lli;;!!"lliiM|'';iii'ii:'ii'>' 
 iiilllliii; 
 
 
 iliii 
 
 iliii 
 
 n 
 
 lliliiiiiii! 
 
 ■'; mI : <■ 
 
 '■ii.,;iii!|'- .' 
 
1 
 
 
CORNELL UNWERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 n 
 
 3 1924 075 753 529 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924075753529 
 
SEX WORSHIP. 
 
Sex Worship; 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF THE PHALWC 
 ORIGIN OP RELIGION 
 
 BY 
 
 CUFFORD HOWARD 
 
 rn^H EDITION 
 
 CHICAGO MEDICAL BOOK COMPANY 
 
 CHICAGO 
 1909 
 
COPYHIGHT 
 
 BY CLIFFORD HOWARD 
 
 1898. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This work has for its object a general 
 presentation of sex worship, or phallicism 
 (the worship of the generative powers of 
 nature), for the purpose of demonstrating 
 that the various religious faiths of the 
 world have had a common origin, and are 
 founded upon a natural, material basis — 
 the adoration of life in its phenomena of 
 creation and reproduction. 
 
 A thorough and exhaustive treatment 
 of the subject is, of course, beyond the 
 scope of the present work, which is limited 
 solely to an exposition of the principal and 
 more salient features of phallicism, in its 
 direct and obvious relation to theology and 
 to the religious beliefs and symbols of the 
 present day. No attempt has, therefore, 
 been made to treat any of the particular 
 or more complex phases of the subject, 
 
 S 
 
COPYKIGHT 
 
 BV CUFFORD KOWAHD 
 
 1898. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This work has for its object a general 
 presentation of sex worship, or phallicism 
 (the worship of the generative powers of 
 nature), for the purpose of demonstrating 
 that the various religious faiths of the 
 world have had a common origin, and are 
 founded upon a natural, material basis — 
 the adoration of life in its phenomena of 
 creation and reproduction. 
 
 A thorough and exhaustive treatment 
 of the subject is, of course, beyond the 
 scope of the present work, which is limited 
 solely to an exposition of the principal and 
 more salient features of phallicism, in its 
 direct and obvious relation to theology and 
 to the religious beliefs and symbols of the 
 present day. No attempt has, therefore, 
 been made to treat any of the particular 
 or more complex phases of the subject, 
 
 S 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 nor to discuss its social and physiological 
 aspects, which, although of great value and 
 interest, could not appropriately be treated 
 within the limits of this volume. 
 
 The work here presented embodies a 
 large amount of original research, as well 
 as the investigations of leading authorities 
 on the subject, all of whose works have 
 been carefully studied. The author has 
 avoided making any foot-note references 
 to these authorities, for not only do such 
 notes fail to serve any practical purpose — 
 except to satisfy the critical reader that 
 the writer has not drawn upon his own 
 imagination, — but in the present instance 
 the data at the command of the author 
 have been gathered from such a variety of 
 sources, and the evidence presented by 
 them is so largely cumulative, while at the 
 same time they are so closely interwoven 
 with the facts derived from the author's 
 individual investigations and discoveries, 
 that it would be a difficult matter to clas- 
 sify his statements in accordance with 
 their primary source. 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 It has, therefore, been deemed sufficient 
 to append hereto a list of the principal 
 books on phallicism consulted by the au- 
 thor in the preparation of this work. 
 While this list does not pretend to be a 
 complete bibliography, it probably repre- 
 sents the most important English works 
 on phallic worship, and will, it is hoped, 
 be of service to such students as may de- 
 sire to investigate the subject more fully. 
 
 All of these books, however, are exceed- 
 ingly rare and difficult to obtain, for up 
 to this time the study of sex worship has 
 been confined to a small class of scholars 
 and investigators, who have been careful 
 to withhold from the public the compara- 
 tively few works on the subject ; so that 
 the general student has had little or no 
 opportunity for acquainting himself with 
 the revelations of this important branch 
 of knowledge. 
 
 It is hoped, therefore, that the present 
 work may prove of interest to the thought- 
 ful and intelligent public, for whom it is 
 designed, and that it will be received and 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 appreciated in the spirit that its impor- 
 tance and significance deserve. 
 
 THE Author. 
 
 Washington, 
 1897. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. TAGS. 
 
 Introduction il 
 
 I. The Basis of Religion 25 
 
 II. The Creator. . , 44 
 
 III. ThePhallus 63 
 
 IV. PhaUic Emblems 84 
 
 V. Sexual Sacrifices 103 
 
 VI. The Female Principle I17 
 
 VII. Feminine Emblems , 130 
 
 VIII. The Serpent and the Cross 154 
 
 IX. The Divine Act 172 
 
 X. Regeneration 189 
 
 Appendix. list of Works on Fhallicism.. 213 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 No subject is of greater importance and 
 significance in the evolution of the human 
 race than that of sex worship — the adora- 
 tion of the generative organs as symbols 
 of the creative powers of nature. It is 
 indelibly impressed upon our beliefs, our 
 language and our institutions. It consti- 
 tutes the basis of theology, and underlies 
 the mythologies of all nations. It is the 
 source of our present religious symbols 
 and church architecture, and is the origin 
 of many of our most familiar and sacred 
 celebrations. In a word, it is the founda- 
 tion of religious faith and worship. 
 
 Sex worship, or phallicism, was not con- 
 fined to any one race nor to any particular 
 age in the history of the world. It was 
 the form of worship common to all the 
 early nations of the globe ; a worship uni- 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 versally inspired by the manifestations of 
 nature in her great mystery of life and 
 procreation. 
 
 While the highest development of phalli- 
 cism was reached by the ancient Egyp- 
 tians, Assyrians, Hindoos, Greeks, and 
 Romans, proof of the existence of this 
 form of religion is to be found in every 
 part of the earth inhabited by man. Per- 
 sia, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, 
 Java, Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, 
 Ethiopia, Europe and the British Isles, 
 together with Mexico, Central America, 
 Peru and various other portions of the 
 western hemisphere — all yield abundant 
 evidence in support of the universality of 
 phallic worship as a primitive form of re- 
 ligion, and of the common origin of theo- 
 logical creeds. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that 
 sex worship was peculiar alone to the past 
 ages. It is common among primitive 
 peoples in all parts of the world to-day ; 
 and in India, where this form of religion 
 has existed uninterruptedly for thousands 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 3 
 
 .of years, there are at the present time up- 
 wards of one hundred million true phallic- 
 worshipers. Among the Zufli and other 
 North American tribes phallicism enters 
 largely into their religious ceremonies, 
 while the natives of many of the Pacific 
 islands and various parts of Africa are 
 most ardent devotees in the worship of 
 the procreative functions, and practise 
 their religion in the realistic and unequiv- 
 ocal manner of primeval naturalness. 
 
 While there are doubtless many who 
 may be inclined to question the relation- 
 ship between the religious rites and sym- 
 bols of the present day, and those em- 
 ployed in the past ages of phallic worship, 
 the fact nevertheless remains — and is ap- 
 preciated by all students of ethnology, — 
 that religious institutions as they exist to- 
 day are but the outgrowth or modification 
 of others that preceded them, or are simply 
 a continuation of ancient forms adapted 
 to new meanings or purposes. This is 
 true of all features of sociological life, and 
 is a necessary incident of the progress of 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 society and of the evolution of the human 
 mind. 
 
 In the study of language, for example, 
 we find innumerable instances in which 
 the primary meaning of a word or a name 
 has been completely altered. In the 
 course of time the original significance 
 has lost its force, and the word has be- 
 come adapted to a new meaning, having 
 no resemblance whatsoever to that which 
 it had at first ; as in the case of our word 
 idiot (to cite one example out of a thou- 
 sand), which, in the original Greek, was a 
 term used to distinguish a private citizen 
 from one who held office, and had no ref- 
 erence to his mental qualities. 
 
 In the same manner many of our social 
 customs have come down to us through 
 the centuries, and are retained either as a 
 matter of habit, or because they fit some 
 present condition, though their original 
 purpose has long been forgotten or has 
 become obsolete. This is illustrated in 
 our custom of shaking hands as a mode of 
 greeting ; a practice that had its beginning 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 in the days when every man stood ready 
 to slay his fellow-creatures, and when 
 good will and friendship could best be 
 shown by a man's giving to another his 
 right hand, thereby indicating his peace- 
 able intentions through his inability to 
 draw his sword ; and to this day we con- 
 tinue to give the right hand, to the exclu- 
 sion of the left, although the sense and 
 reason for it no longer exist. 
 
 So, also, do our present marriage cus- 
 toms afford a striking example of the re- 
 lationship existing between primitive and 
 modern institutions, and of the influence 
 and persistence of the primary features of 
 the social organism through all the ages 
 of its growth and development. Probably 
 there are few who stop to seek the pri- 
 mary reason for many of our marriage 
 customs — ^why it is that the woman re- 
 ceives presents prior to the wedding ; why 
 the man invariably goes to the house of 
 the bride, and the bride never to the house * 
 of the groom, to be married ; why the 
 bridegroom is attended by a " best man," 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 why he has a ring placed upon the finger of 
 the bride, and why he hurries away with her 
 on a wedding journey. 
 
 These and many other incidents of 
 marriage are so . familiar to us, and have 
 become so much a matter of course, that 
 we do not realize that in these customs 
 we are but repeating in conventional 
 form the acts of our primitive and sav- 
 age forefathers, in those early days of 
 human society when a man was obliged 
 either to capture his wife and run away 
 with her (an undertaking ofttimes requir- 
 ing the assistance of a trusted friend), or 
 to purchase her with gifts contributed by 
 himself and his family ; for a wife was a 
 mere chattel, to be fought for or pur- 
 chased ; and, when finally possessed, the 
 token of her subjugation was a ring (the 
 badge of servitude), which was placed 
 upon one of her fingers. 
 
 To those who have given any attention 
 to the growth and derivation of human 
 institutions these illustrative facts will at 
 once be appreciated, and their citation 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1/ 
 
 may, perhaps, be considered an unneces- 
 sary digression. Yet they will undoubt- 
 edly tend to more readily convince the 
 general reader that many features peculiar 
 to human society may very easily have a 
 past significance entirely at variance with 
 that which they have to-day ; so that it 
 should not prove surprising to find that 
 what is true of our language and our 
 social customs, is equally true of our the- 
 ology and church symbolism ; that many 
 of our religious customs and emblems 
 have come down to us from a remote past, 
 and have simply been adapted to mean- 
 ings and purposes in accordance with our 
 present ideas and social conditions. 
 
 In viewing the forms and ceremonials 
 connected with the nature worship of 
 early civilization it should be constantly 
 borne in mind that, however extravagant 
 or absurd they may appear to us, they 
 served in their time a definite and reason- 
 able purpose — that nothing comes into 
 existence except as the result of an efii- 
 cient cause. It must be remembered that 
 
 2 
 
1 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 among the early races of mankind lan- 
 guage was largely symbolical ; that primi- 
 tive man was obliged to resort to suggest- 
 ive natural objects — and their more or less 
 conventional symbolization — for the con- 
 veyance of his ideas ; and hence the sun, 
 the moon, the stars, the day and the night, 
 the trees, the flowers, the animals — in 
 short, all phenomena and forms of life 
 were called into requisition to supply his 
 need for some means of expressing his 
 thoughts and emotions. Consequently, 
 many objects and functions were given 
 meanings which we to-day fail to appre- 
 ciate, because of our dependence upon a 
 fixed and formal language, and our con- 
 sequent failure to see in these objects and 
 functions anything beyond their direct 
 and intrinsic significance. 
 
 Nor must we fall into the error of re- 
 garding the rites and symbols of phalli- 
 cism in the light of modern prejudice. 
 While on their surface they may appear 
 incompatible with our present ideas of 
 propriety, it should not be forgotten that 
 
INTRODUCTION. I9 
 
 morality and religion are purely relative 
 terms, and that what is highly improper 
 at one time may be both proper and re- 
 ligious at another. It is scarcely neces- 
 sary to remind any one, however superfi- 
 cial may be his knowledge of history, that 
 man's conceptions of right and wrong 
 have been constantly changing ; that the 
 standard of morality and religion has been 
 different in each age ; that the virtue of 
 yesterday is the sin of to-day, and that 
 what one race has regarded with rever- 
 ence another has spurned with con- 
 demnation. 
 
 Each age, and each nation in the his- 
 tory of the world has had its individual 
 ideals of morality ; and each race and each 
 community to-day has its independent 
 conceptions of virtue and goodness ; and 
 while each set of people is convinced of 
 the correctness of its own standard of 
 ethics, no two of these standards agree in 
 all particulars. On the contrary, many of 
 them are in direct opposition to one an- 
 other. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is only proper, therefore, in studying 
 the customs and beliefs of any particular 
 age or of a particular race, that we 
 should acquaint ourselves with the sur- 
 rounding and influencing conditions ; 
 with the social and mental status of the 
 race or community, and view its people 
 from the standpoint of their own time 
 and their own life conditions and environ- 
 ment, without any reference to what may 
 be the prevailing notions or beliefs as the 
 result of entirely different conditions. 
 
 In a primitive state of society man ex- 
 presses himself with equal freedom and 
 unreserve on all natural and physiological 
 phenomena within his observation. Ex- 
 perience has not yet suggested to him 
 any necessity for concealing certain bodily 
 functions, or for regarding certain of his 
 appetites as essentially different from any 
 of his other natural desires. 
 
 This is a matter of common knowledge 
 and observation, and is abundantly attest- 
 ed by the records and the history of man- 
 kind ; the evidence contained in the Old 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 Testament being alone sufficient to con- 
 vince any one of this feature of primordial 
 social conditions. Not only do we find 
 the writers of sacred history freely and 
 unaffectedly referring to many things that 
 in this day are considered indecent and 
 unholy, or at least unfit for general dis- 
 cussion, but the Lord himself is recorded 
 as speaking on these topics with a fre- 
 quency and in a manner to leave no doubt 
 that nothing in their nature or suggestive- 
 ness rendered them in those early days 
 unworthy of even divine mention. 
 
 This characteristic of the Scriptural 
 writings is familiar to all readers of the 
 Bible, and would prove of even greater 
 significance and force were it not for the 
 fact that many Hebrew words and expres- 
 sions have been altered in their translation 
 from the original, where they appear in a 
 boldness and directness of meaning quite 
 incompatible with latter-day notions of re- 
 finement, and which cannot fail to satisfy 
 the most skeptical, that matters pertain- 
 ing to the generative functions and to the 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sexes were formerly discussed with per- 
 fect familiarity and plainness, with no 
 thought of impropriety or immodesty. 
 
 But aside from all ethical considerations, 
 it is only necessary to remember that re- 
 ligion, in whatever form it may be mani- 
 fested, always represents man's highest 
 and purest thought, and that no one would 
 deliberately introduce into his religious 
 worship anything that to his mind was 
 impure or unholy. If phallic worship 
 sometimes degenerated into licentiousness 
 and other inconsistent practices, it is no 
 more reasonable on this account to ques- 
 tion its inherent righteousness and purity, 
 than to deride Christianity because of the 
 many sins that have been committed in 
 its name by those who have prostituted 
 religion to selfish and unholy purposes. 
 
 Therefore, however absurd or unreason- 
 able sex worship may appear to us at this 
 day, let us not forget that it was man's 
 religion at the dawn of civilization ; that 
 it represents a stage in the development 
 of the human mind, and that the grandest 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 theologies of to-day are the outcome of 
 this primitive mode of worship ; that it 
 constitutes the basis of all that is sacred, 
 holy and beautiful. 
 
SEX WORSHIP 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 
 
 The animating impulse of all organic 
 life is the sexual instinct. It is that which 
 underlies the struggle for existence in the 
 animal world, and is the source of all hu- 
 man endeavor and emotion. 
 
 That afiSnity which draws the two sexes 
 together for the purpose of uniting in the 
 production of a new being — that over- 
 mastering, universal impulse — is the most 
 powerful factor in all that pertains to the 
 human race, and has ever been the cause 
 and the subject of man's most exalted 
 thought. 
 
 25 
 
26 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 In this day and age, when matters per- 
 taining to the sexes are generally avoided, 
 and we are taught that the sexual appetite 
 is an animal craving, that should be sub- 
 dued and concealed as unworthy of man's 
 superior nature, it is not surprising that 
 the great majority of persons are blind to 
 the vast importance and significance of the 
 sexual nature in its relation to the affairs 
 of the world, and that they fail to realize 
 that not only is it the cause of our indi- 
 vidual existence, but that it is the founda- 
 tion of society and the well-spring of 
 human life and happiness. 
 
 It is not our purpose here to enter up- 
 on a discussion of the physiological fea- 
 tures of the subject, showing the intimate 
 and unavoidable relationship existing be- 
 tween the mind and the sexual instinct ; 
 but suffice it to say, that were man de- 
 prived of this instinct it would not only 
 result in the extermination of the race 
 (for procreation would be impossible in 
 the absence of this animating desire), but 
 all ambition, endeavor and affection, all 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION, 27 
 
 poetry, art and religion — in short, all the 
 emotions and achievements inspired by 
 what we term love would cease, and the 
 world would become cold and passionless ; 
 destitute of sentiment or aspiration, devoid 
 of any incentive to progress or energy ; 
 while the intricate and reciprocal machin- 
 ery of human society, robbed of its mo- 
 tive force, would come to a stop and 
 crumble away in hopeless disorganiza- 
 tion. 
 
 It is universally admitted that love is 
 the animating spirit of the world ; and 
 what is love but a manifestation of the 
 sexual instinct ? The civilized man, who 
 woos the object of his affection through 
 the medium of inspired poetry and other 
 sentimental graces, who reveals the long- 
 ings of his heart in language and conduct 
 at once pure, refined and tender, and who 
 instinctively shrinks from the suggestion 
 of any sensuality in his- feelings, is never- 
 theless actuated by precisely the same 
 motive as that which governs the savage 
 in his brutal and uncouth demonstration 
 
28 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 of desire toward one of the opposite sex. 
 Each is but giving expression, in accord- 
 ance with his individual nature and social 
 conditions, to the same feeling, the same 
 impulse. In the one case we recognize it 
 as love ; in the other, as sensuality ; yet 
 both spring from the same source ; both 
 are animated by the same instinct. 
 
 Whatever reluctance there may be in 
 admitting this physical truth, is due to 
 the unfortunate fact that we have been 
 taught to regard the generative nature as 
 confined wholly within the narrow limits 
 of its purely sensual manifestations, as ex- 
 hibited in lust and mere animal gratifica- 
 tion ; and, consequently, we fail to recog- 
 nize it in its higher, nobler and all-pervad- 
 ing form of love. But viewing it in its 
 broad and true aspect, untrammeled by 
 arbitrary definitions, we are forced to ad- 
 mit its vital importance as the supreme 
 factor in the life and welfare of the human 
 race. 
 
 Love, as an abstract power, is ever 
 glorified and idealized, because we see in 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 29 
 
 it the source, the inspiration, of all beauty, 
 morality and sublimity ; the incentive to 
 deeds of the highest and noblest charac- 
 ter ; the elevating and controlling spirit 
 of man's life. Every poet, every artist, 
 every composer — all who are gifted with 
 power of most truly expressing the lofti- 
 est emotions and feelings of mankind 
 have found their inspiration in the in- 
 exhaustible theme of love ; and no lan- 
 guage, no expression, has ever been deem- 
 ed too exalted, too far-reaching, for the 
 portrayal of this universal and omnipotent 
 passion. 
 
 In our idealization of love it soars be- 
 yond the bounds of earthly limitations, 
 and we hesitate not to ascribe to it a di- 
 vine character, and to embrace it in the 
 highest and most sacred sphere of man's 
 intellectual domain — religion. Nay, do 
 we not raise it to the loftiest point capable 
 of attainment by the human mind, when 
 we reverently exclaim, " God is love ! " 
 — when we bow down and worship it as 
 the divine essence, the supreme power ? 
 
30 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 It is not within the province of this 
 work to attempt a complete analysis of 
 love, or sexuality, in its complex relation 
 to these higher and more subtle phases 
 of human thought and conduct ; but 
 enough has been said to indicate that the 
 animating spirit of the human mind — the 
 underlying principle of its lofty and holy 
 emotions, — is the spiritualizing power of 
 the sexual instinct ; that this impulse lies 
 at the foundation of all thought and action, 
 and finds its grandest and most exalted 
 expression in religion. 
 
 Love is both the foundation and the 
 pinnacle of religion ; the beginning and 
 the end of human thought and aspiration. 
 Religious emotion springs from the ani- 
 mating power of the sexual nature, and 
 through the emotion thus aroused we 
 deify and worship the inspirational source 
 of our spiritual longings. In every sense, 
 both physical and spiritual, b6th material 
 and ideal, love is the animating, creative 
 force of the world ; the divine immanence 
 of the universe ; the actuating source of 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 3 1 
 
 life, and the indwelling spirit of the soul ; 
 the beginning and end of all that is. 
 
 It is not intended, however, that the 
 proof of the basis of religious worship 
 shall alone rest upon a physiological anal- 
 ysis, however complete or demonstrative, 
 but that the records of human history 
 shall bear witness to the fact, that the- 
 ology has sprung from the animating im- 
 pulse of life, and that it has for its primary 
 and universal object the worship of its in- 
 spiring cause ; the worship of the mystery 
 of life, of creation and reproduction ; the 
 worship of the omnipotent creative power. 
 
 Of all the phenomena of nature there is 
 none that has always so strongly excited 
 the wonder and reverence of mankind as 
 that of procreation — the transmission of 
 life from one generation to another. At 
 all times and on all hands we behold 
 nature engaged in her ceaseless work of 
 reproduction ; and yet the mystery of 
 that wondrous creative power, which 
 causes the plant to spring from the tiny 
 seed, and brings the child — a new being — 
 
32 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 into the world, is to-day as deep and in- 
 spiring as it was to the mind of man in 
 the early dawn of the world's history. 
 
 One of the first problems of human 
 thought is that regarding creation. 
 Where do we come from ? How is life 
 produced? Who brings the new beings 
 into the world? These are the natural 
 and innocent questions that perplex the 
 mind of every child ; questions that from 
 time immemorial have been asked by 
 mankind, and have inspired a responsive 
 belief in the existence of an eternal and 
 almighty creative power ; a belief that is 
 common to all people of the world, and 
 which constitutes the central and basic 
 truth of all religious faiths. 
 
 It is apparent to every one who has had 
 an opportunity of studying the subject, 
 that all religions have had a common 
 origin, and that however much they may 
 differ in their teachings and their institu- 
 tions, they but represent different methods 
 of worshiping one and the same object. 
 Brahma, Jehovah, God, Allah and hun- 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 33 
 
 dreds of others, are simply different 
 names for the same deity, as viewed from 
 different standpoints ; and this deity, this 
 universal object of adoration, is the su- 
 preme creative power. 
 
 When the ambassador from the French 
 court presented to the Buddhist king of 
 Siam the request of Louis XIV that he 
 would embrace Christianity, he replied : 
 " It is strange that the king of France 
 should interest himself so niuch in a mat- 
 ter which concerns only God, whilst He 
 whom it does concern seems to have left 
 it wholly to our discretion. Had it been 
 agreeable to the Creator that all nations 
 should have the same form of worship, 
 would it not have been as easy for him in 
 his omnipotence to have created all men 
 with the same sentiments and dispositions, 
 and to have inspired them with the same 
 notions of the True Religion, as to en- 
 dow them with such different tempers and 
 inclinations? Ought we not rather to 
 believe that the true God has as much 
 pleasure in being hor.ored by a variety of 
 3 
 
34 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 forms and ceremonies, as in being praised 
 and glorified by a number of different 
 creatures ? " 
 
 " Even they who worship other gods," 
 says Krishna, the incarnate deity, in an 
 ancient Hindu poem, " worship me al- 
 though they know it not." 
 
