Phallic worship : an outline of the worship of the generative organs, as being, or as representing, the Divine Creator, with suggestions as to the influence of the phallic idea on religious creeds, ce online

the Arba-il — the divine four — populating the world.
The double triangle in the circle, with the center
marked, is a summing np of all creative arcana. It
is sexual union ; it is Siva and Sacti — Jupiter and
Yenus — the sun and the moon — the divine descending
into the human, which rises to receive the celestial. In
a word, it is the generation of new creatures — on
whatever plane the beholder occupies — and according
to whatever love and wisdom the translator acknowl-
edges.

Figure 217, from Lajard, represents an act of wor-
ship in the presence of the triune representation of the
masculine and feminine creators. We have here the
celestial, sun, and moon; the mundane, palm tree, and
barred vulva — virginity; and the sensual, cone, and
lozenge — the fleshy organs. Diana, of the Ephesians,
was represented by nearly every symbol of Isis, in



SYKIA, BABYLON AND PHRYGIA,



163




Fig. -217



Egypt. She was also showii with a phallic radii —
indicating her universal generative power; also as a
woman with many breasts — to symbolize her as the
goddess of nutrition. Her worship was akin to that of
Isis, in Egypt, and to that of Yenus, in
Greece and Kome. Like the adoration
of Anaitis, in Armenia, it was accom-
panied by the defloration of nubile Avomen
and other licentious ceremonies. Isa or
Disa, the Scandinavian goddess, was
represented — only more rudely — in the
same manner as Diana ; also as a pyramid
surmounted by a cross and circle. Reindeer were sacri-
ficed to her, and their testicles hung about the neck of
her statue.

This highly mystic design is copied from a Baby-
lonian gem figured by Lajard, and is an illustration of
how fully and clearly the Assyrians understood, and
how forcibly and tersely they expressed the ideas of
phallic worship. The
palm tree, or " tree
of life," represents
the phallus with all its
interpretations, and
in this case probably
indicates the great
or universal creative Fig. 218.

power, principle, or person — depending for its
special meaning upon the intent and intelligence of
the one who translates the scene. The tall stamen,




164 PHALLISM IN ASSYRIA, PHCENICIA,

with the two fruits, one at either side of the base,
symbolizes the phallus and tests ; while the ovals on
either side of the upper point indicate the yoni, with
all the occult significations of those organs. The
animals — spotted goats suggestive of great sexual
power and fecundity — rampant, represent passion or
desire. The crescent moon of Isis, over the head of
the male goat, symbolizes the feminine creative power ;
and the lozenge below and in front points to its physi-
cal manifestation in sex. The wings tell of interpre-
tation, while the erect phallus shows readiness and
power in physical activity. The crescent moon, on
the female goat, near the tail, shows the sex and desire,
while the fleur de lys — emblem of the masculine
triad — below and in front, suggests its satisfaction.
The priest, who is androgynous — shown by the pecu-
liarity of the skirt — points to the central palm tree,
explaining and urging its worship, and the consequent
obedience to its teachings — physical and mystic. Of
course, he is not teacliing animals, but virile — and,
therefore, exemplary — men and women, who, in the
condition suggested, can be more modestly represented
by the rampant and prolific goats.

The accompanying design, copied from Lajard's
Researches sur le Cidte de Venus, and taken by that
author from an ancient gem, was originally engraved
upon the lower face of a cone-shaped white agate.
White stones — and particularly agates — were much
prized as emblems ; and with the name or symbol of a
favorite deity cut upon them were especially sacred.



SYKIA, BABYLON AND PHRYGIA.



165



111 the Apocalypse the promise is : " To him that over-
cometh I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and I
will give him a white stone, and npon the stone a new




Fig. 220.



name Avritten," which was, in all prohabilit}', "mine
own new name," referred to in
the next chapter, as written npon
the same person — he that over-
cometh. This new name of the
' ' Faithful and True — the Word
of God," is subsequently
given — written " npon his gar-
ment, and on his ' thigh,'' king

OF KINGS, AND LOED OF LORDS."

The cone is the Sivaic symbol
of the phallus or masculine generator. It is also sacred
to and the emblem of Yenus ^ not the Grecian
Yenus of desire or passion — but the androgynous
deity, or bearded Yenus Mylitta.

