complete this mystic symbol of the
ancient religion of the Brahmans; who, in their sacred writings, speak
of Brahma sitting upon his lotus throne."
Alexander Wilder,[14] states that the term "Nymphe" and its derivations
were used to designate young women, brides, the marriage chamber, the
lotus flower, oracular temples and the labiae minores of the human
female.
The lotus then, which is found throughout antiquity, in art as well as
in religion, was a sexual symbol, representing to the ancients the
combination of male and female sexual organs. It is another expression
of the sex worship of that period.
Our present conventional symbols of art are very easily traced to
ancient symbols of religion. We may expect these to be phallic in their
meaning, to just the extent that phallicism was fundamental in the
religions where these symbols originated. From the designs of some of
the ornamental friezes of Nineveh, we find these principles illustrated.
On those bas-reliefs is found the earliest form of art, really the dawn
of art upon early civilization. Here is the beginning of certain designs
which were destined to be carried to the later civilizations of Greece,
Rome and probably of Egypt. These friezes show the pine cone alternating
with a modified form of the lotus; the significance of which symbols we
have explained. There are also shown animal representations before the
sacred tree or grove, a phallic symbol. From these forms and others were
designed a number of conventional symbols which were used throughout a
much later civilization. (See _Nineveh and Its Remains_. A. Layard.)
* * * * *
One sees in the religions of antiquity, especially those of India,
Assyria, Greece and Egypt, a great number of _sacred animal
representations_. The Bull was sacred to Osiris in Egypt, and one
special animal was attended with all the pomp of a god. At one time in
Assyria the god was always associated with a sacred animal, often the
goat, which was supposed to possess the qualities for which the god was
worshipped. Out of this developed the ideal animal creations, of which
the animal body and the human head and the winged bulls of Nineveh are
examples. The mystic centaurs and satyrs originated from this source. At
a later time the whole was humanized, merely the horns, ears or hoofs
remaining as relics of the animal form.
We learn that in these religions the animal was not merely worshipped as
such. It was a certain quality which was deified. The Assyrian goat
attendant upon the deity, was in some bas-reliefs, not only represented
in priapic attitudes, but a female sexual symbol was so placed as to
signify sexual union. We shall show later that certain male and female
symbolic animals were so placed on coins as to symbolically indicate
sexual union.
An animal symbol which has probably been of universal use is that of the
snake or serpent. Serpent worship has been described in almost every
country of which we have records or legends. In Egypt, we find the
serpent on the headdress of many of the gods. In Africa the snake is
still sacred with many tribes. The worship of the hooded snake was
probably carried from India to Egypt. The dragon on the flag and
porcelain of China is also a serpent symbol. In Central America were
found enormous stone serpents carved in various forms. In Scandinavia
divine honors were paid to serpents, and the druids of Britain carried
on a similar worship.
Serpent worship has been shown by many writers to be a form of sex
worship. It is often phallic, and we are told by Hargrave Jennings that
the serpent possibly was added to the male and female symbols to
represent desire. Thus, the Hindu women carried the lingam in procession
between two serpents; and in the procession of Bacchus the Greeks
carried in a casket the phallus, the egg, and a serpent.
The Greeks also had a composite or ideal figure. Rays were added to the
head of a serpent thereby bringing it into relation with the sun god
Apollo; or the crest or comb of a cock was added with similar meaning.
Many reasons have been offered to explain why the serpent has been used
to represent the male generative attribute. Some have called attention
to its tenacity of life; others have spoken of its supposed mystic power
of regeneration by casting its skin. Again, it seems probable that the
form is of symbolic significance. However this may be, we find that this
universal serpent worship of primitive man was a form of phallicism so
prevalent in former times.
Many other animals may be mentioned. The sacred bull, so frequently met
with in Egypt, Assyria and Greece, was a form under which Bacchus was
worshipped. R. P. Knight speaks as follows: "The mystic Bacchus, or
generative power, was represented under this form, not only upon coins
but upon the temples of the Greeks; sometimes simply as a bull; at other
times as a human face; and at others entirely human except the horns and
ears."
We would probably be in error to interpret all these animal symbols as
exclusively phallic although many were definitely so. Thus, while
Hermes was a priapic deity, he was also a deity of the fields and the
harvests; so the bull may have been chosen for its strength as well as
its sexual attributes.
There are many animals which were symbolic of the female generative
power. The cow is frequently so employed. The Hindus have the image of a
cow in nearly every temple, the deity corresponding to the Grecian
Venus. In the temple of Philae in Egypt, Isis is represented with the
horns and ears of a cow joined to a beautiful woman. The cow is still
sacred in many parts of Africa. The fish symbol was a very frequent
representative of woman, the goddess of the Phoenicians being
represented by the head and body of a woman terminating below in a fish.
The head of Proserpine is frequently surrounded by dolphins. Indeed, the
female principle is regularly shown by some representative of water;
fire and water respectively being regarded as male and female
principles.
Male and female attributes are often combined on coins for purposes of
sexual symbolism. R. P. Knight explains these symbols as follows: "It
appears therefore that the asterisk, bull, or minotaur, in the centre of
a square or labyrinth equally mean the same as the Indian lingam,--that
is the male personification of the productive attribute placed in the
female, or heat acting upon humidity. Sometimes the bull is placed
between two dolphins, and sometimes upon a dolphin or another fish; and
in other instances the goat or the ram occupy the same situation. Which
are all different modes of expressing different modifications of the
same meaning in symbolical or mystical writings. The female
personifications frequently occupy the same place; in which case the
male personification is always upon the reverse of the coin, of which
numerous instances occur in those of Syracuse, Naples, Tarentum, and
other cities." By the asterisk above mentioned the writer refers to a
circle surrounded by rays, a sun symbol of male significance. The square
or labyrinth is the lozenge shaped symbol or yoni of India.
The above interpretations throw much light on the obscurity of the
animal worship of antiquity. This explains the partly humanized types,
and the final appearance of a human deity with only animal horns
remaining, as representing the form under which the deity was once
worshipped. The satyrs, centaurs, and other animal forms are all part of
these same representations and are similarly explained.
* * * * *
Our main object in giving the above account of these various symbols has
been to illustrate the wide prevalence of sex worship among primitive
races. Another end as well has been served; our study gives us a certain
insight into the type of mind which evolves symbolism, and so a few
remarks on the use of symbolism as here illustrated are not
inappropriate.
We feel that while this symbolism may indicate a high degree of
mechanical skill in execution, it does not follow that it expresses
either deep or complicated intellectual processes. In fact, we are
inclined to regard such symbolism as the indication of a comparatively
simple intellect. It appears obscure and involved to us, because we do
not understand the symbols. From those which we do understand, the
meaning is graphically but simply expressed.
On coins, bas-reliefs and monuments, we find the majority of these
simple emblems. If the desire is to express the union of male and female
principles, a male symbolic animal is simply placed upon the
corresponding female symbol. Thus, a goat or bull may be placed upon the
back of a dolphin or other fish. This is a graphic presentation but
certainly one of a most simple nature. Sometimes the male symbol is on
one side of the coin and then the female is always on the reverse.
Unions are made which do not occur in nature, and the representation is
not a subtle one.
In India, if there was a desire to express a number of attributes of the
deity, another head or face is added or additional arms are added to
hold up additional symbols. In Greece, when the desire was to express
the androgyne qualities of the deity, a beard was added to the female
face, or one-half of the statuette represented the male form, the other
the female. Such representations do not indicate great ingenuity,
however skillfully they may be executed.
CHAPTER III
SUN MYTHS, MYSTERIES AND DECADENT SEX WORSHIP
As is generally known, traces of sun worship are found in almost every
country of which we have a record. In Egypt Ra was the supreme sun god
where there was very elaborate worship conducted in his honor. In
Greece, Apollo was attended with similar festivities. In the Norse
mythology, many of the myths deal with the worship of the sun in one
form or another. In England, Stonehenge and the entire system of the
Druids had to do with solar worship. In Central America and Peru,
temples to the sun were of amazing splendor, furnished as they were with
wonderful displays of gold and silver. The North American Indians have
many legends relating to sun worship and sacrifices to the sun, and
China and Japan give numerous instances of the same religion. Sun
worship is so readily shown to be fundamental with primitive races that
we will not discuss it in detail at this time, but rather will give the
conclusions of certain writers who have explained its meaning.
At the present day, the sun is regularly regarded as a male being, the
earth a female. We speak of Mother Earth, etc.; in former times, the
ancients depicted the maternal characteristics of the earth in a much
more material way. Likewise the sun was a male deity, being often the
war god, vigorous and all powerful. We readily see to what an extent the
male sun god was portrayed in mythology as a human being. In many myths,
the god dies during the Winter, reappears in the Spring, is lamented in
the Fall, etc., all in keeping with the changes in the activity of the
sun during the different seasons.