 These expressions embody the teach- 
 ings of the higher philosophy of the Bud- 
 dhist and Hindu religions, which recognize 
 the true source and motive of all religious 
 faiths. According to them there is but one 
 religion ; one supreme, everlasting truth ; 
 and the so-called different religions of the 
 world are but different modes of mani- 
 festing and expressing this eternal truth. 
 
 No two individuals, however closely re- 
 lated by birth and circumstances, ever 
 view the same object in exactly the same 
 light. Much less, therefore, can we ex- 
 pect widely separated nations, living 
 under entirely different conditions, to re- 
 semble one another in their views and cus- 
 toms and to construct similar systems of 
 morality and church government. Each 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 35 
 
 builds its social and theological structure 
 in accordance with its ideas and needs ; 
 each constructs a form of religion suitable 
 to its conditions, mental and physical. 
 Every being, every race, every age, has a 
 form of religion in conformity with its in- 
 dividual status and necessities. The savage 
 no more comprehends our abstract, imper- 
 sonal conception of the Almighty, than 
 can we understand his reverence for a 
 supreme god in the form of a wooden 
 idol ; yet both the savage and ourselves 
 are worshiping identically the same object, 
 and are actuated by the same motive. 
 
 These facts become all the more ap- 
 parent when we note how great is the 
 diversity of thought and conduct among 
 people of the same community and of the 
 same religious faith. Do we not see 
 Christianity broken up into a multitude of 
 sects and denominations, each observing 
 the same religion in a different manner? 
 And do we not realize that the idea of 
 God is subject to a multitude of interpre- 
 tations ? 
 
36 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 Each Christian, while conforming to the 
 general theological opinion, has his own 
 individual conception of the Almighty ; 
 and what is true of individuals is likewise 
 true of denominations and of different gen- 
 erations and periods in the history of 
 Christianity. The character and attri- 
 butes ascribed to the Deity are to-day, 
 and ever have been, as various and con- 
 flicting as are the opinions and feelings of 
 mankind. Every man's idea of God is 
 dependent upon his nature, his education 
 and his social condition. As the intellect 
 and disposition are refined, so does the 
 conception of the Supreme Being become 
 more exalted and more spiritual, while to 
 the mind of lesser development the Al- 
 mighty appears more material, more per- 
 sonal, more closely allied with man him- 
 self, until we reach the anthropomorphic 
 conception, in which God is regarded 
 simply as an exaggerated human being, 
 endowed with the same feelings and emo- 
 tions that actuate his creatures, and gov- 
 erned by the same passions and impulses ; 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 37 
 
 as we find illustrated in the Old-Testament 
 descriptions of Jehovah. 
 
 While Jehovah and the God of Chris- 
 tianity are one and the same Being, there 
 are probably few Christians to-day whose 
 conception of the Creator accords with 
 that entertained by the Israelites ; for, in 
 truth, it is not such as is in harmony with 
 the present religion of love and peace, but, 
 on the contrary, is that of a vengeful, 
 sanguinary deity ; one who was easily 
 aroused to anger, and did not hesitate to 
 scourge and to slay those who opposed 
 him ; destroying at one time as many as 
 fifty thousand, in a sudden fit of indigna- 
 tion, and constantly commanding the Is- 
 raelites to wage war against and to lay 
 waste the lands and cities of their enemies ; 
 afflicting with plagues, pestilence and 
 famine those who displeased him, and 
 threatening his chosen people with dread- 
 ful curses and cruel punishments should 
 they fail to obey him : " Cursed shalt thou 
 be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in 
 the field. Cursed shalt thou be when 
 
38 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be 
 when thou goest out. The Lord shall 
 smite thee with a consumption, and with 
 a fever, and with an inflammation, and with 
 an extreme burning, and with the sword, 
 and with blasting, and with mildew. And 
 the Lord will smite thee with the botch 
 of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with 
 the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou 
 canst not be healed. Moreover he will 
 bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, 
 which thou wast afraid of, and they shall 
 cleave unto thee. Also every sickness 
 and every plague, which is not written in 
 the book of this law, them will the Lord 
 bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed." 
 These and many more are the curses 
 enumerated in the Lord's malediction 
 against the Israelites, as found in the 
 twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. 
 
 We have here, therefore, in our own 
 theological history, a striking example of 
 what has just been said regarding the dis- 
 similar ideas and representations of one 
 and the same deity, — each age, each race, 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 39 
 
 each denomination having its individual 
 conception of God, in accordance with the 
 social and intellectual status of its people. 
 
 When we trace the development and 
 growth of Christian civilization through 
 the past centuries, we find that religious 
 notions and customs, in common with 
 the idea of God, have been constantly 
 changing, and that what we call Christian- 
 ity has embraced every conceivable vari- 
 ety of thought and conduct; that it has 
 served as the authority for practices and 
 institutions that at another time have 
 been condemned by the same authority. 
 The Inquisition flourished in its name ; 
 the valiant Crusades were carried on under 
 its banners ; it has filled the world with 
 darkness and with misery, and it has been 
 the beacon light of hope and salvation 
 — the glorious annunciation of joy and 
 liberty. 
 
 But, despite these marvelous changes 
 and contradictions, who will say that 
 Christianity itself has changed ; that the 
 foundation on which it rests has been 
 
40 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 shaken ? The fundamental doctrines and 
 truths have remained unaltered ; they 
 have simply been modified and adapted 
 to the various stages in the evolution of 
 human society, now appearing in one 
 form, and now in another, concordantly 
 with the social and mental development 
 of the race. 
 
 So, also, do we find that many of the 
 main features of Christianity are simply 
 modifications or adaptations of those exist- 
 ing in older forms of religion. We know 
 that long prior to the time of Christ, man- 
 kind worshiped the Almighty in the form 
 of a triune god. The Hindoos had their 
 Brahma, Vishnu and Siva — Creator, Pre- 
 server and Reproducer, or Holy Spirit, 
 whose emblem was a dove. The Assyr- 
 ians, too, worshiped a Trinity, as did also 
 the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Pheni- 
 cians, Scandinavians, Chaldeans and 
 Romans. In fact, the Supreme Being 
 was worshiped by nearly all the early 
 nations as a triple deity — three in one. 
 
 The legend of the creation and fall of 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 4I 
 
 man is likewise common to all of the prin- 
 cipal ancient faiths. In some of the rec- 
 ords, as the Zend-Avesta of the Persians, 
 and the Vedas of the Hindoos, this legend 
 bears a remarkable likeness in many of its 
 details to that contained in the Bible. 
 There have been found ancient Assyrian 
 cylinders, pictorially recording the temp- 
 tation and fall of man, and in the British 
 Museum there are cuneiform inscriptions 
 showing conclusively that the Babylon- 
 ians had this legend fifteen hundred years 
 or more before the book of Genesis was 
 written. 
 
 The belief in a Savior, a Son of God, 
 who was born of a Virgin, died for the 
 salvation of men, and rose again after 
 death, dates back centuries and even thou- 
 sands of years before the Christian era, as 
 we see in the religions of Egypt, China, 
 India, Mexico and other ancient nations. 
 For a thousand years before the birth of 
 Christ the Hindoos worshiped their virgin- 
 born Redeemer, Krishna; relating his 
 wonderful miracles, following his righteous 
 
42 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 teachings, and calling him the Resurrec- 
 tion and the Life, the Good Shepherd, and 
 the Light of the World. 
 
 Buddha, the Son of God, born of the 
 Virgin Mary, and founder of the faith that 
 to-day numbers more adherents than that 
 of any other in the world,came to earth and 
 died for the redemption of mankind nearly 
 five hundred years before the time of 
 Christ ; while Horus, the Egyptian Sa- 
 vior, according to tradition, lived about 
 six thousand years ago. For ages before 
 the discovery of America by Columbus, 
 the Mexicans worshiped their Redeemer, 
 Quetzalcoatl, who was born of Sochiquet- 
 zal, a pure virgin, chosen by God to be 
 the mother of his only begotten son. 
 
 In short, we find that the fundamental 
 religious beliefs of the world have re- 
 mained unchanged from time immemorial, 
 however diversified and contradictory 
 have been their superincumbent theol- 
 ogies, and that beneath the outward and 
 ceremonial differences of the various faiths 
 of mankind, throughout all the world and 
 
THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 43 
 
 throughout all the ages of human history, 
 there are to be found the same legends 
 and the same beliefs ; all pointing to a 
 common origin, to a universal foundation 
 — the worship of nature in its great mys- 
 tery of life ; the worship of the supreme 
 creative power. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 THE CREATOR. 
 
 As was stated in the preceding chapter, 
 the phenomenon of procreation has ever 
 been a source of deepest interest, curiosity 
 and reverence, and we may readily im- 
 agine how directly and forcibly it must 
 have impressed itself upon the mind of 
 man in those early days of his social de- 
 velopment, when he was more closely de- 
 pendent upon nature than he is now, and 
 when the necessities of his condition ren- 
 dered him keenly observant of all phe- 
 nomena. 
 
 In the infancy of man's mentality the 
 manifestations of nature were unintelligi- 
 ble ; but with that instinct which is still 
 inherent in the human race, he struggled 
 with his finite mind to grasp the infinite, 
 and in his endeavor to comprehend the 
 44 
 
THE CREATOR. 45 
 
 forces and wonders of the universe, he 
 clothed them with the imagery of his un- 
 tutored mind, and they became to nim 
 living entities like himself; the personi- 
 fications of his em.otions and desires ; the 
 representations of superior beings, upon 
 whom he was dependent for his existence 
 and happiness. 
 
 Naturally, he learned to regard most 
 highly that which not only afforded him 
 the greatest pleasure and the greatest 
 good, but which appeared to him as the 
 most powerful and the most incompre- 
 hensible, and thus it was that he came to 
 look upon the generative power as su- 
 perior to aught else. The creative act was 
 his incomparably greatest pleasure, and 
 produced the most wonderful and most- 
 prized result — a new being like himself. 
 Surely, within the range of his observation 
 and experience there was nothing in na- 
 ture at once so mysterious, so potent, so 
 awe-inspiring ; so overpowering in its 
 manifestations, so inexplicably marvelous 
 in its results ; silent and invisible in its 
 
46 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 operations; omnipotent and supreme in 
 its powers and capabilities. 
 
 Man's first impulse is to suppose that 
 the immediately preceding act is the 
 cause of the immediately succeeding re- 
 sult, and it was therefore only natural that 
 at first man should have regarded his virile 
 member as the direct and sole cause of 
 both his pleasure and of his oflspring ; it 
 was through it that the greatest of all 
 things in nature was accomplished, — a 
 wonderful and potent instrument, en- 
 dowed apparently with independent life 
 and activity, and possessed of a power 
 transcending all others in greatness and 
 mystery. 
 
 It required a long time for mankind to 
 reach that stage in which the mind was 
 capable of formulating and grasping 
 abstract notions ; of disassociating attri- 
 butes and qualities from the objects in 
 which they are manifested ; of compre- 
 hending a power or an emotion without 
 some tangible, suggestive symbol ; and 
 so it was that the male organ of genera- 
 
THE CREATOR. 47 
 
 tion, the phallus, was regarded as the 
 incarnate source of being, — as the em- 
 bodiment of the creative power, — and 
 came to be looked upon and adored as 
 the Author of Life. 
 
 In accordance with the instincts of 
 humanity, this supremely marvelous and 
 potent object, appealing to the awe and 
 wonder of mankind, was exalted and 
 worshiped ; worshiped not only as the 
 creator of human life, but as the personi- 
 fication or symbol of the world's creator ; 
 for, in common with all other manifesta- 
 tions of nature, the creative force was 
 deified ; it was ascribed to a superhuman 
 personality, an omnipotent god, who was 
 the Creator, the Father, of all things, and 
 hence the supreme deity. His power 
 was necessarily almighty ; it was he who 
 controlled life and procreation, and the 
 phallus was the incarnation of his power 
 for the accomplishment of life's great pur- 
 pose. 
 
 When we consider the vital importance 
 attached to the begetting of children, in 
 
48 SEX WORSHIP, 
 
 ancient times, we can more readily com- 
 prehend the veneration felt for the organ 
 of generation as their creator ; as the 
 divine instrumentality through which a 
 man's and woman's life duty was fulfilled. 
 Barrenness was not only an affliction, but 
 a curse. To be childless was to a woman 
 worse than death. It was the supreme 
 religious duty of every woman to bear 
 children and perpetuate the seed of man- 
 kind, and it was at the same time the 
 highest ambition of every man to beget 
 sons and daughters. Of this we have 
 ample evidence in the Scriptures and 
 other ancient records. 
 
 We are told, for example, how earnestly 
 Abraham and Sarah longed for a child, 
 and that in their extremity " Sarai said 
 unto Abram, Behold now the Lord hath 
 restrained me from bearing ; I pray thee go 
 in unto my maid ; it may be that I may ob- 
 tain children by her. And Abram heark- 
 ened to the voice of Sarai " (Gen. i6 : 2). 
 
 So, also in the thirtieth chapter of 
 Genesis, we read of the despair of Rachel 
 
THE CREATOR. 49 
 
 at her barrenness — "And when Rachel 
 saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel 
 envied her sister ; and said unto Jacob, 
 Give me children, or else I die ! " and she, 
 too, as a last resort, gave her maid to her 
 husband, in order to thus in a measure 
 palliate her affliction. And, again, in 
 the first chapter of I. Samuel, we learn of 
 the misery endured by Hannah, " because 
 the Lord had shut up her womb. And 
 she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed 
 unto the Lord, and wept sore." 
 
 To die a virgin, as Jephthah's daughter 
 was obliged to do, as the result of her fa- 
 ther's rash vow, — to die without having 
 borne children, — was an awful punishment 
 and curse in the eyes of the ancient world. 
 Rather than submit to the possibility of 
 such a fate women would resort to deceit, 
 treachery and crime, as justifiable under 
 the circumstances ; as we see in the case 
 of Tamar, who deceived her father-in-law,* 
 and in the story of Lot's daughters, who 
 committed incest with their father, while 
 
 * Gen. 38 : 13-26. 
 20 
 
50 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 dwelling in their secluded abode in the 
 mountain, " because there is not a man in 
 the earth to come in unto us after the 
 manner of all the earth ; " and, according 
 to the account as related in the nineteenth 
 chapter of Genesis, they accomplished 
 their purpose through imposition and 
 strategy. 
 
 In short, the begetting of children was 
 the highest and holiest aim in life, the sole 
 purpose of human existence; an ancient 
 belief which is so abundantly demon- 
 strated in the old Testament, and so well 
 known, as scarcely to require particular 
 mention here. 
 
 Naturally, the woman, as well as the 
 man, looked to the Creator as the supreme 
 source of worldly happiness and comfort. 
 Through him alone could be obtained the 
 greatest of all blessings and the accom- 
 plishment of life's purpose ; and it was to 
 him, therefore, that the woman prayed for 
 children, even as the woman of to-day 
 prays to God for a similar blessing." But 
 to the woman of the past the Creator was 
 
THE CREATOR. 51 
 
 not an abstract, impersonal, undefinable 
 being. To her he was a substantial ac- 
 tuality, existing for a specific and well- 
 defined purpose ; closely and definitely 
 associated with the object of her prayers. 
 He was directly and personally concerned 
 in the act of generation, the sole and 
 supreme purpose for which he had brought 
 mankind into the world. It was the Creator 
 himself who came to her, through the 
 medium of the man. The phallus was his 
 divine personality, his actual presence in 
 material form and potent activity. 
 
 That this was the idea entertained of 
 the Creator in ancient times, is shown by 
 such expressions as we find, for example, 
 in the twenty-first chapter of Genesis 
 (relating to the conception and birth of 
 Isaac) : " And the Lord visited Sarah as 
 he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah 
 as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, 
 and bare Abraham a son in his old age." 
 
 So, also, we are told that " God remem- 
 bered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, 
 and opened her womb." (Gen. 30: 22.) 
 
52 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 And, again, it is related that " the Lord 
 visited Hannah, so that she conceived, 
 and bare three sons and two daughters." 
 (I Sam. 2: 21.) 
 
 That the husband was considered as 
 simply the instrument of God, is further 
 significantly demonstrated in the related 
 fact, that Jacob resented his wife's plea to 
 him for children : " And Jacob's anger 
 was kindled against Rachel : and he said, 
 Am I in God's stead who hath withheld 
 from thee the fruit of the womb ? " (Gen. 
 30:2.) 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the idea 
 of the Creator was very closely associated 
 with what his name specifically signifies. 
 The phallus was his most sacred emblem 
 or representative, and, according to the 
 Old Testament, it is clearly shown that 
 the God of the Hebrews so regarded it 
 himself ; for he ordained that it should be 
 specially marked, and should thus con- 
 stitute the sacred token of the contract 
 between himself and his chosen people, 
 and to this day the rite of circumcision is 
 
THE CREATOR. 53 
 
 practised by the Jews, in accordance with 
 this command, which Jehovah gave to 
 Abraham, the father of the Israelites, nine- 
 teen hundred years before Christ : " And 
 God said unto Abraham. . . This is my 
 covenant, which ye shall keep between 
 me and you and thy seed after thee ; every 
 man child among you shall be circumcised. 
 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your 
 foreskin ; and it shall be a token of the cov- 
 enant betwixt me and you. . . He that is 
 born in thy house, and he that is bought 
 with thy money, must needs be circum- 
 cised : and my covenant shall be in your 
 flesh for an everlasting covenant." (Gen. 
 17 : 10-14.) 
 
 In the fifth chapter of Joshua we are 
 told that the Lord said unto Joshua, 
 " Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise 
 again the children of Israel a second time." 
 And when all the people had been circum- 
 cised, " the Lord said unto Joshua, This 
 day have I rolled away the reproach of 
 Egypt from off you." 
 
 From this it is apparent that circumci- 
 
54 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 sion was not only a token of sanctification, 
 but of salvation as well, and the eminent 
 importance attached to it by the Al- 
 mighty is attested by numerous passages 
 in the Bible ; being very forcibly shown 
 by the statement, to be found in the fourth 
 chapter of Exodus, that the Lord was on 
 the point of killing Moses, because he had 
 neglected to circumcise one of his sons, 
 and was only saved by the timely interven- 
 tion of his wife, Zipporah, who " took a 
 sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her 
 son." 
 
 That the virile member was considered 
 as specially sacred to the Creator, either 
 as his symbol or as the instrument by 
 which his divine power was fulfilled, is 
 universally evidenced in all the ancient 
 faiths and customs. In addition to the 
 right of circumcision, just mentioned, the 
 Old Testament affords numerous examples 
 of the holiness attached to this symbol. 
 It was a common custom among the 
 Hebrews, when taking a solemn oath, to 
 lay the hands upon the generative organ of 
 
THE CREATOR. 55 
 
 the person to whom the vow or promise 
 was given. This was as solemn and de- 
 vout a procedure as is the present method 
 of kissing the Bible or holding up the right 
 hand, and was indicative of the same mean- 
 ing — that of calling upon God to wit- 
 ness the truth and sincerity of the oath. 
 
 This custom is referred to in the 24th 
 chapter of Genesis, where we are told that 
 "Abraham said unto his eldest servant, 
 . . . Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my 
 thigh : and I will make thee swear by the 
 Lord, the God of Heaven and the God 
 of the earth, etc.," and again, in the 47th 
 chapter of the same book, it is recorded that 
 when Jacob was about to die he called 
 Joseph to him, and bade him put his. hand 
 under his thigh, and promise that he would 
 not bury him in Egypt. This practice is 
 still to be found in certain parts of Arabia 
 and Africa, and various customs of a like 
 character might be cited, in further evi- 
 dence of the sacred relationship supposed 
 to exist between the organ of generation 
 and the Creator. It was through it that 
 
56 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 the Creator manifested his supreme power, 
 and hence it was an object of reverence 
 and worship, even as was the Creator 
 himself. 
 
 In many instances prayers were de- 
 voutly offered to the symbol, in the be- 
 lief that God was thereby being addressed, 
 and the primitive belief in the actual pres- 
 ence of the Creator, in the generative act, 
 is again shown by the ancient religious 
 practice of women submitting themselves 
 to the embraces of the priests as the rep- 
 resentatives of God. This practice was 
 not an unusual one, and was resorted to 
 especially by barren women, in the devout 
 belief that by this means they secured 
 divine intercourse with their god, or the 
 procreative deity, and thereby rendered 
 certain their chances for bearing children. 
 
 This custom is still practised in India, 
 and it is not uncommon for a husband to 
 accompany his wife to the priest, and re- 
 main a reverential spectator of the act 
 representing the union of God and the 
 woman. In various parts of India certain 
 
THE CREATOR. 57 
 
 days are set apart in each year for the 
 visitation of the creative deity, on which 
 occasions the women repair to the temples 
 and there receive from the priests the 
 sacred blessing that they are unable to 
 obtain from the Creator through the me- 
 dium of their husbands. 
 
 Next in importance to procreation itself, 
 is the cause that determines the sex of the 
 offspring. Why should a man beget a 
 son at one time and a daughter at another ? 
 What is the reason for this sexual differ- 
 ence ? This is the question we are vainly 
 asking ourselves to-day, and is the same 
 question that bothered the minds of men 
 in the past ages. Naturally, an explana- 
 tion was looked for in some characteristic 
 of the phallus, as the responsible creator ; 
 and while this did not lead to a definite 
 solution of the mystery, it resulted in the 
 important discovery that the appendages 
 of the organ play an important and neces- 
 sary part in the act of creation, and the 
 supposed difference in their relative size 
 and position gave rise to the theory, — 
 
58 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 which is held by many at the present day, 
 — that the right testicle is the producer 
 of the stronger sex, while the left or 
 smaller one is responsible for the women 
 of the world. That this belief was gener- 
 ally entertained by the ancients, is evi- 
 denced by the allusions to it in the early 
 records, including the Old Testament, 
 where fathers refer to their sons as the 
 children of their right side. 
 
 It became evident, therefore, that the 
 perfect creator consisted of three parts, 
 each distinct and complete in itself, but so 
 dependent one upon the other for the ful- 
 fillment of their office, that it was only in 
 their unity and co-operation that they 
 were capable of productive activity as an 
 absolute and perfect One. 
 
 From this it is not difficult to under- 
 stand how the creative deity came to be 
 regarded as a triune being, nor should it 
 be surprising to learn, therefore, that the 
 worship of a trinity dates back to the 
 dimmest and most remote past. The 
 Assyrians, one of the most ancient nations 
 
THE CREATOR. 59 
 
 of the world, worshiped a trinity known 
 as Asshur, Anu and Hoa, and upon a 
 study of the derivation of these names 
 we find that they refer directly to the 
 triune generative organ. Asshur repre- 
 sents the phallus, for the name plainly 
 signifies the erect one, the upright member. 
 The right testicle, which, as the assistant 
 in the production of male children, was 
 held next in rank to the phallus itself, is 
 represented by Anu, a name derived from 
 the word meaning strength, particularly 
 manly strength or power, while Hoa, the 
 third member of the trinity, has reference 
 to the feminine element. 
 
 In this, as in all subsequent trinities of 
 theology, the individuals composing it 
 were of relative rank ; three distinct enti- 
 ties or members, each necessary to the 
 other, working together as one toward one 
 end. As a whole they constituted the 
 supreme god, the Creator, under the col- 
 lective name of Bel. While the custom 
 of giving to a trinity a name distinct from 
 any of its component individuals, is a com- 
 
6o SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 mon one in all religions, it is not gener- 
 ally observed, for, as a rule, the Trinity, 
 or complete Creator, is known under the 
 name of the first in rank, — ^as Asshur, the 
 Lord of Lords. 
 
