SEX WORSHIPANO SYMBOLISM 
 OF PRIMITIVE RACES 
 
 SANGER BROWN. IJ 
 
THE SEX WORSHIP AND 
 SYMBOLISM OF PRIM- 
 ITIVE RACES 
 
 ^^1 OF musi 
 
 AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 MAY 20 1919 
 
 SANGER BROWN II., M. D. vSl s ^ 
 
 Assistant Physician, Bloomingdale Hospital 
 With an Introduction by James H, Leuha 
 
 BOSTON: RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK CO., LIMITED 
 
Copyright 1916, by Richard G. Badger 
 All rights reserved 
 
 The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S. A 
 
dedicated to my wife 
 Helen Williston Brown 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE greater part of the first three 
 chapters of this book appeared 
 in the Journal of Abnormal Psy- 
 chology in the December-Janu- 
 ary number of 1915-16 and the 
 February-March number of 
 1916. This material is reprinted here by the 
 kind permission of the Editor of that Journal. 
 This part of the subject is chiefly historical 
 and the data here given is accessible as indi- 
 cated by the references throughout the text, 
 although many of these books are difficult to 
 secure or are out of print. For this historical 
 material I am particularly indebted to the 
 writings of Har grave Jennings, Richard Payne 
 Knight and Doctor Thomas Inman. Most of 
 the reference matter coming under the general 
 heading of Nature Worship was obtained from 
 comparatively recent sources, such as the 
 publications of the Bureau of American Eth- 
 nology, of the Smithsonian Institute, and cer- 
 tain publications of the American Museum of 
 Natural History. Frazer's Golden Bough and 
 
 5 
 
6 Preface 
 
 other writings of J. G. Frazer on Anthropology 
 furnished much valuable information. The 
 writings of special investigators, among others 
 those of Spencer, and A. W. Howitt, on 
 Primitive Australian Tribes, and W. H. R. 
 Rivers on the Todas have been freely drawn 
 upon. A number of other books and references 
 have been made use of, as indicated through- 
 out the text. I have found two books by 
 Miss J. Harrison, i. e., Themis and Ancient Art 
 and Ritual, of great value in interpreting 
 primitive ceremonies and primitive customs 
 in general. 
 
 My main object has been to give the life 
 history of a primitive motive in the develop- 
 ment of the race, and to emphasize the dy- 
 namic significance of this motive. Later other 
 motives may be dealt with in more detail if it 
 is proved that both in normal and abnormal 
 psychology we may best understand the men- 
 tal development of the individual through our 
 knowledge of the development of the race. 
 
 I wish to take this opportunity to express 
 my appreciation of the assistance rendered me 
 by my wife. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I Simple Sex Worship 13 
 
 II Symbolism 34 
 
 III Sun Myths, Mysteries and Deca- 
 
 dent Sex Worship 69 
 
 IV Interpretations 96 
 
 References and Bibhography 137 
 
 Index ^^^ 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 OUR knowledge of religion receives 
 contributions from every quar- 
 ter; even the student of mental 
 diseases finds information that 
 is of service to the student of 
 religion. The reverse is equally 
 true: a knowledge of religion sheds light upon 
 even the science of mental disorders. 
 
 In this short book, a psychiatrist seeks in 
 the study of one aspect of religious practice — 
 the worship of the procreating power — to gain 
 a clearer understanding of the forms taken 
 by certain kinds of mental diseases. His 
 theory is that we may expect diseased minds 
 to reproduce, or return to expressions of 
 desire customary and official in societies of 
 lower culture. This is, as a matter of fact, 
 less a theory than a statement of observed 
 facts; of this, the reader of these pages, if 
 familiar with certain mental disorders, may 
 readily convince himself. 
 
 11 
 
12 Introduction 
 
 But Doctor Brown's intention is not merely, 
 perhaps not primarily, to draw the attention 
 of the Psychiatrist to a neglected source of 
 information, he aims at something of wider 
 import and addresses a wider public. His 
 purpose is no less than the tracing of the his- 
 tory of that great motive of action, the sex 
 passion, as it appears in religion and the in- 
 terpretation of its significance. Those who 
 come to this book without the preparation of 
 the specialist will find it not only replete with 
 novel and surprising facts, but will find these 
 facts placed in such a relation to each other 
 and to life in general, as to illuminate both 
 religion and human nature. This important 
 result is made possible by the point of view 
 from which the author wTites, the point of 
 view of racial development which has proved 
 its fertility in so many directions. 
 
 James H. Leuba. 
 
THE SEX WORSHIP AND 
 
 SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES: 
 
 AN INTERPRETATION 
 
THE SEX WORSHIP AND SYM- 
 BOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES: 
 
 AN INTERPRETATION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Simple Sex Worship 
 
 PSYCHIATRY, during recent years, 
 has found it to its advantage to 
 turn to related sciences and allied 
 branches of study for the explana- 
 tion of a number of the pecuhar 
 symptoms of abnormal mental 
 states. Of these related studies, none have 
 been of greater value than those which throw 
 light on the mental development of either the 
 individual or the race. In primitive races we 
 discover a number of inherent motives which 
 are of interest from the standpoint of mental 
 evolution. These motives are expressed in a 
 very interesting symbolism. It is the duty of 
 the psychiatrist to see to what extent these 
 
 15 
 
16 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 primitive motives operate unconsciously in 
 abnormal mental conditions, and also to learn 
 whether an insight into the symbolism of 
 mental diseases may be gained, through com- 
 parison, by a study of the symbohsm of primi- 
 tive races. In the following discussion one 
 particular motive with its accompanying sym- 
 bolism is dealt with. 
 
 A great many of the institutions and usages 
 of our present day civilization originated at a 
 very early period in the history of the race. 
 Many of these usages are carried on in modi- 
 fied form century after century, after they 
 have lost the meaning which they originally 
 possessed; it must be remembered, however, 
 that in primitive races they were of importance, 
 and they arose because they served a useful 
 end. From the study of these remnants of 
 former days, we are able to learn the trends 
 of thought which activated and inspired the 
 minds of primitive people. When we clearly 
 understand these motives, we may then judge 
 the extent of their influence on our present 
 day thought and tendencies. 
 
of Primitive Races 17 
 
 It has only been during comparatively recent 
 times that the importance of primitive beliefs 
 and practices, from the standpoint of mental 
 evolution, has been appreciated. Formerly, 
 primitive man was regarded merely as a 
 curiosity, and not as an individual from whom 
 anything of any value whatever was to be 
 learned. But more recent studies have 
 changed all this. In order to illustrate this 
 matter of the evolution and development of 
 the human mind we can very profitably quote 
 from Sir J. G. Frazer:* ''For by comparison 
 with civilized man the savage represents an 
 arrested or rather a retarded state of social 
 development, and an examination of his cus- 
 toms and beliefs accordingly supplies the same 
 sort of evidence of the evolution of the human 
 mind that an examination of the embryo 
 supplies of the evolution of the human body. 
 To put it otherwise, a savage is to a civilized 
 man as a child is to an adult; and just as a 
 gradual growth of intelligence in a child cor- 
 responds to, and in a sense recapitulates, the 
 
 *The Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task. 
 
18 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 gradual growth of intelligence in the species, 
 so a study of savage society at various stages 
 of evolution enables us to follow approximate- 
 ly, though of course not exactly, the road by 
 which the ancestors of the higher races must 
 have travelled in their progress upward 
 through barbarism to civilization. In short, 
 savagery is the primitive condition of man- 
 kind, and if w^e would understand what primi- 
 tive man was we must know what the savage 
 now is. " 
 
 To properly interpret these beliefs and con- 
 duct, certain facts must be kept in mind. One 
 is that with primitive races the group stands 
 for the unit, and the individual has little if 
 any personality distinct from the group. This 
 social state gives rise to w^hat is spoken of as 
 collective thought, collective feeling, group 
 action, etc. Miss J. Harrison* considers this 
 conception a very important one in primitive 
 religious development. All that the race ex- 
 presses, all that it believes, is an expression of 
 collective feeling. As a result of this group 
 
 *Themis, Introduction Page XI. 
 
of Primitive Races 19 
 
 thought, feehngs and beUefs are developed 
 which are entertained by every individual of 
 the community. These racial feelings become 
 a part of the race itself; they are inseparable 
 from it, and they find expression in the loftiest 
 of sentiments and the most earnest of rehgious 
 
 beliefs. 
 
 Our study is not primarily concerned with 
 religious development, but since early man's 
 deepest feelings found expression in what later 
 became a religion, it is necessary to search for 
 racial motives in primitive religions. These 
 feehngs are in no way comparable to the con- 
 scious religious beliefs of later times, which 
 were worked out in many instances by an in- 
 genious priesthood. The period when group 
 feeling predominated far antedated such civiU- 
 zations as those of Egypt and later Greece, 
 for example, in which very elaborate religious 
 systems existed. 
 
 With primitive people these deeper feelings 
 appear to arise unconsciously rather than con- 
 sciously. Moreover, probably as a result of 
 collective thought and feeling, motives and 
 
20 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 beliefs are developed and elaborated in a way 
 quite beyond the mental capacity of any one 
 individual of the community. Beliefs are 
 formulated which have a grandeur of con- 
 ception and a beauty of expression well worthy 
 of admiration. The beauty and native vigor 
 of some of the earlier myths are examples of 
 this. They live in the tribe as traditions. 
 No one person seems to have written them; 
 in fact, they are added to, changed and im- 
 proved until they represent the highest ex- 
 pression of national feelings. Gilbert Mur- 
 ray has indicated this in the Rise of the Greek 
 Epic. He emphasizes that there is found an 
 expression of racial feelings, built up from 
 many sources. Such Sagas are not the prop- 
 erty of any one individual. The feelings they 
 express are associated with the unconscious of 
 the race, if such a term is permissible. Gil- 
 bert Murray,* in interpreting this element in 
 primitive literature states: ''We have also, I 
 suspect, a strange unanalyzed vibration below 
 the surface, an undercurrent of desires and 
 
 *Hamlet and Orestes. 
 
oj Primitive Races 21 
 
 fears, and passions, long slumbering yet eter- 
 nally familiar, which have for thousands of 
 years lain near the root of our most intimate 
 emotions and been wrought into the fabric of 
 our most magical dreams. How far in the 
 past ages this stream may reach back I dare 
 not even surmise; but it sometimes seems as 
 if the power of stirring it or moving with it 
 were one of the last secrets of genius." 
 
 The importance of the collective or group 
 feeling has been emphasized as thereby one 
 sees how a fundamental racial motive becomes 
 an integral part of the mental life of each and 
 every member of the group. In primitive life 
 every individual contributes something to this 
 motive and in turn receives something from it. 
 It enters into the developing mind and be- 
 comes inseparably associated with it. In 
 studying the evolution of these motives one is 
 studying the evolution of the human mind. 
 
 The motive which we have undertaken to 
 explain has to do with one of the most impor- 
 tant of instincts, ^. e., that of reproduction. 
 The feelings associated with this instinct were 
 
22 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 raised to the dignity of religion, and in this 
 we have the worship of sex. This worship is 
 to be regarded as an unconscious racial ex- 
 pression, the result of group or collective feel- 
 ing, the dynamic significance of which, from a 
 biological standpoint, will appear later. 
 