The moon was associated with the female deity of the ancients. Isis is
accompanied by the moon on most coins and emblems. Venus has the same
symbols. Indeed, the star and crescent of our modern times, of the
Turkish flag and elsewhere, are in reality the sun and crescent of
antiquity, male and female symbols in conjunction. Lunar ornaments of
prehistoric times have been found throughout England and Ireland, and
doubtless explain the superstitions about the moon in those countries.
The same prehistoric ornaments are found in Italy. In the legends of the
North American Indians, Moon is Sun's wife.
The full extent of these beliefs is pointed out by Mr. John Newton in
_Assyrian Grove Worship_. Here we see that the ancient Hindus gave a
much more literal relationship between the sun and earth than we are
accustomed to express in modern times. He states, "This representative
of the union of the sexes typifies the divine Sakti, or productive
energy, in union with the pro-creative or generative power as seen
throughout nature. The earth was the primitive pudendum or yoni which
is fecundated by the solar heat, the sun, the primitive linga, to whose
vivifying rays man and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, owe
their being and continued existence."
It is not possible to discuss sun worship at any length without at the
same time discussing phallicism and serpent worship. Hargrave Jennings,
who has made careful study of these worships, points out their general
identity in the following paragraph. He states: "The three most
celebrated emblems carried in the Greek mysteries were the phallus, the
egg, and the serpent; or otherwise the phallus, the yoni or umbilicus,
and the serpent. The first in each case is the emblem of the sun or of
fire, as the male or active generative power. The second denotes the
passive nature or female principle or the emblem of water. The third
symbol indicates the destroyer, the reformer or the renewer, (the uniter
of the two) and thus the preserver or perpetuator eternally renewing
itself. The universality of serpentine worship (or Phallic adoration) is
attested by emblematic sculptures or architecture all the world over."
The author of the _Round Towers of Ireland_ in discussing the symbols of
sun worship, serpent worship and phallicism, found on the same tablet,
practically reiterates these statements. He says: "I have before me the
sameness of design which belonged indifferently to solar worship and to
phallic. I shall, ere long, prove that the same characteristic extends
equally to ophiolatreia; and if they all three be identical, as it thus
necessarily follows, where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting
the sun, phallus and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, embossed
upon the same table and grouped under the same architrave?"
By a number of references, we could readily show the identity of all
these worships. The preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, the
conclusions of those writers who have made such religions their special
study. We shall not exemplify this further, but will now point out the
general relationship of sun worship to the religious festivals and
mythology of the Ancients. This relationship becomes important when it
is appreciated that the sun worship expressed in the mysteries is also a
part of phallicism. On some of these festive occasions the phallus was
carried in the front of the procession and at other times the egg, the
phallus and the serpent were carried in the secret casket.
* * * * *
The Ancients expressed their religious beliefs in a dramatic way on a
number of occasions throughout the year. The festivities were held in
the Spring, Autumn, or Winter. These were to commemorate the activities
of the sun, his renewed activity in the Spring calling forth rejoicing
and his decline in the Fall being the cause of sorrow and lamentation.
As well as the festivities, there were the various mysteries, such as
the Eleusinia, the Dionysia and the Bacchanalia. These were conducted by
the priests who moulded religious beliefs and guarded their secrets. The
mysteries were of the utmost importance and the most sacred of
religious conceptions were here dramatized.
Mythology also gave expression to the religious ideas of the time and we
find that the most important myths, dramatically produced at the
religious festivals, were sun myths.
The annual festivities and mysteries will be discussed together because
both were intended to dramatize the same beliefs. Both were under
priestly control and so were national institutions. The festivals were
for the common people but the mysteries were fully understood only to
the initiated.
While no very clear account of the mysteries has been given, a certain
theme seems to run through them all, and this is found in the myths as
well. A drama is enacted, in which the god is lost, is lamented, and is
found or returns amid great rejoicing.[15] This was enacted in Egypt
where the mourning was for Osiris; and in Greece for Adonis, and later
for Bacchus. All these are, of course, sun gods, and the whole
dramatization or myth is in keeping with the activities of the sun.
On these occasions, the main object seems to have been to restore the
lost god, or to insure his reappearance. The women took the leading part
and mourned for Osiris, Adonis or Bacchus. They wandered about the
country at night in the most frenzied fashion, avoided all men and
sought the god. At times, during the winter festival, the quest would be
fruitless. In the Spring, when they indulged themselves in all sorts of
orgies and extravagances, Adonis was found.
An underlying motive appears to have been to enact a drama in which the
deity was supposed to exercise his procreative function by sexual union
with the women. This was an ideal which they wished to express
dramatically. In order to realize this ideal obstacles were introduced
that they might be overcome; in the old myth, Adonis was emasculated
under a pine tree, and in Egypt Osiris was similarly mutilated, his sex
organs being lost. But at the festivals it was portrayed that Adonis was
found, and in the myth, Osiris was restored to Isis in the form of
Horus (the morning sun). In a number of myths, the god is said to have
visited the earth to cohabitate with the women, an occurrence which was
doubtless desired, in order that the deistic attributes might be
continued in the race. Thus, judging from what we have been able to
learn of this subject, the worship expressed in the mysteries revolved
about sexual union, the desire being to dramatize the continued activity
of deistic qualities.
This character of many of the festivals and mysteries is very evident.
In the Eleusinian mysteries the rape of Persephone by Pluto, the winter
god, is portrayed. The mother, Demeter, mourns for her daughter. Her
mourning is dramatically carried out by a large procession, and this
enactment requires several days. Finally Persephone is restored. The
earlier part of the festival was for dramatic interest, and the real
object was the union of Persephone with Bacchus. "The union of
Persephone with Bacchus, _i. e._, with the sun god, whose work is to
promote fruitfulness, is an idea special to the mysteries and means the
union of humanity with the godhead, the consummation aimed at in the
mystic rites. Hence, in all probability the central teaching of the
mysteries was Personal Immortality, analogue of the return of the bloom
to plants in Spring."[16]
The mysteries of Samothrace were probably simpler. Here the phallus was
carried in procession as the emblem of Hermes. In the Dionysian
mysteries which were held in mid-winter, the quest of the women was
unsuccessful and the festival was repeated in the Spring. The Roman
mysteries of Bacchus were of much later development, and consequently
became very debased. Men as well as women eventually came to take part
in the ceremony, and the whole affair degenerated into the grossest of
sexual excesses and perversions.
We have stated what appears to us to have been the underlying motives of
the religious festivals and mysteries; namely, the enactment of a drama
in which the reproductive qualities of the deity were portrayed. The
phallus was carried in procession for this purpose and the women
dramatized the motive as searching for the god. Our account can be
regarded as little more than an outline, but it is sufficient for our
present purposes. It indicates that the mysteries give an expression of
phallic worship, just as do the various monuments of art and religion to
which we have referred. It may also be said that this same worship is
represented in what may be termed early literature, for much of the
early mythology deals with the same subject. The study of origins in
mythology, however, cannot be dealt with adequately at present.
* * * * *
In order to deal fully with this subject it is necessary to discuss
another important phase in the worship of sex. We refer to the
_decadence_ or _degeneracy of this worship_, which occurred after people
had outgrown these simple religious conceptions. The decadence of sex
worship is observed during the early centuries of Christianity and
traces of it are seen throughout the middle ages. In the decadence of
sex worship we are able to observe how an important motive in the race
finds expression in the thoughts and conduct of people after the
underlying promptings which originated it have long since ceased to be
dynamic. This decadent stage of a motive is therefore of considerable
importance; we shall return to its interpretation in the discussion of
analogies of development between motives in the individual and motives
in the race.
In India,[17] with the Hindus, there still exists an elaborate form of
sex worship. The Phallus is carried on festive occasions, it still
occupies the most sacred spot in the sanctuary, dancing girls are
devoted to the service of the temple, and many other customs associated
with phallic rites are carried on much as they were centuries ago in the
Ancient World. It is said that there are thirty million phalli in India
and that a phallus is found in nearly every Hindu household.
Whether phallic worship as now practiced by the Hindus has the same
meaning or value that it had when at its height in ancient civilization
is difficult to say; there are evidences to show that this worship in
India is now carried out somewhat as a matter of form and custom only,
and that its significance is not thoroughly appreciated except possibly
by the few. If this observation is correct, the decadent state of sex
worship which was so prevalent in Western Europe during the early
centuries of Christianity and throughout the middle ages, may be
developing in India as well.