 We find, therefore, that the triune com- 
 position of the masculine creator was 
 early recognized, and the veneration in 
 which the complete and perfect male or- 
 gan was held, is most clearly shown by the 
 fact that it was the subject of religious or- 
 dinances. Of this we find ample demon- 
 stration in the Old Testament, where, for 
 example, in the book of Deuteronomy, 
 we learn that Jehovah himself ordained, 
 that " he that is wounded in the stones, 
 or hath his privy member cut off, shall not 
 enter the congregation of the Lord ; "* 
 plainly indicating the divine importance 
 attached to the perfect condition of this 
 symbol of the Creator. 
 
 This holy regard for the soundness and 
 at the same time for the safety of the gen- 
 erative organ, is perhaps more fully shown 
 * Deut. 23 : I. 
 
THE CREATOR. 6l 
 
 in the 25th chapter of the same book, 
 where it is commanded by the Lord, that 
 a woman shall have her hand cut off if she 
 takes hold of her husband by the genitals, 
 even though it be in a case of extremity 
 for the purpose of delivering him from an 
 enemy. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that 
 this religious reverence for perfect mascu- 
 linity is confined to the past, for at the 
 present day one who is sexually mutilated, 
 and therefore not " a man," cannot be con- 
 secrated as a priest nor promoted to a 
 bishopric ; much less, exalted to the pa- 
 pal throne. 
 
 This requirement, that religious teach- 
 ers and leaders shall possess a generative 
 organism perfect in form and function, is 
 a very general one, and always has been. 
 We are told that fifteen hundred years be- 
 fore Christ the Lord expressly forbade a 
 priest to practise his vocation if his mas- 
 culinity was impaired (Lev. 2 1 : 20). 
 
 A eunuch or impotent man has always 
 been a despised and accursed creature, 
 
62 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 scorned alike by man and God. In olden 
 times castration was regarded as a punish- 
 ment far worse than that of death ; a fate 
 that degraded a man below the level of 
 the meanest and lowest brute. The more 
 virile a man was, the greater was the re- 
 spect he inspired ; and the veneration paid 
 to a god was always proportionate to the 
 sexual abilities ascribed to him. Such 
 deities as were held to be more strongly 
 endowed with virility, and whose office 
 pertained more directly to the procreative 
 functions, were honored above their fellow 
 gods, and thus it is that the Creator, the 
 almighty and everlasting Producer, has 
 ever been the supreme god. His creative 
 powers are unlimited ; hence, he is the 
 ruler, the master of all other gods and of 
 men. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PHALLUS. 
 
 The worship of the phallus, the mas- 
 culine symbol of creation, dates back into 
 the hidden and unknown ages of the past. 
 The earliest records of the Egyptians and 
 the Hindoos refer to phallic worship as an 
 old-established institution, showing that 
 thousands of years before the Christian 
 era it had already given rise to elaborate 
 systems of theology. All of these re- 
 ligions had for their dominant object the 
 worship of the procreative powers of na- 
 ture, as symbolized by the generative 
 organs, which were represented in images 
 and emblems of the greatest diversity and 
 variety. 
 
 Prominent among these representations 
 was the phallus, which, in its stricter sense, 
 has reference more to the image of the 
 
 63 
 
64 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 male organ than to the organ itself. These 
 images, in exact representation of the 
 masculine member, were very common 
 among the ancients. They were made in 
 every conceivable variety of form 'and 
 size, many of them being molded in plas- 
 tic material, and others carved from wood, 
 stone and ivory. Sometimes they rep- 
 resented the organ in its passive state, in 
 which form it was generally of diminutive 
 size, and worn as an amulet by the women. 
 Such amulets are still common among 
 the phallic worshipers of India, many of 
 them being of minute size and made of 
 gold, silver, ivory, crystal or sacred wood. 
 These are worn upon the arm or breast 
 and in the turban. 
 
 The most common form of these phal- 
 lic images, however, was the realistic rep- 
 resentation of the phallus in its upright 
 position, in which shape it was regarded 
 as more clearly exhibiting the divine at- 
 tribute of the Creator. When used as 
 household idols these images were about 
 life-size, but those employed in religious 
 
THE PHALLUS. 6$ 
 
 festivals and in the temples were much 
 exaggerated, reaching sometimes to a 
 height of twenty or thirty feet, with cor- 
 responding proportions throughout. 
 
 Many of the Greek and Roman tem- 
 ples, in common with those of other na- 
 tions, were especially dedicated to the 
 phallus, which occupied the most prom- 
 inent and holy part of the sacred edifice, 
 and received the worship and adoration 
 of the devotees, who presented it with of- 
 ferings of flowers and wine, and prayed to 
 it, as the hallowed representative of the 
 Creator. 
 
 This image was a prominent feature in 
 the Bacchanalia and other springtime 
 festivals of the Greeks and Romans, in 
 celebration of the regeneration of life. 
 On these occasions the women repaired to 
 the temples of this idol, and there per- 
 formed the mysteries connected with 
 its worship, as the representative of the 
 Divine Regenerator; singing the while 
 hymns of praise to the deity, and anoint- 
 ing the sacred phallus with consecrated 
 5 
 
66 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 wine, besides wreathing it with flowers 
 and presenting offerings of various kinds. 
 
 The Roman Liberalia, which were held 
 in March, were a festive though religious 
 celebration in honor of Liber, another title 
 of Bacchus, the god of generative power. 
 This was an occasion of general rejoicing, 
 and was not confined to a particular place 
 or set of worshipers, as in the case of the 
 Bacchanalian mysteries, but was observed 
 by the people in all parts of Italy and the 
 Roman provinces. 
 
 The phallus, as the symbol of Bacchus, 
 played an important part in these festivi- 
 ties. In many places this emblem of re- 
 generated life was placed in a chariot, and, 
 covered with flowers and attended by a 
 merry crowd of men, women and children, 
 was drawn about the fields, along the 
 highways and through the towns, amid 
 the rejoicings and acclamations of the 
 people. 
 
 In some of the towns and cities, a mag- 
 nificent car bearing an enormous phallus, 
 gaily decorated, was slowly drawn through 
 
THE PHALLUS. 6j 
 
 the streets, accompanied by a great proces- 
 sion of people, and in this manner was 
 borne to the center of the forum, wh^re it 
 came to a halt. The most respected ma- 
 tron of the town, as worthy of the post of 
 honor, then advanced amid the joyous 
 shouts of the populace, and crowned the 
 symbol of the deity with a wreath of ivy. 
 The festival of Venus, the goddess of 
 love and regeneration, was celebrated by 
 the Roman women at the same time, or 
 soon after, the Liberalia. This celebra- 
 tion was attended with rejoicings and 
 merry-making, and a general relaxation of 
 the strict rules of feminine decorum. In 
 the formal ceremonies of the occasion the 
 ladies proceeded in state to the Quirinal, 
 the hill of Romulus, where stood the tem- 
 ple containing the sacred phallus. This 
 holy emblem was taken possession of by 
 the women, who then formed in proces- 
 sion and reverently escorted it to the 
 temple of Venus, where they presented it 
 to that goddess amid elaborate and joyful 
 rites. 
 
68 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 This ceremony is illustrated by a de- 
 sign on an old Roman gem, which shows 
 a triumphal chariot bearing an altar, upon 
 which rests a colossal phallus. A female 
 figure hovers over this symbol, holding a 
 crown of flowers above it. The chariot, 
 which is under a richly decorated canopy 
 supported by four semi-nude women, is 
 drawn by bulls and goats, which are ridden 
 by winged children and preceded by a 
 band of women blowing trumpets. At 
 the destination of the procession is a rep- 
 resentation of a vulva upheld by two 
 genii. 
 
 When the celebration was completed, 
 after placing the two emblems in con- 
 junction, the phallus was devoutly carried 
 back to its temple. 
 
 Smaller images of the phallus were fre- 
 quently set up by the roadside, in front 
 of the doors of dwellings, and beneath the 
 trees in sacred groves and woods. The 
 spot on which this holy emblem stood 
 was regarded as hallowed ground, and the 
 images received the same pious reverence 
 
THE PHALLUS. 69 
 
 and adoration as is to-day paid to the 
 symbols of Christianity. 
 
 No doubt, many of the devo|:ees re- 
 garded the phallus as the deity itself, 
 even as is the case with many to-day, who 
 pray to the image of the Virgin or the 
 crucified Savior, yet their devotion and 
 piety were none the less deep and sin- 
 cere. The woman who knelt before the 
 consecrated image of the masculine crea- 
 tive power, and prayed for the blessing 
 of children, was as earnest and modest as 
 is the Christian woman of this day who 
 invokes a similar boon from the holy 
 Virgin or the Father. 
 
 The chances for securing fruitfulness 
 were considered better if the prayer was 
 offered while in contact with the image, 
 and for this reason it was customary for 
 the suppliants to bare themselves and sit 
 upon the phallus while praying. 
 
 This rite is still practised in certain 
 parts of the world, by girls and women of 
 all ages and stations, for the purpose of 
 invoking divine aid. In oriental villages 
 
70 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 it is common to see two stones — one, flat 
 and circular, the other, small, smooth and 
 upright — standing near together in some 
 secluded nook or grove. The suppHant 
 steps upon the circular stone, adjusts her 
 drapery, and, seating herself upon the 
 upright stone, repeats a short prayer and 
 calls upon her god for some desired bless- 
 ing. 
 
 A writer, who was long a sojourner in 
 India, relates that " Many a day have I 
 sat at early dawn in the door of my tent, 
 pitched in a sacred grove, and gazed at 
 the little group of females stealthily 
 emerge from the adjoining, half-sleeping 
 village, each with a garland or bunch of 
 flowers, and, when none were thought to 
 see, accompany their prayer for pooli- 
 palam (child-fruit) with a respectful ab- 
 rasion of a certain part of their person on 
 a phallus." 
 
 By reason of its sacredness the phallus 
 was considered a charm against evil spirits, 
 and it is occasionally found in ancient 
 tombs, where it was placed to guard the 
 
THE PHALLUS. ^\ 
 
 dead from the Evil One. A remarkable 
 instance of this custom was discovered not 
 long since in Egypt, where there was found 
 at Thebes the mummy of a woman of 
 rank, with whom there was buried the 
 embalmed phallus of a bull. 
 
 The use and worship of phallic images 
 is referred to in the most ancient records. 
 In the book of Genesis it is related, that 
 when Jacob with his family and flocks left 
 the house of Laban, his wife, Rachel, 
 carried away with her Laban's teraphini, 
 which were small images of men, with the 
 phallus constituting the prominent feature. 
 
 The sacred importance attached to these 
 images is shown by the fact that Laban 
 went after Jacob, and, overtaking his son- 
 in-law at the end of a seven-days' journey, 
 asked, " Wherefore hast thou stolen my 
 gods ? " and Jacob, not knowing that his 
 wife had taken them, told Laban that if 
 he found the images on any one of his 
 people, that person should be put to 
 death. In order not to be discovered, 
 Rachel sat upon the idols, " and said to 
 
72 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 her father, Let it not displease my lord 
 that I cannot rise before thee; for the 
 custom of women is upon me. And he 
 searched, but found not the images." 
 (Gen. 31: 30-35.) 
 
 Again, in the book of Judges we learn 
 that Micah made some of these images for 
 himself, and that the Danites took them 
 from him and worshiped them ; * and in 
 the first book of Kings is an account of 
 Maachah, who was " removed from being 
 queen, because she had made an idol in a 
 grove "(15: 13). 
 
 In fact, the Old Testament contains 
 numerous references to images and idols 
 of this character ; nor must it be supposed 
 that the use of such emblems is peculiar 
 to the remote past ; for, as will be pres- 
 ently shown, they are abundantly general 
 in India, and are common in other phallic- 
 worshiping nations of this day ; as in 
 Dahomey, for example, where phallic fig- 
 ures are prominent in the streets of every 
 settlement. 
 
 • Judges 17 : S i 18 : 18-31. 
 
THE PHALLUS. 73 
 
 To within a very short time ago they 
 figured prominently in the Christian festi- 
 val of St. Cosmo and Damiano, at Isernia, 
 in Italy ; on which occasion phallic images 
 of wax were offered to the priest by the 
 female devotees, accompanied by prayers 
 for matrimonial and maternal bless- 
 ings. 
 
 A similar custom prevailed in certain 
 parts of France, where these wax offerings 
 were made to St. Foutin, the patron saint 
 of virility ; and as a further evidence of the 
 existence of modified phallic worship, in 
 connection with Christianity, it is author- 
 itatively related, that at Orange, in the 
 church of St. Eutropius, was a phallus 
 made of wood and covered with leather, 
 which was highly venerated by the in- 
 habitants of the town, as a symbol of 
 the saint, whose aid was sought in all 
 matters pertaining to the generative func- 
 tions. 
 
 The phallus was frequently pictured on 
 coins, in sculpture and upon vases and 
 other articles, as may be seen in the re- 
 
74 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 mains that have been found, not only in 
 the ancient cities, but in those of more 
 modern times. Bas-reliefs from some of 
 the old buildings in France show singular 
 varieties of the phallus, some of them 
 double and triple and provided with wings, 
 claws, beaks, etc. One is bridled and 
 ridden by a sprite, another is shown re- 
 ceiving the adoration of female devotees, 
 while still another is depicted standing on 
 human legs. These, as well as those 
 pictured on lamps and vases used for sacer- 
 dotal purposes, were designed as symboli- 
 cal of religious ideas. 
 
 Numerous examples of phallic statuary, 
 and of phallic-figured vases and dishes, 
 have been found in Rome and other 
 Italian cities ; particularly among the ruins 
 of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In the 
 museum at Portici, for example, on the 
 cover of an ancient vase that had been 
 used for sacred purposes, is a large phallus, 
 which is being embraced by a woman ; 
 while another vase shows a dealer in phalli 
 offering a basketful of his wares to a group 
 
THE PHALLUS. 75 
 
 of women. Though the religious signifi- 
 cance of such designs is scarcely appre- 
 ciated at this day, the very fact that they 
 were depicted on articles used in the 
 sanctuaries, is evidence of the sacred mean- 
 ing originally attached to them. 
 
 Under its Hindu name of lingam the 
 phallus is still universally used as a religious 
 symbol throughout India, where phallic 
 worship has flourished unabated for thou- 
 sands of years. The lingam is the divine 
 symbol of Siva, the Reproducer, the third 
 member of the Hindu creative trinity, and 
 is to be found in every temple dedicated 
 to his worship. It is generally in the sanc- 
 tum, or holy of holies, and garlanded with 
 flowers or adorned with other offerings. 
 These lingamsare made of granite, marble, 
 ivory and precious wood, and are gener- 
 ally of very large size, some reaching to 
 the enormous height of forty feet, and 
 measuring twenty-five feet in circumfer- 
 ence. 
 
 The temples of the lingam are to be 
 seen in great numbers on the banks of the 
 
'jd SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 Ganges, especially in the neighborhood of 
 Calcutta. Their presence near the river 
 invests them with greater sanctity than if 
 built in the interior of the country, the 
 river being considered particularly sacred. 
 Connected with nearly every one of these 
 temples, is a small house, open in front, for 
 the accommodation of the devotees who 
 come there to die in sight of the river. 
 The temples occur in groups of eight or 
 ten, while at some places as many as a 
 hundred are located within short range of 
 one another. 
 
 The priests connected with these tem- 
 ples are sworn to the strictest chastity ; 
 and, as they are nude while officiating, 
 any carnal excitement of the imagina- 
 tion would manifest itself in the external 
 organs, and would result in the summary 
 stoning of the unfaithful priest. 
 
 While the lingams in the temples are 
 of gigantic proportions, those used for 
 domestic worship are but a few inches in 
 height ; and, as before stated, this em- 
 blem in diminutive size is worn as an 
 
THE PHALLUS. •J'J 
 
 amulet or charm, and is used by the 
 Hindoos in prayer as the pious Catholic 
 uses the symbol or image of his patron- 
 saint. 
 
 The worship of the lingam is an im- 
 portant and necessary religious rite, and 
 when fully and properly performed in 
 accordance with the prescribed ritual, is 
 a very elaborate ceremony, consisting of 
 sixteen essential requisites, including a 
 prefatory bath of purification by the 
 worshiper, the bathing of the lingam with 
 clarified butter, honey and the juice of 
 sugar cane, the offering of flowers, incense, 
 lamps, fruits and various kinds of pre- 
 pared edibles, the repetition of prayers, 
 and the walking about and bowing before 
 the image. 
 
 It is not necessary that this worship 
 should take place in the temple, but may 
 be performed in any purified place. It 
 is considered most efficacious when per- 
 formed on the bank of a holy river be- 
 fore a lingam formed of clay. The Hin- 
 doos of every caste and of both sexes 
 
78 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 make images of this symbol with the 
 clay of the Ganges, every morning after 
 bathing, and worship before them ; bow- 
 ing, presenting offerings, and repeating 
 incantations. Upon the completion of 
 the ceremony the image is thrown into 
 the river. 
 
 Every village has its public lingam, two 
 or three feet in height, which is set up as 
 a talisman, in the most conspicuous part 
 of the town. Early in the morning may 
 be seen the girls and women of the neigh- 
 borhood sprinkling the emblem with water 
 from the Ganges, decking it with garlands 
 of flowers, and, while rubbing themselves 
 against it, reciting the prescribed incanta- 
 tions and entreating the deity to make 
 them fruitful mothers. 
 
 A common and more realistic symbol 
 of the procreative power, was a statue or 
 representation of the male figure, either 
 entirely nude, or simply exhibiting the 
 phallus, which was generally of unnatu- 
 rally large size. To this day there are 
 to be seen on the walls of the temples at 
 
THE PHALLUS. 79 
 
 Karnak and Thebes phallic designs of this 
 character ; illustrating how intimately the 
 ideas of sexuality and religion were in- 
 terwoven in the old Egyptian civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 There are many figures of their gods 
 and kings, showing them possessed of 
 unusual and abundant virility. These 
 pictures also represent the castration of 
 captives, a common method of punish- 
 ment among the ancients, who regarded 
 the absence of sexual power as the most 
 humiliating disgrace that could befall a 
 man. The Egyptian god Osiris is very 
 frequently depicted with large and promi- 
 nent genitals, as a mark of his divine 
 and supreme power, and images of him 
 in this form were carried about in the 
 processions connected with the religious 
 festivals of the Egyptians. 
 
 The Roman phallus-god Priapus, the 
 deity of procreation, was always repre- 
 sented by a figure of this kind ; and as the 
 Romans were ardent worshipers of Priapus, 
 and introduced the worship among the 
 
80 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 peoples with whom they came in con- 
 tact, images and statues of this kind are 
 not rare in the various ancient towns of 
 Italy and other parts of Europe. Roman 
 coins, sculpturing, and engraved stones, 
 or gems, abound in representations of 
 Priapus, showing him in all forms and at- 
 titudes ; sometimes alone, but frequently 
 as the central figure in suggestive scenes 
 or unequivocal sexual pastimes. 
 
 These priapic images were objects of 
 reverential worship, as realistic representa- 
 tions of the creative deity, and were par- 
 ticularly resorted to by women who desired 
 maternal joys, and by newly married 
 women, who were required to sacrifice 
 their virginity to the deity through the 
 medium of his holy image. 
 
 So deep was the faith implanted in the 
 common mind regarding the efficacy of 
 prayers addressed to these statues of the 
 creative deity, that the worship of them 
 in certain parts of France continued down 
 to within a comparatively recent time ; 
 the only difference in the worship being 
 
THE PHALLUS. 8 1 
 
 that the images were given the names of 
 Christian saints, instead of their ancient 
 pagan name of Priapus. 
 
 At Bourg Dieu, near Bourges, the in- 
 habitants of the town worshiped one of 
 these statues that had existed from the 
 time of the Romans. The monks, fearing 
 to put an end to this old-established re- 
 ligious practice, converted the ancient god 
 into St. Greluchon, and barren women 
 flocked to the abbey to implore the saint's 
 aid, and to celebrate a novena in his 
 honor. The devotee would stretch her- 
 self at full length on this figure, which was 
 laid upon the floor, and would then scrape 
 some particles from the phallus, and these 
 particles in water were supposed to con- 
 stitute a miraculous beverage. 
 
 St. Giles, in Brittany, St. R^n6, in An- 
 jou, and St. Regnaud and St. Arnaud were 
 similarly worshiped ; though in the case of 
 the latter a mystic apron usually shrouded 
 the symbol of fecundity, and was only 
 raised in favor of sterile devotees. Its 
 mere inspection, if accompanied with true 
 6 
 
82 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 faith, was said to be sufficient to effect 
 miracles. 
 
 St. Foutin was one of the most popular 
 of the saints to whom were ascribed 
 the power of procreation. Statues to him 
 were common in various parts of France, 
 and he was the recipient of many prayers 
 and offerings, for he was said to have not 
 only the gift of relieving barren women, 
 but of restoring exhausted vitality and 
 curing secret diseases. His worship, 
 therefore, was not confined to the female 
 devotees, but was shared equally by the 
 men, who would devoutly present to the 
 priests, as offerings to the saint, wax im- 
 ages of the affected parts, in the pious and 
 sincere belief that by this holy means they 
 would be cured. 
 
 Among the remains of a church at Em- 
 brun was found the phallus of a statue of 
 this saint, which was stained a deep red, 
 as the result of the custom of pouring wine 
 upon it. The anointment of the image 
 in this manner was a common practice, in 
 connection with the worship of the saint; 
 
THE PHALLUS. ' 83 
 
 the wine thus used being caught in a jar 
 and allowed to turn sour, when, under the 
 name of " holy vinegar," it was drunk by 
 the women, as an effective and infallible 
 means of producing fertility. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 
 
 While statues of Priapus and images 
 of the phallus are found in great abundance 
 in the remains of the ancient world, and 
 while they were no doubt extensively used 
 at all times, they cannot compare in num- 
 bers and importance with the modified 
 and conventional forms of the creative 
 symbol that we find scattered all over the 
 world, in endless numbers and variety, and 
 unknowingly preserved by us to-day in 
 our architecture, our symbols and our 
 customs. Realistic representations of the 
 masculine generative symbol became very 
 readily modified into more formal shapes, 
 which were adopted and retained, either 
 for the sake of convenience, because they 
 could be more easily made, or for the 
 reason that they could be better adapted 
 to certain ceremonial uses. 
 84 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 85 
 
 Pre-eminent among this class of phallic 
 emblems is the pillar. It is not difficult 
 to understand how the large, upright 
 phallus became modified into the con- 
 ventional form of a pillar. In fact, many 
 of the large phalli were really nothing 
 more than pillars, and hence a plain pillar, 
 either of wood or stone, was adopted as a 
 symbol of the procreative power. It was 
 easily, cheaply and readily constructed, 
 and as its general form was plainly sug- 
 gestive of the object it represented, it is 
 not surprising that it became one of the 
 most popular and most numerous of 
 phallic emblems. 
 
 Remains of stone pillars, as symbols of 
 the Deity, are found in all parts of the 
 world. They are numerous throughout 
 Europe, the British Isles and America, 
 while in Egypt and in India and other 
 Asiatic countries, they abound in the 
 greatest profusion. The marvelous Egyp- 
 tian obelisks are nothing more nor less 
 than large pillars, phallic emblems, erected 
 in honor of the Creator and his divine at- 
 
86 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 tribute. Indeed, all ancient structures, of 
 this kind — pillars, columns, obelisks and 
 monuments — are of phallic significance, 
 and owe their existence to religious mo- 
 tives and the devout endeavor on the 
 part of mankind to honor the Creator. 
 
 The use of the pillar in one form or an- 
 other was very extensive. Remains of 
 this emblem in all parts of Europe and in 
 England, Scotland and Ireland bear evi- 
 dence of the fact that phallic worship was 
 not confined to certain localities or peoples, 
 but was common to all portions of the 
 inhabited world, and played a dominant 
 part in the religion of the Scandina- 
 vians, the Teutons, the Saxons, the Celts, 
 the Gauls, and the Britons, besides that 
 of the Romans and the Greeks. To cata- 
 logue and explain the monuments and 
 remains of phallicism that have been found 
 in Great Britain alone would require a 
 large volume. 
 