 Before proceeding, it is desirable to make 
 reference to some of our sources of information. 
 There are plenty of books on the history of 
 Egypt, the antiquities of India or on the in- 
 terpretation of Oriental customs, which make 
 scarcely any reference to the deification of sex. 
 We have always been told, for example, that 
 Bacchus was the god of the harvest and that 
 the Greek Pan was the god of nature. We 
 have not been told that these same gods were 
 representations of the male generative attri- 
 bute, and that they were worshipped as such; 
 yet, anyone who has access to the statuettes 
 or engravings of these various deities of antiq- 
 uity, whether they be of Egypt, of India or 
 of China, cannot fail to see that they were in- 
 tended to represent generative attributes. On 
 account of the incompleteness of many books 
 
of Primi'ive Races 23 
 
 which describe primitive races, a number of 
 references are given throughout these pages, 
 and some bibhographical references are added. 
 
 As will be presently indicated, we have evi- 
 dence from a number of sources to show sex was 
 at one time frankly and openly worshipped by 
 the primitive races of mankind. This worship 
 has been shown to be so general and so wide- 
 spread, that it is to be regarded as part of the 
 general evolution of the human mind ; it seems 
 to be indigenous with the race, rather than an 
 isolated or exceptional circumstance. 
 
 The American Cyclopedia, under Phallic 
 Worship, reads as follows: "In early ages the 
 sexual emblems were adored as most sacred 
 objects, and in the several polytheistic systems 
 the act or principle of which the phallus was 
 the type was represented by a deity to whom 
 it was consecrated: in Egypt by Khem, in 
 India by Siva, in Assyria by Vul, in primitive 
 Greece by Pan, and later by Priapus, in Italy 
 by Mutinus or Priapus, among the Teutonic 
 and Scandinavian nations by Fricco, and in 
 
24 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 Spain by Hortanes. Phallic monuments and 
 sculptured emblems are found in all parts of 
 the world." 
 
 Rawlinson, in his history of Ancient Egypt, 
 gives us the following description of Khem: 
 "A full Egyptian idea of Khem can scarcely 
 be presented to the modern reader, on account 
 of the grossness of the forms under which it 
 was exhibited. Some modern Egyptologists 
 endeavor to excuse or palliate this grossness; 
 but it seems scarcely possible that it should 
 not have been accompanied by indelicacy of 
 thought or that it should have failed to exer- 
 cise a corrupting influence on life and morals. 
 Khem, no doubt, represented to the initiated 
 merely the generative power in nature, or that 
 strange law by which living organisms, animal 
 and vegetable, are enabled to reproduce their 
 like. But who shall say in what exact light 
 he presented himself to the vulgar, who had 
 continually before their eyes the indecent 
 figures under which the painters and sculptors 
 portrayed him? As impure ideas and revolt- 
 ing practices clustered around the worship of 
 
oj 'Primitive Races %5 
 
 Pan in Greece and later Rome, so it is more 
 than probable that in the worship of Khem 
 in Egypt were connected similar excesses. 
 Besides his priapic or ' Ithyphallic ' form, 
 Khem's character was marked by the assign- 
 ment to him of the goat as his symbol, and by 
 his ordinary title Ka-mutf, *The Bull of His 
 Mother,' i. e., of nature." 
 
 This paragraph clearly indicates that the 
 sexual organs were worshipped under the form 
 of Khem by the Egyptians. The writer, 
 however, has fallen into a very common error 
 in giving us to understand that this was a de- 
 graded form of worship; from numerous other 
 sources it is readily shown that such is not the 
 case. 
 
 The following lines, from Ancient Sex Wor- 
 ship, substantiate the above remarks, and 
 at the same time, they show the incomplete- 
 ness of the writings of many antiquarians. In 
 this book we read: " Phallic emblems abounded 
 at Heliopolis and Syria and many other places, 
 even into modern times. The following un- 
 folds marvelous proof to our point. A brother 
 
26 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 physician, writing to Dr. Inman, says: 1 was 
 in Egypt last winter (1865-66), and there cer- 
 tainly are numerous figures of gods and kings 
 on the walls of the temple at Thebes, depicted 
 with the male genital erect. The great temple 
 at Karnac is, in particular, full of such figures 
 and the temple of Danclesa, likewise, although 
 that is of much later date, and built merely in 
 imitation of old Egyptian art.' " The writer 
 further states that this shows how completely 
 English Egyptologists have suppressed a por- 
 tion of the facts in the histories which they 
 have given to the world. With all our descrip- 
 tions of the wonderful temple of Karnac, it is 
 remarkable that all mention of its association 
 with sex worship should be omitted by many 
 writers. 
 
 A number of travellers in Africa, even in 
 comparatively modern times, have observed 
 evidences of sex w orship among the primitive 
 races of that continent. Captain Burton* 
 speaks of this custom with the Dahome tribe. 
 Small gods of clay are made in priapic attitudes 
 
 *Quoted by H. M. Westropp, Primitive Symbolism. 
 
of Primitive Races 27 
 
 before which the natives worship. The god 
 is often made as if contemplating its sexual 
 organs. Another traveler, a clergyman,* has 
 described the same worship in this tribe. He 
 has observed idols in priapic attitudes, rudely 
 carved in wood, and others made of clay. On 
 the lower Congo the same worship is described, 
 where both male and female figures with dis- 
 proportionate genital organs are used for pur- 
 poses of worship. Phallic symbols and other 
 offerings are made to these simple deities. 
 
 Definite examples of the sexual act having 
 religious significance may be cited. Richard 
 Payne Knightf quotes a passage from Captain 
 Cook's voyages to one of the Southern Pacific 
 Islands. The Missionaries of the expedition 
 on this occasion assembled the members of the 
 party for religious ceremonies in which the 
 natives joined. The primitive natives ob- 
 served the ceremony with great respect and 
 then with due solemnity enacted their form of 
 sacred worship. Quite to the astonishment 
 
 *J. W. Wood. The Uncivilized Races. 
 
 jThe Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology. 
 
28 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 of the white people, this ceremony consisted 
 of the open performance of the sexual act by a 
 young Indian man and woman. This was 
 entirely a religious ceremony, and was fittingly 
 respected by all the natives present. 
 
 Hargrave Jennings* describes the same cus- 
 tom in India. An Indian woman of desig- 
 nated caste and vocation is selected. Many 
 incantations and strange rites are gone 
 through. A circle, or "Vacant Enchanted 
 Place" is rendered pure by certain rites and 
 sprinkled with wine. Then secret charms are 
 whispered three times in the woman's ear. 
 The sexual act is then consummated, and the 
 whole procedure before the altar is distinctly 
 a form of sacrifice and worship. 
 
 Hodder M. Westropp in Primitive Sym- 
 bolism has indicated the countries in which 
 sex worship has existed. He gives numerous 
 instances in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Greece 
 and Rome. In India, as well as in China and 
 Japan, it forms the basis of early religions. 
 This worship is described among the early 
 
 *The Rosicrucians. 
 
of Primitive Races 29 
 
 races of Greece, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and 
 among the Mexicans and Peruvians of America 
 as well. In Borneo, Tasmania, and Australia 
 phallic emblems have been found. Many 
 other localities have been mentioned by this 
 writer and one seems fairly justified in con- 
 cluding that sex worship is regularly found at 
 one time in the development of primitive races. 
 We shall now pass to another form of this same 
 worship, namely, sacred prostitution. 
 
 There is abundant evidence to show that 
 there was a time in the centuries before Christ 
 when prostitution was held as a most sacred 
 vocation. We learn of this practice from many 
 sources. It appears that temples in a number 
 of ancient cities of the East, in Babylonia, 
 Nineveh, Corinth and throughout India, were 
 erected for the worship of certain deities. 
 This worship consisted of the prostitution of 
 women. The women were consecrated to the 
 support of the temple. They were chosen in 
 much the same way as the modern woman 
 enters a sacred church order. The returns 
 from their vocation went to the support of the 
 
30 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 deity and the temple. The children born of 
 such a union were in no way held in disgrace, 
 but on the contrary, they appeared to have 
 
 /formed a separate and rather superior class. 
 We are told that this practice did not interfere 
 with a woman's opportunities for subsequent 
 marriage. In India the practice was very 
 general at one time. The women were called 
 
 ; the "Women of the Idol." Richard Payne 
 Knight speaks of a thousand sacred prostitutes 
 living in each of the temples at Eryx and 
 Corinth. 
 
 A custom which shows even more clearly 
 that prostitution was held as a sacred duty to 
 women was that in Babylonia every woman, 
 of high rank or low, must at one time in her 
 life prostitute herself to any stranger who 
 offered money. In Ancient Sex Worship 
 we read: "There was a temple in Babylonia 
 where every female had to perform once in 
 her life a (to us) strange act of religion, namely, 
 prostitution with a stranger. The name of it 
 was Bit-Shagatha, or *The Temple,' the Tlace 
 of Union.' " Moreover we learn that once a 
 
oj Primitive Races 31 
 
 woman entered the temple for such a sacred 
 act she could not leave until it was performed. 
 
 The above accounts deal exclusively in the 
 sacrifice made by women to the deity of sex. 
 Men did not escape this sacrifice and it appears 
 that some inflicted upon themselves an even 
 worse one. Frazer* tells us of this worship 
 which was introduced from Assyria into Rome 
 about two hundred years before Christ. It 
 was the worship of Cybele and Attis. These 
 deities were attended by emasculated priests 
 and the priests in oriental costume paraded 
 Rome in religious ceremony. 
 
 On one occasion, namely, " the day of blood " 
 in the Spring, the chief ceremony was held. 
 This, among other things, consisted in fasten- 
 ing an effigy of the god to a pine tree, which 
 was brought to the temple of the Goddess 
 Cybele. A most spectacular dance about the 
 effigy then occurred in which the priests 
 slashed themselves with knives, the blood 
 being offered as sacrifice. As the excitement 
 increased the sexual nature of the ceremony 
 
 *Adonis, Attis and Osiris. 
 
32 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 became evident. To quote from Frazer : '* For 
 man after man, his veins throbbing with the 
 music, his eyes fascinated by the sight of 
 streaming blood, flung his garments from him, 
 leaped forth with a shout, and seizing one of 
 the swords which stood ready for the service, 
 castrated himself on the spot. Then he ran 
 through the city holding the bloody parts in 
 his hands and threw them into one of the 
 houses which he passed in his mad career. " 
 
 We see that this act directly corresponds 
 with the part played by the female. The 
 female prostituted herself, and the male pre- 
 sented his generative powers to the deity. 
 Both the sacred prostitutes and emasculated 
 priests were held in religious veneration. 
 
 The above references are sufficient to show 
 that a simple form of sex worship has been 
 quite generally found. It becomes apparent 
 as we proceed that the w orship of sex not only 
 plays a part, but a very prominent part, in the 
 developing mind of man. In the frank and 
 open form of this worship it is quite clear that 
 we are dealing with a very simple type of 
 
of Primitive Races 33 
 
 mind. These primitive people exhibit many 
 of the quahties of the child. They are quite 
 without sex consciousness. Their motives are 
 at once both simple and direct, and they are 
 doubtless sincere. Much misunderstanding 
 has arisen by judging such primitive people by 
 the standards of our present day civilization. 
 Sex worship, while it held sway was probably 
 quite as seriously entertained as many other 
 beliefs; it only became degraded during a de- 
 cadent age, when civilization had advanced 
 beyond such simple conceptions of a deity, 
 but had not evolved a satisfactory substitute. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Symbolism 
 
 AS civilization advanced, the deifica- 
 tion of sex was no longer frank 
 and open. It came to be carried 
 on by means of symbolism. 
 This symbolism was an effort on 
 the part of its originators to ex- 
 press the worship of the generative attributes 
 under disguise, often understood only by the 
 priests or by those initiated into the religious 
 mysteries. The mysteries so frequently re- 
 ferred to in the religions of antiquity are often 
 some expression of sex worship. 
 