Whatever may be the present condition in India regarding this worship,
we are left in no uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship during
its decadent period in Europe. It is not necessary here to dwell upon
the licentiousness and extravagances of conduct which were manifest at
this time, as a general outline will suffice for present purposes.
We have observed that the mysteries in which phallic principles were
taught eventually became degraded in both Greece and Rome. When these
mysteries originated, they embodied serious religious conceptions,
respected by all; they were the expression of racial feelings, and
however out of accord with present day sentiments they may have been,
they can in no way be considered immoral. This cannot be said of the
mysteries of a subsequent period. Every sort of perversion and practice
was indulged in. They were finally forbidden by the State, but were
carried on secretly for some time longer. With the coming of
Christianity they were very bitterly opposed, and finally as national
institutions, they ceased to exist.
Later we shall indicate in more detail why the worship of sex was
discarded. It may be stated here that as the development of the race
continued these simple conceptions of a deity failed to express all
religious desires; primitive phallic principles lost their dynamic
value, and longings and desires, the result of higher mental
development, found expression in new religious usages.
It has just been stated that the mysteries ceased to exist as national
institutions. This is true, but while they were discarded by the great
mass of the people, certain elements of the race clung to these
primitive beliefs and practices for years. When the mysteries were
officially forbidden they were carried on secretly in a somewhat altered
form. Secret societies were formed, or some of the Eastern Mystic Cults
were made use of in order to carry out their teachings. These secret
societies took over many of the principles of phallicism such as were
taught in the mysteries, and so, side by side with the Christian
religion, the earlier beliefs continued.
The Gnostics[18] are an example of one of these societies. They existed
in early Christian times and the society was probably formed long before
the advent of Christianity. It is difficult to learn a great deal about
the Gnostics, but some of their beliefs are known. Gnostic symbols
consisted for a great part of phallic emblems, it having been shown that
their gems and secret talismans were of phallic significance. The
Gnostics also gave evidences of reverting to a more primitive
civilization in other than religious spheres. In their social
organization they advocated communal marriage, wives being held in
common. This type of social organization is quite general in primitive
tribes. With the Gnostics we see a reversion to a more primitive form of
religious and social life.
* * * * *
The Rosicrucians[19] of the middle ages are rather better known,
although this order also is very obscure. The Rosicrucians as well as
the Gnostics had phallic emblems. They worshipped in a form very similar
to that under which Priapus was worshipped. Moreover, as was the case
with a number of these secret societies, they introduced perverse sexual
practices. They are said not only to have countenanced homosexuality,
but to have made it one of the principles of their belief. At the same
time, they scorned all association with women. Out of this belief they
built up a philosophy in which the fire worship of antiquity played a
part, and with which alchemy was associated.
In the practice of homosexuality[20] and in the development of a
philosophy in which women played no part, are seen sentiments quite
similar to those which existed in the later days of Greece. At this time
in Greece, patriarchy had driven out the last vestiges of matriarchy,
female deities had lost their followers to a great extent, and the
devotion was paid to male gods and heroes. This change seems to have
produced a certain contempt for women. A number of writers have pointed
out this reaction, and so probably in the philosophy of the Rosicrucians
and in their practices, are seen an expression of these same sentiments.
Similar sentiments were expressed by other secret organizations and in
some philosophies of a latter period. In this respect, therefore, the
Rosicrucians were probably reverting to beliefs and feelings of an
earlier date.
The Knights Templar were another secret society of the middle ages of a
somewhat later time. The same can be said of them as of the former
societies. They carried on the old phallic and mystic rites in modified
form, and set up their beliefs in opposition to Christianity. When the
Knights Templar were initiated they were made to deny Christ and the
Virgin Mary, to spit on the cross, etc. They also were charged with
homosexuality, and with them as with the Rosicrucians and the Gnostics,
homosexuality was a part of their teachings. They likewise advocated
communal marriage. At their secret meetings and initiations many vices
existed; idols were worshipped, phallic features were introduced, and
the entire ceremony was similar to the mysteries of antiquity.
Should there be any doubt regarding the association of these secret
societies of the middle ages with the mysteries of the Ancients, this
doubt is at once dispelled when we read of the practices of a remarkable
secret organization described as the "Witches' Sabbath." Any one who
has read a description of the Ancient Mysteries and of the initiation
ceremonies of primitive tribes cannot but see in the Witches' Sabbath a
remarkable similarity to the earlier mysteries. R. P. Knight[21] has
given us a description of the Witches' Sabbath and he quotes freely from
a French writer[22] who has given full details. We shall use such parts
of these descriptions as are necessary to illustrate these practices
during the middle ages.
The Witches' Sabbath is described by these writers as it existed during
the latter part of the fourteenth century. It was held on four occasions
during the year, being a festival corresponding to the Priapiea and
Bacchanalia of former days. Women played the leading part just as in the
Bacchanalia. There were minor and major festivals corresponding to the
lesser and greater Eleusinia. Pilgrimages were made at this time, which
"resembled a fair of merchants mingled together, furious in transports,
arriving from all parts--a meeting and a mingling of a hundred thousand
subjects, sudden and transitory, novel, it is true, but of a frightful
novelty which offends the eye and sickens you."
A symbolic representation of Satan presided at the festivals, and he
assumed a number of disguises, in all of which we recognize Priapus in
degenerated form. He very often appeared in the disguise of a goat; in
fact the meeting place is called "Goat's Heath."
The association of the goat with priapic ceremonies has already been
mentioned. At times the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite location
for Hermes, as stated elsewhere.
Satan assumed a number of forms on these occasions other than that of
the bearded goat. He was at times a serpent, or again an ox of brass. He
was also represented as the trunk of a tree, sometimes as the oak.
Priapus is readily recognized in all these various disguises.
On these festive occasions we see remnants of the fire worship of
primitive tribes. Satan often carried fire in some form or other and
the rite of purification by fire, a residual of the earlier need-fire
rites, was enacted. Particular significance was attached to the
generative organs, and it is needless to say that all kinds of sexual
excesses ensued. Satan was held to be the father and protector of all.
Some of the women referred to the Witches' Sabbath as an earthly
paradise and they said that the festival had all the features of a
wedding celebration.
A number of absurd dances and other burlesques were introduced. In these
one sees the burlesques and dances of the earlier mysteries and of the
still more primitive initiation ceremonies of tribes in various
countries. The dance was often held around a stone,--the significance of
which has already been explained.
If in the above account of these mystic ceremonies in the middle ages a
detailed enumeration of all forms of sexual depravities has not been
given, it is not because they did not exist. Our main object has been to
show that sex worship as practiced during the middle ages, was an
expression of the decadence of a racial motive. No odium was formerly
connected with this motive, but when an attempt was made to associate
these primitive feelings and beliefs with a civilization which had
outgrown such conceptions, many undesirable features were in evidence.
Should further proof of the association of the Gnostics, the
Rosicrucians, the Templars, etc., with the ancient priapic rites be
necessary, this proof is found in numerous talismans, amulets, sculpture
on earthen and glassware, which were associated with these societies.
These amulets are all plainly phallic in design; R. P. Knight shows a
number of vases, lamps, etc., on which phallic symbols are found. These
articles were probably used at the secret rites.
Moreover, we find that many of these small phalli were worn for personal
decoration; and here we come to a still lower decadence in sex
worship,--the period of superstition. A phallus was worn as a charm,
somewhat as a fetish to ward off disease. Such charms were supposed to
bring good luck and prosperity to the owner and they were used
particularly as a charm against barrenness in women. A sign which could
be made by the hand, the phallic hand, was used as a protection against
the evil eye. Ancient representations of Priapus have been found with
the hand in this attitude. As further evidence to show the total
degeneracy of these beliefs, it may be said that the phallic hand was
adopted as a symbol of prostitution.
In this we see the worship of sex degenerated to its lowest form, _i. e._,
a superstition to be followed by the lower classes and the ignorant. The
phallus which once had been attended with all ceremony had become a mere
charm.
The conclusions which R. P. Knight reaches in relation to these decadent
beliefs are worthy of remark. He states:[23] "We have thus seen in how
many various forms the old phallic, or priapic worship presented itself
in the middle ages, and how pertinaciously it held its ground through
all the changes and development of society, until at length we find all
the circumstances of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as the
mediaeval additions combined in that great and extensive
superstition,--witchcraft. At all times the initiated were believed to
have obtained thereby powers which were not possessed by the
uninitiated, and they only were supposed to know about the form of
invocation of the deities who were the objects of this worship, which
deities the Christian teachers invariably transformed into devils. The
vows which people of antiquity addressed to Priapus, those of the middle
ages addressed to Satan. The Witches' Sabbath was simply the last form
which the Priapeia and Libernalia assumed in Western Europe, and in its
various decadences all the incidents of those great and licentious
orgies of the Romans were reproduced." It is little wonder that the
persecution of witches by the Christians long survived the middle ages.