 Stone phalli in the form of pillars are 
 common in the temples of China and 
 Japan, and, in fact, among all the oriental 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 87 
 
 nations. Passing to the western hemi- 
 sphere, we find that phallicism, as rep- 
 resented by this emblem, was almost uni- 
 versal among the primitive and prehistoric 
 races of both continents. 
 
 In Yucatan a phallic pillar stands in front 
 of the door of every temple. In Peru have 
 beenfound numerous examples of this sym- 
 bol, together with ancient clay phalli, and 
 water jars on which are figured gods and 
 goddesses of procreation ; their functions 
 and attributes being prominently por- 
 trayed. In the center of the great square 
 of the temple of the sun atCuzcothe early 
 European explorers found a stone idol, 
 shaped like a sugar loaf and covered with 
 gold leaf, which was the object of special 
 veneration on the part of the populace ; 
 and in Brazil have been found similar in- 
 dications of the primitive worship of the 
 generative powers. 
 
 In Polynesia pillars are made of straw, 
 a custom which is also practised in India, 
 especially in harvest time, when pillars, 
 and human figures exhibiting both sexes 
 
88 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 very conspicuously, are made and set up 
 in the fields, as objects of adoration and 
 worship. 
 
 In ancient times stone pillars were 
 erected at the cross roads, at boundaries, 
 in the market-places, before the doors of 
 houses, and in the temples and churches, 
 as the presence of this holy emblem was 
 supposed to consecrate the place in which 
 it stood, and to guard it against evil 
 spirits. For a similar reason stone pillars 
 and shafts (symbols of the guardian Crea- 
 tor) were placed upon graves, — a practice 
 that has been retained to this day in the 
 civilized world ; for do we not continue 
 to mark the resting-places of our departed 
 ones with monuments and columns and 
 other upright stones? 
 
 We have ample proof in the Bible that 
 the pillar was regarded as a sacred em- 
 blem of the Creator, for it will be remem- 
 bered that the setting up of a pillar as a 
 witness to the Lord was a common prac- 
 tice among the Hebrews, and that it was 
 always an occasion of reverential cere- 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 89 
 
 monies. " In that day there shall be an 
 altar to the Lord in the midst of the land 
 of Egypt, and a pillar at the border there- 
 of to the Lord ; and it shall be for a sign 
 and for a witness unto the Lord." (Isaiah 
 19 : 19.) 
 
 Those acquainted with the Old Testa- 
 ment cannot but be impressed with the 
 sacredness attached to pillars, and the nu- 
 merous instances in which they are men- 
 tioned in connection with the Lord, either 
 as emblems of the Creator or as witnesses 
 to him. They are frequently referred to 
 as altars and rocks, which, as will pres- 
 ently be shown, are but modified forms 
 of the pillar, and equally significant. 
 
 Jacob set up a pillar, and poured oil 
 upon it, calling the place Bethel-^the 
 house of God : "And this stone, which I 
 have set for a pillar, shall be God's house." 
 (Gen. 28 : 18-22.) When his wife, Rachel, 
 died, he placed a pillar on her grave, in 
 accordance with the custom previously 
 mentioned ; and on another occasion, as 
 we are told in Genesis 35 : 14, he set up a 
 
90 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 pillar in testimony of God, " and he poured 
 a drink-offering thereon, and he poured 
 oil thereon." This was a common method 
 of anointing the phallus, and was prac- 
 tised by the people of all nations, when 
 making offerings to the creative deity, 
 who was frequently supposed to actually 
 reside in the pillar itself ; hence, the sig- 
 nificance of the term Bethel, as applied to 
 this symbol. 
 
 We find, also, that Joshua, when about 
 to die, took a great stone and set it up 
 under an oak that was near the sanctuary 
 of the Lord. " And Joshua said unto all 
 the people. Behold, this stone shall be a 
 witness unto us ; for it hath heard all the 
 words of the Lord which he spake unto 
 us : it shall be therefore a witness unto 
 you, lest ye deny your God." (Joshua 
 24 : 27.) 
 
 The Lord looked upon the Egyptians 
 through a pillar of fire ; he led the Israel- 
 ites by pillars of cloud and fire, and he 
 appeared to them in the form of a pillar 
 — records that are all illustrative of the 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 9 1 
 
 divine significance of this emblem. " And 
 it came to pass, as Moses entered into the 
 tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, 
 and stood at the door of the tabernacle, 
 and the Lord talked with Moses. And 
 all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand 
 at the tabernacle door ; and all the people 
 rose up and worshiped, every man in his 
 tent door." (Ex. 33 : 9, 10.) 
 
 As the vast majority of pillars were 
 made of stone, or consisted simply of un- 
 hewn rocks set up on end, it is not diffi- 
 cult to perceive how the rock and the 
 pillar became interchangeable terms ; the 
 one as symbolical and significant as the 
 other. By an extension of the analogy, 
 mere stones, without any particular like- 
 ness to pillars, became emblematical of 
 the Creator, especially when piled in a 
 heap ; such stone heaps being a very com- 
 mon form of the phallic symbol. In the 
 thirty-first chapter of Genesis we read, 
 that " Jacob took a stone and set it up 
 for a pillar, and Jacob said unto his 
 brethren, Gather stones; and they took 
 
92 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 stones and made an heap. And Laban 
 said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and be- 
 hold this pillar. This heap be a witness 
 and this pillar be a witness," etc. 
 
 Not only were these emblems recog- 
 nized and employed as significant of the 
 Ci'eator, but the Lord himself is frequently 
 alluded to as a Rock, showing conclu- 
 sively the sacred meaning attached to this 
 symbol. 
 
 David very often refers to God under 
 the title of Rock : " The Rock of Israel 
 spake to me " (2 Sam. 23 : 3). " The 
 Lord is my rock " (Ps. 18:2). " For who 
 is God save the Lord ? And who is a 
 rock save our God?" (Ps. 18:31). "Unto 
 Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock ! " (Ps. 
 28 : I). 
 
 Moses, too, several times uses this em- 
 blematical term when referring to the 
 Lord ; its phallic significance being espe- 
 cially clear, when he says, " Of the Rock 
 that begat thee thou art unmindful, and 
 hast forgotten God that formed thee " 
 (Deut. 32: 18). Equally clear is the ex- 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 93 
 
 pression of Hannah, who, in her song of 
 thanksgiving to the Lord for having given 
 her a child, says : " Neither is there any 
 rock like our God " (I Sam. 2 : 2). 
 
 In many instances the Hebrew word 
 for rock is translated strength, mighty one, 
 or God ; as we find, for example, in Isaiah 
 26 : 4 : " Trust ye the Lord forever : for 
 in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
 strength" which, if properly translated, 
 would read, the rock of ages* 
 
 While, on the one hand, the rock was a 
 simplification of the pillar, on the other 
 hand, the altar was an elaboration of this 
 symbol ; a change that resulted from the 
 practice of making offerings to the phallus 
 or pillar. In the desire to place the offer- 
 ings upon the sacred symbol, its form was 
 gradually modified so as to better accom- 
 modate them, and the result was the 
 altar ; an object still regarded with holy 
 reverence, and still forming the principal 
 feature of every shrine and place of wor- 
 ship. 
 
 * See Isaiah 30 : 29 ; 44 : 8 ; Hab. i : 2. 
 
94 SEX WORSHIP, 
 
 As in the case of the altar, so the pil- 
 lar became modified in various other ways, 
 one of which resulted in giving to tYiepole 
 a sacred and phallic significance. In fact, 
 our word pole is derived from phallus, 
 which is itself a derivative of the Pheni- 
 cian word meaning " he breaks through 
 or passes into." The modern Maypole 
 festivities are simply a continuation of 
 some ancient phallic celebration, in which 
 the pole, as a symbol of the reproductive 
 powers, was decorated with flowers, while 
 the worshipers danced about it, singing 
 songs of joy and praise. 
 
 The principal outgrowth of the pillar 
 was the tower. In truth, this symbol was 
 but a further enlargement and elaboration 
 of the phallus image. In addition to con- 
 secrating a temple of worship by placing 
 within it a symbol of the Deity, the tem- 
 ple itself was built in the shape of the 
 symbol, as far as possible, and this resulted 
 in the erection of towers; remains of 
 which are still to be seen in various parts 
 of the world, especially in Great Britain. 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 95 
 
 They were built of stone, and, because of 
 their circular shape, are to-day known as 
 " Round Towers," the most noteworthy 
 examples of which are those found in Ire- 
 land, where these ancient phallic struct- 
 ures abound in great numbers, having 
 been built by sex-worshiping refugees from 
 ancient Persia. These towers vary in 
 height from fifty to one hundred and fifty 
 feet, measuring about fourteen feet in 
 diameter at the base, and decreasing grad- 
 ually toward the top. Some are sur- 
 mounted with a conical-shaped roof, while 
 others terminate in a point, and thus re- 
 semble huge steeples standing alone. But 
 in all their variety of forms, the sugges- 
 tiveness of their design is always appar- 
 ent. 
 
 We have every evidence that such phal- 
 lic towers were common in all parts of the 
 ancient world ; but in course of time these 
 necessarily circumscribed edifices gave 
 place to more commodious forms of archi- 
 tecture, though the tower, in some one of 
 its various forms, was always retained as 
 
96 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 the principal arid consecratory feature of 
 a religious building ; and to this day, 
 throughout all Christendom, the houses 
 of religious worship are distinguished in 
 this manner. 
 
 A church is not considered complete 
 without its steeple or tower, but little is 
 it realized that this important and distin- 
 guishing feature of church architecture is 
 a relic of the primitive symbol of the Crea- 
 tor, and that its original function was to 
 hallow the place in which the deity of 
 procreation was worshiped. In no ancient 
 city could the phallic symbols of the Al- 
 mighty have been more prominently and 
 widely displayed than they are to-day in 
 every Christian town, with its multitude 
 of lofty steeples and spires towering above 
 the housetops in glorious, though uncon- 
 scious, symbolization of the Creator. 
 
 Many other artificial and conventional 
 emblems used in ancient times for the rep- 
 resentation of the procreative deity might 
 be cited — as the arrow, the shepherd's 
 crook, the three-pointed wand, which has 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 97 
 
 become the fleur-de-lis of modern times, 
 and a great many more ; — but they are of 
 minor importance compared with the pil- 
 lar and the tower, and with the numerous 
 natural objects that were chosen as phallic 
 symbols, by reason of some supposed re- 
 semblance or relation to the phallus, in 
 its looks, character or attributes. Thus, 
 any high rock, or mount, or other tower- 
 ing elevation, was vested with sacred sig- 
 nificance, and ancient history abounds 
 with references to " holy mounts," or 
 " mounts of God." 
 ' Trees, too, were regarded as sacred em- 
 blems of the Creator and his attributes. 
 Some, like the pine and the fir, because of 
 their straightness and uprightness ; others, 
 like the oak, because of their strength and 
 vitality ; and others, again, like the fig and 
 the palm, because of the shape of their 
 leaves or the venereal effect of their fruit. 
 Hence, we find that tree worship, as a mode 
 of phallicism, flourished very extensively 
 in the early history of the world ; the wor- 
 ship of the oak by the Druids being a famil- 
 7 
 
98 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 iar example, and all early records contain 
 allusions to certain kinds of trees and 
 fruits as possessed of particular religious 
 or phallic significance. 
 
 Various animals were likewise adopted 
 as suggestive symbols of the male creative 
 energy, particularly those of unusual sex- 
 ual power. The cock, the goat and the 
 bull figure very largely in phallic worship, 
 as worthy representatives of the procre- 
 ative god ; the goat and the bull being es- 
 pecially sacred to the Egyptians, who 
 looked upon these animals as not only the 
 living symbols of Osiris, the Creator, but as 
 his actual incarnations, and they were ac- 
 cordingly treated and worshiped as veri- 
 table deities. The sacred bull, as an incar- 
 nation of the procreative power of nature, 
 is a feature of many of the Hindoo 
 temples, where the animal is waited upon 
 and adored with due reverence and so- 
 lemnity. 
 
 The goat is, perhaps, the most salacious 
 of all animals ; his inexhaustible appetite 
 and virility enabling him to mate with as 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS. $$ 
 
 many as eighty ewes in a single night. 
 It is, therefore, not surprising that he 
 should have been chosen as a specially 
 sacred symbol ; such extraordinary abil- 
 ities as his must have appealed to the 
 impressible mind of early man as a man- 
 ifestation of the infinite powers of the 
 Supreme Procreator himself. 
 
 This animal figured very prominently 
 in many of the religious celebrations, and 
 down to the present time has been em- 
 ployed in the initiation ceremonies of se- 
 cret orders, as he was in the mystic rites of 
 the ancient Egyptians, in which the priests 
 were required to be initiated into the mys- 
 teries of the Goat, before they could be 
 admitted to the divine knowledge of Isis. 
 These mysteries were so sacred, and so 
 zealously guarded by the few initiates, 
 that very little is really known concerning 
 them. 
 
 The Greeks idealized the goat in their 
 god Pan and his voluptuous attendants, 
 the fauns and satyrs ; creatures half man 
 and half goat. Pan was the patron deity 
 
lOO SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 of sensual pastimes, and representations of 
 him depict him as worthy of the highest 
 honor on this score. 
 
 The dove was a symbol of Bacchus, in 
 his character of the First Begotten of 
 Love, and was emblematic of the Holy 
 Spirit, or divine generative power, through 
 which he came into being. 
 
 Among the Hindoos the tortoise is an 
 important phallic emblem. This animal 
 was probably chosen as a sacred repre- 
 sentative of the creative deity because of 
 its fabled androgyny, — an attribute of the 
 Creator which will be considered in an- 
 other place, — and because of its great fecun- 
 dity and tenacity of life. Furthermore, 
 the frequency and rapidity with which it 
 protrudes and withdraws its head, chang- 
 ing from an appearance of repose to one 
 of energy and action, as well as the shape 
 of its head and neck when aroused, readily 
 suggested to the imaginative phallic-wor- 
 shiper the active lingam, or masculine 
 creative symbol. 
 
 Among the more important natural em- 
 
PHALLIC EMBLEMS, lOI 
 
 blems adopted by the Egyptians, was the 
 river Nile, which symbohzed the outpour- 
 ing, the fertilizing and creative force, of 
 Osiris ; and its waters were regarded with 
 the same holy veneration that charac- 
 terizes the worship of the river Ganges by 
 the people of India to-day. 
 
 The worship of fire, as symbolical of 
 the creative energy, was also extensively 
 practised ; particularly by the ancient 
 Persians. 
 
 But foremost of all natural emblems of 
 the creative deity was the sun ; nay, the 
 sun was theCreatorhimself, the Almighty 
 God. It was he who gave light and life 
 to the world ; upon him all existence de- 
 pended. Osiris dwelt in the Sun as the 
 omnipotent Creator, and through this all- 
 potent medium manifested his powers to 
 mankind. The supreme god of each of 
 the early nations was closely allied with 
 the sun. It was either the Deity himself 
 or his glorious and almighty manifesta- 
 tion. The worship of the sun, therefore, 
 necessarily formed a part, — a very impor- 
 
I02 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 tant and significant part, — of phallic wor- 
 ship. 
 
 In the adoration of the sun, as the 
 Creator and Preserver of mankind, lies 
 the origin of a universal theological be- 
 lief, — a belief that belongs to no one sect 
 or age alone, but has been in existence 
 and has been the foundation of religious 
 faiths since the time man first beheld the 
 wonders of the universe, and watched 
 with anxious and reverential solicitude 
 the annual journey of the Sun ; saw with 
 dismay and fear the world grow cold and 
 dead in the absence of the great Life- 
 giver, in the winter season, and welcomed 
 with joy and acclamations of praise the 
 renewal and the resurrection of life, as the 
 Sun, the Almighty Father and Savior, 
 appeared again in the glory and radiance 
 of his power. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 
 
 While the world at large has always 
 regarded sexual power or virility as a 
 divine gift, to be cherished and exercised 
 in accordance with its sacred and mys- 
 terious purpose, and has looked upon the 
 act of generation as not only proper and 
 necessary, but as a holy and divinely or- 
 dained function for the accomplishment 
 of the supreme purpose of life, there has 
 always been in human society a small but 
 powerful religious element that insists 
 upon an abnegation of the sexual nature, 
 as the only true condition for a proper 
 communion with God. 
 
 Hence, we find in all times and among 
 all peoples certain religious cults whose 
 priests or leaders are required to abstain 
 from all sexual affairs. Among the an- 
 cients this rule was not confined to mere 
 103 
 
104 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 continence or celibacy, but was often ex- 
 tended to actual emasculation of the 
 priests ; a custom that attained its greatest 
 prominence in Phrygia, an ancient prov- 
 ince of Asia Minor, because of the ex- 
 traordinary ceremonies there attendant 
 upon the act of castration. 
 
 These ceremonies formed a part of the 
 annual celebration of the festival of Attis 
 and Cybele ; the latter being the earth 
 goddess, or mother deity, who fell in love 
 with the beautiful youth, Attis, of whom 
 she exacted a vow of chastity as her 
 priest, but who, having broken his vow 
 for the sake of a lovely nymph, was de- 
 prived by the goddess of his reason, and 
 in his frenzy he castrated himself; where- 
 upon the goddess ordained that there- 
 after all her priests should be eunuchs. 
 
 In commemoration of this legend, there 
 was held each year, in the springtime, a 
 wild and noisy though at the same time 
 sacred and solemn festival. It began in 
 quiet and sorrow for the death-like sleep 
 of Attis. On the third day joy broke 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 105 
 
 forth and was manifested by delirious hi- 
 larity. The frenzied priests of Cybele 
 rushed about in bands, with haggard eyes 
 and disheveled hair, like drunken revelers 
 and insane women. In one hand they 
 carried burning fire-brands, and in the 
 other they brandished the sacred knife. 
 They dashed into the woods and valleys 
 and climbed the mountain heights, keep- 
 ing up a horrible noise and continual 
 groaning. An intoxicating drink rendered 
 them wild. They beat each other with 
 the chains they carried, and when they 
 drew blood upon their companions or 
 themselves they danced with wild and 
 tumultuous gesticulations, flogging their 
 backs and piercing their limbs and even 
 their bodies. Finally, in honor of their 
 goddess, they turned the sacred knife 
 upon their genitals, and, calling upon 
 their deity, showed their gaping wounds, 
 and offered her the spoils of their de- 
 stroyed virility. After recovering from 
 this self-inflicted emasculation, these ini- 
 tiates adopted woman's dress, and were 
 
I06 SEX WORSHIP, 
 
 then ready to become priests, or, failing in 
 that, to take their place among the attend- 
 ants of the temple, to engage in pederasty 
 for the benefit of the temple treasury, 
 whenever the patrons might prefer such 
 indulgence to that afforded by the conse- 
 crated women. 
 
 The motive for sexual sacrifices of this 
 kind is probably to be found in the desire 
 to resemble the Deity in his androgynous 
 character. As will be shown, there were 
 numerous religious faiths in which it was 
 held that the creative deity combined in 
 himself both the male and female princi- 
 ples, and as the ultimate aim of the priest- 
 hood has ever been to attain to a resem- 
 blance to or a union with God, it is but 
 reasonable that such a method should 
 have been adopted by certain sects. A 
 castrated priest was neither man nor wo- 
 man ; and yet, paradoxically, he was both. 
 In form and figure he represented the 
 male principle, while in dress and in the 
 absence of the active masculine functions, 
 he represented the female. 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES, 10/ 
 
 In some instances, however, and par- 
 ticularly in later times, this motive gave 
 place to one of another character, and 
 this was the desire to please and propiti- 
 ate the Almighty by sacrificing the great- 
 est of human blessings and pleasures, in 
 accordance with the old and widespread 
 belief, that God is always best pleased 
 when his creatures are most miserable; 
 hence, the greater the sacrifice, the greater 
 the pleasure afforded him. 
 
 Castration is practised by many relig- 
 ious fanatics even at the present day, and 
 is prescribed as a fundamental tenet of a 
 certain sect of Christians in Russia, who 
 hold that the millennium will not arrive 
 until all the men of the world are castrated. 
 Consequently, this sect is composed en- 
 tirely of self-made eunuchs, and hun- 
 dreds of converts annually butcher them- 
 selves in this manner. Their authority 
 for this practice is found in the twelfth 
 verse of the nineteenth chapter of Mat- 
 thew, wherein Christ says unto his disci- 
 ples, " There are some eunuchs which 
 
I08 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 were so born from their mother's womb ; 
 and there are some eunuchs which were 
 made eunuchs of men ; and there be 
 eunuchs which have made themselves 
 eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's 
 sake." 
 
 In the history of Christianity this pas- 
 sage has not infrequently been the incit- 
 ing cause of sexual sacrifices, but the chief 
 motive for sacrifices of this nature has 
 been the endeavor to give up all worldly 
 delights and vain enjoyments, as incom- 
 patible with a proper worship of God. 
 Hence, the struggles of the early Chris- 
 tian devotees, and of the many who have 
 followed in their footsteps down to the 
 present day, to resist the promptings of 
 the flesh, in order to attain to a pure, 
 spiritual communion with God. 
 
 This did not necessarily imply castra-r 
 tion ; yet there were many (among whom 
 was Origen, one of the most famous of 
 the early fathers) who resorted to it as 
 the only means of successfully subduing 
 the temptations of the devil. The ma- 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 109 
 
 jority sought to accomplish their purpose 
 by taking vows of absolute continence ; 
 and the greater the struggles they en- 
 dured, the greater was their triumph and 
 spiritual satisfaction. That the faithful 
 did sufler by thus absolutely abstaining 
 from the gratification of their natural 
 desires and appetites, is well attested by 
 history and by the well-known physiologi- 
 cal fact, that absolute continence is often 
 attended with mental and physical de- 
 rangements as painful and as disastrous 
 as those resulting from the most intem- 
 perate indulgence. 
 
 This mode of sexual sacrifice, in its 
 modified form of celibacy, as a sacerdotal 
 requirement, still constitutes a promi- 
 nent feature of the tenets and church 
 government of a large part of the Chris- 
 tian world. 
 
 Sexual offerings to the deities were not 
 confined alone to masculine devotees, for 
 it was a common religious ordinance in 
 many of the ancient nations, that every 
 woman should sexually sacrifice herself to 
 
no SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 the gods; not, however, by any act of 
 mutilation, but by permitting herself to 
 be embraced by a patron of the temple. 
 
 Whenever a woman desired to perform 
 this religious duty she repaired to the 
 ■temple, and placed herself under a sus- 
 pended branch of mistletoe, which was 
 the customary mode of indicating that 
 she was at the service of the first stranger 
 who desired to take advantage of the 
 opportunity ; a custom which, in its 
 modified form of kissing under the mistle- 
 toe, is retained to this day, and is familiar 
 to all of us as a feature of Christmas 
 festivities. 
 