 Sexual symbolism was very general at one 
 time and remains of it are found in most of the 
 countries where any form of sex worship has 
 existed. Such remains have been found in 
 Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, China, Japan, 
 and indeed in most countries the early history 
 of which is known to man. 
 
 34 
 
oj Primitive Races 35 
 
 One important kind of symbolism had to do 
 with the form of the object deified. Thus, it 
 appears that certain objects, — particularly 
 upright objects, — stones, mounds, poles, trees, 
 etc., were erected, or used as found in nature, 
 as typifying the male generative organ. Like- 
 wise certain round or oval objects, discs, cer- 
 tain fruits and certain natural caves, were 
 worshipped as representing the female genera- 
 tive organ. (The yoni of India.) 
 
 We also find that certain qualities of animal 
 or vegetable nature were equally venerated, not 
 because of their form, but because they stood 
 for some quality desirable in the generation of 
 mankind. Thus we find that some animals — 
 the bull because of its strength and aggressive 
 nature, the snake, perhaps because of its form 
 or of its tenacity of life, — were male represen- 
 tatives of phallic significance. Likewise the 
 fish, the dolphin, and a number of other 
 aquatic creatures came to be female represen- 
 tatives. This may be shown over and over 
 again by reference to the antique emblems, 
 coins, and engravings of many nations. 
 
36 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 Another later symbolism, which was adopted 
 by certain philosophies, was more obscure but 
 was none the less of distinct sexual significance. 
 Fire is made to represent the male principle, 
 and icater, and much connected with it, the 
 female. Thus we have Venus, born of the 
 Sea, and accompanied by numerous fish repre- 
 sentations. Fire w^orship was secondary to 
 the universally found sun worship. The sun 
 is everywhere the male principle, standing for 
 the generative power in nature. At one time 
 the symJjolism is broad, and refers to genera- 
 tive nature in general. At another time it 
 refers solely to the human generative organs. 
 Thus, tlxc Greek God Hermes, the God of 
 Fecundity in nature, is at times represented 
 in unmistakable priapic attitudes. 
 
 Still another symbolism w^as often used in 
 India. This was the addition of a number of 
 members to the deity, possibly a number of 
 arms or heads. This was in order to express 
 a number of qualities. Thus the deity was 
 both generator and destroyer, one face show- 
 ing benevolence and kindness, the other vie- 
 
of Primitive Races 37 
 
 lence and rage. In many of the deities both 
 male and female principles were represented 
 in one,— an Androgyne deity— which was an 
 ideal frequently attempted. The idea that 
 these grotesque deities were merely the ex- 
 pression of eccentricity or caprice on the part 
 of their originator is not to be entertained. 
 Richard Payne Knight has pointed out that 
 they occur almost entirely on national coins 
 and emblems, and so were the expression of an 
 estabhshed belief. 
 
 We shall refer first to the simpler symbols, 
 those in which an object was deified because 
 of its form. 
 
 It is perhaps not remarkable that upright 
 objects should be selected because of their form 
 as the simplest expression of phalhc ideas. 
 The simple upright for purposes of sex worship 
 is universally found. An upright conical stone 
 is frequently mentioned. Many of the stone 
 idols or pillars, the worship of which was for- 
 bidden by the Bible, come under this group. 
 Likewise, the obelisk, found not only in Egypt, 
 but in modified forms in many other countries 
 
38 Sex Worship and Symbolisvi 
 
 as well, embodies the same phallic principle. 
 The usual explanation of the obelisk is that it 
 represented the rays of the sun striking the 
 earth; when we speak of sun worship later, 
 we shall see that this substantiates rather than 
 refutes the phallic interpretation. The mounds 
 of religious significance, found in many coun- 
 tries, were associated with sex worship. The 
 Chinese pagodas are probably of phalhc origin. 
 Indeed, there is evidence to show that the 
 spires of our Churches owe their existence to 
 the uprights or obelisks outside the Temples 
 of former ages. A large volume has been 
 written by O'Brien to show that the Round 
 Towers of Ireland (upright towers of pre- 
 historic times) were erected as phallic emblems. 
 Higgins, in the Anacalipsis, has amassed 
 a great wealth of material with similar purport, 
 and he shows that such "temples" as that 
 of Stonehenge and others were also phallic. 
 The stone idols of Mexico and Peru, the ancient 
 pillar stones of Brittany, and in fact all similar 
 upright objects, erected for religious purposes 
 the world over, are placed in this same cate- 
 
o/ Primitive Races 39 
 
 gory. We shall presently give a number of 
 references to show that the May-pole was 
 associated with phallic worship and that it 
 originated at a very remote period. 
 
 We shall now quote from some of the authors 
 who have contributed to our knowledge of this 
 form of symbolism, as thereby a clear idea of 
 their meaning may be set forth. These inter- 
 pretations are not generally advanced, and 
 therefore we have added considerable corrobo- 
 rative evidence which we have been able to 
 obtain from independent sources. 
 
 In an Essay on the Assyrian *' Grove" and 
 other Emblems, Mr. John Newton sums up 
 the basis of this symbolism as follows: ''As 
 civilization advanced, the gross symbols of 
 creative power were cast aside, and priestly 
 ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in inventing 
 a crowd of less obvious emblems, which should 
 represent the ancient ideas in a decorous 
 manner. The old belief was retained, but in a 
 mysterious or sublimated form. As symbols 
 of the male, or active element in creation, the 
 sun, light, fire, a torch, the phallus or lingam, 
 
40 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 an erect serpent, a tall straight tree, especially 
 the palm or fir or pine, were adopted. Equal- 
 ly useful for symbolism were a tall upright 
 stone (menhir), a cone, a pyramid, a thumb 
 or finger pointed straight, a mask, a rod, a 
 trident, a narrow bottle or amphora, a bow, 
 an arrow, a lance, a horse, a bull, a lion, and 
 many other animals conspicuous for masculine 
 power. As symbols of the female, the passive 
 though fruitful element in creation, the cres- 
 cent moon, the earth, darkness, water, and its 
 emblem, a triangle with the apex downward, 
 "the yoni" — ^the shallow vessel or cup for 
 pouring fluid into (cratera), a ring or oval, a 
 lozenge, any narrow cleft, either natural or 
 artificial, an arch or doorway, were employed. 
 In the same category of symbols came a boat 
 or ship, a female date palm bearing fruit, a 
 cow with her calf by her side, a fish, fruits 
 having many seeds, such as the pomegranate, 
 a shell, (concha), a cavern, a garden, a foun- 
 tain, a bower, a rose, a fig, and other things of 
 suggestive form, etc. 
 
 "These two great classes of conventional 
 
of Primitive Races 41 
 
 symbols were often represented in conjunction 
 with each other, and thus symhohzed in the 
 highest degree the great source of hfe, ever 
 
 originating, ever renewed 
 
 "A similar emblem is the lingam standing in 
 the centre of the yoni, the adoration of which 
 is to this day characteristic of the leading 
 dogma of Hindu religion. There is scarcely 
 a temple in India which has not its lingam, 
 and in numerous instances this symbol is the 
 only form under which the god Siva is wor- 
 shipped." 
 
 In Ancient Sex Worship we read, "As the 
 male genital organs were held in early times 
 to exemplify the actual male creative power, 
 various natural objects were seized upon to 
 express the theistic idea and at the same time 
 point to those points of the human form. 
 Hence, a simihtude is recognized in a pillar, a 
 heap of stones, a tree between two rocks, a 
 club between two pine cones, a trident, a 
 thyrsus tied around with two ribbons with the 
 end pendant, a thumb and two fingers. The 
 caduceus again the conspicuous part of the 
 
42 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 sacred Triad Ashur is symbolized by a single 
 stone placed upright, — the stump of a tree, a 
 block, a tower, a spire, minaret, pole, pine, 
 poplar or pine tree." 
 
 Hargrave Jennings, the author of several 
 books on some aspects of religions of antiquity, 
 among them one on phallicism, deals freely 
 with the phallic principles embodied in these 
 religions. As do many other writers, he 
 identifies fire w^orship with sex worship, and 
 the following short paragraph shows his con- 
 ception of their interrelationship, as well as 
 the significance of the upright of antiquity. 
 In the Rosicrucians he says: "Obelisks, spires, 
 minarets, tall towers, upright stones, (men- 
 hirs), and architectural perpendiculars of every 
 description, and, generally speaking, all erec- 
 tions conspicuous for height and slimness, w^ere 
 representations of the Sworded or of the Pyra- 
 midal Fire. They bespoke, wherever found 
 and in whatever age, the idea of the First 
 Principle or the male generative emblem." 
 
 We might readily cite passages from the 
 writings of a number of other authors but the 
 
of Primitive Races 43 
 
 above paragraphs suffice to set forth the 
 general principle of this symbolism. As stated 
 above, such interpretations have not been 
 generally advanced to explain such objects as 
 sacred pillar stones, obelisks, minarets, etc. 
 It is readily seen how fully these views are 
 substantiated by observations from a number 
 of independent sources. 
 
 In a book of Travel* in India we are able 
 from an independent source to learn of the 
 symboHsm of that country. The traveller 
 gives a description of the caves of Elephanta, 
 near Bombay. These are enormous caves cut 
 in the side of a mountain, for religious purposes 
 to which pilgrimages are made and where the 
 usual festivities are held. The worship of 
 generative attributes is quite apparent. The 
 numerous sculptured female figures, as re- 
 marked by the traveller, are all represented 
 with greatly exaggerated breasts, a symbolism 
 which is frequent throughout oriental countries 
 for expressing reproductive attributes. 
 
 In an inner chamber is placed the symbol 
 
 *Rousselet, India and Its Native Princes. 
 
44 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 which is held in particular veneration. Here 
 is found an upright conical stone standing 
 within a circular one. The stone is sprinkled 
 with water during the festival season. The 
 writer states that this stone, to the worship- 
 pers, represents the male generative organ, 
 and the worship of it is not considered an im- 
 propriety. In this instance we feel that the 
 symbolism is very definite, and doubtless the 
 stone pillars in the other temples of India and 
 elsewhere are of the same significance. 
 
 A clergyman in the Chinese Review^ of 1876, 
 under the title Phallic Worship in China, 
 gives an account of the phallicism as he ob- 
 served it at that time. He states that the 
 male sexual organ is symbolized by a simple 
 mound of earth and is so worshipped. Similar- 
 ly, the female organ is represented by a mound 
 of different form and is worshipped as the 
 former. The writer states that at times these 
 mounds are built in conjunction. He states 
 this worship is similar to that of Baal of Chal- 
 dea, etc., and that probably all have a common 
 origin. It appears to be a fundamental part 
 
of Primitive Races 45 
 
 of the Chinese rehgion and the symboHsm of 
 the Chinese pagoda expresses the same idea. 
 He says that Kheen or Shang-te, the Chinese 
 deities of sex, are also worshipped in the form 
 of serpents, of which the dragon of the Chinese 
 is a modification. This furnishes a concrete 
 instance in which the mound of earth is of 
 phalHc significance, and substantiates an in- 
 terpretation of serpent worship to which we 
 shall presently refer. 
 
 Hodder M. Westropp has given us an ex- 
 cellent account of phallic worship and includes 
 in his description the observations of a travel- 
 ler in Japan at as late periods as 1864 and 1869. 
 