On the right is a bare feminine face, on the left a
bearded masculine face, and the two heads are united
by the inverted triangle or feminine symbol, and sur-
mounted by the radiating solar corona or masculine
sign. Across the bust are masculine girdles, below
which appears the inverted triangle again feminine.
The bare masculine arm, and the feminine arm shown
by the bracelet, and the peculiar form of the drapery —
the upright lines in the center and the drooping lines
on either side — from the waist downward to the feet
carry out the same dual symbolism and again suggests
the Apocalyptic andi'ogynous ' ' Son of Man clothed



166 PHALLISM IN ASSYRIA, PHCENICIA, ASSYRIA, ETC.

with a garment down to his feet, and girt about the
breasts (the word, in the original translated breasts,
being — not that which indicates the masculine bosom —
but the feminine, the nutritive, and milk-giving breast)
with a golden girdle." Over the head is a triad of six-
rayed stars — the conjunction of the masculine and
feminine in generation. The crescent moon of Isis is
above, and the feminine cup below, the female snake on
the right. A male serpent — shown by its slimmer and
sharper head — spreads its wings as if attacking this
female. The six-rayed phallic star, the points meeting
in a circle, is in perfect harmony Avith the whole design.
The male serpent on the left is approached by a winged
and aroused female of its kind. Below the serpent is
a phallic vase with a cup over it — the still favorite
form of oil and water vessels in the temples of Siva.
The lozenge or feminine symbol near the male
serpent again indicates conjunction of the sexes — or
dual creative powers. In this little design, therefore,
may be found the whole doctrine of phallic worship :
the masculine creator, whether organ or power —
the feminine creatress, whether organ or principle —
their mutual desire or attraction — their cooperative
activity in the work of generation — and the essential
unity of these organs or powers — in a word, the an-
drogynous character of the great and essential creator.
And surely, the intelligent and aspiring Christian can,
by spiritually interpreting this unique design, read into
it all the transcendental truths of his beloved faith.



PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS. 167



PHALLISM AJNIONG THE JEWS.

Even a casual examination of this subject will estab-
lish the fact that phalUc worship was known, and many
of its ]*ites practiced, b}^ the Israelites. Abraham evi-
dently considered the phalhis as an emblem of the di-
vine, for he made his servant take a most solemn oath
by laying his hand upon the master's genitals (under
his thigh is the vailing translation) . Jacob used the
same form of obligation when Joseph promised to carry
his father's bones out of Egypt. This form of obliga-
tion was used when "all the princes and the mighty
men, and all the sons of David" swore allegiance to
Solomon. These were important occasions when the
most solemn obligations were taken ; when levity or
uncleanness could have no recognition ; and when an
appeal to the most sacred emblem of the divine would
be made.

The same euphonistic translation occurs in speaking
of the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob ; and
of the sons begotten of the l)ody of Gideon ; showing
that it was common for the writer of the books of
Moses to refer to the phallus as the source of children.

Abraham planted a " grove''^ in Beer Sheba, and there
called upon the name of the Lord. Jacob set up a
"pillar" and poured oil upon it, calling the place
Beth-el — the house of God. Jacob also, in obedience
to God's command to build an altar, set up a stone pil-
lar and poured upon it oil and a drink offering of wine ;



168 PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS.

and again called the place Beth-cl — the house of God.
He also set a pillar upon the grave of his -wife Rachel.
When Jacoh and his father-in-law, Lahan, made a
treaty of peace, they set up a pillar, and piled around
it a heap of smaller stones ; and while the former gave
it one name and the latter another, still each in his own
language called it the "Heap of Witness." Joshua,
when about to die, took a great stone and set it up under
an oak that was near the sanctuaiy of the Lord, saying :
' ' Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us ; for it hath
heard all the words of Jehovah which he spake unto us."
Samuel set up a " stone of help." All these things
were done by men exemplary to the Jews ; and the
context shows that they are spoken of approvingly.
Jehovah looked upon the Egyptians through a pillar of
fire and terrified them ; he led the Israelites by pillars
of fire and cloud ; he appeared to them in a pillar of
cloud ; came down in a pillar of cloud ; Jacob calls him
the shepherd, the " Stone of Israel; " Moses speaks of
him as the "Rock of our Salvation" — the rock that
begat thee — he is a rock. Samuel uses the same sym-
bology. David says Jehovah is my rock. Elohim is
my " rock " and " high tower " in whom I trust.