 The temple of Mylitta, at Babylon, 
 was particularly noted for the sacrifices 
 of this kind that were made there, and 
 the following account of the manner in 
 which the rites were conducted is taken 
 from the description given by Herod- 
 otus: 
 
 " Every native-born woman is obliged 
 at sometime in her life to go to the Tem- 
 ple of Mylitta and submit her person to 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES. Ill 
 
 the embraces of a strange man. Many 
 of the more wealthy, who disdain to be 
 confounded with the commonalty, have 
 themselves carried to the temple in 
 covered chairs. There they keep their 
 seats with a following of many domestics 
 who have accompanied them. But the 
 majority of the women, who wear on 
 their heads a circlet made of cord, settle 
 themselves in a certain part of the grounds 
 that pertain to the temple. There is a 
 constant stream of women arriving and 
 departing. The men strangers walk up 
 and down the passageways formed by 
 stretched ropes, and pick out the women 
 who best please them. A woman having 
 once entered cannot return home until a 
 man, with whom she has had no carnal 
 intercourse before, kneels and throws to 
 her a piece of silver, exclaiming as he 
 does so, ' I invoke the goddess Mylitta ! ' — 
 this being the Assyrian name for Venus ; 
 — and, however trifling the sum thrown 
 to her may be, its refusal would be un- 
 lawful, because the silver so offered be- 
 
112 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 comes sacredj and is applied to religious 
 purposes. The woman is obliged, there- 
 fore, to follow him, and the two repair at 
 once to one of the semi-secluded alcoves 
 of the temple designed for the purpose in 
 view. At length, having performed her 
 duty to the goddess, she returns home, 
 and cannot be again subjected to the or- 
 deal, whatever may be the sum of money 
 offered her. Those who are fortunate 
 enough to be pretty or elegantly dressed 
 do not remain long in the temple. The 
 homely and otherwise less-favored must 
 stay longer, because they are not able to 
 so readily fulfill their mission, and for 
 this reason some have been obliged to 
 dwell there for three or four years." 
 
 This practice resembled that of the con- 
 secrated prostitution so common among 
 phallic-worshiping people, in the fact 
 that sexual union under these divine 
 auspices was considered both proper and 
 holy, but its object was, of course, dif- 
 ferent from that which governed the 
 profession of the women of the temple. 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES. II3 
 
 In the vast majority of cases, the women 
 who thus presented themselves at the 
 temples were maidens, whose purpose it 
 was to sacrifice their virginity to the 
 patron deity. 
 
 From time immemorial virginity has 
 been regarded as divinely sacred, and 
 has universally been looked upon as be- 
 longing exclusively to the gods. This 
 belief was so strongly implanted in the 
 minds of the ancient Romans, that their 
 law would not permit a virgin to be exe- 
 cuted in the ordinary manner. No mat-- 
 ter what the enormity of her guilt, the 
 woman, if a virgin, could not be subjected 
 to the penalty of death by violent hands. 
 By reason of her virginity she was the 
 property of the gods ; she Contained with- 
 in her the spiritual presence of the Deity ; 
 and, hence, before inflicting the last pen- 
 alty, it was the duty of the executioner 
 to remove the god from her ; and for this 
 purpose he was obliged, as a part of his 
 office, to deflower her; after which she 
 
 was strangled or burned. 
 8 
 
114 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 This idea of the holiness of maidenhood 
 led to the adoption of religious precepts 
 requiring that virginity should be given to 
 God, and to this day such sacrifices are 
 made by many Christian women, who 
 take solemn vows of chastity, and confine 
 themselves in convents, for the purpose 
 of giving up their lives and their virginity 
 to the Almighty. 
 
 Among the ancients, however, life-long 
 continence was not regarded as a necessary 
 means for the sacrifice of virginity. The 
 religious duty of women to bear children 
 would not in those days have permitted 
 such a custom. To them it was sufficient 
 that the first sexual act of a woman should 
 be given to her deity ; that the act by which 
 she gave up her divine virginity should be 
 dedicated to the god or goddess of her re- 
 ligion. This was sometimes done in the 
 manner as described by Herodotus, but 
 among other peoples it was deemed essen- 
 tial that the sacrifice should be made 
 through a holy representative of the deity, 
 or by means of his consecrated image. 
 
SEXUAL SACRIFICES. Ilg 
 
 Accordingly, we find that in some cases 
 it was customary for women to give up 
 their virginity to the priests of the tem- 
 ples, while others offered their maiden- 
 hood to an image of the Creator. This 
 latter mode was common in Rome, where 
 the marriage laws required that, before 
 the nuptials could be consummated, the 
 bride must sacrifice her virginity to Pria- 
 pus. It was usual, therefore, immediately 
 after the conclusion of the wedding cere- 
 monies, for the bride and her husband, at- 
 tended by the parents and friends, to re- 
 pair to a statue of Priapus, and there, in 
 the presence of her husband and the as- 
 sembled company, take her first lesson 
 in practical priapic worship, by means of 
 the iron or stone phallus of the sacred 
 image. 
 
 This rite was a solemnly religious one. 
 The bride was thus brought to the pria- 
 pic statue immediately after the wedding, 
 in order not only that she should give to 
 the god his due, but that she might be 
 rendered fruitful by contact with the di- 
 
Il6 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 vine generator, and be capable of faith- 
 fully and well performing all the duties of 
 her untried situation as a wife. The cere- 
 mony was accompanied with an offering 
 of flowers and libations of wine, and with 
 prayers to the god for matrimonial and 
 maternal blessings. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 
 
 A FAR greater importance has always 
 been attached to the male than to the fe- 
 male principle of creation. The Creator 
 always was. and ever has been regarded as 
 masculine. The supreme deity of every 
 theology is a male. This is due to the 
 fact that the part played by the woman 
 in the phenomenon of procreation is not 
 only passive and receptive, but was for a 
 long time regarded as merely functional. 
 The woman was simply the man's chattel, 
 whose only purpose was to bear him his 
 children. That she contributed toward 
 the proi^uction of the offspring by any 
 creative power of her own was not appre- 
 ciated. Only the masculine — the active 
 — element was recognized in the act of 
 procreation ; it alone was the generator. 
 117 
 
Il8 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 The female element was naught but that 
 of a passive producer and bearer of what 
 the male created. 
 
 But in time mankind awoke to a realiza- 
 tion of the fact that the female element 
 plays an important and essential part in 
 the reproduction of life ; that not only is 
 the union of the sexes necessary for pro- 
 creation, but that the production of the 
 offspring depends upon the co-operation 
 and reciprocal activity of both elements, 
 and hence the female principle of nature, 
 instead of being considered simply as a 
 passive n^edium, was exalted and wor- 
 shiped as a potent factor in the mystery 
 of creation and reproduction. 
 
 In fact, there were some among the 
 early people of the world who carried this 
 worship to an extreme, holding that the 
 female creative power was superior to 
 that of the male, and that the feminine 
 generative organs were the true symbol 
 of the creative deity. This gave rise to 
 two great religious factions: the worshipers 
 of the female symbol, the yoni, and the 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. II9 
 
 worshipers of the phallus or lingam. In 
 the very oldest records of the world there 
 are certain vague allusions here and there 
 to great religious wars of prehistoric 
 times — wars between the Yonites and the 
 Lingamites ; wars that were more terrible 
 and destructive than any that have shaken 
 the world in later times and whose fun- 
 damental issue was never settled, but has 
 descended from age to age and from gen- 
 eration to generation, even unto this day, 
 where we find man still fighting and ready 
 to fight, to prove that his god is the only 
 true god. 
 
 Our earliest records and traditions indi- 
 cate, however, that a reconciliatory wor- 
 ship of both the male and female prin- 
 ciples had become general thousands of 
 years ago ; for we find in all religions a 
 reverential recognition of the necessity 
 of female co-operation in the production 
 of life. Although the Creator, the Su- 
 preme God, is always represented as 
 masculine and omnipotent, it is also true 
 that in no theological account of the 
 
I20 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 genesis of the world is it held that the 
 Creator brought life into existence with- 
 out the assistance of the feminine ele- 
 ment. In some of the old theologies, as 
 the Greek and Egyptian, for example, the 
 Creator is represented with a consort, a 
 celestial wife, who was worshiped as next 
 in rank to the Creator himself. 
 
 Again, as in the case of Brahma, the su- 
 preme god of the Hindoos, he is repre- 
 sented as androgynous ; that is, uniting 
 both sexes in one, and being thus capable 
 of sexual union within himself. This 
 idea of an androgynous deity is a very 
 common one in the ancient faiths, as well 
 as among the Hindoos of to-day, and 
 there are found frequent realistic repre- 
 sentations of deities possessed of the or- 
 gans of both sexes, or showing a beard 
 on the face of a goddess, as may be seen 
 in some of the pictures of Venus. Por- 
 trayals of the androgynal deity are fre- 
 quent on the temples of India, and many 
 of the figures are most elaborately de- 
 signed, in an attempt to both truly and 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 121 
 
 symbolically represent the divine duality 
 of the Creator. 
 
 In one of the sacred books of the Hin- 
 doos we are told, that " the Suprenne 
 Spirit in the act of creation became two- 
 fold ; the right side was male, the left 
 side female." The principal symbol in 
 representation of this double-sex divinity 
 is one of a figure made up of male and 
 female parts, but so embellished with mys- 
 tical designs and symbolical details as to 
 be beyond the comprehension of the aver- 
 age mind ; which, indeed, is the very pur- 
 pose of this sacred symbol ; for, as the 
 Hindoos say, " When one can interpret 
 this emblem of the androgynous divinity 
 he knows all that is known." 
 
 In other theologies, while there is lack- 
 ing a feminine consort, or a creator pos- 
 sessed of both sexes, it is recorded that 
 life was brought into existence by the 
 divine impregnation of the earth or the 
 waters, which is virtually a union of the 
 two elements ; for, as will be shown here, 
 after, both the earth and the waters have 
 
122 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 always been regarded as feminine and as 
 symbols of the female creative function. 
 In the Mosaic account of genesis we read, 
 that " the spirit of the Lord moved upon 
 the face of the waters;" which means, 
 literally, that the Creator impregnated 
 the waters, or the female element of 
 nature. 
 
 In short, the human mind could not 
 conceive of creation or reproduction with- 
 out the employment of both the male and 
 female elements, notwithstanding that the 
 true importance of the latter was some- 
 times almost entirely ignored, and was 
 worshiped to a much less extent than the 
 former. 
 
 That life could be produced without 
 the congress of the two sexes, was never 
 believed, for we see that the Almighty 
 and Supreme God could not himself ac- 
 complish it. This conviction is further 
 illustrated in the various legends concern- 
 ing the birth of a god by a virgin. In all 
 of the theologies containing this feature 
 (and there are none that do not), it is 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 1 23 
 
 taught that the Supreme Father had 
 actual, material knowledge of the virgin ; 
 it is not held that she conceived without 
 contact with the masculine element. This, 
 according to universal belief, would have 
 been impossible, in spite of the omnipo- 
 tence of the Deity, because of its opposi- 
 tion to nature and to God. 
 
 Whatever may be the spiritual idea at 
 the present time regarding the immaculate 
 impregnation of the Virgin of Christianity, 
 it is certain, according to statements in 
 the Bible, that neither Joseph nor Mary, 
 nor, in fact, the writers of the gospels 
 themselves, ever supposed that a woman 
 could conceive without direct masculine 
 cissistance. That this idea was held in the 
 church for centuries afterwards, is realisti- 
 cally demonstrated by the picture of the 
 " Rosary of the Blessed Virgin," printed 
 by authority of the Church, at Venice, in 
 1 542. This represents the Virgin kneeling 
 before an altar, with her arms and eyes 
 upraised to heaven, where she beholds a 
 radiant throng of cherubim with the Holy 
 
124 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 Dove in their midst, while a potent ray of 
 light descends and enters her person, on 
 the front of which is a picture of the di- 
 vinely and miraculously conceived Christ- 
 child. 
 
 The holiness and wonder of the birth 
 of a son by a virgin lay not in the fact 
 that a virgin conceived, but that she con- 
 ceived through the divine impregnation 
 of God ; that the Almighty had chosen 
 her for his sacred purpose. Unions be- 
 tween gods and women are frequently 
 related in the ancient mythologies, and 
 are always regarded as sanctifying the 
 woman, of elevating her above her fellow 
 mortals, and of endowing her child with 
 god-like attributes ; as witness the legends 
 of the Greek and Roman mythologies, 
 and the account of the immaculate con- 
 ception and birth of Krishna, the Hindoo 
 savior, and of Buddha, the founder of 
 one of the greatest religious faiths of the 
 world. 
 
 This universally recognized necessity 
 for the union of che male with the female 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 125 
 
 element, in order to accomplish the glo- 
 rious purpose of reproduction, naturally 
 resulted in the worship of the female prin- 
 ciple as co-ordinate with that of the male, 
 as is found in many of the early religions. 
 Isis, the great feminine creative god of the 
 Egyptians, was worshiped with a venera- 
 tion fully equal to that bestowed upon 
 her masculine companion, Osiris ; and 
 though all nations did not give to the 
 feminine deity so high a rank, there was 
 none that did not have its Goddess of 
 Life, its Queen of Heaven, its Friga, its 
 Aphrodite, or one of a great variety of 
 forms and names under which the deifica- 
 tion of the feminine principle was known. 
 While mankind came to realize the 
 vast significance of the feminine nature, 
 and to worship it as a factor in the di- 
 vine purpose of all life, he did not, as a 
 rule, give to it equal rank with that of the 
 great male principle. The masculine Crea- 
 tor has always been supreme in his power 
 and capabilities. The initiative of all life 
 and activity rests with him ; he is the ac- 
 
126 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 tive, moving, generating power of nature, 
 while the female is the receptive, passive 
 element, the molder and preserver of life. 
 
 As there were in prehistoric times, so 
 are there to-day certain sects that consider 
 and worship the female principle as supe- 
 rior to that of the male. These are the 
 Hindoo worshipers of Sacti, the supreme 
 feminine creative deity, whose worship 
 consists in the adoration of the vulva, as 
 her sacred symbol- and divine incarnation. 
 In adoring her mentally the worshiper is 
 taught to imagine this symbol, which is 
 commonly called the yoni, in which he 
 must see a chapel, which he is to enter 
 and wherein he is to worship. 
 
 The principal ceremony of this sect con- 
 sists in a religious service designed for the 
 purpose of manifesting reverence for and 
 paying tribute to the divine female power. 
 
 This ceremony requires the presence of 
 a young, beautiful and nude girl, as a liv- 
 ing representative of the goddess. She is 
 generally chosen from the company of 
 consecrated nautch girls attached to the 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 127 
 
 temple, and one thus selected esteems it a 
 special honor, as a tribute to her beauty, 
 accomplishments and abilities, which must 
 be of the highest order to render her 
 worthy as a representative of the immac- 
 ulate deity. To this girl meat and wine 
 are offered by the devotees, after which 
 follow dancing and the chanting of hymns. 
 As an act of the highest devotion, and as 
 typical of the divine means by which life 
 is produced, the devout worshipers con- 
 clude the ceremony by a sexual offering 
 to the sacred representative of the deity, 
 who is obliged to bestow her favors upon 
 all of the devotees who desire thus to pay 
 homage to their creator. 
 
 The ancient holy regard for the femi- 
 nine power was, in a measure due, to its 
 magical and inciting effect upon the mas- 
 culine nature. It was through the woman 
 that the divine sexual emotions were 
 aroused ; it was the sight or thought of 
 her that brought into activity man's gen- 
 erative nature and powers. The invigor- 
 ating and inspiring effect produced by the 
 
128 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 sight or touch of a woman, especially a 
 virgin, in the garb of nature, was regarded 
 with deepest reverence, as a manifesta- 
 tion of the divine feminine power. Its 
 potency was universally recognized, and 
 we are told that it was employed for the 
 purpose of infusing life and vigor into 
 king David, after he had become aged : 
 
 " Now king David was old and stricken 
 in years, and they covered him with 
 clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore 
 his servants said unto him. Let there be 
 sought for my lord a young virgin ; and 
 let her stand before the king, and let her 
 cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, 
 that my lord may get heat."(i K. i : i, 2). 
 
 Like those of the masculine principle, 
 the attributes of the feminine element of 
 life were ascribed to a deity, the feminine 
 ruler and patron of fecundity, of sexual 
 power and of love ; and the organ (the 
 yoni) through which her powers were man- 
 ifested became her sacred symbol, and was 
 worshiped in the same light and with the 
 same veneration as the phallus. In itself, 
 
THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 1 29 
 
 however, — aside from its theological sig- 
 nificance — it was regarded with greater 
 reverence than its masculine counterpart ; 
 it was more carefully concealed, and 
 treated as more mystical. The sight of a 
 living yoni, particularly that of a virgin, 
 was thought to be of magical virtue, and 
 was considered a certain omen of good 
 fortune. 
 
 A remnant of the devout regard for- 
 merly inspired by this representative of 
 the feminine deity is still to be found 
 among certain sects in India, Palestine 
 and parts of Africa. The devotee, on 
 bended knee and in silent prayer, offers 
 to the uncovered yoni a; part of the food 
 given him by the woman, before he tastes 
 it, which she accepts and eats as evidence 
 of its purity from poison; This ceremony 
 is simply a solemn method of vowing 
 mutual friendship, and is similar in mean- 
 ing to the ancient mode of swearing by 
 grasping the phallus. 
 9 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FEMININE EMBLEMS. 
 
 The independent yoni, the feminine sym- 
 bol of creation, was naturally more diffi- 
 cult to exactly represent in the form of an 
 image than was the phallus, or lingam ; 
 and from the very beginning, therefore, 
 this symbol was portrayed in more or 
 less conventional forms, and was not in- 
 frequently extended to other more easily 
 represented portions of the female anat- 
 omy, as the breasts, the mons Veneris, 
 etc. 
 
 The principal design in representation 
 of the yoni was one that was known un- 
 der the name ol Asherah, which is trans- 
 lated and referred to in the Bible as the 
 grove, or groves. This image, which was 
 a symbol of Ashtoreth, or of the union of 
 
 Baal and Ashtoreth — the male and female 
 130 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. I3I 
 
 procreative deities of the Assyrians, — was 
 generally made of wood, and had in 
 its center an opening or fissure, which 
 was regarded as preeminently sacred, as 
 the Door of Life. Above this fissure was 
 an emblematical representation of the cli- 
 toris, divided into seven parts, and around 
 the Door of Life were carved tufts of hair, 
 thirteen in number, indicating the annual 
 fertile periods of a woman. 
 
 Designs of this image occur very fre- 
 quently in the sculptures of Nineveh and 
 Babylon. It is almost always shown re- 
 ceiving the adoration of the king and his 
 attendants, who hold in their hands pine 
 cones and other symbolical sex offerings. 
 Above the grove is a winged figure — the 
 celestial bowman, with his bow and a 
 quiver full of arrows, for the use of all who 
 desire divine vigor in the concluding rites 
 of the worship, which required that the 
 devotees should unite in sexual congress, 
 as a fitting tribute to the deity ; a per- 
 formance that took place in a small bower 
 situated near the idol. 
 
132 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 In the figure and office of the Assyrian 
 bowman we see the prototype of the Gre- 
 cian Cupid, the little god of love, or ama- 
 tory desire, with his bow and arrows ; the 
 arrow being a very old phallic emblem. 
 
 According to the Old Testament, the 
 Israelites were constantly lapsing into idol- 
 atry by serving Baal and the groves. Many 
 of their kings deserted the faith of their 
 fathers by building altars, temples and 
 images and burning incense to the phallic 
 deities of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyp- 
 tians and others. They were particu- 
 larly persistent in the worship of the 
 groves, " which were set up on every high 
 hill and under every green tree." These 
 were usually surrounded with hangings or 
 curtains, forming a tent or semi-secluded 
 bower, to which the male and female devo- 
 tees repaired for the sexual comsumma- 
 tion of their worship, after having anoint- 
 ed the image and placed before it offer- 
 ings of fruits, flowers and incense, ac- 
 companied with prayers and the chanting 
 of hymns. 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 133 
 
 Judging from the lamentations of the 
 prophets, and their allusions to some of 
 the practices indulged in by the children 
 of Israel, it is evident that the worship of 
 Baal and other phallic deities of the neigh- 
 boring tribes, was of an intensely sexual 
 character, and appealed more strongly to 
 the religious disposition of those days than 
 did the more temperate worship prescribed 
 by the laws of Moses. For a graphic de- 
 scription of the "abominations" resulting 
 from the religious intercourse of the Jews 
 with the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Baby- 
 lonians, the reader is referred to the i6th 
 and the 23d chapters of Ezekiel. 
 
 The most common form of the feminine 
 symbol was that made in representation of 
 the nions Veneris. This was represented 
 by mounds and pyramids, remains of 
 which, in various styles and sizes, are to 
 be found in all parts of the world ; the 
 most conspicuous examples being the pyr- 
 amids of Egypt, which are still the wonder 
 of the world, though comparatively few 
 people are aware of the religious and 
 
134 ^^'^ WORSHIP. 
 
 sexual significance of these marvelous 
 structures. 
 
 They were erected in honor of the fem- 
 inine creative deity, and no other motive 
 but that of religion could have prompted 
 the building of such gigantic monuments. 
 Various explanations of their purpose and 
 significance have been set forth, with the 
 result that we have been taught to regard 
 them simply as tombs or as great observa- 
 tories, as though the ancients had nothing 
 better to do, or had no higher motives, 
 than to build these wonderful structures 
 for the sole purpose of sepulchers, or to 
 scatter observatories all over the country, 
 and many of them within close range of 
 one another. 
 
 When we consider that the pyramid of 
 Cheops, for example, covers an area of 
 nearly fourteen acres, that it was origin- 
 ally four hundred and seventy-nine feet in 
 height and contained ninety million cubic 
 feet of rock, which is in immense blocks, 
 each of which had to be quarried, dressed 
 and carried to the pyramid, and this in 
 
tEMlNlNE EMBLEMS. 13^ 
 
 an age (three thousand years before Christ) 
 when mechanical contrivances were of the 
 most primitive kind, — when these facts are 
 borne in mind, it is irrational to suppose 
 that this titanic work was designed for an 
 insignificant purpose. 
 
 It is true that all the pyramids of 
 Egypt were intended for sepulchers, but 
 their shape and colossal proportions were 
 the result of a religious desire to sanctify 
 the resting-places of the dead, and to 
 honor the feminine creator. 
 
 Pyramids, or their remains, are like- 
 wise met with in Babylon, in various parts 
 of Italy and India, and in China and 
 Japan. Next to Egypt they are most 
 frequent in Mexico and other portions of 
 America. Some of these ancient Mexican 
 pyramids far exceed in area the dimen- 
 sions of the largest Egyptian monuments, 
 but, unlike those of Egypt, were generally 
 designed for use as temples, though their 
 religious significance and symbolical pur- 
 pose were the same. 
 
 The pyramid was the elaborated or con- 
 
136 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 ventionalized form of the mound, which 
 was the primary symbol of the mons 
 Veneris. Remains of artificial mounds, 
 as religious emblems, are common in many 
 parts of the world ; but, as a rule, greater 
 reverence was paid to natural mounds 
 and elevations, especially those of well- 
 defined shape. Such elevations, there- 
 fore, were regarded as sacred spots, and 
 were dedicated to divine worship ; altars 
 and temples being considered more holy 
 if placed upon a mound, and we learn 
 from the Old Testament how intimately 
 the " high places " and " high hills " were 
 associated with the worship of the feminine 
 deity. 
 
 This regard for natural elevations fre- 
 quently extended to mountains, and there 
 are sects to this day who worship moun- 
 tains as symbols of the feminine creative 
 deity. In Germany is the famous Horsel- 
 berg, commonly called Venusberg, or 
 mountain of Venus. This is the mountain 
 connected with the legend of Tannhauser, 
 and those acquainted with the legend will 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 1 37 
 
 perceive the full significance of the name 
 given the mountain. In ancient times it 
 was held in particular veneration, not only 
 because of its shape, but because of the 
 large cavern that opens into it. 
 
 A natural opening was always looked 
 upon as a particularly sacred emblem. 
 Any hole or cave, any cleft or fissure, 
 any natural crevice, was regarded with 
 holy reverence, as sacred to the divine 
 Mother Earth. From time immemorial 
 the earth has been rejgarded as feminine ; 
 as the All-creative Mother ; the consort of 
 the Almighty Father, the Sun. Accord- 
 ing to many early myths, the human race 
 was conceived in the womb of the Earth- 
 Mother, and the first man and woman 
 came forth from the under-world. To 
 this day we talk of men as creatures of 
 earth ; as coming from the earth and re- 
 turning to the earth, and in our burial 
 custom we are but continuing the an- 
 cient practice, that had its origin with 
 prehistoric man, of reverentially giving 
 back to Mother Earth the children of her 
 womb. 
 