 A temple near the ancient capital of Japan 
 was visited by a traveller. In this temple the 
 main object of worship was a large upright, 
 standing alone, and the resemblance to the 
 male generative organ was so striking as to 
 leave no doubt as to what it represented. 
 This upright was worshipped especially by 
 women, w^ho left votive offerings, among them 
 small phalli, elaborately wrought out of wood 
 or other material. The traveller remarked 
 
46 Sex Worship and Smholism 
 
 that the worship was most earnest and sincere. 
 
 The same traveller observed that in some 
 of the public roads of Japan are small hedged 
 recesses where similar stone pillars are found. 
 These large pillars unquestionably represent 
 the male organ. The writer has observed 
 priests in procession carrying similar huge 
 phalh, painted in color as well. This proces- 
 sion called forth no particular comment and 
 so w^as probably not unusual. It is stated that 
 this is a part of the ancient "Shinto" religion 
 of Japan and China. 
 
 There are frequent references to certain of 
 the gods of the Ancients being represented in 
 priapic attitudes, the phallus being the promi- 
 nent and most important attribute. Thus 
 Hermes, in Greece, was placed at cross-roads, 
 with phallus prominent. This was compar- 
 able to the phallus on Japanese highways. 
 In the festivals of Bacchus high phalli were 
 carried, the male organ being represented 
 about the size of the rest of the body. The 
 Egyptians carried a gilt phallus, 150 cubits 
 high, at the festivals of Osiris. In Syria, at 
 
of Primitive Races 47 
 
 the entrance of the temple at Hieropohs, was 
 placed a human figure with a phallus 120 cubits 
 high. A man mounted this upright twice a 
 year and remained seven days, offering prayers, 
 etc. 
 
 In Peru in the Temple of the Sun an upright 
 pillar has been described covered with gold 
 leaf, very similar to those existing elsewhere 
 and to which has been ascribed similar signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 A number of writers have expressed the 
 belief that the May-pole is an emblem of 
 ancient phallic worship. We know that May- 
 day festivals are of the most remote antiquity. 
 We are indebted to R. P. Knight for a descrip- 
 tion of what May-day was like about four 
 centuries ago in England. The festival started 
 the evening before. Men and women went 
 out into the woods in search of a tree and 
 brought it back to the village in the early 
 morning. The night was spent in sexual ex- 
 cesses comparable to those of the Roman 
 Bacchanalia. A procession was formed, gar- 
 lands were added to the May -pole, which was 
 
48 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 set up in the village square. The Puritans 
 referred to it as an idol, and they did not ap- 
 prove of the festivities. Until comparatively 
 recent years there was a May -pole in one of 
 the squares of London, and Samuel Pepys,* 
 writing of his time, speaks of seeing May-poles 
 in the front yards of the prominent citizens of 
 Holland. A festival much the same as this 
 was held in Ancient Rome and also in India. 
 The May -pole properly pierces a disc and thus 
 conforms with the lingam-yoni of India. We 
 also know that the first of May was a favorite 
 time for all nature worship with the ancients. 
 For a number of interesting suggestions the 
 reader is referred to R. P. Knight, Worship 
 of Priapus and Hargrave Jennings, Indian 
 Religions (Page 66). 
 
 Tree worship is frequently mentioned in the 
 religions of antiquity. We are told that the 
 mystic power of the mistletoe comes from the 
 fact that it grows on the oak, a once sacred 
 tree. The pine of the North, the palm and 
 the fig tree of the South, were sacred trees at 
 
 *Pepys Diary. 
 
of Primitive Races 49 
 
 one time. John Newton made a study of tree 
 worship, especially the Ancient Grove Worship 
 of Assyria. He shows that the object of 
 veneration was a male date palm, which repre- 
 sented the Assyrian god Baal. Sex was wor- 
 shipped under this deity, and it is shown that 
 the tree of the Assyrian grove was a phallic 
 symbol. Palm Sunday appears to be a relic 
 of this worship. In France, until compara- 
 tively recent times, there was a festival, "La 
 Fete des Pinnes, " in which palms were carried 
 in procession, and with the palms were carried 
 phalli of bread which had been blessed by the 
 priests. 
 
 Richard Payne Knight tells us that Pan 
 was worshipped by the Shepherds under the 
 form of the tall fir, and Bacchus **by sticking 
 up the rude trunk of a tree." It is shown 
 throughout these pages that sexual attributes 
 were worshipped under both these deities. 
 In reference to other symbols, the writer con- 
 tinues;* "The spires and pinnacles with which 
 our churches are decorated come from these 
 
 *Symbolic Language of Ancient Art and Mythology. 
 
50 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 ancient symbols; and the weather cocks, with 
 which they are surmounted, though now only 
 employed to show the direction of the wind, 
 were originally emblems of the sun; for the 
 cock is the natural herald of the day, and 
 therefore sacred to the fountain of light. In 
 the symbolical writings of the Chinese the sun 
 is still represented by a cock in the circle ; and 
 a modern Parsee would suffer death rather 
 than be guilty of the crime of killing one. It 
 appears on many ancient coins, with some 
 symbol of the passive productive power on the 
 reverse; and in other instances it is united 
 with priapic and other emblems and devices, 
 signifying other attributes combined." 
 
 Dr. Thomas Inman has made a study to 
 show how this phallic symbolism found its way 
 into ancient art, and even into some designs of 
 modern times. Thus, many formal designs 
 are studied in which the upright plays a part; 
 likewise, the oval and the circle receive a 
 similar explanation. The architectural orna- 
 ments spoken of as eggs and anchors, eggs and 
 spear lieads, the so-called honeysuckle orna- 
 
of Primitive Races 51 
 
 ment of antiquity, and the origin of some 
 church windows and ornaments, are all studied 
 by this writer, and his text is accompanied by 
 illustrations. Hargrave Jennings has also 
 traced the origin of the symbols of Heraldry, 
 the emblems of Royalty and of some church 
 Orders with similar explanations. 
 
 We may add that the crux ansata of the 
 Egyptians, the oval standing upon the up- 
 right, or letter Tau, may be shown to be a sex 
 symbol, the union of the oval with the upright 
 being of symbolic significance. The crux 
 ansata is found in the hand of most of the 
 Egyptian deities. It is found in the Assyrian 
 temples and throughout the temples of India 
 as well. Prehistoric monuments of Ireland 
 have the same design. Priests are portrayed 
 in adoration of the crux ansata before phallic 
 monuments. This symbol, from which our 
 modern cross is doubtless derived, originated 
 with the religions of antiquity. Much addi- 
 tional evidence could readily be given to illus- 
 trate this prehistoric origin. The present 
 Christian symbol affords another example of 
 
52 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the adoption by a new religion of the symbols 
 of the old. 
 
 Some reflection will show that the origin of 
 many church customs and symbols, and indeed 
 of a great number of obscure customs and 
 usages, may quite properly be traced to the 
 reUgions and practices of primitive races. 
 Lafcadio Hearn has insisted upon this in the 
 interpretation of the art and customs of the 
 Japanese. He says,* "Art in Japan is so 
 intimately associated with religion that any 
 attempt to study it without extensive knowl- 
 edge of the beliefs which it reflects were mere 
 waste of time. By art I do not mean painting 
 and sculpture but every kind of decoration, and 
 most kinds of pictorial representation — the 
 image of a boy's kite or a girl's battledore not 
 less than the design upon a lacquered casquet 
 or enameled vase, — the figure upon a work- 
 man's trowel not less than the pattern of the 
 girdle of a princess, — the shape of the paper 
 doll or wooden rattle bought for a baby, not 
 less than the forms of those colossal Ni-0, 
 
 *Japan, an attempt at Interpretation. 
 
oj Primitive Races 53 
 
 who guard the gateways of the Buddha's 
 temples," etc. 
 
 In the above pages, we have given an ac- 
 count of the views of a number of writers upon 
 certain forms and symbols, and at the same 
 time we have offered considerable evidence in 
 substantiation from independent sources. 
 These origins, found associated especially in 
 art and religious usages, have not been general- 
 ly understood. Yet when we reflect upon the 
 fact that many religious customs are of great 
 antiquity; that when once a certain form or 
 custom becomes established, it is well nigh 
 ineffaceable, although subject to great change 
 or disguise throughout the centuries ; when we 
 reflect upon these conditions, and realize the 
 fact that sex worship with its accompanying 
 symbolism is found throughout primitive 
 religions, we may then more readily appreciate 
 the entire significance of the above interpreta- 
 tions. 
 
 It must, of course, be borne in mind that no 
 one now gives these interpretations to spires, 
 minarets, and to the various monumental 
 
54 Sex Worshij) and Symbolism 
 
 symbols of which we have been speaking. We 
 are here deaUng exclusively with pre-historic 
 origins, not with present day meanings. The 
 antiquity of certain symbols is truly remark- 
 able. The star and crescent, for example, a 
 well known conventionalized symbol, is found 
 on Assyrian cyhnders, doubtless devised many 
 centuries before Christ. 
 
 The full force and meaning of these various 
 symbols may be very readily grasped by refer- 
 ence to a number of designs, ancient coins, 
 bas-reliefs, monuments, etc., which have been 
 reproduced in plates and drawings by C. W. 
 King, Thomas Inman, R. P. Knight and others. 
 To these we refer the reader. 
 
 A number of plant and flower symbols have a 
 different significance from that which is gen- 
 erally given to them. We are all quite familiar 
 with the grape vine of Bacchus and the associa- 
 tion of that deity with grapes. According to 
 R. P. Knight, this too, symbolizes a sexual 
 attribute. Speaking of Bacchus, he writes, 
 "The vine was a favorite symbol of the deity, 
 
o/ Primitive Races 55 
 
 which seems to have been generally employed 
 to signify the generative or preserving attri- 
 bute; intoxicating liquors were stimulative, 
 and therefore held to be aphrodisiac. The 
 vase is often employed in its stead to express 
 the same idea and is often accompanied by the 
 same accessory symbol. " 
 
 We have often seen in sculptures and paint- 
 ings, heads of barley associated with the God 
 of the Harvest. This symbol would appear 
 to be self explanatory ; yet we are told by more 
 than one writer that it contains another sym- 
 boHc meaning as well. H. M. Westropp, 
 speaking of this says, *'The kites or female 
 organ, as the symbol of the passive or pro- 
 ductive power of nature, generally occurs on 
 ancient Roman Monuments as the Concha 
 Veneris, a fig, barley corn, and the letter Del- 
 ta." We are told that the grain of barley, 
 because of its form, was a symbol of the vulva. 
 
 A great many other female symbols might 
 be mentioned. The pomegranate is constant- 
 ly seen in the hands of Proserpine. The fir- 
 cone is carried by the Assyrian Baal, and 
 
56 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the fig in numerous processions has a similar 
 significance. When we add to these the 
 various forms of tree worship described above, 
 we see to what an extent the products of 
 nature were used as symbols in the worship 
 of sex. 
 
 Among flower symbols there is one which 
 recurs constantly throughout the art and 
 mythology of India, Egypt, China, and many 
 other Eastern countries. This is the lotus, of 
 which the Easter lily is the modern representa- 
 tive. The lotus appears in a number of forms 
 in the records of antiquity. We have symbolic 
 pictures of the lion carrying the lotus in its 
 mouth, doubtless a male and female symbol. 
 The deities of India are depicted standing on 
 the lotus, or are spoken of as being "born of 
 the Lotus . " " The Chinese, " * say s the author 
 of Rites and Ceremonies, "worship a Goddess 
 whom they call Puzza, and of whom their 
 priests give the following account; — they say 
 that 'three nymphs came down from heaven to 
 wash themselves in the river, but scarce had 
 
 *0'Brien: The Round Towers of Ireland. 
 
of Primitive Races 57 
 
 they gotten in the water before the herb lotus 
 appeared on one of their garments, with its 
 coral fruit upon it. They were surprised to 
 think whence it could proceed; and the nymph 
 upon whose garment it was could not resist 
 the temptation of indulging herself in tasting 
 it. But by thus eating some of it she became 
 pregnant, and was deKvered of a boy, whom 
 she brought up, and then returned to heaven. 
 He afterwards became a great man, a con- 
 queror and legislator, and the nymph was 
 afterwards worshipped under the name of 
 Puzza.' " Puzza corresponds to the Indian 
 Buddha. 
 