Hargrave Jennings[24] has referred to phallic principles in a number of
the early chivalric societies of England. He states that the Knights of
the Round Table of King Arthur had phallic emblems and other features
similar to those of the Rosicrucians. The same author submits
considerable evidence to indicate that the Order of the Garter is of
much greater antiquity than is generally believed and that phallic
principles were associated with it. A similar contention was made
regarding the symbolism associated with the Holy Grail, a sacred vessel
apparently connected with primitive rites at a time far antedating
Christianity. Associated with the old Churches in Ireland similar
phallic emblems have been found, as well as in Europe. These emblems
were used as charms by the primitive people.
We stated above that the early deities of primitive tribes were regarded
as demons during the Christian period. In Teutonic beliefs phallic
deities were developed quite comparable to those of Greece and Rome.
These Teutonic deities came to be regarded as hobgoblins during the
middle ages. They were supposed to be found in lonely places and in
forests, and to emerge at times in order to indulge in all sorts of
sexual excesses, much as the fauns and satyrs of antiquity. The English
had a similar hobgoblin in Robin Goodfellow. This fictitious character
is represented in priapic attitudes in a number of illustrations of old
English ballads. He was doubtless Priapus of antiquity transformed into
a goblin.
Why should superstitions of this kind live century after century?
Frazer[25] has given us the answer: "Superstitions survive because while
they shock the views of the enlightened members of the community, they
are still in harmony with the thoughts and feelings of others, who,
though they are drilled by their betters into an appearance of
civilization, remain barbarians or savages at heart ... I have been led
into making these remarks by the wish to explain why it is that
superstitions of all sorts, political, moral and religious, survive
among people who have the opportunity of knowing better. The reason is
that the better ideas, which are constantly forming in the upper stratum
have not filtered through from the highest to the lowest minds. Such a
filtration is generally slow, and by the time the new emotions have
penetrated to the bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are often
obsolete and superseded by others at the top."
CHAPTER IV
INTERPRETATIONS
Having followed the worship of sex through its various phases, it is now
desirable to offer such interpretations of its meaning as the facts
appear to warrant. What was the significance of this elaborate ritual;
why did it develop, and how is it to be interpreted from a biological
standpoint in mental evolution. The history of the development of this
ritual may be of considerable interest in itself but we wish now to
consider the subject from the biological rather than the historical
standpoint. It remains to be shown what ends these beliefs serve in the
evolution of the primitive mind, or at least what they represent, and
what vestiges of them remain in our thoughts and feelings of today. Only
from this standpoint can the study of primitive motives be of value to
the Psychologist and the Psychiatrist.
In order to answer the above questions, it is desirable to refer to a
still more primitive form of religious belief, since our understanding
of this earlier religion offers a key to the understanding of sex
worship. We refer to the various forms of nature worship found in
primitive tribes. These nature rites consist of rain making ceremonies,
sun dances, and numerous other procedures which are carried out by
primitive people because of their supposed service in increasing the
products of the earth. Fortunately these rites are quite clearly
understood. It has been shown by many investigators that they are
enacted to increase the food supply. They are actuated by the desire on
the part of primitive people to meet nutritive demands.
Now this knowledge enables us to understand phallic ceremonies. A very
distinct parallelism is seen between the nature worship rites and
phallic rites. We feel that it is not difficult to show that while the
earlier rites were in accord with nutritive demands, phallic ceremonies
were an expression of the desire for human reproduction. We shall now
digress somewhat in order to discuss nature rites in some detail, as
thereby the phallic rites are very readily explained.
Among many of the Indian tribes of North America, the tribes of Central
Africa, the primitive races of Australia, the lower hill tribes of
India, and others, we find religious ceremonies all of which are carried
out in much the same way and with the same object in view. We are all
familiar with the rain making ceremonies of the North American Indians;
we find frequent reference in literature to the various Spring festivals
of the Egyptians at which grain is grown, etc., and in which vegetative
nature is deified. A great many of the nations of antiquity had similar
rites to increase the produce of the earth.
When the meaning of this general type of ceremony is understood, it is
found that it has the same significance throughout. As stated above,
these ceremonies are enacted to increase the food supply, either
directly or indirectly. If it is a dry and arid locality, as is the case
with our Western Indians, a rain making rite is performed. This is a
religious procedure in which various processes of magic are utilized.
This explains the importance of the thunder god as a deity, so clearly
illustrated by Miss J. Harrison. The thunder rites are to increase the
rain fall, and the magic in such procedures is imitative; that is, a
sound similar to thunder is produced, as primitive man believes thunder
to cause the rainfall since it often precedes it. Miss Harrison[26] has
given a picture of an early thunder god of the Chinese,--a deity
surrounded by many objects, which he strikes to cause thunder. Rattles
made of gourds are used for the same purpose with some tribes; or down,
etc., may be used in imitation of clouds, and water spurted about to
represent rain. In many instances a secret ceremonial object is used,--a
bull roarer in the rain making ceremonies. This is an object which, when
whirled about, makes a sound in imitation of thunder. It represents a
sort of thunder deity and so is associated with rainfall. It is held
very sacred, being carefully guarded from view and kept under custody by
the head men of the tribe.
In a primitive civilization engaged in pastoral pursuits where the herd
is the important source of food supply the ceremony centers about the
dairy and the herd. In Southern India, among the Toda tribes,[27] where
the buffalo herd is sacred, this is quite apparent. Certain buffaloes
are attended by the priests only, special dairies are sacred, and the
entire religious development has to do with the sanctity of milk. The
dairy utensils are sacred, and one special vessel, the one which
contains the fermenting material, is held in particular veneration. This
vessel is kept in a special part of the dairy, its location
corresponding to the sanctuary of a temple. If by chance the ferment
does not act properly, it is manufactured again by an elaborate rite.
Here we see that the religious rites have to do with the food supply
and fitting sacred ceremonials are performed.
When the food supply depends upon animal food a direct analogy in the
ceremonies is seen. Some Siberian tribes[28] perform a rite to increase
the supply of bear meat. A young bear is captured, suckled by a woman,
and assumes the aspects of a sacred animal. It is finally slain in a
ritual way, and the entire performance is for the purpose of increasing
the supply of bear meat.
A few references may be given to indicate the views of those who have
made special studies of these ceremonies. G. A. Dorsey[29] speaking of
the Hopi tribe of the Southwest, states: "When the Hopi are not at work
they are worshipping in the Kivas. The underlying element of this
worship is to be found in the environment. Mother nature does not deal
kindly with man in the desert. Look where you will, across the drifting
sands of the plains, and the cry of man and beast is 'Water!' And so,
to the gods of the rain clouds does the Hopi address his prayer. His
instruments of worship are so fashioned that his magic may surpass the
magic of these gods, and compel them to loosen their stores, full to
overflowing. Take any one of the great Hopi ceremonies, analyze the
paraphernalia worn by the men, dissect the various components of the
altar or sand paintings, examine the offerings made to the Spring and
those placed upon the shrines, and in everything and everywhere we see
prayers for rain."
Dr. Clark Wissler,[30] in speaking of primitive ceremonies, states: "One
striking feature of primitive ceremonies is the elaboration of
ritualistic procedure relating to the food supply. Particularly in
aboriginal America we have many curious and often highly complex rituals
associated with the cultivation of maize and tobacco. These often
impress the student of social phenomena as extremely unusual but still
highly suggestive facts, chiefly because the association seems to be
between things which are wholly unrelated. Thus, among the Pawnee we
find an elaborate ritual in which a few ears of maize are raised almost
to the status of gods. At a certain fixed time of the autumn the
official priest of this ritual proceeds with great ceremony to the
fields and selects a few ears, according to definite standards. These
are further consecrated and carefully guarded throughout the winter. At
planting time the women present themselves ceremonially to receive the
seed, the necessary planting instructions, etc. Thus, it appears that
during the whole year recital, there is a definite ritual in functions
associated with maize culture."
The primitive tribes of Australia afford an excellent example of this
type of ceremony, and fortunately these tribes have been very carefully
studied. At the puberty initiations of the young men, one of the main
ceremonies is a yam ceremony,[31] _i. e._, a procedure to ensure a
bountiful supply of the yams. A special type of yam is secured, and
cooked with much ceremony under fixed rules, much care and secrecy being
observed throughout. After the cooking ceremony is finished, the yams
are cut up and divided among the various members of the tribe. The
ceremony is supposed to increase the supply of yams. Miss J.