138 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 When once the idea became general 
 that our world is feminine, it was but rea- 
 sonable that natural orifices should have- 
 been regarded as typical of that part which 
 characterizes woman, and this religious 
 regard for openings in the earth naturally 
 led to a like veneration for crevices or 
 cleft in rocks, and finally for artificial 
 openings or apertures, especially those 
 connected with places of worship. In the 
 vestibule of a church at Rome there is a 
 large perforated stone, in the hole of which 
 the Romans are said to have placed their 
 hands while swearing a solemn oath ; a 
 practice analogous to that of the He- 
 brews. 
 
 As at birth, a new being issues from the 
 mother, so it was supposed that emer- 
 gence from a terrestrial or other sancti- 
 fied cleft was equivalent to a new birth 
 — to regeneration, — and in many places it 
 was a common practice for parents to 
 sanctify their children by passing them 
 through openings and crevices. 
 
 Artificial holes, designed for purposes 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 139 
 
 of purification, are still to be seen in some 
 of the ancient religious structures of the 
 British Isles and India ; the stones in a cer- 
 tain part of the building being so arranged 
 as to have a hole under them, through 
 which the devotees passed, and were thus 
 purified, or " born again." 
 
 Similar customs are still practised in 
 parts of India. On the Island of Bombay, 
 at Malabar Hill, there is a rock, upon the 
 surface of which is a natural crevice, which 
 connects with a cavity opening below. 
 This is used by the Gentoos as a means 
 of purification, which they say is effected 
 by going in at the lower opening and 
 emerging from the cavity above. A sim- 
 ilar practice is more extensively observed 
 in the northern portion of India, where 
 there is a celebrated place to which many 
 pilgrims go, to pass through an opening 
 in the mountain; the performance being 
 known as "passing through the Cow's 
 Belly." In other places this mode of 
 purification is accomplished by passing 
 through an artificial structure in the shape 
 
I40 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 of a cow ; the devotees going in at the 
 mouth and emerging at the rear. 
 
 The cow has always been regarded as a 
 particularly holy emblem of the feminine 
 deity. As the incarnation of Isis it was 
 worshiped by the Egyptians with a venera- 
 tion equal to that bestowed upon the bull. 
 Many of the ancient temples dedicated 
 to the feminine deity contained golden 
 images of the cow or calf, and we are all 
 familiar with the adoration paid by the 
 Israelites to this creature as a sacred 
 symbol. " And when the people saw that 
 Moses delayed to come down out of the 
 mount, the people gathered themselves 
 together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 
 Up, make us gods which shall go before 
 us" (Ex. 32: I.). And when the image of 
 the calf had been made from the golden 
 earrings of the people, it was worshiped 
 with loud rejoicings, as the representative 
 of the deity that was to lead them out of 
 the wilderness. 
 
 In later years Rehoboam, the king of 
 the Israelites, likewise made two calves of 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 141 
 
 gold, and said unto the people, " Behold 
 thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 
 up out of the land of Egypt ; " * clearly 
 demonstrating that the cow or calf was 
 persistently regarded as a sacred symbol, 
 notwithstanding that the worship of such 
 images was forbidden by the Mosaic 
 law. 
 
 A symbol of equal significance with 
 that of the opening or aperture, but of far 
 greater sanctity and importance, was the 
 chest or ark, or any consecrated reposi- 
 tory or enclosure. The yoni was the 
 receptacle, the divine ark, of the phallus ; 
 within its hidden enclosure was contained 
 the mystery of life. Its interior, to which 
 the phallus, the Creator, alone had access, 
 was the holy of holies. This was sym- 
 bolized by the ark, the holiest of all 
 symbols in the worship and ceremonies of 
 the ancients. The most sacred object 
 connected with the worship of Osiris was 
 the ark, containing the divine symbol of 
 life. 
 
 * I. Kings 12 : 28. 
 
142 SEX WORSHIP, 
 
 The Jewish ark of the covenant, which 
 in size and manner of construction very 
 closely resembled the sacred ark of the 
 Egyptians, was the most important and 
 holy feature in the life and worship of the 
 Israelites. The Lord himself furnished 
 the plans for its construction, as we read 
 in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, 
 and the Bible contains numerous refer- 
 ences to its supreme holiness and sanc- 
 tity. 
 
 It was always guarded with the greatest 
 care and veneration by. the priests, and 
 when moved from one place to another, 
 Avas borne upon the shoulders of the Le- 
 vites, and attended with a grand cere- 
 monial procession, " with shouting and 
 with sound of the cornet, and with trum- 
 pets, and with cymbals, making a noise 
 with psalteries, and harps." We are told 
 in the fifth and sixth chapters of I. Samuel 
 of the sore distress that fell upon the 
 Israelites on the occasion of its seizure 
 by the Philistines and of the severe pun- 
 ishments inflicted by the Lord upon the 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 143 
 
 Philistines, in consequence. Men and 
 cities were destroyed with great rigor, 
 until the ark was returned ; and when, 
 as the result of their joy at its recovery, 
 fifty thousand men had the profane au- 
 dacity to look within its sacred enclosure, 
 the Lord slew them all without mercy. 
 (I. Sam. 6: 19). 
 
 The ark was the divine symbol of the 
 earth, of the female principle ; containing 
 the germ of all animated nature, and re- 
 garded as the Great Mother from whom 
 all things come. It was likewise the 
 symbol of salvation ; the place of safety, 
 the sacred receptacle of the divine 
 wisdom and power; hence, the ark of 
 the covenant was the holy abiding place 
 of the tables of law that had been handed 
 to Moses by the Lord. It also Contained 
 Aaron's rod, which sprang into life, and 
 budded ; conveying the idea of sym- 
 bolized fertility, and thus making the ark 
 the repository of the emblem of the crea- 
 tive deity. To this day the ark is re- 
 tained as a religious symbol in the Chris- 
 
144 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 tian church ; for the Roman Catholic 
 pyx, the holy receptacle of the body of 
 Christ, is but an adaptation of the ark, 
 and has the same purpose and signifi- 
 cance as the ancient symbol. 
 
 The ark of the Egyptians contained 
 the symbols of the Triune Creator ; the 
 phallus, the egg and the serpent ; the first 
 representing the Sun, the male genera- 
 tive principle, the active Creator ; the 
 second, the Preserver ; the passive, female 
 principle ; and the third, the Destroyer, 
 or Reproducer. The egg as an emblem 
 of the female principle was a very com- 
 mon emblem in all ancient faiths. It was 
 considered as containing the germ of all 
 life ; the image of that which produced all 
 things in itself; the emblem of life re- 
 generated. As a symbol of the reproduc- 
 tion or resurrection of life it is still em- 
 ployed in the modern Easter celebration, 
 as it was in similar celebrations in all past 
 ages. 
 
 The moon, like the earth, being recep- 
 tive only, was in a similar manner regarded 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 145 
 
 as feminine, and was not infrequently 
 worshiped as an actual deity — the Lunar 
 Goddess. Ever remaining the same from 
 year to year, unchanged by age and un- 
 weakened by use, the ancients came to 
 think of the moon as the ever-contihuing 
 virgin wife of the sun, and the virgin 
 mother of all inferior deities. This natur- 
 ally led to the adoption of representations 
 of the moon as peculiarly significant sym- 
 bols of the feminine principle of nature, 
 the chief of these being the crescent, as an 
 emblem of virginity. This is one of the 
 most common and widely diffused femi- 
 nine emblems, and to the present day 
 amulets in the shape of a crescent are 
 worn by the women of Italy, and are re- 
 garded as especially appropriate to virgins 
 and pregnant women. 
 
 In pictorial representations of the yoni, 
 as the symbol of the feminine procreative 
 power, it is often portrayed with more 
 realism than is to be found in its images. 
 This is especially true when shown in its 
 place on the female form, as is common 
 10 
 
146 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 on ancient coins, vases, sculptures and in 
 designs on temples. Women with exag- 
 gerated pudenda are frequently depicted 
 on sacred lamps and other church utensils, 
 and until within a short time ago several 
 churches in Ireland had over their main 
 entrance an elaborate sculpture of a wo- 
 man pointing to her yoni. A similar de- 
 sign was to be seen on the side of a church 
 entrance at Servatos, in Spain, while an 
 equally phallic man was exhibited on the 
 opposite side. 
 
 Symbolical designs of a similar charac- 
 ter are still to be seen in India, plainly 
 inscribed on the temples, or carved in 
 stone and placed on the walls. Over the 
 gates of one of the cities of the ancient 
 province of Sirinpatau stands a life-size 
 stone statue of Sita, one of the feminine 
 deities of procreation, while on each side 
 of her are three naked penitents on their 
 knees, engaged in the act prescribed by 
 the ancient ritual for the adoration of this 
 goddess. 
 
 In many cases, especially in the ancient 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. I47 
 
 temples of Yucatan and Peru, the key- 
 stone over the portal was adorned with a 
 picture or carving of the yoni. Our mod- 
 ern use of the horseshoe, as an emblem of 
 good luck, owes its origin to this custom 
 of placing a design of the yoni above the 
 door as a talisman ; the horseshoe being 
 adopted because of its resemblance to the 
 form which the representation of the yoni 
 most frequently assumed. 
 
 The pointed oval was one of the most 
 common of the more conventional designs 
 of the yoni, and in various modifications 
 is still retained in our church architecture, 
 as may be seen in the shape of the doors, 
 the windows and arches. This symbolical 
 oval was frequently referred to as the 
 " Door of Life," and is to be seen in its 
 true yonic significance in many ancient 
 as well as modern religious designs. 
 Virgin mothers and feminine deities were 
 generally represented standing within a 
 frame of this shape, and there are still in 
 existence medals that were worn by Chris- 
 tian pilgrims to the shrine of the Virgin 
 
148 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 of Amadon, on which is inscribed a design 
 of this character, which was commonly 
 known as " The Mother and Child in the 
 Door of Life." 
 
 As was pointed out in the case of the 
 phallus, so it may be shown that many 
 natural objects were chosen as emblems 
 of the yoni, because of some resemblance 
 to that symbol. Among the most com- 
 mon and familiar emblems of this charac- 
 ter is the conch shell, which is still worn 
 as an amulet in various parts of the world, 
 as it was by the devout women of anti- 
 quity. 
 
 The fish, too, is a well-known religious 
 symbol, sacred originally to Ishtar, Venus 
 and other feminine deifications of the sex- 
 ual nature. This was chosen partly on 
 account of its fecundity and partly because 
 its mouth was supposed to resemble the 
 opening into the womb. Piscatorial de- 
 signs are frequently met with on ancient 
 temples and coins, and are not uncommon 
 in the present-day symbology of India, 
 one of the principal designs being that 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 149 
 
 of Vishnu emerging from the mouth of a 
 great fish. The bishop's mitre is a modi- 
 fied form of a fish's head and mouth ; a 
 style of religious head-dress that resulted 
 from the ancient practice of the priests of 
 Nineveh, whose veneration for the fish as 
 a holy emblem led them to adopt a form 
 of dress resembling, as far as possible, the 
 outward appearance of this sacred crea- 
 ture. 
 
 The fish was a common symbol of 
 Friga, the Scandinavian goddess of mar- 
 riage, from whom is derived the name of 
 the sixth day of the week, as on that day 
 the Scandinavians honored the goddess 
 by offerings of her sacred emblem ; a 
 custom which we still observe by eating 
 fish on Friday, or Friga's day. 
 
 In this connection it might be of inter- 
 est to call attention to the fact, that three 
 prominent phallic emblems have been re- 
 tained by us as designs for weather vanes 
 — the fish, the cock and the arrow. These 
 emblems originally surmounted the towers 
 and spires of religious buidings, but since 
 
I go SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 their significance has become obsolete, 
 they have been relegated to the barns 
 and stables. 
 
 The fig tree is a particularly appropriate 
 and suggestive emblem in sex worship. 
 Its trilobed leaf is emblematical of the 
 masculine triad, and was commonly used 
 and referred to in that sense, and hence 
 its use as a symbolical covering for the 
 private ,parts of a nude figure. Besides 
 its masculine suggestiveness, this tree had 
 also a feminine significance, from the fact 
 that its fruit was supposed to bear a strong 
 likeness to the shape of the virgin uterus, 
 and that the eating of it was thought to 
 promote fecundity. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that this tree 
 was one of unusual sacredness and signifi- 
 cance, and, in the early religious records, 
 is frequently used as a figure of speech 
 for the expression of sentiments and ideas, 
 which are meaningless to those unac- 
 quainted with the many symbolical attri- 
 butes that have been ascribed to this im- 
 portant tree. " To sit under the vine and 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 151 
 
 fig tree ; " " Don't care a fig," and other 
 like expressions, are all of sexual signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 In addition to the fig, a great many 
 other trees and fruits were symbolical 
 of the procreative functions ; as the pome- 
 granate, the fir, the apple, the cedar, the 
 palm, grapes, vines and berries ; all of 
 which, together with several other exam- 
 ples, are alluded to in their figurative 
 sense in the Song of Solomon. This 
 song represents an amatory duet between 
 Solomon and the daughter of Pharaoh on 
 the occasion of their nuptials, and is sup- 
 posed to be but one of a thousand similar 
 love-songs and odes composed by king 
 Solomon. This particular composition 
 is regarded as the song of songs, and is, 
 indeed, an exquisite poem, being pre- 
 served among the books of the Bible as 
 emblematical of the love between Christ 
 and the Church. 
 
 This song affords a striking example of 
 what has been said regarding the purity 
 of sexuality, when made the object of or 
 
152 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 connected with religious veneration. 
 Hundreds of thousands of modest and 
 devout men and women reverently read 
 the Song of Solomon, and fail to see 
 in its amatory language anything but 
 what is pure and holy ; and yet were 
 this song to be read by one who under- 
 stood not its religious significance, it 
 could not but impress him as highly 
 erotic and sensual. 
 
 When the lover, speaking to his be- 
 loved one, says, " Thy thighs are like 
 jewels ; thy navel is like a round goblet ; 
 thy belly is like an heap of wheat set 
 about with lilies," the reverent Christian 
 sees only a poetic description of the 
 Church. And when, in turn, the woman 
 says of the man, " His cheeks are as a 
 bed of spices ; his lips like lilies, his belly 
 as bright ivory, and his legs as pillars of 
 marble, set upon sockets of fine gold," 
 and " he shall lie all night betwixt my 
 breasts," the pious reader beholds nought 
 but a holy figurative expression of the 
 love of the Church for the Savior. 
 
FEMININE EMBLEMS. 153 
 
 With this Song in mind, let us not 
 hastily condemn those who formerly in- 
 dulged in similar or other forms of sex- 
 ual expressions of religion, however 
 gross or sensual they may appear to us 
 in our ignorance of the religious meaning 
 attached to them. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 
 
 Serpent worship, next to the adora- 
 tion of the phallus, is one of the most re- 
 markable and, at the same time, one of 
 the most widespread and persistent forms 
 of religion the world has ever known. 
 There is not a country of the ancient 
 world, in the western as well as the east- 
 ern hemisphere, where it cannot be traced, 
 pervading every known faith and system 
 of theology, and leaving abundant proofs 
 of its existence and extent, in the shape 
 of monuments, temples and earthworks, 
 as well as in designs and inscriptions. 
 
 No other symbol has been invested 
 with such a variety of meanings and uses 
 as has that of the serpent. It typified 
 Wisdom, Power, Eternity, Good, Evil, 
 Life, Reproduction and various other at- 
 154 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. ISS 
 
 tributes of the creative principle. It en- 
 tered into the mythology of every nation 
 — Egypt, Syria, Greece, India, China, 
 Scandinavia, America ; in short, there 
 was no portion of the globe in which 
 it was not recognized. It consecrated 
 almost every temple, it symbolized almost 
 every deity, it was imagined in the 
 heavens, stamped on the earth, and ruled 
 in the realms of everlasting sorrow. 
 
 That the serpent was a phallic symbol 
 there is no doubt, for its worship is coeval 
 with that of the phallus, and formed part 
 of the religion of every sex-worshiping 
 nation ; and while the meanings attached 
 to it were numerous and various, they all 
 had reference to the creative or reproduc- 
 tive principle of nature, and are readily 
 reducible to the fundamental worship of 
 procreation. 
 
 In many instances the serpent was em- 
 ployed as a symbol of the Creator, of the 
 masculine element of generation, because 
 of its shape and mobility ; a living phal- 
 lus, as it were, actuated by its self-animat- 
 
IS6 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 ing spirit, moving without hands or feet 
 or any of the external members by which 
 other beings effect their motion. Among 
 most of the eastern nations, however, it 
 had a more subtle significance, in that it 
 represented an emotion or a feeling rather 
 than a material object or actuality. While 
 in a general sense it typified the Creator, 
 its specific office was the symbolization 
 of the animating spirit of procreation, the 
 stimulating factor in the production and 
 immortality of life. 
 
 This potent, energizing factor was the 
 sexual instinct, the Divine Passion. In 
 it the ancient philosophers beheld the 
 vital 'Source of procreation, the moving 
 energy in the production of life and the 
 population of the world ; and hence, to 
 them, this divine passion, this all-pervad- 
 ing, impelling force, was the actuating, 
 creative spirit of the Almighty. Con- 
 sequently, it became an object of venera- 
 tion, as the divine, spiritual agent in the 
 great mystery of life ; and, naturally, its 
 worshipers sought for it some suggestive 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 1 57 
 
 symbol, with the result that the serpent 
 was chosen, as most fully and comprehen- 
 sively embodying the various attributes 
 of the Creator in his subtle and omni- 
 potent power. 
 
 In all probability, the cobra de capello, 
 or hooded snake of India, was the par- 
 ticular species of the reptile first adopted 
 as an emblem of the Divine Passion, be- 
 cause of its highly suggestive peculiari- 
 ties. It has the power of puflfing itself 
 up, enlarging and erecting its head, when 
 aroused to excitement, and its size, shape, 
 position, and regular pulsations when in 
 this condition, as well as its well-known 
 power of fascination, were all extremely 
 significant, and readily appealed to the 
 fancy and superstition of an emotional 
 and religious race. 
 
 All of the more ancient representations 
 of the serpent in the symbology of Egypt, 
 Babylon, Persia, Greece, and other coun- 
 tries, bear a strong resemblance to the 
 cobra ; but after the adoption of this 
 species as a religious emblem it was not 
 
IS8 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 long before the significance attached to 
 this particular kind was extended to the 
 serpent in general, and, accordingly, we 
 find that each nation had its own partic- 
 ular variety of snake as a sacred symbol 
 of the Divine Passion, or invigorating 
 energy of nature, in its various interpreta- 
 tions of Wisdom, Eternity, Life, Repro- 
 duction, and so on. 
 
 The important significance of the ser- 
 pent is shown by the fact that this animal 
 was employed in all the phallic rites and 
 ceremonies of the ancients, and was an 
 object of worship to every nation on the 
 globe. According to the Bible, the 
 brazen serpent made by Moses at the 
 command of the Lord was regarded with 
 the deepest veneration by the Israelites, 
 and was religiously preserved and wor- 
 shiped by them for a period of seven hun- 
 dred years, when it was finally destroyed 
 by Hezekiah, because of the idolatrous 
 rites connected with its worship. 
 
 All celebrations, especially those in 
 honor of the procreative deities, were at- 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. IS9 
 
 tended with the exhibition and adoration 
 of the serpent. In the mysteries of Egypt, 
 Greece and Rome, the sacred reptile was 
 carried in the processions by troops of 
 noble virgins, and many of the people 
 had living snakes entwined about their 
 heads, or carried them in their hands, 
 while shouting with religious excitement. 
 Nearly every ancient city of the East, as 
 well as in Mexico and other portions of 
 America, had its serpent temple, in which 
 were kept enormous specimens of this 
 sacred reptile, that were worshiped and 
 waited upon with divine honors. 
 
 Though, as a general rule, the serpent 
 was venerated and adored as the repre- 
 sentative of supreme power, wisdom and 
 goodness, it was also not infrequently em- 
 ployed as the symbol of evil. This nat- 
 urally resulted from its use as an emblem 
 of the sexual desire ; for, while this instinct 
 was on the one hand regarded as the chief 
 factor in the work of the Creator, and, 
 therefore, the source of all good, it was also 
 recognized as the cause of all evil. It 
 
l6o SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 was through it that sin came into the world ; 
 it was the blind, overmastering passion 
 that incited mankind to disobedience 
 and wickedness; the inflaming spirit of 
 lust ; the tempter, and the seducer. Con- 
 sequently, the serpent became the rep- 
 resentative of sin, the personification of 
 evil ; and this devil, this opposer of God, 
 or the Good, was the sexual nature, in its 
 sensual and lustful aspect. 
 
 Accordingly, it is not difficult to com- 
 prehend the allegorical significance of the 
 serpent in the account of the temptation 
 and fall of Adam and Eve. Their sin 
 consisted in acquainting themselves with 
 fleshly enjoyments. They resisted not 
 the promptings of their sexual desires, but 
 permitted themselves to partake of the 
 forbidden fruit. 
 
 The symbolism of the serpent is very ex- 
 tensive, and is met with in a great variety 
 of forms and combinations. It is, how- 
 ever, seldom found as an isolated symbol, 
 except in the well-known Egyptian design, 
 in which it is shown with its tail in 
 
THE SERPENT AND TttE CROSS. l6l 
 
 its mouth, as an emblem of immortality 
 and future life. As a rule, it appears in 
 conjunction with male or female emblems, 
 and one of the oldest and best-known 
 phallic representations in which the serpent 
 figures, is the Rod of Life, or the caduceus 
 of Mercury. 
 
 This represents two serpents twined 
 about an upright staff or pole, and typifies 
 the phallus receiving life and potency 
 from the Divine Energy. Its special 
 significance is due to the position of the 
 se'rpents, which is that adopted by the 
 cobra when mating. A Hindoo regards 
 it as a most fortunate omen to be able to 
 witness this serpentine union, and it is 
 said that if while in this condition a cloth 
 be thrown over the serpents it becomes 
 'endowed with extraordinary powers. 
 Pieces of cloth, that have been thus en- 
 charmed, are preserved with the greatest 
 care and veneration, as talismans, for avert- 
 ing evil influences or for securing conjugal 
 blessings. 
 
 The staff of life, in a great variety of 
 
l62 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 forms, is common on ancient coins, gems, 
 and sculptures. In many designs the 
 serpent is shown in conjunction with both 
 male and female symbols, and ever has 
 for its significance the Divine Passion, 
 the invigorating and inspiring energy of 
 nature. 
 
 This divine, actuating force of nature 
 owed its sacredness to the fact that it was 
 the necessary and inciting means to the 
 accomplishment of the supreme life-pur- 
 pose of man and woman — the union of the 
 two for the reproduction of life and the 
 perpetuation of the race. It was in the 
 gratification of the Divine Passion that 
 man experienced his most exalted pleas- 
 ure, and beheld the direct and immediate 
 cause of a new being and the immortality 
 of life. Hence, the act of generation, the 
 union of the sexes, was regarded as su- 
 premely sacred and divine. It was the 
 sublime means ordained by the Creator 
 for the fulfillment of his infinite purpose ; 
 and, as will be more fully shown in a sub- 
 sequent chapter, was regarded as a most 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 1 63 
 
 holy act, and was the object of universal 
 worship and of devout, religious rites. 
 
 Many realistic iigures and designs were 
 employed to represent this holy union of 
 the sexes, and may still be seen on the 
 temples and monuments of ancient Egypt 
 and of India. The most extensive and 
 sacred symbol of the Hindoos is the 
 lingam-in-yoni, an image made of wood or 
 stone, in representation of the union of the 
 lingam and yoni. 
 