 In Egyptian architecture the lotus is a 
 fundamental form, and indeed it is said to be 
 the main motive of the architecture of that 
 civiUzation. The capitals of the column are 
 modelled after one form or other of this plant. 
 That of the Doric column is the seed vessel 
 pressed flat. Earher capitals are simple copies 
 of the bell or seed vessel. The columns con- 
 sisted of stalks of the plant grouped together. 
 In other cases the leaves are used as ornaments. 
 
58 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 These orders were copied by the Greeks, and 
 subsequently by western countries. 
 
 We may ask ourselves, what is the meaning 
 of this mystic lotus which was held in sufficient 
 veneration to be incorporated in all the temples 
 of rehgion, as well as in myths of the deity. 
 This, too, refers to the deification of sex. 
 O'Brien, in the Round Towers of Ireland 
 states: ''The lotus was the most sacred plant 
 of the Ancients, and typified the two principles 
 of the earth fecundation, — the germ standing 
 for the lingam; the filaments and petals for the 
 yoni." 
 
 R. P. Knight states, ''We find it (the lotus) 
 employed in every part of the Northern Hemi- 
 sphere where symbolical worship does or ever 
 did prevail. The sacred images of the Tartars, 
 Japanese or Indians, are all placed upon it 
 and it is still sacred in Tibet and China. The 
 upper part of the base of the lingam also con- 
 sists of the flower of it blended with the most 
 distinctive characteristics of the female sex; 
 in which that of the male is placed, in order to 
 complete this mystic symbol of the ancient 
 
of Primitive Races 59 
 
 religion of the Brahmans ; who, in their sacred 
 writings, speak of Brahma sitting upon his 
 lotus throne." 
 
 Alexander Wilder,* states that the term 
 "Nymphe" and its derivations were used to 
 designate young women, brides, the marriage 
 chamber, the lotus flower, oracular temples 
 and the labiae minores of the human female. 
 
 The lotus then, which is found throughout 
 antiquity, in art as well as in religion, was a 
 sexual symbol, representing to the ancients 
 the combination of male and female sexual 
 organs. It is another expression of the sex 
 worship of that period. 
 
 Our present conventional symbols of art 
 are very easily traced to ancient symbols of 
 religion. We may expect these to be phallic 
 in their meaning, to just the extent that 
 phallicism was fundamental in the rehgions 
 where these symbols originated. From the 
 designs of some of the ornamental friezes of 
 Nineveh, we find these principles illustrated. 
 On those bas-reliefs is found the earliest form 
 
 ♦The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology. 
 
60 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 of art, really the dawn of art upon early civili- 
 zation. Here is the beginning of certain de- 
 signs which were destined to be carried to the 
 later civiHzations of Greece, Rome and prob- 
 ably of Egypt. These friezes show the pine 
 cone alternating with a modified form of the 
 lotus; the significance of which symbols we 
 have explained. There are also shown animal 
 representations before the sacred tree or grove, 
 a phallic symbol. From these forms and 
 others were designed a number of conventional 
 symbols which were used throughout a much 
 later civilization. (See Nineveh and Its 
 Remains, A. Layard.) 
 
 One sees in the religions of antiquity, espe- 
 cially those of India, Assyria, Greece and 
 Egypt, a great number of sacred animal repre- 
 sentations. The Bull was sacred to Osiris in 
 Egypt, and one special animal w^as attended 
 with all the pomp of a god. At one time in 
 Assyria the god was always associated with 
 a sacred animal, often the goat, which was 
 supposed to possess the qualities for which the 
 
of Primitive Races 61 
 
 god was worshipped. Out of this developed 
 the ideal animal creations, of which the animal 
 body and the human head and the winged 
 bulls of Nineveh are examples. The mystic 
 centaurs and satyrs originated from this 
 source. At a later time the whole was human- 
 ized, merely the horns, ears or hoofs remaining 
 as relics of the animal form. 
 
 We learn that in these religions the animal 
 was not merely worshipped as such. It was 
 a certain quality which was deified. The 
 Assyrian goat attendant upon the deity, was 
 in some bas-reliefs, not only represented in 
 priapic attitudes, but a female sexual symbol 
 was so placed as to signify sexual union. We 
 shall show later that certain male and female 
 symbolic animals were so placed on coins as 
 to symbolically indicate sexual union. 
 
 An animal symbol which has probably been 
 of universal use is that of the snake or serpent. 
 Serpent worship has been described in almost 
 every country of which we have records or 
 legends. In Egypt, we find the serpent on the 
 headdress of many of the gods. In Africa 
 
62 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 
 The worship of the hooded snake was probably 
 carried from India to Egypt. The dragon on 
 the flag and porcelain of China is also a serpent 
 symbol. In Central America were found 
 enormous stone serpents carved in various 
 forms. In Scandinavia divine honors w^ere 
 paid to serpents, and the druids of Britain 
 carried on a similar w^orship. 
 
 Serpent worship has been show^n by many 
 writers to be a form of sex worship. It is often 
 phallic, and we are told by Hargrave Jennings 
 that the serpent possibly was added to the 
 male and female symbols to represent desire. 
 Thus, the Hindu women carried the lingam 
 in procession between two serpents; and in 
 the procession of Bacchus the Greeks carried 
 in a casket the phallus, the egg, and a serpent. 
 
 The Greeks also had a composite or ideal 
 figure. Bays were added to the head of a 
 serpent thereby bringing it into relation with 
 the sun god Apollo; or the crest or comb of a 
 cock was added with similar meaning. 
 
of Primitive Races 63 
 
 Many reasons have been offered to explain 
 why the serpent has been used to represent 
 the male generative attribute. Some have 
 called attention to its tenacity of life; others 
 have spoken of its supposed mystic power of 
 regeneration by casting its skin. Again, it 
 seems probable that the form is of symbolic 
 significance. However this may be, we find 
 that this universal serpent worship of primitive 
 man was a form of phallicism so prevalent in 
 former times. 
 
 Many other animals may be mentioned. 
 The sacred bull, so frequently met with in 
 Egypt, Assyria and Greece, was a form under 
 which Bacchus was worshipped. R. P. Knight 
 speaks as follows: "The mystic Bacchus, or 
 generative power, was represented under this 
 form, not only upon coins but upon the temples 
 of the Greeks; sometimes simply as a bull; at 
 other times as a human face; and at others 
 entirely human except the horns and ears." 
 
 We would probably be in error to interpret 
 all these animal symbols as exclusively phallic 
 although many were definitely so. Thus, 
 
64 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 while Hermes was a priapic deity, he was also 
 a deity of the fields and the harvests; so the 
 bull may have been chosen for its strength as 
 well as its sexual attributes. 
 
 There are many animals which were sym- 
 bolic of the female generative power. The 
 cow is frequently so employed. The Hindus 
 have the image of a cow in nearly every temple, 
 the deity corresponding to the Grecian Venus. 
 In the temple of Philae in Egypt, Isis is repre- 
 sented with the horns and ears of a cow joined 
 to a beautiful woman. The cow is still sacred 
 in many parts of Africa. The fish symbol 
 was a very frequent representative of woman, 
 the goddess of the Phoenicians being repre- 
 sented by the head and body of a woman 
 terminating below in a fish. The head of 
 Proserpine is frequently surrounded by dol- 
 phins. Indeed, the female principle is regu- 
 larly shown by some representative of w^ater; 
 fire and water respectively being regarded as 
 male and female principles. 
 
 Male and female attributes are often com- 
 bined on coins for purposes of sexual sym- 
 
of Primitive Races 65 
 
 bolism. R. P. Knight explains these symbols 
 as follows: "It appears therefore that the 
 asterisk, bull, or minotaur, in the centre of a 
 square or labyrinth equally mean the same as 
 the Indian lingam, — that is the male personi- 
 fication of the productive attribute placed in 
 the female, or heat acting upon humidity. 
 Sometimes the bull is placed between two 
 dolphins, and sometimes upon a dolphin or 
 another fish; and in other instances the goat 
 or the ram occupy the same situation. Which 
 are all different modes of expressing different 
 modifications of the same meaning in symboH- 
 cal or mystical writings. The female personi- 
 fications frequently occupy the same place; 
 in which case the male personification is always 
 upon the reverse of the coin, of which numer- 
 ous instances occur in those of Syracuse, 
 Naples, Tarentum, and other cities. " By the 
 asterisk above mentioned the writer refers to 
 a circle surrounded by rays, a sun symbol of 
 male significance. The square or labyrinth 
 is the lozenge shaped symbol or yoni of India. 
 The above interpretations throw much light 
 
66 Sex Worship and Symbolisvi 
 
 on the obscurity of the animal worship of 
 antiquity. This explains the partly human- 
 ized types, and the final appearance of a human 
 deity with only animal horns remaining, as 
 representing the form under which the deity 
 was once worshipped. The satyrs, centaurs, 
 and other animal forms are all part of these 
 same representations and are similarly ex- 
 plained. 
 
 Our main object in giving the above account 
 of these various symbols has been to illustrate 
 the wide prevalence of sex worship among 
 primitive races. Another end as well has been 
 served; our study gives us a certain insight 
 into the type of mind which evolves symbol- 
 ism, and so a few remarks on the use of 
 symbolism as here illustrated are not inappro- 
 priate. 
 
 We feel that while this symbolism may in- 
 dicate a high degree of mechanical skill in 
 execution, it does not follow that it expresses 
 either deep or complicated intellectual pro- 
 cesses. In fact, we are inclined to regard such 
 
of Primitive Races 67 
 
 symbolism as the indication of a comparatively 
 simple intellect. It appears obscure and in- 
 volved to us, because we do not understand 
 the symbols. From those which we do under- 
 stand, the meaning is graphically but simply 
 expressed. 
 
 On coins, bas-reliefs and monuments, we 
 find the majority of these simple emblems. 
 If the desire is to express the union of male 
 and female principles, a male symbolic animal 
 is simply placed upon the corresponding female 
 symbol. Thus, a goat or bull may be placed 
 upon the back of a dolphin or other fish. This 
 is a graphic presentation but certainly one of 
 a most simple nature. Sometimes the male 
 symbol is on one side of the coin and then the 
 female is always on the reverse. Unions are 
 made which do not occur in nature, and the 
 representation is not a subtle one. 
 