Harrison[32] in interpreting Australian ceremonies states: "The
primitive Australian takes care that magic shall not be wanting, a magic
of the most instructive kind. As soon as the season of fertility
approaches he begins his rites with the avowed object of making and
multiplying the plants, and chiefly the animals, by which he lives; he
paints the figure of the emu on the sand with vermillion drawn from his
own blood; he puts on emu feathers and gazes about him in stupid
fashion, like an emu bird; he makes a structure of boughs like the
chrysalis of a Witchetty grub--his favorite food, and drags his body
through it in pantomime, gliding and shuffling to promote its birth.
Here, difficult and intricate though the ceremonies are, and uncertain
in meaning as many of the details must always probably remain, the main
emotional gist is clear. It is not that the Australian wonders at and
admires the miracle of his Spring, the bursting of the flowers and the
singing of the birds; it is not that his heart goes out in gratitude to
All-Father who is the Giver of all good things; it is that, obedient to
the push of life within him his impulse is towards food. He must eat
that he and his tribe may grow and multiply. It is this, his will to
live, that he _utters and represents_."
In a monograph[33] of the Shinto religion of the Japanese, R. Hitchcock
states that the leading function of the female deity is to increase the
food supply. She is given the name of the Goddess of Food, or the
Producer of Trees and the Parent of Grasses. She is spoken of as
Abundant-Food-Lady, and seems to be a personification of the earth.
A further description of these rites is unnecessary, as wherever found
they are all of the same general type. They have been described in
North America, in Central Africa, in Japan, in Siberia, in India and
they probably exist in many other localities. The above references
indicate that they were primitive man's expression of his desire for
food, this fundamental motive finding expression in an elaborate ritual.
Now since in the above rites, where the increase of the food supply is
the main motive, the entire development and symbolism centers about
articles of food, and since in the phallic rites an entirely analagous
development and symbolism centers about the generative organs, it is
only reasonable to infer that the phallic rites have to do with the
desire for children. In this we have the meaning of sex worship. It is
primitive man's expression of his desire for the perpetuation of the
race and so it represents a biological necessity, the earlier motive
being for the preservation of the individual.
Fortunately the conclusions which the above arguments would appear to
warrant are borne out by the statements of those who have studied these
matters in great detail. Miss J. Harrison,[34] who also quotes Dr.
Frazer, states: "The two great interests of primitive man are food and
children. As Dr. Frazer has well said, if man the individual is to live
he must have food; if his race is to persist he must have children, 'to
live and to cause to live, to eat food and to beget children, these were
the primary wants of man in the past, and they will be the primary wants
of men in the future so long as the world lasts.' Other things may be
added to enrich and beautify human life, but, unless these wants are
first satisfied, humanity itself must cease to exist. These two things,
therefore, food and children, were what man chiefly sought to secure by
the performance of magical rites for the regulation of the seasons. They
are the very foundation stones of that ritual from which art, if we are
right, took its rise."
There is a very striking parallelism between these two rites. It would
be interesting to trace out these analogies step by step, but we shall
refer to them only in a general way.
The outward form of the two rites is very similar. In both a religious
ceremony is enacted. In the development of this ceremony a system, in
which a priesthood forms a prominent part, is developed in both
instances. The element of mystery runs through both procedures and, as
Steven D. Peet[35] has stated, the nature worship ceremony of the North
American Indians bears a remarkable resemblance to the mysteries of the
Eleusis and of the Bacchanalia.
In both the nature rites and the phallic rites, a sacred ceremonial
object develops, and about this object a very elaborate symbolism
evolves. Just as in the most primitive form of sex worship we saw that
the deity consisted of a rude representation of the generative organs,
so in nature worship we find that the ceremonial object is at first a
rude representative of the deified animal or plant. This sacred symbol
is eventually conventionalized. We have observed this in sex worship, as
explained by Inman, Payne Knight and others. In the same way in nature
worship, ceremonial objects are conventionalized. Spencer has shown this
in the case of the Australians, the ceremonial objects eventually coming
to bear a remote resemblance only to the original animal or plant
representation. A. L. Kroeber[36] has observed the same development in
the Arapaho Indians. The buffalo symbol for example, (a very important
one in this tribe since the buffalo is the chief food) has become highly
conventionalized, and is finally represented by a formal rectangular
design. This design now means the earth, and it is also used as a life
symbol.
Again, just as we saw how in sex worship the religious symbol came to be
expressed throughout decorative art, and in fact eventually became a
leading motive, so it has been shown that in the nature worship of the
Indians this same evolution takes place. A. L. Kroeber and Clark
Wissler, among others, have shown that the decorative art on the
moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc., of the Indians, all
representing a highly conventionalized symbol, expresses religious
motives throughout. This symbolism can be interpreted only by an
understanding of religious motives. The analogy of this symbolic
development to that associated with sex worship is at once apparent.
Finally, just as in sex worship the motive came to dominate most of the
practices and usages of civil life, so it can be shown that in tribes
practicing nature worship, the religious motive has a very powerful
influence. The performance of rites to increase the food supply are
among the most important of primitive man's duties. Any man who enters
into these rites listlessly is not respected, and the leaders of the
rite are the head men of the tribe. In Australia, one of the main
functions of each Totem group is to increase the supply of its own
Totem animal or plant by magic ceremony.
In summing up, therefore, the analogies between sex worship and nature
worship, the following features may be reviewed: the outward form is the
same, _i. e._, that of a religious ceremonial rite in which a sacred
object is the representation of the deity. The symbolism associated with
this object develops in the same way in both instances. In the course of
time this symbolism becomes conventionalized, and eventually it finds
its way into primitive art. It then becomes the leading motive in
primitive art and finally the religious motive is forgotten and the
aesthetic motive alone remains. Were further proof necessary, these
analogies alone would be sufficient to enable us to understand the
meaning of sex worship.
The ritual associated with the worship of sex then, arose in response to
emotions which are grouped around the instinct of reproduction. These
feelings are so primitive and at the same time so fundamental, that it
is difficult for us to realize that early man should dignify them by
religious ritual. They stand out as expressions of a biological demand.
As stated above, sex worship was not a conscious expression on the part
of certain individuals, but it was the unconscious expression of
longings and desires on the part of the race. It represents a phase in
man's mental evolution, a process of mental development. Its dynamic
value, from a biological standpoint, is at once apparent. In order to
survive man must reproduce his kind, and the emotions associated with
reproductive instincts must be of adequate dynamic value.
* * * * *
It has been stated that sex worship, as practiced during the primitive
state of civilization, was a healthy phase in racial evolution. In a
higher degree of civilization, however, the reversion to this motive was
a regression, and decadent sex worship as it existed during the middle
ages was an attempt by certain unhealthy elements in the race to revert
to the primitive. In decadent sex worship we are dealing with an
instance of faulty mental adaptation in a way in which we had not been
accustomed to consider it. It is a case of faulty adaptation in the
race, or at least in certain elements of it, rather than in the
individual. These general analogies are noteworthy from the standpoints
of mental evolution and abnormal psychology.
In order to show how sex worship as practiced by a later civilization
was the expression of an unhealthy tendency, we must digress
sufficiently to show the setting in which decadent sex worship existed.
It is necessary to give a chronological outline indicating how primitive
beliefs succeeded each other as a result of man's progressive
development.
The earlier beliefs were an expression of nature worship. This as we
have shown, was mostly associated with the question of food supply. It
has been shown that during this period of primitive man's existence
group thinking predominated, and man thought of himself as part of the
group rather than as an individual. At this time, therefore, the idea
of the deity which was evolved was not that of an individual god.
Generally speaking, it was the "vegetation spirit" existing throughout
nature which was deified. This was the general period of earth
worship,--the forces of nature associated with the earth being man's
main interest. The earth at this time was highest in primitive man's
regard.
During the time of earth worship, the social organization of the tribe
was such that the mother was the dominating influence in social
structure. Descent was matrilinear, and a society known as matriarchy
existed, as contrasted to the later patriarchy. The mother was the
leading figure in social as well as in family life. At this period a
certain degree of sexual promiscuity existed; the mother of the child
was known but the father was not and so the descent was in the female
line. With earth worship, then, there was mother worship, and the term
"Mother Earth" had a very real significance.
With the social state of matriarchy, the mother cults developed. These
mother cults evolved the numerous female deities of antiquity, Themis,
Demeter, Cybele, and many others being the expression of mother worship.