 Symbols of like significance, in endless 
 varieties of design and size, were common 
 among the ancients ; but pre-eminent 
 among them all was the cross, which, in 
 its original and primitive form, was merely 
 a simplification of the various designs 
 used to represent the congress of the 
 sexes. These designs, in their general 
 outline and shape, consisted of an upright 
 portion, connected at right angles with a 
 horizontal base ; the whole resembling, to 
 a greater or less extent, an inverted T 
 (X) ; 3"d this simplified form, when made 
 of stone or wood, and set up on end, in 
 
164 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 order to be more plainly exhibited, re- 
 sulted in the figure of the cross. 
 
 From time immemorial the cross has 
 been used as a religious symbol. There 
 is no portion of the earth inhabited 
 by man in which it is not found, and there 
 is no time in the history of the world — 
 back even to the ages of prehistoric 
 man, — that this sacred symbol has not 
 been in existence. It was universally re- 
 garded as the emblem of life, of regenera- 
 tion, or of immortality, and was ever held 
 in the highest veneration as the holiest of 
 all symbols. 
 
 It appears in a great variety of shapes ; 
 all of which, however, are readily reduci- 
 ble to the simple, primary form. The 
 cross of four arms meeting at right angles, 
 and commonly called the Greek cross, is 
 found on Assyrian tablets, on Egyptian 
 and Persian monuments, and on Etruscan 
 jars and vases ; while the Latin cross, the 
 one now used as a Christian symbol, is to 
 be seen on equally ancient coins, monu- 
 ments and pottery, and stone images of 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 1 65 
 
 it have been found in the remains of tem- 
 ples and habitations that existed hun- 
 dreds and even thousands of years before 
 the time of Christ. 
 
 A modified form of this cross is the 
 crux ansata, or handled cross, so called 
 because the part above the cross-beam is 
 in the form of an oval loop, and served as 
 a handle for holding the image. This 
 cross is found in many of the religious 
 scenes pictured on the temples of ancient 
 Egypt, and is most commonly shown in 
 the hands of Isis, Osiris and other divini- 
 ties, while images of it are not infre- 
 quently found on the breasts of mummies. 
 Assyrian and Babylonian sculptures fre- 
 quently exhibit this form of the cross, and 
 it is prominently shown on some of the 
 coins found in the temple of Serapis. 
 
 Early Phenician coins bear the design 
 of a cross on one side, and the figure of a 
 lamb on the other, while on some of them is 
 engraved a semi-circular chain of beads 
 with the cross attached ; similar in every 
 respect to the modern rosary. Rosaries 
 
1 66 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 of the same kind are also found among 
 the Buddhists of Japan and the Lamas of 
 Thibet. 
 
 Long before the time of the Romans 
 or of their predecessors, the Etruscans, 
 who had reached a high development of 
 civilization centuries before the founda- 
 tion of Rome, there lived in the northern 
 plains of Italy a people with whom the 
 cross was a religious symbol. History 
 • tells us nothing of these people, and we 
 know nothing of them, save that they 
 lived in ignorance of art and civilization ; 
 that they dwelt on platforms built over 
 lakes, and that they marked the resting- 
 places of their dead with an image of the 
 cross. 
 
 In the cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, 
 is a sculpturing that records the destruc- 
 tion of the male children at the birth of 
 Krishna, the Hindoo Savior, who lived 
 more than a thousand years before Christ, 
 and over the head of the executioner, 
 who is surrounded with supplicating moth- 
 ers, is a cross. 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 167 
 
 When the Spaniards came to America 
 they were astonished to find that the na- 
 tives not only worshiped a crucified Sav- 
 ior and a Virgin Mother, but that the 
 cross was their most sacred symbol, and 
 typified salvation and the life to come. 
 These unaccountable features of their re- 
 ligion led to the invention by the Chris- 
 tians of a legend, that St. Thomas had 
 miraculously come over to America cen- 
 turies before, and had revealed the doc- 
 trines of the church to the Mexicans. But 
 this legend would fail to account for the 
 existence of the cross and other features 
 of Christianity common among the pre- 
 historic races of the Western Continent, 
 prior to the Christian era, as shown by 
 their remains. 
 
 The cross was revered among the na- 
 tives of Nicaragua, Yucatan, Guatemala, 
 Paraguay, Brazil, and Peru. In the last 
 named country the Incas worshiped a 
 cross made of a single piece of jasper, 
 while crosses of white marble have 
 been found among the ruins of ancient 
 
l68 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 habitations in South and Central Amer- 
 icas.- 
 
 In the midst of the forests of Chiapas, 
 in Mexico, is a ruined city. It had long 
 been dead and overgrown at the time of 
 the Spanish conquest. According to tra- 
 dition, it was founded nine hundred years 
 before Christ. In this ancient city of 
 Palenque was found a building of religious 
 worship, containing several altars, and at 
 the back of one of them was discovered 
 a stone slab, on which were sculptured 
 two human figures standing one on each 
 side of a cross, to which one of the figures 
 was extending his arms and offering an in- 
 fant. 
 
 The earliest and most primitive form of 
 the cross was one in the shape of the let- 
 ter T> commonly called the tau cross. 
 This was the old Scandinavian symbol of 
 the god Thor, and is found among the 
 very oldest nations of the world. It was 
 the mark that the Israelites put on their 
 doorposts with the blood of the lamb, on 
 the occasion of the Passover, and in the 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 1 69 
 
 book of Ezekiel (9 : 6) we read that this 
 same sacred and talismanic sign was di- 
 rected by the Lord to be placed on the 
 foreheads of the men of Jerusalem who 
 were to be spared in the destruction of 
 the city : " Slay utterly old and young, 
 both maids and little children and women ; 
 but come not near any man upon whom 
 is the mark." 
 
 Crosses of this shape were commonly 
 used in the religious rites of the ancients, 
 and it was customary among some of the 
 eastern races for the women to sacrifice 
 their virginity by rupturing the hymen 
 with a small stone cross of this kind. 
 
 Images of this cross, which are referred 
 to in the Bible as images of men, figured 
 in the idolatrous worship of the Israelites ; 
 and the use to which they were put may 
 be learned from the 17th verse of i6th 
 chapter of Ezekiel. 
 
 For three or four centuries after Christ 
 the tau cross was employed almost exclu- 
 sively by the followers of the new reli- 
 gion, and inscriptions of it, as well as of 
 
I/O SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 the crux ansata, may be seen on the early 
 tombs and monuments of the Christians. 
 At first, however, the use of the cross in 
 any form was not permitted by the church 
 fathers, because it was a pagan symbol, 
 and its introduction into Christian cele- 
 brations was regarded as rank profanation, 
 and sternly forbidden. 
 
 Though it is popularly believed that 
 our present familiar church symbol repre- 
 sents the form of the cross on which Christ • 
 was crucified,, there is absolutely no au- 
 thority for this belief, as there is in exist- 
 ence no authentic record describing the 
 form of the cross on which Jesus was ex- 
 ecuted. These instruments of execution 
 were of various shapes ; the simplest form 
 being an upright stake, on which the mal- 
 efactor was sometimes impaled, and some- 
 times fastened with cords or nails. In 
 the other forms, the transverse beam was 
 frequently separate from the upright, and 
 this was the only part borne by the vic- 
 tim to the place of execution. Christ, 
 therefore, was not obliged to carry the en- 
 
THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 171 
 
 tire cross, as is generally supposed, and 
 represented in pictures, but simply the 
 cross-piece, which was fastened to the up- 
 right stake after he reached Calvary. 
 
 From the fact that the early Christians 
 used the tau cross as a symbol of the 
 crucifixion, it is probable that that was 
 the form of cross on which Christ met 
 his death, and this'is the opinion held by 
 most scholars and investigators. 
 
 Through all the ages of humankind, the 
 cross has been the dearest and holiest of 
 emblems, and to the devout worshiper of 
 to-day it is the same glorious symbol of 
 redemption and resurrection that it was 
 to the man or woman of five thousand 
 years ago. Primarily representing the 
 divine union of the sexes, it has ever typi- 
 fied regeneration and the life everlasting. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DIVINE ACT. 
 
 The universal employment of the cross in 
 all ages, as a symbol of lifeand immortality, 
 demonstrates most conclusively the innate 
 and overmastering reverence of mankind 
 for the divine act of generation, — the union 
 of the sexes ; — not only because of the 
 ecstatic exaltation that it inspired (which, 
 in many of the ancient religious and philo- 
 sophical writings, is regarded as a mo- 
 mentary union with God, an absorption 
 into the Divine Soul), but because of its 
 wonderful and sublime result. It was 
 the acme of human bliss, a glimpse of the 
 Divine Nature, the immortalizing act of 
 God. It was this which first awoke in 
 man a realization of the soul, a belief in 
 the immortality of life. 
 
 To the philosophers of antiquity man 
 172 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. 1 73 
 
 and woman in their individualities were 
 'incomplete creatures ; they were but com- 
 ponent parts of one being. They had 
 in them the potentiality of reproduction 
 and immortality, but in themselves they 
 were barren and impotent. It was only 
 in their union, in their reciprocal and 
 co-operative activity, that they became 
 one, — a perfect soul. Only then were 
 they capable of fulfilling the divine will 
 for which they were mutually created. 
 
 It is by no means surprising, therefore, 
 that this wondrous and omnipotent act 
 should have been made the object of 
 divine worship ; and to this day the union 
 of the sexes is solemnized with religious 
 ceremonies, in continued recognition of 
 its holiness. According to law, marriage 
 is simply a civil contract, a mere agree- 
 ment to live together, and may be executed 
 before any duly qualified ofificer of the 
 law ; but the vast majority of us prefer that 
 this contract shall be made the occasion 
 of a religious celebration. In fact, many 
 believe that marriage is not valid unless 
 
174 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 performed by a representative of the 
 Lord, and attended with blessings and 
 ceremonial rites. The nuptial tie is held 
 to be a divine bond, — " Those whom God 
 hath joined together let no man put 
 asunder." 
 
 And, after all, what is the object of a 
 marriage ceremony but a sanctification 
 of the sexual union ? Reverence for the 
 sacredness of this union is still inherent 
 in mankind, and, because of its holiness, 
 cannot be consummated until properly 
 sanctioned and hallowed by these religious 
 ceremonies. To engage in the act of gen- 
 eration in the absence of such consecratory 
 rites, is regarded as a wrong or a crime, 
 even as it was four and five thousand 
 years ago. 
 
 In all ancient religions this reverent re- 
 gard for the divine act of creation led to 
 the adoption of various rites and practices 
 for the sanctification of sexual unions, not 
 only in the form of marriage, but of pros- 
 titution, which, under certain circum- 
 stances, was considered both proper and 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. 175 
 
 holy. Every ancient temple had connected 
 with it a number of consecrated women, 
 whose office it was to submit themselves 
 to the embraces of any man who might 
 come in unto them, upon the payment of 
 a specified sum ; the money thus received 
 being used for religious purposes. 
 
 To the minds of the ancients no more 
 appropriate nor holy means could be de- 
 vised for raising money for the mainte- 
 nance of the temple than a sanctified in- 
 dulgence in the Divine Act. It was the 
 most sublime and sacred of all human 
 functions — the consummation of God's 
 will, — and, consequently, God's temple 
 was the most fitting place for its per- 
 formance. 
 
 One of the earliest allusions to these 
 consecrated temple-women is found in 
 the book of Genesis, * where we are told 
 that Tamar deceived her father-in-law, 
 Judah, by veiling herself after the manner 
 of the women of the temple, and sitting 
 before the door of Enajim, where Judah 
 * Chapter J^xxviii. 
 
176 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 beheld her and went in unto her. The 
 women of this class wore a special attire, 
 the principal feature of which was a long 
 veil, and conducted themselves quietly, 
 not seeking customers, but waiting for 
 them to make the first approach. In this 
 guise Tamar succeeded in enticing Judah, 
 who thought she was a temple attendant 
 and, consequently, one with whom he 
 was permitted to associate. The ordi- 
 nary harlot of the Hebrews was an out- 
 cast, and was conspicuous by her im- 
 modest attire and bold conduct, it being 
 not unusual for women of this character 
 to rush up to men and kiss them in 
 public. 
 
 Consecrated prostitution was common 
 among all the early nations of the world, 
 and was everywhere regarded in the most 
 sacred light. Some of the ancient places 
 of worship were devoted entirely to the 
 this holy purpose, as appears from the 
 fact that the chief temple of Babylon 
 was called Bit-Shaggathu, which means, 
 literally, the Temple for Copulation. 
 
THE DIVINE ACT.. 1 77 
 
 The number of women attached to some 
 of these places was very large ; the temple 
 of Venus at Corinth having no less than 
 a thousand sacred prostitutes connected 
 with it, while a similar number belonged 
 to the temple of the same goddess at 
 Eryx. In later times, among the Greeks 
 and Romans, this practice lost much of 
 its religious aspect, degenerating into 
 sheer licentiousness, and Juvenal tells us 
 that every temple in Rome was practically 
 a licensed brothel. 
 
 This practice, in its religious purity, is 
 still in vogue in many parts of India, 
 where every important temple belonging 
 to the worshipers of what is known as the 
 Sacteyan faith, has attached to it a troop 
 of nautch girls, or " women of the idol," 
 who are considered as holy devotees of 
 the faith. These girls are chosen by the 
 priests, when quite young, on account of 
 their beauty, health and activity, and it 
 is regarded as a rare honor by parents 
 to have a daughter selected for this holy 
 profession ; even high officials and digni- 
 12 
 
178 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 taries looking upon it as a proud distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 Among some of the Hindoo sects these 
 consecrated girls are considered particu- 
 larly sacred, as personifications of the 
 goddess Bhagavatee, and are the objects 
 of devout adoration. Many persons per- 
 form the worship of these girls daily. 
 This is done by placing the girl, generally 
 in a nude condition, upon a seat with 
 flowers, paints, scented water and fruits, 
 and addressing to her prayers and expres- 
 sions of adoration. She is then presented 
 with costly offerings of cloth, ornaments 
 and wines, and at the conclusion of the 
 ceremony, which is a lengthy and elabo- 
 rate one, the worshiper offers incense, and 
 prostrates himself before the living idol. 
 
 After reaching sexual maturity these 
 girls are initiated into the mysteries and 
 duties of their profession, by the consum- 
 mation of their marriage to the god. 
 Their great natural beauty is heightened 
 by all the enticements of drapery, jewels, 
 seductive arts and general feminine witch- 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. I79 
 
 ery. Of all their arts dancing is the most 
 highly cultivated ; not, however, the mode 
 of dancing to which we are accustomed, 
 but consisting of a pantomime made up 
 of the most graceful and alluring dra- 
 matic action, gestures, twistings and mar- 
 velous undulatory and expressive motions 
 of the arms and legs and the whole body; 
 a performance which is at once poetical, 
 sensual and skillful, and constitutes the 
 chief ostensible employment of these 
 nautch girls. 
 
 Their true office, however, is to secure 
 revenue for the sustenance and enrich- 
 ment of the temple, by giving themselves 
 to all who desire and are willing to pay 
 for their possession. As they are beauti- 
 ful, and accomplished in all seductive 
 and passion-alluring arts, and are safe 
 companions, by reason of their perfect 
 state of health, and as it is considered both 
 honorable and holy on their part, as well 
 as on the part of their patrons, thus to 
 swell the treasury of the temple, it need 
 not be wondered that they are much 
 
l8o SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 sought after and well paid for this part of 
 their services. 
 
 These consecrated women are treated 
 with the greatest reverence and respect ; 
 while a Hindoo woman who prostitutes 
 herself for private gain, is an outcast and 
 bears a disgraceful name ; a further illus- 
 tration of the sanctity attached to the 
 Divine Act, and of the pollution and profa- 
 nation resulting from its performance in 
 the absence of religious auspices. 
 
 Among many of the ancients it was 
 taught that sexual indulgence was the true 
 and only aim in life, and that it was a re- 
 ligious duty every man and woman owed 
 to God, the Creator. This doctrine was 
 not infrequently carried to its extreme ; 
 nor was it peculiar alone to the people of 
 antiquity, for we find that in the Middle 
 Ages certain sects of Christians held that 
 true blessedness on earth consisted in the 
 full and unstinted enjoyment of venereal 
 pleasures, which were ordained by the 
 Lord as the divine means of fulfilling his 
 glorious purpose, and of bringing man- 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. l8l 
 
 kind more closely into communion with 
 himself and with the eternal blessedness 
 that awaited them hereafter. This idea 
 was in some instances carried to such an 
 extent, that not only were gross sensuality 
 and crime permitted, but were actually 
 recommended, if necessary for the attain- 
 ment of the desired end. 
 
 According to one of these sects, known 
 as the Gnostics, the greatest of all sins (in 
 fact, the only sin) consisted in opposing 
 the appetites and passions. These were 
 gifts of God ; they were given to man for 
 a divine purpose, and every inclination 
 inspired by them must be fulfilled as a 
 religious duty ; a tenet which found many 
 earnest followers, whose practices were 
 fully in keeping with their beliefs. A 
 custom adopted by them and religiously 
 carried out, was that which required the 
 host to offer his wife to any stranger 
 or friend who was entertained at the 
 house. To them genuine hospitality con- 
 sisted in placing at. the disposal of the 
 visitor all that the host possessed, at the 
 
1 82 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 same time affording the guest an oppor- 
 tunity of indulging in the rite prescribed 
 by the sect. 
 
 The custom in this case was noteworthy, 
 because of its adoption and practice by 
 civilized men ; but it has always been a 
 common feature of primitive social condi- 
 tions, and at the present day is to be found 
 among many of the uncivilized people of 
 the world. Among the coast tribes of 
 British Columbia the present of a wife 
 is one of the greatest honors that can be 
 shown to a guest. The savage offers a 
 visitor his wife as we offer him a seat at 
 the table. It is not always the wife, how- 
 ever, that is offered ; it is sometimes a 
 daughter, a sister, or a servant. Thus, the 
 people of Madagascar warn strangers to 
 behave with decency to their wives, while 
 they readily and willingly offer their 
 daughters. A Tungas will give his daugh- 
 ter for a time to any friend or traveler to 
 whom he takes a fancy ; and if he has no 
 daughter, he will give a servant, but not 
 his wife ; while in other tribes wives are 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. 1 83 
 
 commonly given up and exchanged in 
 token of friendship, — customs which will 
 no doubt remind the reader of the practice 
 in ancient Sparta of borrowing and loaning 
 wives. 
 
 The worship of the act of generation 
 was common to all nations of the world, 
 and formed an important feature of many 
 of their religious celebrations in honor of 
 the procreative deities. Homage to the 
 Creator consisted not only in offerings and 
 songs of praise, but in the ceremonial ex- 
 ercise of the sacred function of generation 
 itself ; for, according to the teachings of 
 all religions, no act can be more holy 
 than that done in imitation of the Deity. 
 To be as God, to do as he has done, to 
 follow in his footsteps, are the golden and 
 fundamental precepts of every religious 
 faith. It was but natural, therefore, that 
 the divine act of creation should have 
 been devoutly performed as a religious 
 rite, in the pious endeavor to thus imitate 
 the Almighty in his glorious work of 
 creation and reproduction, and that it 
 
1 84 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 should have been made the object of 
 special worship. 
 
 A typical example of the manner in 
 which this ancient rite was frequently 
 performed, is to be found at thisjjday 
 among the Kauchiluas of India. Social 
 restraints are wholly obliterated for the 
 time being, in honor of the Creator and 
 his divine functions. The women — maids 
 and matrons — deposit their bodices in a 
 box, each garment and each woman being 
 numbered by a priest. At the close of 
 the ritual of song and prayer, each male 
 worshiper takes a bodice from the box, 
 and the woman who has the number cor- 
 responding to that on the garment, even 
 though it be the sister or daughter of the 
 man who draws it, becomes his partner for 
 the fulfillment of that which has been the 
 subject of their worship and praise during 
 the preceding ceremonies. 
 
 This rite and the wild excesses that are 
 sometimes incidental to it, are engaged in 
 by the most devout and pure-minded men 
 and women ; the majority of whom, out- 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. 185 
 
 side of this ceremony (which they consider 
 a sacred and solemn observance of their 
 faith), are as modest and as chaste as any 
 of their more enlightened fellow-beings of 
 the western world. 
 
 Indiscriminate intercourse of this kind 
 was practised in the temples, as a custom- 
 ary feature of the vernal festivals of the 
 Greeks and Romans, held in honor of 
 the procreative deities, and was condoned 
 and recommended as a proper and appro- 
 priate means of glorifying the gods ; while 
 St. Augustine leads us to infer that the 
 celebration of the Eucharist among the 
 early Christians was not infrequently con- 
 cluded in a like manner. 
 
 Festivals of a similar kind were cele- 
 brated throughout Egypt, in honor of 
 Isis and Osiris, the deities of procreation. 
 The celebration at Mendes was particu- 
 larly noteworthy, for it was there that the 
 sacred goat was employed in the ceremo- 
 nies. These were of an intensely religious 
 character, inducing a high state of excite- 
 ment and enthusiasm, at the climax of 
 
1 86 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 which many of the women offered them- 
 selves to the goat, as the divine represent- 
 ative of the Deity. 
 
 We are told by Herodotus that the goat 
 accepted this unnatural copulation, and 
 that the union took place publicly in the 
 assembly, being regarded by all as a most 
 holy and sacred performance ; and the 
 women who thus gave their persons were 
 held in particular reverence thereafter as 
 the recipients of divine favor. This par- 
 ticular feature of the celebration was not, 
 however, confined to the women, as is 
 shown by frequent references in ancient 
 records, and by Egyptian sculptures rep- 
 resenting the union of men and female 
 goats. 
 
 As was stated before, such rites were 
 performed through a truly devout and re- 
 ligious desire to honor the Deity and win 
 his favor, by imitating the divine act by 
 which life is regenerated and immortalized. 
 Among some of the ancient peoples, this 
 divine generative function was typified by 
 the public union of a man and woman ; a 
 
THE DIVINE ACT. 187 
 
 performance which was attended with 
 elaborate religious ceremonies, and consti- 
 tuted the most sacred and most holy fea- 
 ture of their worship. 
 
 This particular rite is still practised 
 by some of the phallic-worshiping sects 
 of India, and is to be met with among 
 the natives of some of the Pacific islands. 
 A navigator, writing of one of their 
 religious festivals, says : " A young man 
 of fine size and perfect proportions per- 
 formed the creative act with a little 
 miss of eleven or twelve before the as- 
 sembled congregation, among whom were 
 the leading people of rank of both 
 sexes, without any thought of observing 
 otherwise than an appropriate religious 
 duty." 
 
 Accounts of many other ceremonies 
 celebrated in honor of the divine procrea- 
 tive function, might be given, but those 
 already cited are sufficient to demonstrate 
 how general and how persistent through 
 all time has been man's reverence for the 
 immortalizing act of generation, and that 
 
1 88 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 in every age and in every country mah- 
 kind has endeavored to honor and glorify 
 the Author of Life by appropriate relig- 
 ious ceremonies. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 REGENERATION. 
 
 In all mythologies and religious creeds 
 the regeneration of life figures as a promi- 
 nent and fundamental feature. Clothed 
 in a countless variety of myths, beliefs 
 and doctrines, this glbrious phase of na- 
 ture and of life has from time imme- 
 morial been the object of man's joyous 
 worship, as a typification of immortality 
 and of the redemption of mankind. 
 Through all ages the nations of the world 
 have celebrated the renewal of life with 
 gladsome religious festivals ; festivals that, 
 in various modifications, are retained to 
 this day, and form the chief and most 
 inspiring feature of modern religious 
 worship. 
 