 In India, if there was a desire to express a 
 number of attributes of the deity, another 
 head or face is added or additional arms are 
 added to hold up additional symbols. In 
 Greece, when the desire was to express the 
 
68 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 androgyne qualities of the deity, a beard was 
 added to the female face, or one-half of the 
 statuette represented the male form, the other 
 the female. Such representations do not in- 
 dicate great ingenuity, however skillfully they 
 may be executed. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Sun Myths, Mysteries and Decadent 
 Sex Worship 
 
 AS is generally known, traces of sun 
 worship are found in almost 
 every country of which we have 
 a record. In Egypt Ra was the 
 supreme sun god where there 
 was very elaborate worship con- 
 ducted in his honor. In Greece, Apollo was 
 attended with similar festivities. In the Norse 
 mythology, many of the myths deal with the 
 worship of the sun in one form or another. In 
 England, Stonehenge and the entire system of 
 the Druids had to do with solar worship. In 
 Central America and Peru, temples to the sun 
 were of amazing splendor, furnished as they 
 were with wonderful displays of gold and sil- 
 
 69 
 
70 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 ver. The North American Indians have many 
 legends relating to sun worship and sacrifices 
 to the sun, and China and Japan give numer- 
 ous instances of the same rehgion. Sun wor- 
 ship is so readily shown to be fundamental 
 with primitive races that we will not discuss 
 it in detail at this time, but rather will give 
 the conclusions of certain writers who have 
 explained its meaning. 
 
 At the present day, the sun is regularly re- 
 garded as a male being, the earth a female. 
 We speak of Mother Earth, etc.; in former 
 tim.es, the ancients depicted the maternal 
 characteristics of the earth in a much more 
 material way. Likewise the sun was a male 
 deity, being often the war god, vigorous and 
 all powerful. We readily see to what an 
 extent the male sun god was portrayed in 
 mythology as a human being. In many 
 myths, the god dies during the Winter, re- 
 appears in the Spring, is lamented in the Fall, 
 etc., all in keeping with the changes in the 
 activity of the sun during the different 
 seasons. 
 
of Primitive Races 71 
 
 The moon was associated with the female 
 deity of the ancients. Isis is accompanied by 
 the moon on most coins and emblems. Venus 
 has the same symbols. Indeed, the star and 
 crescent of our modern times, of the Turkish 
 flag and elsewhere, are in reality the sun and 
 crescent of antiquity, male and female symbols 
 in conjunction. Lunar ornaments of pre- 
 historic times have been found throughout 
 England and Ireland, and doubtless explain 
 the superstitions about the moon in those 
 countries. The same prehistoric ornaments 
 are found in Italy. In the legends of the North 
 American Indians, Moon is Sun's wife. 
 
 The full extent of these behefs is pointed 
 out by Mr. John Newton in Assyrian Grove 
 Worship. Here we see that the ancient 
 Hindus gave a much more hteral relationship 
 between the sun and earth than we are accus- 
 tomed to express in modern times. He states, 
 "This representative of the union of the sexes 
 typifies the divine Sakti, or productive energy, 
 in union with the pro-creative or generative 
 power as seen throughout nature. The earth 
 
72 Sex Worship and SymhoKsm 
 
 was the primitive pudendum or yoni which is 
 fecundated by the solar heat, the sun, the 
 primitive hnga, to whose vivifying rays man 
 and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, 
 owe their being and continued existence. " 
 
 It is not possible to discuss sun worship at 
 any length without at the same time discussing 
 phallicism and serpent worship. Hargrave 
 Jennings, who has made careful study of these 
 worships, points out their general identity in 
 the following paragraph. He states: *'The 
 three most celebrated emblems carried in the 
 Greek mysteries were the phallus, the egg, and 
 the serpent; or otherwise the phallus, the yoni 
 or umbilicus, and the serpent. The first in 
 each case is the emblem of the sun or of fire, 
 as the male or active generative power. The 
 second denotes the passive nature or female 
 principle or the emblem of water. The third 
 symbol indicates the destroyer, the reformer 
 or the renewer, (the uniter of the two) and thus 
 the preserver or perpetuator eternally renew- 
 ing itself. The universality of serpentine 
 worship (or Phallic adoration) is attested by 
 
of Primitive Races 73 
 
 emblematic sculptures or architecture all the 
 world over." 
 
 The author of the Round Towers of Ireland 
 in discussing the symbols of sun worship, 
 serpent worship and phallicism, found on the 
 same tablet, practically reiterates these state- 
 ments. He says : " I have before me the same- 
 ness of design which belonged indifferently to 
 solar worship and to phallic. I shall, ere long, 
 prove that the same characteristic extends 
 equally to ophiolatreia ; and if they all three 
 be identical, as it thus necessarily follows, 
 where is the occasion for surprise at our meet- 
 ing the sun, phallus and serpent, the con- 
 stituent symbols of each, embossed upon the 
 same table and grouped under the same archi- 
 trave?" 
 
 By a number of references, we could readily 
 show the identity of all these worships. The 
 preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, 
 the conclusions of those writers who have made 
 such religions their special study. We shall 
 not exemplify this further, but will now point 
 out the general relationship of sun worship to 
 
74 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the religious festivals and mythology of the 
 Ancients. This relationship becomes impor- 
 tant when it is appreciated that the sun worship 
 expressed in the mysteries is also a part of 
 phallicism. On some of these festive occasions 
 the phallus was carried in the front of the pro- 
 cession and at other times the egg, the phallus 
 and the serpent were carried in the secret 
 casket. 
 
 The Ancients expressed their religious be- 
 liefs in a dramatic way on a number of occa- 
 sions throughout the year. The festivities 
 were held in the Spring, Autumn, or Winter. 
 These were to commemorate the activities of 
 the sun, his renewed activity in the Spring 
 calHng forth rejoicing and his decline in the 
 Fall being the cause of sorrow and lamenta- 
 tion. As well as the festivities, there were the 
 various mysteries, such as the Eleusinia, the 
 Dionysia and the Bacchanalia. These were 
 conducted by the priests who moulded reh- 
 gious beliefs and guarded their secrets. The 
 mysteries were of the utmost importance and 
 
of Primitive Races 75 
 
 the most sacred of religious conceptions were 
 here dramatized. 
 
 Mythology also gave expression to the reli- 
 gious ideas of the time and we find that the 
 most important myths, dramatically produced 
 at the religious festivals, were sun myths. 
 
 The annual festivities and mysteries will be 
 discussed together because both were intended 
 to dramatize the same beliefs. Both were 
 under priestly control and so were national 
 institutions. The festivals were for the com- 
 mon people but the mysteries were fully un- 
 derstood only to the initiated. 
 
 While no very clear account of the mysteries 
 has been given, a certain theme seems to run 
 through them all, and this is found in the 
 myths as well. A drama is enacted, in which 
 the god is lost, is lamented, and is found or 
 returns amid great rejoicing.* This was en- 
 acted in Egypt where the mourning was for 
 Osiris; and in Greece for Adonis, and later for 
 Bacchus. All these are, of course, sun gods, 
 and the whole dramatization or myth is in 
 keeping with the activities of the sun. 
 
 *The Enactment of a Rebirth. 
 
76 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 On these occasions, the main object seems 
 to have been to restore the lost god, or to in- 
 sure his reappearance. The women took the 
 leading part and mourned for Osiris, Adonis 
 or Bacchus. They wandered about the coun- 
 try at night in the most frenzied fashion, 
 avoided all men and sought the god. At times, 
 during the winter festival, the quest would be 
 fruitless. In the Spring, when they indulged 
 themselves in all sorts of orgies and extrava- 
 gances, Adonis was found. 
 
 An underlying motive appears to have been 
 to enact a drama in which the deity was sup- 
 posed to exercise his procreative function by 
 sexual union with the women. This was an 
 ideal which they wished to express dramatical- 
 ly. In order to realize this ideal obstacles 
 were introduced that they might be over- 
 come; in the old myth, Adonis was emascu- 
 lated under a pine tree, and in Egypt Osiris 
 was similarly mutilated, his sex organs being 
 lost. But at the festivals it was portrayed 
 that Adonis was found, and in the myth, 
 Osiris was restored to Isis in the form of Horus 
 
of Primitive^ Races 77 
 
 (the morning sun). In a number of myths, 
 the god is said to have visited the earth to 
 cohabit ate with the women, an occurrence 
 which was doubtless desired, in order that the 
 deistic attributes might be continued in the 
 race. Thus, judging from what we have been 
 able to learn of this subject, the worship ex- 
 pressed in the mysteries revolved about sexual 
 union, the desire being to dramatize the con- 
 tinued activity of deistic qualities. 
 
 This character of many of the festivals and 
 mysteries is very evident. In the Eleusinian 
 mysteries the rape of Persephone by Pluto, the 
 winter god, is portrayed. The mother, De- 
 meter, mourns for her daughter. Her mourn- 
 ing is dramatically carried out by a large 
 procession, and this enactment requires several 
 days. Finally Persephone is restored. The 
 earlier part of the festival w^as for dramatic 
 interest, and the real object was the union of 
 Persephone with Bacchus. "The union of 
 Persephone with Bacchus, i. e., with the sun 
 god, whose work is to promote fruitfulness, is 
 an idea special to the mysteries and means 
 
78 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the union of humanity with the godhead, the 
 consummation aimed at in the mystic rites. 
 Hence, in all probability the central teaching 
 of the mysteries was Personal Immortality, 
 analogue of the return of the bloom to plants 
 in Spring."* 
 
 The mysteries of Samothrace were probably 
 simpler. Here the phallus w^as carried in pro- 
 cession as the emblem of Hermes. In the 
 Dionysian mysteries which were held in mid- 
 winter, the quest of the women was unsuccess- 
 ful and the festival was repeated in the Spring. 
 The Roman mysteries of Bacchus were of 
 much later development, and consequently 
 became very debased. Men as well as women 
 eventually came to take part in the ceremony, 
 and the whole affair degenerated into the 
 grossest of sexual excesses and perversions. 
 
 We have stated what appears to us to have 
 been the underlying motives of the religious 
 festivals and mysteries; namely, the enact- 
 ment of a drama in which the reproductive 
 qualities of the deity were portrayed. The 
 
 *Dr. Otto Rhyn, Mysteria. 
 
of Primitive Races 79 
 
 phallus was carried in procession for this pur- 
 pose and the women dramatized the motive 
 as searching for the god. Our account can be 
 regarded as little more than an outline, but it 
 is sufficient for our present purposes. It in- 
 dicates that the mysteries give an expression 
 of phallic worship, just as do the various 
 monuments of art and religion to which we 
 have referred. It may also be said that this 
 same worship is represented in what may be 
 termed early literature, for much of the early 
 mythology deals with the same subject. The 
 study of origins in mythology, however, can- 
 not be dealt with adequately at present. 
 
 In order to deal fully with this subject it is 
 necessary to discuss another important phase 
 in the worship of sex. We refer to the deca- 
 dence or degeneracy of this worship, which oc- 
 curred after people had outgrown these simple 
 religious conceptions. The decadence of sex 
 worship is observed during the early centuries 
 of Christianity and traces of it are seen 
 throughout the middle ages. In the decadence 
 
80 Sex Worship and Syinbolism 
 
 of sex worship we are able to observe how an 
 important motive in the race finds expression 
 in the thoughts and conduct of people after 
 the underlying promptings w^hich originated 
 it have long since ceased to be dynamic. This 
 decadent stage of a motive is therefore of 
 considerable importance; w^e shall return to 
 its interpretation in the discussion of analogies 
 of development" between motives in the in- 
 dividual and motives in the race. 
 
 In India,* with the Hindus, there still exists 
 an elaborate form of sex worship. The Phallus 
 is carried on festive occasions, it still occupies 
 the most sacred spot in the sanctuary, dancing 
 girls are devoted to the service of the temple, 
 and many other customs associated with phal- 
 lic rites are carried on much as they were cen- 
 turies ago in the Ancient World. It is said 
 that there are thirty million phalli in India 
 and that a phallus is found in nearly every 
 Hindu household. 
 