These deities were generally associated with the wild elements of
nature,--with the wind, and the hills and the forests.
Associated with the mother religion in a way which at first does not
appear to be very clear arose the phallic cults. It should be here
stated that the mother religion was not the religion of the mother
alone, but also that of the mother and child. The child was the
adolescent,--a youth about to be initiated at the public ceremony, at
which he was often circumcised and after which he was able to take up
the reproductive functions of the male. Miss J. Harrison has shown that
Dionysus was the embodiment of this conception. Here the youth was
necessary only to the extent that he could become a father. It was his
generative attribute which was sanctified, rather than that he was a
male being existing as an individual. For this reason, the deification
of the phallic principle, _i. e._, the generative attribute, preceded
the deification of the male as an individual. At least this is the
impression one gains of this development. In any case, we note that the
phallic ceremonies were associated with the mother religion. The period
in which both existed was mostly prehistoric.
We see the beginning of the evolution of the male god in the phallic
cults. This was eventually followed by the patriarchal system and here
we are on more familiar ground. Patriarchy succeeded matriarchy, but
whether as a gradual evolution or otherwise is not clear. Some writers
speak of bitter conflicts in Persia, India, Greece and elsewhere. In any
case the religion of the father replaced that of the mother; the social
system changed and the father took his place at the head of the family.
During this period we are told[37] that man shifted his belief from the
earth to the sky, the sun was found to be the source of energy and
worship was transferred to the Heavens. Just as formerly the female
deity was identified with the earth, so the male deity was identified
with the sun, Zeus and Apollo being two examples of the latter type from
a great many.
We are now approaching a well known historic period. The religion of the
father and the son had replaced that of the mother and child. The age of
hero worship had commenced and this hero was often identified with the
sun. For this reason, the fact that a myth is in the form of a sun myth
does not argue against its being the expression of a very deep religious
motive. As has been stated, earlier motives are carried forward, and so
while sun worship is a somewhat later development than the phallic
beliefs, it is quite natural that many phallic ideas should find
expression at this subsequent period.
We have now reached a time when sex worship became decadent, for
Christianity followed sun worship and hero worship; and this brings us
to the present day. The religion of father and son remains, and much of
the form of the earlier worship has been retained in the modern.
The above outline of the changes and evolution of early religions is
most schematic. It enables us, however, to see that sex worship was
entirely out of place during the middle ages, in a civilization which
had long before discarded matriarchy. The questions of the food supply,
and of children, were no longer so immediately pressing, and the faith
in magical performances had been shaken. Man had emerged from the group
as a definite personality, and the development of a new religion which
expressed other feelings and desires had taken place. What we wish to
emphasize at present is, then, that sex worship as it was carried on
during the middle ages was a distinctly unnatural tendency in the race.
At this time opportunity may be taken to reconcile different
interpretations which some writers have given regarding early religious
motives. Considerable variation and some contradiction may be observed
in the writings of different authors in describing a religious
development of much the same period. One writer may describe the
features of nature worship and quite ignore the presence of sex worship.
Others may describe only phallic rites. These discrepancies may be
understood when the order in which the various beliefs developed is
recognized. Nature worship developed first, but much of its symbolism
was carried into the phallic ceremonies. Thus we see the phallus
associated with the pine cone and other elements of vegetative life.
Some of these elements, the pine cone for example, finally came to have
a phallic significance, but at an earlier period they probably
represented the vegetation spirit. In fact, reproductive attributes of
both nature and man were often worshipped at the same ceremony.
While we should not as a rule expect to find phallic rites associated
with the earlier forms of nature worship, since sex worship developed at
a somewhat later period, still in this connection we cannot be too
dogmatic; the primitive Australians appear to be at the stage of mental
development when simple nature worship predominated, yet, from _Mutter
Erde_[38] we learn that with the Australians a ceremony consisting of
the throwing of a spear into the earth was of phallic significance. This
co-existence of these two related motives is not unnatural since they
both equally represent fundamental biological demands on the part of the
race.
We may now return to the interpretation of decadent sex worship. When we
understand the setting in which sex worship was practiced in the middle
ages we are better able to appreciate its significance. As stated above,
it was the attempt by certain elements of the race to return to more
primitive motives, and to derive satisfaction from beliefs which had
long been outgrown by advancing civilization. This clinging to an early
type of reaction, or the return to more primitive feelings, must be
regarded as an unhealthy tendency. Moreover, at this time, the motive
itself was no longer expressed in the natural and healthy way of
primitive times. Sex worship during the middle ages became depraved;
excesses and perversions appeared and the entire development, as it
existed at that time, was biologically undesirable.
It also appeared that at certain times in the mental evolution of the
race a degree of development is reached from which no further progress
is made. At least, we are aware of such an instance in the case of a
very primitive community in Southern Italy. A writer, Norman
Douglas,[39] in 1914 found the existence of a phallic cult in Calabria.
The women sanctified a crack of one of the walls of the temple, their
attitude toward it corresponding to the yoni worship of India. Near by
was an ancient stone pillar held in great veneration, which was the
representative of the phallus.
It is observed that in this small community some remnants of phallic
belief of a very primitive type have been retained for centuries. The
religious development, an index of mental development, has become "set"
as it were and no further progress is possible. It is not entirely for
want of opportunity that this locality has not taken up higher religious
beliefs. The Catholic Church has introduced its teachings, but the
people have represented the images of the Saints, of the Virgin Mary,
and of Christ somewhat after the fashion of toy dolls. These are used as
fetishes to ward off disease and no higher conceptions are grasped.
Ideas regarding after life and immortality are disregarded in favor of
the immediate need of protection against supposed evil influences. With
these people, therefore, motives are utilized which satisfy only the
most fundamental and immediate desires.
* * * * *
We have now followed a definite motive in mental development through its
rise, its elaboration and its decadence. We therefore have its life
history in the race before us; we have been enabled by analogies of
other motives and by utilizing the conclusions of various writers, to
understand its meaning and to give its interpretation. It remains to be
seen what general conclusions regarding either racial or individual
development in this sphere may be drawn.
It appears that when an important motive of this sort develops in the
race, it embodies the expression of fundamental desires. Since it
carries with it a strong and ever present desire in this way, it is
strikingly _dynamic_ in nature. It dominates all social organization,
and with primitive people it dominates much of the conduct of the
individual. When such a motive is seriously entertained it is pragmatic,
_i. e._, it serves a useful end, or at least the conceptions which it
embodies are entertained because they are thought to be of the highest
value to the race.
As mental development continues, these more fundamental and primitive
motives cease to be all absorbing. Eventually, the subject of the food
supply becomes less pressing. Races continue to increase and multiply
with or without the performance of sacred rites and man begins to
question the utility of his imitative magic. Higher desires force
themselves into consciousness, and earlier motives are no longer
outwardly expressed; the form of the early motives is retained however:
usages, symbols and practices which have long ceased to be dynamic and
whose meaning is entirely forgotten are still observed; so we see
evidences of primitive racial motives cropping up in all sorts of ways
in later civilization.
But to say that the earlier motives are no longer outwardly expressed is
not to infer that they do not exist. Fundamental as they are in our
mental development, they enter into our general personality and become a
part of our makeup. How is the motive expressed in sex worship a part of
our motives and feelings of today? Superficially it does not appear to
be present, but a little reflexion shows that it is there. It has become
so much a part of us that we scarcely recognize its presence, the
instinct to reproduce being common to everyone. Every woman feels this
to be her duty,--her religious duty if the dictum of the Church is to be
followed:
"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is
his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children
of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them; they
shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the
gate." _Psalm 127._
During earlier times barrenness was regarded as a curse, and many charms
were in use to counteract this calamity. A sentence from a letter of
Julia Ward Howe to her young sister about to be married, affords an apt
reference to this sense of duty: "Marriage, like death, is a debt we owe
to nature, and though it costs us something to pay it, yet we are more
content and better established in peace when we have paid it." The
feeling associated with the command "to increase and multiply" is so
much a part of our innermost thoughts and feelings that further
references to it are unnecessary.
To what extent may we utilize the evolution of this motive in the race,
in understanding certain phases of mental development associated with
reproductive instincts in the individual? In interpreting the racial
history of this motive we have seen that it is dynamic; it develops in
response to biological demands. It is a very elementary and primitive
desire to be raised to the dignity of a religion, but none the less it
is a very essential one. We have seen that when this motive is replaced
by higher ones, a return to it bespoke faulty mental adaptations on the
part of those who did so. Analogies between the individual and the race
in this sphere exist in a general way, and their presence is
significant.