 There is not a time in the history of 
 the human race of which we have any rec- 
 ord, that mankind did not celebrate the 
 189 
 
IQO SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 vernal reanimation of nature ; the resur- 
 rection of life. After a glorious reign in 
 the heavens, during which the earth 
 revels in joyousness and beauty, the sun 
 enters the wintry realms of the southern 
 sky, leaving the world cold and cheerless. 
 But after a short though dreary absence, 
 during which all nature mourns and weeps, 
 he reappears in the majesty of his light 
 and power, and brings back to earth the 
 joy and the strength that have lain cold 
 and dead beneath the ban of winter. The 
 world, the Earth Mother, is quickened 
 by the vitalizing power of the sun, the 
 Father. Life is re-born. The earth once 
 more awakes with renewed vitality and 
 beauty. All the world, all nature is a 
 triumphant symbolization of life's regen- 
 eration. 
 
 To primitive man these seasonal events 
 were of the most vital import. To him they 
 meant more than mere natural phenomena. 
 They were the supreme manifestations 
 of the universal life in its wondrous phases 
 of birth, death, and resurrection. Spring, 
 
REGENERATION. igl 
 
 summer, autumn and winter, the months, 
 the day and the night, the earth, the sun 
 and the multitude of features and phenom- 
 ena incident to the annual revolution of 
 the earth became living entities, personi- 
 fications of beings and deities, whose re- 
 lationship one to the other, and the parts 
 they played in the great drama of nature, 
 gave rise to those myths and legends, 
 that, as before stated, constitute the basis 
 of every system of mythology and every 
 theological creed. 
 
 The well-known myths of the Greeks, 
 Romans and Scandinavians, and our famil- 
 iar nursery tales — " Little Red Riding 
 Hood," " Cinderella," " Sleeping Beauty," 
 and many more, — together with the 
 legends of theology, are all traceable to the 
 simple allegories invented by early man as 
 his solution of the manifestations of nature. 
 
 Darkness and light, winter and summer ; 
 the dawn of the morning, and the advent 
 of spring ; the triumph of day over night, 
 of life over death — these are the basic 
 themes of all nature-stories and dramas, 
 
192 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 Gods, demigods, monsters, spirits, angels, 
 animals, men, women and children, all 
 serve their suggestive parts in the allegor- 
 ization of the forces and phenomena of 
 life. 
 
 In many instances the sun, or life, in its 
 garb of summer, was personified as a 
 youth, who, like Baldur, the Scandi- 
 navian summer-god, is slain through the 
 treachery of the evil being representing 
 the frost or the chilling month of De- 
 cember, and is carried to the under-world, 
 there to remain as a captive of the god of 
 winter, but eventually to return to earth 
 and once more gladden it with his pres- 
 ence. 
 
 Again, as in the myth connected 
 with the Eleusinian mysteries of the 
 Greeks, life is a maiden — Persephone, — 
 who is carried away by Pluto to the realm 
 of shades, but through the supplications 
 of her mother, Demeter, the goddess of 
 the earth, she is permitted to return to 
 the world every summer. 
 
 In addition to these more simple and ob- 
 
REGENERATION. 193 
 
 vious myths the great solar phenomena 
 gave rise to allegories of a more elaborate 
 and theological character. The sun was 
 the almighty Creator himself, in the form 
 of a divine Savior, coming to redeegi the 
 world from its darkness. The morning star 
 was his celestial herald, while the night was 
 a cruel tyrant, who feared the advent of him 
 who would rule the earth with light, and 
 sought to destroy him by extinguishing 
 all the lights, all the stars, of heaven. 
 The twelve months, or the twelve signs of 
 the zodiac, were the attendants of the 
 Redeemer in his life journey, during which 
 he glorified the earth with his potent and 
 sublime presence. The twelfth month 
 was his betrayer, and through this be- 
 trayer he met his doom at the winter 
 solstice, and descended into the abode of 
 death, only to rise again, however, in all 
 his glory and supremacy of power for. the 
 eternal salvation of men. 
 
 This version we find represented in the 
 legends of Osiris, Mithras, Buddha, Krish- 
 na and all the other virgin-born Re- 
 13 
 
194 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 deemers of the world. Though widely 
 separated, both . as to time and place, 
 each of them is said to have been born 
 on the day corresponding to our twenty- 
 fifth, of December ; for it is then that the 
 sun is born. The winter solstice is past, 
 and the great luminary begins his revivi- 
 fying journey northward. 
 
 The first moment after midnight of De- 
 cember 24th all the nations of the earth, 
 as if in common accord, celebrated the ac- 
 couchement of the Queen of Heaven, or 
 the Virgin Mother, and the birth of a god. 
 It was not, however, until about the fifth 
 century of the Christian era that this date 
 was generally agreed upon as the birthday 
 of Jesus ; some having chosen the 19th of 
 April, others the 20th of May, and still 
 others the Sth of January. It was prob- 
 ably the confusion attendant upon such 
 a disagreement that led the fathers of the 
 church to designate the 25th of December 
 as the date of the birth of Christ ; that 
 being the day upon which all other na- 
 tions celebrated a similar event. 
 
RfiGENERATIOlSf. ipg 
 
 In India the day is the occasion of 
 universal rejoicing. The houses are dec- 
 orated with garlands, and friends ex- 
 change presents, in conformity with a 
 custom of great antiquity. Among the 
 ancient Persians it was a day of celebra- 
 tion in honor of their Lord and Savior, 
 Mithras. The ancient Egyptians also 
 observed this day as the anniversary of 
 the birth of their Savior, Horus, who, with 
 his virgin-mother, Isis, was worshiped two 
 thousand years before the time of Moses. 
 The greatest festival among the Scandi- 
 navians was at this time of the year, when 
 the Jul, or Yule, was celebrated in honor 
 of Freyr, the son of their supreme god. 
 
 It is, perhaps in the story of Krishna, 
 the Hindoo Savior, that we find the most 
 elaborate and at the same time the most 
 closely allied version of the primitive 
 sun-myth. He was conceived by the Holy 
 Spirit, and born of the Virgin Devaki, in 
 a cave, about three thousand years ago. 
 His advent was heralded by a brilliant 
 star, and by the joyful paeans of angels. 
 
196 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 or spirits, who appeared in the heavens 
 and announced the glad tidings to the 
 wondering and awe-struck mortals. Upon 
 the announcement of his birth lowly 
 herdsmen and great prophets came and 
 prostrated themselves before the divine 
 child, while at the same time the tyrant 
 Kansa ordered the killing of all the male 
 infants, out of fear for this new-born ruler ; 
 yet the Savior miraculously escaped. 
 
 Accompanied by his disciples, to whom 
 he was known as Jezeus, he wandered 
 about the country, proclaiming peace and 
 salvation, preaching the doctrine of love 
 and humility, healing the sick, restoring 
 the maimed, the deaf and the blind, and 
 raising the dead ; until, after many perse- 
 cutions, and through the treachery of one 
 of his disciples, he gave up his life in di- 
 vine atonement for the sins of the world. 
 He met his death on the cross, and the 
 crucifix became his sacred emblem ; rep- 
 resentations of the crucifixion being not 
 uncommon among the ancient sculptur- 
 ings of India, and pictorial records have 
 
REGENERATION. 1 97 
 
 been found showing the resurrected 
 Krishna with marks of holes in his hands 
 and feet. 
 
 At the hour of his death the sun was 
 darkened, the sky rained fire and ashes, 
 and those that were dead walked again 
 upon the earth. He descended into the 
 abode of departed spirits, and on the third 
 day he rose from the dead and ascended 
 bodily into heaven, from whence, accord- 
 ing to his own prophecy, he will come 
 again on the last day of the world, when 
 the ages shall have been completed ; and 
 at his coming the sun and the moon will 
 be darkened, the earth will tremble, and 
 the stars fall from the firmament. 
 
 The ancient springtime festivals, cele- 
 brated in honor of the resurrected life, 
 reached their highest and most elaborate 
 development in Egypt, Greece and Rome, 
 and were commonly known as the " mys- 
 teries." These mysteries constituted the 
 most important and sacred feature of an- 
 cient religious worship, and have left their 
 impress on every age and generation, down 
 
198 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 to the present day, in the shape of mystic 
 orders and secret societies. 
 
 They were so called because of the se- 
 crecy in which many of their rites were 
 conducted, and because of the deep and 
 holy mystery attached to them. This love 
 of the mysterious is inherent in the human 
 race and, as may be imagined, was exhib- 
 ited in its most intense form among the 
 emotional and superstitious people of 
 antiquity. 
 
 The symbols and rites of their celebra- 
 tions were invested by the priests with a 
 mystical and occult significance, unintelli- 
 gible to the masses and confided only to 
 those who, after most severe trials of 
 faith and endurance, were found worthy 
 of initiation into the divine secrets. They 
 were then made acquainted with the ex- 
 alted and abstruse doctrines evolved by 
 the priesthood from the simple worship of 
 nature; doctrines that constituted a the- 
 osophy of the most transcendent and 
 spiritual character ; grand and sublime in 
 the loftiness of its teachings and ideality 
 
REGENERATION. 19$ 
 
 and in the beauty of its poetic concep- 
 tions. 
 
 One of the principal and most sacredly 
 guarded ceremonial features of these mys- 
 teries, was that known as the Holy Sacra- 
 ment, the adoration of the deity by eating 
 his flesh and drinking his blood, in the 
 form of consecrated bread and wine, which 
 were passed about by white-robed priests 
 and solemnly partaken of by the initiates 
 in holy communion. 
 
 The eating of the body and blood of 
 a god in this symbolical manner was 
 a common religious rite in all parts of 
 the ancient world, including the west- 
 ern continent, where, long prior to its 
 discovery by Europeans, the Mexicans 
 and Peruvians celebrated what they called 
 the Most Holy Feast, at which they 
 ate the flesh of their god and drank his 
 blood ; not infrequently partaking of real 
 flesh and blood, instead of the allegorical 
 substitutes. 
 
 In the primitive significance of this sac- 
 rament, as celebrated in the Eleusinian 
 
200 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 mysteries, the bread represented Ceres, 
 the goddess of corn, while in a like man- 
 ner the wine represented Bacchus, the god 
 of wine, who gave his blood to men for 
 their sustenance; so that, prior to the 
 doctrine of transubstantiation, which only 
 became necessary in the higher develop- 
 ment of formal worship and theological 
 subtleties, the bread and wine were wor- 
 shiped in the simple belief that they were 
 the true body and blood, the actual sub- 
 stance, of the Mother and Father of Life. 
 This distinction of the two elements, 
 and their ascription to separate deities, 
 is also found in the records of the an- 
 cient Egyptian mysteries, though their 
 significance was reversed in accordance 
 with the symbolism of phallic worship. 
 The wine represented Isis, or the female 
 element ; while the bread, which was 
 made in the form of a round, flat cake, in 
 representation of the sun, was the symbol 
 of Osiris, or male principle ; the partaking 
 of both being significant of regeneration, 
 or of the life to come. 
 
REGENERATION. 201 
 
 The mysteries of Isis and Osiris, of 
 Egypt, the mysteries of the Babylonians, 
 the Eleusinian mysteries of the Greeks, 
 the mysteries of Bacchus and Venus at 
 Rome, together with many others of lesser 
 importance, were all festivals in celebra- 
 tion of the new-born life and the regen- 
 erative union of the creative elements of 
 nature. They all set forth and illustrated 
 by solemn and impressive rites and mys- 
 tical symbols the grand phenomena of 
 nature in its creation and perpetuation of 
 life. 
 
 Among the Greeks and Romans these 
 vernal festivals were held in honor of 
 Bacchus, or Dionysos, the god of life. 
 He was called the father of gods and 
 men ; " the Begotten of Love " (having 
 been born of a virgin through immaculate 
 love), and was frequently represented by 
 the Romans under the name and form of 
 Priapus. 
 
 Considering the general state of reserve 
 and restraint in which the Grecian women 
 lived, we may gain some idea of the high 
 
202 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 regard in which these observances were 
 held, and the powerful influence they ex- 
 ercised over the mind and emotions, when 
 we note to what a degree of extravagance 
 tlie rehgious enthusiasm of these women 
 was carried on such occasions, particularly 
 at the celebration of the Eleusinian mys- 
 teries and the Dionysia. 
 
 The gravest matrons and proudest prin- 
 cesses apparently laid aside all dignity and 
 modesty, and vied with each other in rev- 
 elry. They ran screaming through the 
 woods and o^er mountains, fantastically 
 dressed or half naked, their hair inter- 
 woven with ivy and vine leaves and not 
 infrequently with living serpents, that 
 twined about their heads and necks. 
 Their religious excitement sometimes 
 became so great, that they ate raw flesh, 
 tearing living animals to pieces with their 
 teeth, and devouring them while yet warm 
 and palpitating. 
 
 On these festal occasions they likewise 
 repaired to the temples or other places 
 rendered sacred by the presence of the 
 
REGENERATION. 203 
 
 god's image, and there made offerings to 
 the divine emblem, by wreathing the phal- 
 lus with flowers and anointing it with 
 specially prepared wine. Their devotions 
 were always accompanied with music and 
 wine, which were considered the sacred 
 means of exalting and raising the mind to a 
 closer communion with the Divine Power ; 
 and these enthusiastic devotees willingly 
 gave themselves up to the embraces of the 
 no less enthusiastic worshipers of the op- 
 posite sex, in the nocturnal ceremonies, 
 that had for their object the glorification 
 of the deity by an indulgence in the di- 
 vine act of generation. 
 
 The Romans borrowed their religious 
 forms and rites from the Greeks, and while 
 they did riot imbibe the poetry, sentiment 
 and enthusiasm that characterized the 
 Grecian festivities, they were none the less 
 devout and sincere. Their Bacchanalian 
 mysteries were celebrated in the Temple of 
 Bacchus, at Rome, and in the sacred woods 
 near the Tiber. At first these ceremonies 
 were held in the daytime, and were at- 
 
204 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 tended only by the women, who were 
 initiated into the mysteries by the priests ; 
 but they were subsequently celebrated at 
 night, and the initiation of young men 
 was permitted, with the result that in a 
 short time it led to the admittance of 
 those who were not in sympathy with the 
 religious spirit of the occasion, but took 
 advantage of the opportunity for indul- 
 gence in licentious practices and other 
 crimes, which were speedily confounded 
 with the true object of the festival, and 
 finally led to the abolishment of the cele- 
 bration by a decree of the Senate. 
 
 The Liberalia, the Floralia, and the 
 festival of Venus were popular vernal 
 festivals, celebrated by the Romans in 
 honor of the procreative deities and their 
 vitalizing function, as manifested by the 
 glorious regeneration of life upon the 
 earth. While these festivals were of a 
 religious character, they were given up to 
 mirth, jollity and public amusements, ac- 
 companied by a general relaxation of the 
 laws and of social proprieties, as a fitting 
 
REGENERATION. 205 
 
 manner of celebrating the return of life 
 and gladness. 
 
 These springtime festivals, in celebration 
 of resurrected life and the generative 
 powers of nature, were common among 
 all nations from the earliest times, and it 
 is in some of the particular forms of these 
 celebrations that we find the origin of 
 some of the features of our own joyous 
 festival — Easter. The name itself is 
 derived from the old Teutons and Saxons, 
 whose Queen of Heaven, or goddess of 
 life, was called Eastre. The month of 
 April was dedicated to this deity, and a 
 feast of rejoicing was held in her honor at 
 that time of the year. It was customary 
 to make presents of eggs, which were 
 brightly decorated or colored ; the egg 
 being the sacred emblem of the resurrec- 
 tion of life, and therefore used as an offer- 
 ing to the goddess on this occasion. 
 
 The early Germans and Franks also pre- 
 pared a special kind of bread or bun, that 
 was eaten at this time, as specially sacred 
 to Eastre ; a springtime custom that was 
 
2o6 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 likewise common among the Egyptians, 
 who impressed the figure of a cross upon 
 their cakes. 
 
 Eggs and buns figured also in the Chal- 
 dean rites connected with the worship of 
 the goddess of spring, the Renewer of Life, 
 upwards of four thousand years ago, and 
 were familiar features in the worship of 
 the Queen of Heaven, Ishtar, as early as 
 the days of Cecrops, the founder of 
 Athens, fifteen hundred years before 
 Christ. 
 
 These ancient buns, which were offered 
 to the Queen of Heaven, and used in sacri- 
 fices to other generative deities, were 
 formed in the shape of the reproductive 
 organs ; a custom to which reference is 
 made in the book of Jeremiah, where the 
 prophet says, " The children gather wood, 
 the fathers kindle the fire, and the women 
 knead the dough to make cakes to the 
 Queen of Heaven." 
 
 The practice of making Easter buns in 
 this shape was common among some of 
 the early Christians, and prevails in certain 
 
REGENERATION. 207 
 
 parts of France to this day. Small cakes 
 in the shape of a phallus are made as of- 
 ferings at Easter-time, and carried about 
 and presented from house to house. 
 
 On the festival of Palm Sunday, some- 
 times known as the Feast of the Privy 
 Members, it was customary, not long since 
 in certain French provinces, for each of the 
 women and children in the procession to 
 carry a phallus, made of bread, attached to 
 the end of a palm branch. These phalli 
 were subsequently blessed by the priests, 
 and preserved by the women during the 
 year. 
 
 Nearly all of these ancient vernal festi- 
 vals and mysteries celebrated the return 
 or the resurrection of a god — the theolog- 
 ical allegory of the regeneration of life. 
 As has been already stated, all of the 
 world's redeemers are recorded to have 
 risen from the dead, after remaining in the 
 tomb for a period of three days. These 
 three days primarily represented the three 
 months intervening between the winter 
 solstice and the vernal equinox, during 
 
208 SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 which time the sun has lost his power, 
 and the world is without its great life- 
 giver. 
 
 Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Osiris, 
 Mithras, Horus, Bacchus, Tammuz, Attis, 
 Quetzalcoatl and many more, rose again 
 on the third day, after having died for the 
 sake of the world, and ascended into 
 heaven. The ceremonies and observances 
 in commemoration of this event always 
 took place in the spring, and were of the 
 same general character in all ages and 
 among all nations. 
 
 The death and resurrection of Tammuz, 
 or Adonis, who, under a variety of names 
 and forms, appears in many legends, was 
 annually celebrated at the beginning of 
 spring by the Syrians, Babylonians, and 
 other nations. In the mysteries connected 
 with this celebration an image of the Sav- 
 ior was carried with great solemnity to a 
 tomb, and for two days mournful rites 
 were celebrated in commemoration of his 
 trials, sacrifice and death, while on the 
 third day they gave place to loud hosan- 
 
REGENERATION. 209 
 
 nas and feasts of rejoicing : " The Lord 
 is risen and lives again ! Hail to the 
 Dove, the Restorer of Light ! " 
 
 The fact that the children of Israel took 
 part in the celebration of these mysteries, 
 is recorded in the book of Ezekiel (8 : 14), 
 where the prophet exclaims, " Behold, 
 there sat women weeping for Tammuz ! " 
 And impartial students of the Bible are 
 not unaware of the fact, that in many in- 
 stances the supposed prophetic references 
 to Christ by King David and the proph- 
 ets, when they make mention of a Son 
 of God, a Redeemer, or He who sits at 
 the right hand of the Lord, are simply 
 references to this Savior, Tammuz, or 
 Adonis, whose worship had for centuries 
 been an established religious custom, and 
 the story of whose birth, death and resur- 
 rection was familiarly referred to, in ex- 
 emplification of the immortality of life or 
 of the redemption of mankind. 
 
 In their mysteries the ancient Egyp- 
 tians celebrated each spring the death, 
 resurrection and ascension of Osiris, the 
 14 
 
2IO SEX WORSHIP. 
 
 Creator and Savior of men. The cere- 
 monies attendant upon this celebration 
 were of a most holy character, invested 
 with the deepest mystery and sanctity. 
 The sacred ark was reverently and tear- 
 fully worshiped, as the sepulcher of the 
 departed god ; and the lamentations and 
 mourning for his decease marked the be- 
 ginning of the mysteries. On the third 
 day of his death the priests, in solemn 
 procession, proceeded to the river in the 
 night, carrying the ark with them. Wait- 
 ing there until the morning they welcomed 
 the rising sun with a loud and joyous 
 shout, exclaiming " Osiris is risen ! " 
 
 It matters not to what race nor to what 
 age we turn, we ever find the same rever- 
 ent regard for the regeneration of life ; 
 and through its multitude of myths, 
 legends, creeds and celebrations, however 
 extravagant or inconsistent they may ap- 
 pear, we trace the constant aim of man- 
 kind to glorify the Creator, and Savior of 
 the world, as primarily typified by the 
 sun ; while beneath them all lies the uni- 
 
REGENERATION. 2 1 1 
 
 versal, actuating reverence for the great 
 and unsolvable mystery of life — the foun- 
 dation and the source of all religious wor- 
 ship. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS ON PHALLICISM. 
 
 TTie Anacalypsis. An attempt to draw 
 aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis, or an Inquiry 
 into the Origin of Languages, Nations 
 and Religions. — Godfrey Higgins ; privately 
 printed. 
 
 Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names. 
 — Thomas Inman, M. D. 
 
 Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Sym- 
 bolism Exposed and Explained. — Thomas 
 Inman, M.D. 
 
 Ancient Pillars, Stones and Cairns. — Thomas 
 Inman, M.D. 
 
 Ancient Symbol Worship — Influence of the 
 Phallic Idea in the Religions of Antiquity. — 
 HoDDER M. Westropp and C. Staniland 
 Wake. 
 
 Crux Ansata (Handled Cross). — ^Anon. ; 
 privately printed. 
 
 Cultus Arborum — A Descriptive Account 
 213 
 
214 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Phallic Tree Worship — Anon; privately 
 printed. 
 
 A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, 
 and its Connection with the Mystic The- 
 ology of the Ancients. — Richard Payne 
 Knight. To which is added an Essay on 
 the Worship of the Generative Powers dur- 
 ing the Middle Ages of Western Europe. — 
 Anon. ; privately printed. 
 
 Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries. — 
 Thomas Taylor. 
 
 Fishes, Flowers and Fire as Elements and 
 Deities in the Phallic Faiths and Worship 
 of the Ancient Religions. — Anon. ; privately 
 printed. 
 
 The Hindu Pantheon. — Edward Moor. 
 
 The Masculine Cross. — Anon. 
 
 Nature Worship, or an Account of Phallic 
 Faiths and Practices. — Anon. ; privately 
 printed. 
 
 Ophiolatreia. — An Account of the Rites 
 and Mysteries connected with Serpent Wor- 
 ship. — Anon. ; privately printed. 
 
 Origin of Pagan Idolatry. — Faber. 
 
 Phallicism. — A Description of the Worship 
 of Lingam-Yoni in various parts of the 
 World, with an account of ancient and mod- 
 
APPENDIX. 215 
 
 era Crosses, particularly the Crux Ansata, 
 and other Symbols connected with the 
 Mysteries of Sex Worship. — Anon. ; privately 
 printed. 
 
 Phallicism. — Celestial and Terrestial, Hea- 
 then and Christian ; its connection with the 
 Rosicrucians and the Gnostics, and its 
 foundation in Buddhism. — Hargrave Jen- 
 nings ; privately printed. 
 
 Phallic Objects, Monuments and Remains 
 — ^Anon. ; privately printed. 
 
 Phallic Miscellanies, — Facts and Phases of 
 Ancient and Modern Sex Worship, as illus- 
 trated chiefly in the Religions of India. — 
 Anon. ; privately printed. 
 
 Rivers of Life, or Sources and Streams of 
 the Faiths of Man in all lands.— J. G. R. 
 FoRLONG ; privately printed. 
 
 Secret Museum of Naples ; being an ac- 
 count of the erotic Paintings, Bronzes and 
 Statues contained in that famous "Cabinet 
 Secret. " — Col. Fanin ; privately printed. 
 
 Tree and Serpent Worship, or Illustrations 
 of Mythology and Art in India, in the ist 
 and 4th centuries after Christ. — James Fer- 
 guson ; printed for the India Office, London.