 Whether phallic worship as now practiced 
 by the Hindus has the same meaning or value 
 
 *J. B. Pratt, India and Its Faiths. 
 
o/ Primitive Races 81 
 
 that it had when at its height in ancient civiU- 
 zation is difficult to say; there are evidences 
 to show that this worship in India is now 
 carried out somewhat as a matter of form and 
 custom only, and that its significance is not 
 thoroughly appreciated except possibly by the 
 few. If this observation is correct, the deca- 
 dent state of sex worship which was so preva- 
 lent in Western Europe during the early cen- 
 turies of Christianity and throughout the 
 middle ages, may be developing in India as 
 well. 
 
 Whatever may be the present condition in 
 India regarding this worship, we are left in no 
 uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship 
 during its decadent period in Europe. It is 
 not necessary here to dwell upon the licentious- 
 ness and extravagances of conduct which were 
 manifest at this time, as a general outline will 
 suffice for present purposes. 
 
 We have observed that the mysteries in 
 which phallic principles were taught eventual- 
 ly became degraded in both Greece and Rome. 
 When these mysteries originated, they em- 
 
82 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 bodied serious religious conceptions, respected 
 by all; they were the expression of racial feel- 
 ings, and however out of accord with present 
 day sentiments they may have been, they can 
 in no way be considered immoral. This can- 
 not be said of the mysteries of a subsequent 
 period. Every sort of perversion and practice 
 was indulged in. They were finally forbidden 
 by the State, but were carried on secretly for 
 some time longer. With the coming of Chris- 
 tianity they were very bitterly opposed, and 
 finally as national institutions, they ceased to 
 exist. 
 
 Later we shall indicate in more detail why 
 the worship of sex was discarded. It may be 
 stated here that as the development of the 
 race continued these simple conceptions of a 
 deity failed to express all religious desires; 
 primitive phallic principles lost their dynamic 
 value, and longings and desires, the result of 
 higher mental development, found expression 
 in new religious usages. 
 
 It has just been stated that the mysteries 
 ceased to exist as national institutions. This 
 
of Primitive Races 83 
 
 is true, but while they were discarded by the 
 great mass of the people, certain elements of 
 the race clung to these primitive beliefs and 
 practices for years. When the mysteries were 
 officially forbidden they were carried on secret- 
 ly in a somewhat altered form. Secret socie- 
 ties were formed, or some of the Eastern 
 Mystic Cults w^ere made use of in order to 
 carry out their teachings. These secret socie- 
 ties took over many of the principles of phalli- 
 cism such as were taught in the mysteries, 
 and so, side by side with the Christian rehgion, 
 the earlier beliefs continued. 
 
 The Gnostics* are an example of one of these 
 societies. They existed in early Christian 
 times and the society was probably formed 
 long before the advent of Christianity. It is 
 difficult to learn a great deal about the Gnos- 
 tics, but some of their beliefs are known. 
 Gnostic symbols consisted for a great part of 
 phallic emblems, it having been shown that 
 their gems and secret talismans were of phallic 
 significance. The Gnostics also gave evidences 
 
 *R. P. Knight, the Worship of Priapus. 
 
84 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 of reverting to a more primitive civilization 
 in other than reUgious spheres. In their social 
 organization they advocated communal mar- 
 riage, wives being held in common. This type 
 of social organization is quite general in primi- 
 tive tribes. With the Gnostics we see a rever- 
 sion to a more primitive form of religious and 
 social life. 
 
 The Rosier ucians* of the middle ages are 
 rather better known, although this order also 
 is very obscure. The Rosicrucians as well as 
 the Gnostics had phaUic emblems. They 
 worshipped in a form very similar to that 
 under which Priapus was worshipped. More- 
 over, as was the case with a number of these 
 secret societies, they introduced perverse sex- 
 ual practices. They are said not only to have 
 countenanced homosexuality, but to have 
 made it one of the principles of their belief. 
 At the same time, they scorned all association 
 with women. Out of this belief they built up 
 a philosophy in which the fire worship of 
 
 *Hargrave Jennings: The Rosicrucians. 
 
of Primitive Races 85 
 
 antiquity played a part, and with which 
 alchemy was associated. 
 
 In the practice of homosexuality* and in 
 the development of a philosophy in which 
 women played no part, are seen sentiments 
 quite similar to those which existed in the 
 later days of Greece. At this time in Greece, 
 patriarchy had driven out the last vestiges of 
 matriarchy, female deities had lost their fol- 
 lowers to a great extent, and the devotion was 
 paid to male gods and heroes. This change 
 seems to have produced a certain contempt 
 for women. A number of writers have pointed 
 out this reaction, and so probably in the 
 philosophy of the Rosicrucians and in their 
 practices, are seen an expression of these same 
 sentiments. Similar sentiments were ex- 
 pressed by other secret organizations and in 
 some philosophies of a latter period. In this 
 respect, therefore, the Rosicrucians were 
 probably reverting to beliefs and feelings of an 
 earlier date. 
 
 *J. A. Symonds, A Problem in Greek Ethics. Morris J. Karpas, 
 Socrates in the Ught of Modem Psychopath© logy . Journal of Abnor- 
 mal Psychology. 1915. 
 
86 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 The Knights Templar were another secret 
 society of the middle ages of a somewhat later 
 time. The same can be said of them as of the 
 former societies. They carried on the old 
 phalhc and mystic rites in modified form, and 
 set up their beliefs in opposition to Christian- 
 ity. When the Knights Templar were initi- 
 ated they were made to deny Christ and the 
 Virgin Mary, to spit on the cross, etc. They 
 also were charged with homosexuality, and 
 with them as with the Rosicrucians and the 
 Gnostics, homosexuality was a part of their 
 teachings. They likewise advocated commu- 
 nal marriage. At their secret meetings and 
 initiations many vices existed; idols were wor- 
 shipped, phallic features were introduced, and 
 the entire ceremony was similar to the mys- 
 teries of antiquity. 
 
 Should there be any doubt regarding the 
 association of these secret societies of the 
 middle ages with the mysteries of the Ancients, 
 this doubt is at once dispelled when we read 
 of the practices of a remarkable secret organi- 
 zation described as the "Witches' Sabbath." 
 
of Primitive Races 87 
 
 Any one who has read a description of the 
 Ancient Mysteries and of the initiation cere- 
 monies of primitive tribes cannot but see in 
 the Witches Sabbath a remarkable similarity 
 to the earlier mysteries. R. P. Knight* has 
 given us a description of the Witches' Sabbath 
 and he quotes freely from a French writerf 
 who has given full details. We shall use such 
 parts of these descriptions as are necessary to 
 illustrate these practices during the middle 
 ages. 
 
 The Witches' Sabbath is described by these 
 writers as it existed during the latter part of 
 the fourteenth century. It was held on four 
 occasions during the year, being a festival 
 corresponding to the Priapiea and Bacchana- 
 lia of former days. Women played the leading 
 part just as in the Bacchanalia. There were 
 minor and major festivals corresponding to 
 the lesser and greater Eleusinia. Pilgrimages 
 were made at this time, which "resembled a 
 fair of merchants mingled together, furious 
 
 * Worship of Priapus. 
 
 fPierre de Lancre, Tableau de I'lnconstaiice des Mauvais Anges 
 et Demons. 
 
88 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 in transports, arriving from all parts — a meet- 
 ing and a mingling of a hundred thousand sub- 
 jects, sudden and transitory, novel, it is true, 
 but of a frightful novelty which offends the eye 
 and sickens you." 
 
 A symbolic representation of Satan presided 
 at the festivals, and he assumed a number of 
 disguises, in all of which we recognize Priapus 
 in degenerated form. He very often appeared 
 in the disguise of a goat; in fact the meeting 
 place is called "Goat's Heath." 
 
 The association of the goat with priapic 
 ceremonies has already been mentioned. At 
 times the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite 
 location for Hermes, as stated elsewhere. 
 
 Satan assumed a number of forms on these 
 occasions other than that of the bearded goat. 
 He was at times a serpent, or again an ox of 
 brass. He was also represented as the trunk 
 of a tree, sometimes as the oak. Priapus 
 is readily recognized in all these various 
 disguises. 
 
 On these festive occasions we see remnants 
 of the fire worship of primitive tribes. Satan 
 
of Primitive Races 89 
 
 often carried fire in some form or other and 
 the rite of purification by fire, a residual of the 
 earher need-fire rites, was enacted. Particu- 
 lar significance was attached to the generative 
 organs, and it is needless to say that all kinds 
 of sexual excesses ensued. Satan was held 
 to be the father and protector of all. Some 
 of the women referred to the Witches' Sabbath 
 as an earthly paradise and they said that the 
 festival had all the features of a wedding cele- 
 bration. 
 
 A number of absurd dances and other 
 burlesques were introduced. In these one sees 
 the burlesques and dances of the earlier mys- 
 teries and of the still more primitive initiation 
 ceremonies of tribes in various countries. 
 The dance was often held around a stone, — 
 the significance of which has already been 
 explained. 
 
 If in the above account of these mystic 
 ceremonies in the middle ages a detailed 
 enumeration of all forms of sexual depravities 
 has not been given, it is not because they did 
 not exist. Our main object has been to show 
 
90 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 that sex worship as practiced during the middle 
 ages, was an expression of the decadence of a 
 racial motive. No odium was formerly con- 
 nected with this motive, but when an attempt 
 was made to associate these primitive feelings 
 and beliefs with a civilization wdiich had 
 outgrown such conceptions, many undesirable 
 features were in evidence. 
 
 Should further proof of the association of 
 the Gnostics, the Rosicrucians, the Templars, 
 etc., with the ancient priapic rites be necessary, 
 this proof is found in numerous talismans, 
 amulets, sculpture on earthen and glassware, 
 which were associated with these societies. 
 These amulets are all plainly phallic in design ; 
 R. P. Knight shows a number of vases, lamps, 
 etc., on which phallic symbols are found. 
 These articles were probably used at the 
 secret rites. 
 
 Moreover, we find that many of these small 
 phalU were worn for personal decoration; and 
 here we come to a still lower decadence in sex 
 worship, — the period of superstition. A phal- 
 lus was worn as a charm, somewhat as a fetish 
 
of Primitive Races 91 
 
 to ward off disease. Such charms were sup- 
 posed to bring good luck and prosperity to the 
 owner and they were used particularly as a 
 charm against barreness in women. A sign 
 which could be made by the hand, the phallic 
 hand, was used as a protection against the 
 evil eye. Ancient representations of Priapus 
 have been found with the hand in this attitude. 
 As further evidence to show the total degener- 
 acy of these beliefs, it may be said that the 
 phallic hand was adopted as a symbol of 
 prostitution. 
 
 In this we see the worship of sex degenerated 
 to its lowest form, i. e., a superstition to be 
 followed by the lower classes and the ignorant. 
 The phallus which once had been attended 
 with all ceremony had become a mere charm. 
 
 The conclusions which R. P. Knight reaches 
 in relation to these decadent beliefs are worthy 
 of remark. He states:* "We have thus seen 
 in how many various forms the old phallic, or 
 priapic worship presented itself in the middle 
 ages, and how pertinaciously it held its ground 
 
 ♦Worship of Priapus. 
 
92 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 through all the changes and development of 
 society, until at length we find all the circum- 
 stances of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as 
 the mediaeval additions combined in that great 
 and extensive superstitition, — witchcraft. At 
 all times the initiated were believed to have 
 obtained thereby powers which were not 
 possessed by the uninitiated, and they only 
 were supposed to know about the form of 
 invocation of the deities who were the objects 
 of this worship, which deities the Christian 
 teachers invariably transformed into devils. 
 The vows which people of antiquity addressed 
 to Priapus, those of the middle ages addressed 
 to Satan. The Witches' Sabbath was simply 
 the last form which the Priapeia and Libernalia 
 assumed in Western Europe, and in its various 
 decadences all the incidents of those great 
 and Hcentious orgies of the Romans were 
 reproduced." It is little wonder that the 
 persecution of witches by the Christians long 
 survived the middle ages. 
 