Analogies in the sphere in the normal mental development of the
individual may be considered first. In dealing with the developing
thoughts of childhood, we shall refer to one particular tendency, _i. e._,
that of _day dreaming_. We know that a certain amount of the day
dreaming of the child has to do with the feelings and emotions
associated with the questions of reproduction, considered in its
broadest sense; _i. e._, including fictitious lovers, marriages,
children, etc. Now probably with the child, the day dreaming associated
with these feelings is of biological significance, just as the rituals
associated with similar feelings are of value to the race. The little
girl who is the mother of her doll, who plays at housekeeping, who
fictitiously assumes the responsibilities of married life and what
not,--the child by developing this feature of her existence in fancy is
probably preparing herself for reality. The little boy who becomes a
hero in his own fancy, marries a princess, and who overcomes all sorts
of difficulties; or the small boy who in his play enters into all the
activities of adult life,--probably this child, by entertaining the
thoughts of his future life, prepares himself to some extent for future
life. These fundamental motives, therefore, which arise in response to
biological demands, are the expression of desires, both in the case of
the individual and of the race, and they act not only harmlessly but
probably beneficially at a certain stage of mental evolution.
Again, we have shown how in the race remnants of early and primitive
motives continue to appear in various ways long after their outward
dynamic value has been lost and when their meaning is no longer
understood. Is this not true of the individual? Do we not all recognize
in the moods and mental attitudes and even in some of the actions of the
adult, remnants of feelings and forces which were dynamic in childhood?
These feelings exist although they are not consciously appreciated. The
actual experiences are forgotten but the moods and emotions remain. This
is analagous to the influence which primitive racial thoughts, beliefs
and usages have on present day civilization. The meaning of these usages
and symbols is forgotten in many cases but the outward form still
exists.
In the individual, a motive of this kind does not become a religion or a
ritual as in the case with the race, but it nevertheless is forcefully
expressed in that it excites an absorbing interest and forces itself
strongly into consciousness, during the phase of its dynamic
development. As stated above, just as in the early mental evolution of
the race, we find that the question of reproduction comes prominently to
the fore, so with the individual we find that at the adolescent period
of life the sexual instinct is very fully elaborated. Just as with the
race reproduction is necessary for the continuation of the race, so with
the individual, elaboration of sexual instinct is necessary in order
that adult sexual responsibilities may be assumed. This consists of much
more than mere physical development. In a complex state of civilization
many adjustments in the sphere of sexual indulgence and continence and
marriage have to be made. This phase of the individual's life is a very
important one. It is the rule for proper reactions to occur at this
time, in which case the reproductive instincts assume their proper place
in mental life. But if satisfactory adjustments do not occur the
consequences may be serious. In the healthy mental evolution of the
individual, therefore, just as in the normal mental evolution of the
race, we see that motives arise, assume a dynamic character, play their
part in the developing mind, and leave lasting impressions. They serve a
useful purpose during one phase of mental evolution. We have seen that
they may be harmful in the race if utilized at a later period. Let us
see to what extent this is true of the individual.
* * * * *
Psychiatrists during recent years have come to believe that in certain
mental states we see a reversion to a more primitive type of
reaction,--a tendency to utilize earlier adaptations, the reactions of
infancy and childhood in meeting situations which arise in adult life.
If this assumption is correct it is seen that a reversion to something
more primitive is an undesirable reaction in the individual as well as
in the race. Here too we find that the emotions and feelings associated
with the reproductive instinct may be inadequately developed. It has
been shown above that the day dreams of the child are probably
beneficial rather than harmful. Is this day dreaming beneficial to the
adult? We know from our experience that it is not, and in its relation
to the reproductive sphere this is particularly true. The adult who
substitutes the realities of life by elaborate day dreams is approaching
dangerous ground. The young woman who in adult life is constantly
dreaming of an ideal but fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from
unhealthy sources; and the young man who ecstatically becomes a hero or
a racial benefactor is equally at fault. In instances where such
thoughts are believed in and acted upon as we observe again and again in
mental disorders, a serious condition of the mind has arisen. When an
attempt is made to gain satisfaction in these immature ways at a later
stage of development, or when there is a failure to develop at a certain
point, the reaction is harmful in both the individual and in the race.
It is during the adolescent period that these failures of adaptation
generally occur. At this time, the whole development in the
reproductive sphere, particularly in the mental characteristics
associated with the sexual instinct, considered in its broadest sense,
does not take place. There may be much rumination about this topic, but
the responsibilities of adult sexual life, of marriage, of child bearing
with the female, are not adequately met. Fancies are substituted for
reality, and while, as stated above, young women may dream of ideal
lovers, they at the same time are shy and unnatural in their attitude
toward the opposite sex. Young men, instead of taking their place in the
life of the adult community, realize adult ambitions only by elaborate
day dreams. In abnormal mental states, we see young men in their fancies
become important personages, religious benefactors and national heroes.
They may shun all association with women but at the same time maintain
that they have a cultural mission to populate the earth. We see here how
the feelings associated with reproductive instincts have been faulty or
inadequate. This return to something more primitive is an unhealthy
atavistic tendency and makes for both racial and individual inferiority.
A word may be said regarding symbolism of the race as applied to the
individual. We have stated that symbolism is a primitive and rudimentary
way of expressing thought. It would seem logical therefore that if in
some abnormal mental states there is a return to more primitive
reactions, we may find a tendency to symbolize. This tendency is
frequently observed and the symbolism is often very elaborate. A
knowledge of the interpretation of racial symbolism is doubtless of
value in the case of the individual. When men's thoughts deal with the
same subject and when they tend to symbolize, they are likely to express
themselves in much the same way symbolically. If in abnormal mental
states thoughts are entertained which have to do with the motives we
have been discussing, it is reasonable to suppose that the racial and
individual symbolism will show certain analogies.
Again, in the pages of recent psychiatry, we learn that in abnormal
mental states there is a reversion not only to the primitive motives of
childhood, but also to the primitive motives of the race. Just to what
extent this tendency exists remains for studies of the future to show.
Certainly, striking instances may be cited; for example, let us quote
from a recent study in psychiatry:[40] "One such patient with a very
complicated delusional system states that he is the father of Adam, that
he has lived in his present human body thirty-five years, but in other
bodies thirty million years, and that during this time he has occupied
six million different bodies. He has been the great men in the history
in the development of the human race; he himself created the human race.
It took him three hundred million years to perfect the first fully
developed human being; he is both male and female and identifies all the
different parts of the Universe with his own body; heaven, hell and
purgatory are located in his limbs, the stars are pieces of his body
which had been torn apart by torture and persecution in various ages of
past history; he is the father and creator of the various races and
elements of the human organization, etc." Any one who has done even a
cursory reading in mythology cannot but be struck by the similarity in
form as well as in thought between this production and what we find in
myths.
* * * * *
The general analogies which we have indicated are such as one would have
reason to expect. The history of both the healthy and unhealthy mental
evolution of the race is in many respects the history of the individual;
in order to understand these analogies it is necessary to understand the
mental development of primitive man. Recent studies have given us much
valuable information in this direction. In primitive usages we find the
expression of early man's deepest longings and desires, and so a dynamic
interpretation of such motives is possible. It remains for the
psychiatrist to learn to what extent the findings of special
investigators of primitive races may be utilized in explaining mental
evolution, and also the development of abnormal mental states. This
study is a comparatively recent one but it already gives indications of
offering ample rewards.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
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INDEX
Adaptations, faulty, 131-132.
Adjustment, of individual, 129.
Adonis, sun god, 75.
American Cyclopedia, 23.
American Museum of Natural History, 6.
Anacalipsis, 38.
Analogies between the Individual and the Race, 126.
Ancient Grove Worship of Assyria, 49, 71.
Ancient Sex Worship, 25, 30, 41.
Androgyne deity, 36, 68.
Arapaho Indians, 109.
Bacchus, representative of male generative attribute, 22.
Bacchanalia, 74, 78, 87, 108.
Bear, sacred animal, 101.
Bull, phallic significance of, 63.
Bull roarer, nature of, 99.
Bureau of Amer. Eth., 5.
Caves of Elephanta, 43.
Ceremonial objects, conventionalization of, 109.
_Chinese Review_, 44.
Collective or group feeling, importance of, 21.
Collective thought of the race, relation to religious development, 17.
Crux Ansata, 51.
Dairy, sacredness of, 100.
Dances, at Witches' Sabbath, 89.
Decadent Sex Worship, 79, 81, 91, 113;
interpretation of, 120.
Deity, female, function of in Japan, 105.
Deities, Teutonic, 93.
Dietrich, A., 120.
Dionysia, 74, 78.
Dionysus, 115.