These allusions to Jehovah and Elohim, under the
names of stone, rock, tower, high tower, pillar, etc.,
might be much extended; and, while they have all
been interpreted in quite a different way, they are
clearly phallic in their origin, as will more evidently
appear when these symbols are spoken of as desecrated
by being used in honoring other gods tlian Jehovah and



PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS. 169

Elohim. The objection of the Jewish cult and prophets
was not to tlie use or recognition of these symbols to
represent the divine ; but to their profanation in making
them imag-es or representatives of "strange gods."
The objection was not to the symbol, but to the inter-
pretation ; for Isaiah says : " In that day sball there be
an altar to Jehovah, in the midst of the land of Egypt,
and a '^9^^?Zar' at the border thereof , to Jehovah, and
it shall be for a ' sign ' and a ' witness ' to Jehovah."

The command in Deuteronomy is not against plant-
ing groves nor setting up statues (pillars) ; but against
such groves and pillars as "Jehovah hateth."

The worship of the sun and moon and of fire and water
are always of phallic origin — and with phallic inter-
pretation ; hence the prohibition of this worship in the
Mosaic law showed that it was a practice to be discon-
tinued. [N'otwithstanding this law, we find that the
kings of Judah built temples, ordained priests, and or-
ganized a system of sun and moon worship as gorgeous
and sensual as that of the other Oriental nations, with
all the accompaniments of horses, chariots, "groves,"
eunuchs, kedeshim and kedeshuth.

Moses was commanded to destroy the altars, break
the pillars, and cut down the groves of the heathen
tribes. Notwithstanding these plain commands, how-
ever, the children of Israel did evil serving Baalim and
the groves; they also built them high places, and
standing pillars and groves on every high hill and under
every green tree; and they burned incense in these
high places. The kings of Judah Avent so far as to



170 PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS.

ordain priests, of whom there were four hundred and
fifty, for the burning of incense in the worship of Baal
in the courts of the temple and in these high places
dedicated to this idolatry.

The ''groves," in the plural, were the lips of the
yoni. They were made of wood (sometimes of stone)
and carved as images. Gideon used this wood with
which to offer a burnt offering. They usually stood in
high places under green trees. One was in the temple.
They were sometimes surrounded by hangings or cur-
tains, forming tents, in which the worship of the groves
was participated in by both sexes, with the most licen-
tious rites — under the direction of four hundred priests.
Solomon built "high places" for the worship of
Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech.

The worship of Baal and Ashtoreth was not only
phallic, but sensually and broadly so — and, in some
cases, disgustingly revolting — and required the most
intimate and licentious association of the sexes. Baal-
Peor — which signifies God, the opener of the maiden's
hymen — was represented sometimes with a greatly ex-
aggerated phallus, and sometimes with that organ in
his mouth, Philo says the devotee of Baal-Peor pre-
sented to the idol all the outward orifices of the body.
Another authority says that the worshiper not only
presented all these to the idol, but that the emana-
tions or excretions were also presented — tears from
the eyes, wax from the ears, pus from the nose,
saliva from the mouth, and urine and dejecta from
the lower openings. This was the god to which



PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS. 171

the Jews joined themselves, and these, in all prob-
ability, were the ceremonies they practiced in his
worship ; and added to their prostitution and dis-
-usting offerings their own children as a burnt
sacrifice. One of David's mighty men was called
Baaliah or Bealiah — Baal is Jah ; which would seem
to indicate that David was not strenuous in his oppo-
sition to Baal. And David, on the most solemn occa-
sion of bringing the Ark of God to the Holy City,
performed a most phallic ceremony of dancing in a
nearly naked condition, in the sight of the ark and of
all the people. When liis wife, Michal, sarcastically
chided him for this wanton display before the hand-
maids of his servants, he replied that he would " play"
and be yet more vile before them ; and even that he
would be base in his own sight.

Samuel finds no fault with David for this phallic
procedure, but tacitly indorses it ; for Michal, he tells us,
was cursed with barrenness — for her adverse criticism.

This illustrates again, as before said, that whatever
opposition there was to the symbolism and ceremonies
of worshiping Baal and other gods by the Hebrews,
still the great wrong, in the eyes of those who rebuked
or destroyed it, was not in this symbolism or in the
ceremonies generally, hicident to that worship, for
many of them wei-e common to the false worship and
to the worship of Jehovah or El. The great impurity
consisted in the worship of these " strange gods," in-
stead of bestowmg all adoration upon the Hebrew god,
Jehovah.