Dorsey, G. A., 101.
Douglas, N., 121.
Dragon, relation to serpent, 45.
Earth, Worship, 114.
Egg, 50, 62, 74.
Eleusinia, 74, 77, 87, 108.
Emasculation, a form of worship, 31.
Essay on the Assyrian "Grove," 39.
Female deities, 115.
Festivals to increase food supply, 98.
Fire, male principle, 36.
Fire Worship, 36, 88;
identified with sex worship, 42.
Fish, phallic significance, 35.
Frazer, 6, 17, 31, 32, 94, 107.
Gnostics, early secret society, 83;
phallic amulets of, 90;
reversions of, 84.
Goat, priapic animal, 88;
Symbol of Khem, 25.
Golden Bough, 6. (See Frazer.)
Group Thought, 113.
Harrison, J., 6, 18, 99, 101, 104, 107, 115, 116.
Hearn, L., 52.
Heraldry, origin of symbols, 51.
Hermes, phallic nature of, 36.
Higgins, 38.
Hitchcock, R., 105.
Holy Grail, Symbolism of, 93.
Homosexuality, in Greek life, 85;
practice of Rosicrucians, 84.
Hopi Indians, 101, 102.
Howe, J. W., 125.
Howitt, A. W., 6.
Initiative magic, 104.
_India and its Native Princes_, 43.
_India and its Faiths_, 80.
_Indian Religions_, 48.
_Indians of the Southwest_, 101.
Infantile reactions, 130.
Initiation ceremony, 115.
Inman, T., 5, 50, 54.
Interpretations of Sex Worship, 96.
_Japan, an attempt at Interpretation_, 52.
Jennings, H., 5, 28, 42, 48, 51, 62, 72, 92.
Karnac, 26.
Karpas, M. J., 83.
Khem, description of, 24.
King, C. W., 54.
Knight, R. P., 5, 27, 30, 37, 47, 48, 49, 54, 58, 63, 65,
83, 87, 90, 91.
Knights of the Round Table, 93.
Knights Templar, phallic amulets of, 90;
practices of, 86.
Kroeber, A. L., 109, 110.
Layard, A., 60.
Lingam with yoni, 41.
Lost god, the, 75.
Lotus, significance of, 56-58.
Male date palm, significance of, 49.
Matriarchy, 114.
May-pole, associated with phallic worship, 39, 47.
Moon, associated with female deity, 71.
Mother Earth, 70, 114.
Mother religion, 115, 116.
_Mutter Erde_, 120.
Murray, G., 20.
Mysteries, teaching of, 78-79.
Nature Worship, 5, 97, 108, 110.
Newton, J., 39, 49, 71.
_Nineveh and Its Remains_, 60.
North American Indians and sun worship, 70;
nature worship, 98, 108, 109.
Obelisk, phallic interpretation, 38.
O'Brien, 38, 56, 58.
Obscure Sex Symbolism, 36.
Order of the Garter, 93.
Osiris, 76.
Pan, significance of, 22.
Patriarchy, 114, 116.
Pepys, S., 48.
Peet, O. S., 108.
Persephone, 77.
Phallic hand, symbol of prostitution, 91.
Phallic rites, motive for, 106.
Phallic symbols, 27;
in art, 50.
Phallic Worship in China, 44.
Phallic Worship, nature of, 23, 98.
Phallus, as a charm, 90, 93;
as a decoration, 90.
Plant and Flower Symbols, 54.
Pomegranate, female symbol, 55.
Pratt, J. B., 80.
Priapiea, 87.
Priapus, disguises of, 88.
Primitive motives, continuance of, 128;
reversion to, 134.
_Primitive Symbolism_, 28.
_Problem in Greek Ethics_, 85.
_Psyche's Task_, 94.
Puberty Initiations, 103, 115.
Qualities of animal and vegetable nature venerated, 39.
Racial feelings, expression of, in religion, 19.
Racial Motives, in primitive religions, 19;
dynamic value of, 123.
Rain making rite, 99.
Rawlinson, 24.
Reproduction, motive of, 21.
Rhyn, O., 78.
_Rise of the Greek Epic_, 20.
Ritual, motive for, 106;
related to food supply, 102, 103.
Rivers, W. H. R., 6, 100.
Robin Goodfellow, 94.
_Rosicrucians_, 42, 92.
Rosicrucians, phallic amulets of, 90;
practices of, 84, 85, 93.
_Round Towers of Ireland_, 38, 73.
Rousselet, 43.
Sacred Animals, 60-65.
Sacred prostitution, evidences of, 29.
Satan, at Witches Sabbath, 88.
Secret Societies for decadent sex worship, 83.
Serpent Worship, 61, 62, 72, 73.
Sex Worship:
An unconscious racial expression, 22;
biological significance of, 96;
as basis of early religions, 28;
In Africa in Modern times, 26;
decadence of in Middle Ages, 90;
primitive form, 108;
influence in present thought, 124;
part of evolution of the human mind, 23;
in symbolism, 34;
where it existed as basis of early religions, 28.
Sex Worship and Nature Worship, analogies of, 111;
relation of, 119.
Sexual act, as part of worship, 27-28.
_Shinto, or the mythology of the Japanese_, 105.
Smithsonian Inst., 6.
Snake, phallic significance of, 35.
_Socrates in the light of Modern Psychopathology_, 83.
Spencer, 6.
Star and crescent, 54.
Stonehenge, significance of, 38, 69.
Sun Myth, 117.
Sun Worship, 36, 69, 72, 73.
_Symbolic Language of Ancient Art and Mythology_, 49, 59.
Symbolism, racial, in the individual, 133.
Symonds, J. A., 85.
_Themis_, 6, 99, 116.
Thunder god, 99.
Thunder rites, 99.
_Todas, the_, 6, 100.
Totem, 110.
Tree Worship, 48.
Upright objects as phalli, 37.
Vegetation spirit, 114.
Water, female principle, 36.
Weathercock, emblem of the sun, 50.
Westropp, H. M., 28, 45, 55.
Wilder, A., 59.
Witchcraft, 92.
Witches' Sabbath, nature of, 87, 92.
Wissler, C., 102, 110.
_Worship of Priapus_, 48, 83, 87, 91.
Yam ceremony, 103-104.
Footnotes:
[1] The Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task.
[2] Themis, Introduction Page XI.
[3] Hamlet and Orestes.
[4] Quoted by H. M. Westropp, Primitive Symbolism.
[5] J. W. Wood. The Uncivilized Races.
[6] The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
[7] The Rosicrucians.
[8] Adonis, Attis and Osiris.
[9] Rousselet, India and Its Native Princes.
[10] Pepys Diary.
[11] Symbolic Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
[12] Japan, an attempt at Interpretation.
[13] O'Brien: The Round Towers of Ireland.
[14] The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
[15] The Enactment of a Rebirth.
[16] Dr. Otto Rhyn, Mysteria.
[17] J. B. Pratt, India and Its Faiths.
[18] R. P. Knight, the Worship of Priapus.
[19] Hargrave Jennings: The Rosicrucians.
[20] J. A. Symonds, A Problem in Greek Ethics. Morris J. Karpas,
Socrates in the light of Modern Psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology. 1915.
[21] Worship of Priapus.
[22] Pierre de Lancre, Tableau de l'Inconstance des Mauvais Anges et
Démons.
[23] Worship of Priapus.
[24] The Rosicrucians.
[25] The Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task.
[26] Themis.
[27] W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas.
[28] Miss J. Harrison: Ancient Art and Ritual.
[29] Indians of the Southwest.
[30] The Functions of Primitive Ritualistic Ceremonies. Popular Science
Monthly, August 15, 1915.
[31] Spencer, Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia.
[32] Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 64.
[33] Shinto, or the Mythology of the Japanese.
[34] Ancient Art and Ritual.
[35] Secret Societies and Ancient Mysteries: International Congress of
Anthropology, 1893.
[36] Symbolism of the Arapaho Indians: American Museum of Natural
History.
[37] Miss J. Harrison, Themis, Introduction.
[38] A. Dieterich: _Mutter Erde_.
[39] Norman Douglas: Old Calabria.
[40] Jelliffe and White, Diseases of the Nervous System, page 689.
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"barreness" corrected to "barrenness" (page 91)
"superstitition" corrected to "superstition" (page 92)
"Eleusenia" corrected to "Eleusinia" (Index)
"Kroebler" corrected to "Kroeber" (Index)
"Rawlison" corrected to "Rawlinson" (Index)
"Priapus, disguises of, 188." corrected to "Priapus, disguises of, 88."
Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in
spelling and capitalization have been retained.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sex Worship and Symbolism of
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