172 PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS.

The Jewish law says : ' ' There shall be no whore (Jca-
desli in the original) of the daughters of Israel, nor a
sodomite (Jcadeshuth., masculine — and usually cas-
trated) of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the
hire of a whore {zanali in the Hebrew) or the price of
a dog {celeV) into the house of the Lord." Here we
have entirely different words in the same connection to
mean those who practice promiscuous sexual union.
The primary meaning of kadesh is "a consecrated
one," and is used to indicate one who serves at or in
the temple of worship ; and it has both the feminine
and masculine form indicated by varying terminations.
This law does not prohibit this class, but declares they
shall not be Israelites. These classes not only existed
in Israel, but they were probably attached to the tem-
ples of woi-ship by one set of authorities, who are
blamed ; and those who removed or destroyed them are
commended for so doing. The women of this class
wore a special attire, including a veil; and conducted
themselves quietly — not seeking customers, but wait-
ing for them to make the first approach. Tamar was
thus arrayed when Judah thought she was "a conse-
crated one," or ^'temple attendant," or "religious
harlot," and consequently one with whom he was
legally permitted to associate in satisfaction of his
passion ; and the settlement of the matter indicated
that he was excused, if indeed not wholly justified.
The kadeshim and kadeshuth are supposed to have been
the occupants of the small apartments attached to the
temple or tabernacle, and were at the service of any one



PHALLISM AMONG THE JEWS. 173

who desired and could pay for the accommodation ; and,
as both sexes were inchided among them, their patrons
conld relieve the monotony of legalized fornication by
the practice of tolerated sodomy. They occupied
among the Jews at that time about the same place that
"women of the idol" or nautch girls do among the
Hindus. They were, no doubt, " the women Avho as-
sembled in troops at the door of the tabernacle," with
whom the sons of Eli openly and notoriously cohabited.
The zanah — literally, semen emitter — Avas, on the
contrary, an outcast, wearing a conspicuous attire,
without a veil ; and was so bold of demeanor as to rush
up and kiss men in public. The ceZeS — dog, sodom-
ite — was a despised and execrated character, with
whom no one acknowledged any relationship. These
outcasts were, therefore, in wonderful contrast with the
honorable attaches of the tabernacle — the kadeshim
and kadeshuth.

All this does not, of course, indicate that the Mosaic
law justifies or excuses these things. It simply illus-
trates that as a people the Jews Avere, in their lapses
from rectitude, given to the worship of phallic gods,
using phallic emblems, and engaging in phallic cere-
monies — as licentious as other neighboring nations.
Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezckiel, and other prophets are direct
in their charges of these kinds of worship and licentious
practices. Josiah found them all in full flower at Sol-
omon's temple in Jerusalem, in Samaria, and in " every
high place," and " beneath every green tree ; " and his
praises are sung for destroying the paraphernalia and



174 GREEK AND ROMAN PHALLISM.

idols, driving out the kadeshim and kadeshnth, and
slaughtering the priests of this unholy Avorship. That
is, he killed the provincial priests, but spared those in .
Jerusalem — probably because they M^ere so popular
that he dare not go so far in the metropolis.

When Rachel left her father's house, she carried
away her father's terephim; David was in possession of
such images ; Micah made some for himself, which the
Danites took from him, and which they worshiped as
their god. These terephims were images of a man
w^ith phallus prominent and erect. Some of them were
simply phalli, or the masculine triad. Maachah was
deposed from being queen because she made a simili-
tude of a phallus and worshiped it in a " grove." And
Ezekiel charges this worship upon the Israelites.

Circumcision as a religious rite common to many
ancient and modern civilizations is so clearly phalhc as
to need no comment.

GREEK AND ROMAN PHALLISM.

The Greek religion was essentially Indian and Egyp-
tian in its mythology, dogmas and ceremonies. The
Greeks, however, were not only extensive but very
complimentary borrowers ; for they gave to everything
they copied from others a new lustre and an enhanced
attraction by clothing it in new beauties.

The Greek myths, while essentially the same as
those of the Hindus and Egyptians, and while, there-
fore, quite as phallic, were yet so logically constructed



BACCHANALIAN ORGIES. 175

and so poetically expressed that their superior con-
sistency and greater beauty made them seem more real,
and, therefore, more divine. Their worship was quite
as sexual as that of Phoenicia and Assyria ; but it was
inculcated in language so impressively rhythmical, and
in allegories so hopeful and joyous of the heroic sac-
rifices and achievements of its deities, that it at the
same time charmed the ear with its melody and aroused
the imagination by its brilliant suggestions — while it
warmed the heart into grander enthusiasm and to di-
viner aspirations. Their ceremonies were as licentious
as those of Babylon and the Sactas ; but they were
dressed in such attractive splendor, with a dramatic
movement so enticing and impressive, using a sym-
bolism at once so realistically beautiful, and so preg-
nant of possible esoteric unfolding, conducted by a
priesthood grand in physique, cultured in intellect and
eloquence, and unsurpassed in graceful dignity, and,
in accordance with a ritual, so rich in the vitally and
actively beautifid, so well calculated to arouse en-
thusiastic and heroic ardor, and so full of charmingly
sentimental as well as sul^tilely amorous suggestions,
that the devotees — at least many of them — were so
exalted in their worship as to consider the sensual in-
dulgences, and licentious rites in which they reveled,
as incidental adjuncts — rather than the fundamental
object of their Bacchanalian orgies.

It is scarcely possible for some minds to conceive it
possible that so much sublimity of real purity in
dogma, and so much of all that is beautiful in poetic



176 GREEK AND EOMAN PHALLISM.

expression — both in word painting and statuary — was
connected with such sensual ceremonies, and that
priests and people alike engaged in such licentious and
even unnatui-al sexual excesses.

"In Homeric days," says Mr. Gladstone, "we find
among the Greeks no infanticide, no canabalism, no
practice or mention of unnatural lusts ; incest is pro-
foundly abhorred. There is polygamy, but no domestic
concubinage — and adultery is detested."

Among the sublime teachings of their grand philoso-
phers, who are even now venerated for their transcen-
dental utterances, and who had been mitiated into the
mysteries and helped to initiate others, and, hence, of
course, participating in all the Eleusinian and Bacchic
orgies, are the following : —

" The misery which a soul endures in the present life,
when giving itself up to the dominion of the irrational
part, is notliing more than the commencement, as it
were, of that torment which it will experience here-
after — a toi-ment the same in kiud, though different in
degree, as it will be much more di-eadful, vehement,
and extended. He who is superior to the domination
of his irrational nature is an inhalntant of a place to-
tally different from Hades." (How like St. Paul say-
ing " our citizenship is in Heaven.") " They come to
the blissful regions, and delightful green retreats, and
happy abodes in the fortunate groves. A freer and
purer sky here clothes the fields with a purple fight ;
they recognize their own sun, their own stars."

Socrates says : " It is the business of philosophers
to study to die, and be themselves dead ; " and yet at



ESOTERIC INTERPRETATIONS. 177

the same time reprobates suicide ; which is simply
synonymous Avith Peter : " that Ave, having died unto
sins, might hve unto righteousness." Yet Soc-
rates was a phaUic- worshiping Greek ; for, while he
was not an initiate, as were his pupils, Plato and Aris-
tides, he approved of the mysteries.

A great teacher has said : ' ' The moral quality of
human action does not lie in the particular thing done,
nor in its effects upon the actor or upon others, but in
the mtention or motive of the one who acts." The
great teacher of the Indias said, in relation to those not
his avowed followers : " If they do it with a firm belief,
in so doing they involuntarily serve me. I am he who
partakes of all worship, and I am their reward."
Greek instructors taught that ecstacy was sought as a
state in which to receive divine influx ; because, in this
ecstatic condition the human soul pierces beyond the
encumbrance of the body and enters into communion
with the gods. Some of their writers tell us what they
learned in this exalted and enthusiastic state : —

"I Avas taught that God is self-generated mind."
" I saw that love was the first creation of the gods,
and that from the divine influence of this impulse all
that is created flows." " The great phalli at the door
of the temple symbolize the divine activity which im-
pregnates all nature."

Appuleius relates that during his initiation into the
mystei'ies he " saw the sun at midnight." The literal
reader disbelieves him or calls it a miracle. The initiate,
however, does neither. He knows that Appuleius meant



178 GREEK AND ROMAN PHALLISM.

that the sensual darkness of his natural mind was
lighted up to a perception of the higher truth while
looking upon the material symbols of the generating
deities. Speaking of the sacred ark or cist of the mys-