 Hargrave Jennings* has referred to phallic 
 
 *The Rosicrucians. 
 
of Primitive Races 93 
 
 principles in a number of the early chivalrie 
 societies of England. He states that the 
 Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur 
 had phallic emblems and other features similar 
 to those of the Rosicrucians. The same 
 author submits considerable evidence to in- 
 dicate that the Order of the Garter is of much 
 greater antiquity than is generally believed 
 and that phallic principles were associated 
 with it. A similar contention was made re- 
 garding the symbolism associated with the 
 Holy Grail, a sacred vessel apparently con- 
 nected with primitive rites at a time far ante- 
 dating Christianity. Associated with the old 
 Churches in Ireland similar phaUic emblems 
 have been found, as well as in Europe. 
 These emblems were used as charms by the 
 primitive people. 
 
 We stated above that the early deities of 
 primitive tribes were regarded as demons dur- 
 ing the Christian period. In Teutonic beliefs 
 phalhc deities were developed quite compar- 
 able to those of Greece and Rome. These 
 Teutonic deities came to be regarded as hob- 
 
94 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 goblins during the middle ages. They were 
 supposed to be found in lonely places and in 
 forests, and to emerge at times in order to 
 indulge in all sorts of sexual excesses, much 
 as the fauns and satyrs of antiquity. The 
 English had a similar hobgoblin in Robin 
 Goodfellow. This fictitious character is rep- 
 resented in priapic attitudes in a number of 
 illustrations of old English ballads. He was 
 doubtless Priapus of antiquity transformed 
 into a goblin. 
 
 Why should superstitions of this kind live 
 century after century? Frazer* has given us 
 the answer: "Superstitions survive because 
 while they shock the views of the enlightened 
 members of the community, they are still in 
 harmony with the thoughts and feelings of 
 others, who, though they are drilled by their 
 betters into an appearance of civilization, 
 remain barbarians or savages at heart . . . 
 I have been led into making these remarks 
 by the wish to explain why it is that super- 
 stitions of all sorts, political, moral and reli- 
 
 *The Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task. 
 
of Primitive Races 95 
 
 gious, survive among people who have the 
 opportunity of knowing better. The reason 
 is that the better ideas, which are constantly 
 forming in the upper stratum have not filtered 
 through from the highest to the lowest minds. 
 Such a filtration is generally slow, and by the 
 time the new emotions have penetrated to the 
 bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are 
 often obsolete and superseded by others at 
 the top." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Interpretations 
 
 HAVING followed the worship of 
 sex through its various phases, 
 it is now desirable to offer such 
 interpretations of its meaning 
 as the facts appear to warrant. 
 What was the significance of 
 this elaborate ritual; why did it develop, and 
 how is it to be interpreted from a biological 
 standpoint in mental evolution. The history 
 of the development of this ritual may be of 
 considerable interest in itself but we wish now 
 to consider the subject from the biological 
 rather than the historical standpoint. It re- 
 mains to be shown what ends these beliefs 
 serve in the evolution of the primitive mind, 
 or at least what they represent, and what 
 vestiges of them remain in our thoughts and 
 feelings of today. Only from this standpoint 
 
 96 
 
of Primitive Races 97 
 
 can the study of primitive motives be of 
 value to the Psychologist and the Psychiatrist. 
 
 In order to answer the above questions, it 
 is desirable to refer to a still more primitive 
 form of religious belief, since our understand- 
 ing of this earlier reUgion offers a key to the 
 understanding of sex worship. We refer to 
 the various forms of nature worship found in 
 primitive tribes. These nature rites consist 
 of rain making ceremonies, sun dances, and 
 numerous other procedures which are carried 
 out by primitive people because of their sup- 
 posed service in increasing the products of the 
 earth. Fortunately these rites are quite clear- 
 ly understood. It has been shown by many 
 investigators that they are enacted to increase 
 the food supply. They are actuated by the 
 desire on the part of primitive people to meet 
 nutritive demands. 
 
 Now this knowledge enables us to under- 
 stand phaUic ceremonies. A very distinct 
 parallehsm is seen between the nature worship 
 rites and phalhc rites. We feel that it is not 
 diflScult to show that while the earlier rites 
 
98 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 were in accord with nutritive demands, phallic 
 ceremonies were an expression of the desire 
 for human reproduction. We shall now di- 
 gress somewhat in order to discuss nature 
 rites in some detail, as thereby the phaUic 
 rites are very readily explained. 
 
 Among many of the Indian tribes of North 
 America, the tribes of Central Africa, the 
 primitive races of Australia, the lower hill 
 tribes of India, and others, we find religious 
 ceremonies all of which are carried out in 
 much the same way and with the same object 
 in view. We are all familiar with the rain 
 making ceremonies of the North American 
 Indians; we find frequent reference in litera- 
 ture to the various Spring festivals of the 
 Egyptians at which grain is grown, etc., and 
 in which vegetative nature is deified. A great 
 many of the nations of antiquity had similar 
 rites to increase the produce of the earth. 
 
 When the meaning of this general type of 
 ceremony is understood, it is found that it has 
 the same significance throughout. As stated 
 above, these ceremonies are enacted to in- 
 
of Primitive Races 99 
 
 crease the food supply, either directly or in- 
 directly. If it is a dry and arid locality, as 
 is the case with our Western Indians, a rain 
 making rite is performed. This is a religious 
 procedure in which various processes of magic 
 are utilized. This explains the importance 
 of the thunder god as a deity, so clearly illus- 
 trated by Miss J. Harrison. The thunder 
 rites are to increase the rain fall, and the magic 
 in such procedures is imitative; that is, a 
 sound similar to thunder is produced, as 
 primitive man believes thunder to cause the 
 rainfall since it often precedes it. Miss Harri- 
 son* has given a picture of an early thunder 
 god of the Chinese, — a deity surrounded by 
 many objects, which he strikes to cause 
 thunder. Rattles made of gourds are used 
 for the same purpose with some tribes; or 
 down, etc., may be used in imitation of clouds, 
 and water spurted about to represent rain. 
 In many instances a secret ceremonial object 
 is used, — a bull roarer in the rain making 
 ceremonies. This is an object which, when 
 
 *Themis. 
 
100 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 whirled about, makes a sound in imitation of 
 thunder. It represents a sort of thunder deity 
 and so is associated with rainfall It is held 
 very sacred, being carefully guarded from 
 view and kept under custody by the head men 
 of the tribe. 
 
 In a primitive civilization engaged in pas- 
 toral pursuits where the herd is the important 
 source of food supply the ceremony centers 
 about the dairy and the herd. In Southern 
 India, among the Toda tribes,* where the 
 buffalo herd is sacred, this is quite apparent. 
 Certain buffaloes are attended by the priests 
 only, special dairies are sacred, and the entire 
 religious development has to do w^ith the 
 sanctity of milk. The dairy utensils are 
 sacred, and one special vessel, the one which 
 contains the fermenting material, is held in 
 particular veneration. This vessel is kept in 
 a special part of the dairy, its location cor- 
 responding to the sanctuary of a temple. If 
 by chance the ferment does not act properly, 
 it is manufactured again by an elaborate rite. 
 
 *W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas, 
 
oj Primitive Races 101 
 
 Here we see that the rehgious rites have to do 
 with the food supply and fitting sacred cere- 
 monials are performed. 
 
 When the food supply depends upon animal 
 food a direct analogy in the ceremonies is seen. 
 Some Siberian tribes* perform a rite to in- 
 crease the supply of bear meat. A young bear 
 is captured, suckled by a woman, and assumes 
 the aspects of a sacred animal. It is finally 
 slain in a ritual way, and the entire perform- 
 ance is for the purpose of increasing the supply 
 of bear meat. 
 
 A few references may be given to indicate 
 the views of those who have made special 
 studies of these ceremonies. G. A. Dorseyf 
 speaking of the Hopi tribe of the Southwest, 
 states: *'When the Hopi are not at work they 
 are worshipping in the Kivas. The under- 
 lying element of this worship is to be found in 
 the environment. Mother nature does not 
 deal kindly with man in the desert. Look 
 where you will, across the drifting sands of the 
 
 *Miss J. Harrison: Ancient Art and Ritual, 
 flndians of the Southwest, 
 
102 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 plains, and the cry of man and beast is ' Wa- 
 ter!' And so, to the gods of the rain clouds 
 does the Hopi address his prayer. His instru- 
 ments of worship are so fashioned that his 
 magic may surpass the magic of these gods, 
 and compel them to loosen their stores, full 
 to overflowing. Take any one of the great 
 Hopi ceremonies, analyze the paraphernalia 
 w^orn by the men, dissect the various com- 
 ponents of the altar or sand paintings, examine 
 the offerings made to the Spring and those 
 placed upon the shrines, and in everything and 
 everywhere we see prayers for rain." 
 
 Dr. Clark Wissler,* in speaking of primitive 
 ceremonies, states: "One striking feature of 
 primitive ceremonies is the elaboration of ritu- 
 alistic procedure relating to the food supply. 
 Particularly in aboriginal America we have 
 many curious and often highly complex rituals 
 associated with the cultivation of maize and 
 tobacco. These often impress the student of 
 social phenomena as extremely unusual but 
 still highly suggestive facts, chiefly because 
 
 *The Functions of Primitive Ritualistic Ceremonies. Popular 
 Science Monthly, August 15, 191.3. 
 
of Primitive Races 103 
 
 the association seems to be between things 
 which are wholly unrelated. Thus, among 
 the Pawnee we find an elaborate ritual in 
 which a few ears of maize are raised almost 
 to the status of gods. At a certain fixed time 
 of the autumn the official priest of this ritual 
 proceeds with great ceremony to the fields and 
 selects a few ears, according to definite stand- 
 ards. These are further consecrated and care- 
 fully guarded throughout the winter. At 
 planting time the women present themselves 
 ceremonially to receive the seed, the necessary 
 planting instructions, etc. Thus, it appears 
 that during the whole year recital, there is a 
 definite ritual in functions associated with 
 maize culture." 
 
 The primitive tribes of Australia afford an 
 excellent example of this type of ceremony, 
 and fortunately these tribes have been very 
 carefully studied. At the puberty initiations 
 of the young men, one of the main ceremonies 
 is a yam ceremony,* i. e., a procedure to en- 
 sure a bountiful supply of the yams. A 
 
 *Spencer, Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia. 
 
104 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 special type of yam is secured, and cooked 
 with much ceremony under fixed rules, much 
 care and secrecy being observed throughout. 
 After the cooking ceremony is finished, the 
 yams are cut up and divided among the various 
 members of the tribe. The ceremony is sup- 
 posed to increase the supply of yams. Miss 
 J. Harrison* in interpreting Australian cere- 
 monies states: "The primitive Australian 
 takes care that magic shall not be wanting, a 
 magic of the most instructive kind. As soon 
 as the season of fertility approaches he begins 
 his rites with the avowed object of making and 
 multiplying the plants, and chiefly the animals, 
 by which he lives; he paints the figure of the 
 emu on the sand with vermillion drawn from 
 his own blood; he puts on emu feathers and 
 gazes about him in stupid fashion, like an 
 emu bird ; he makes a structure of boughs like 
 the chrysalis of a Witchetty grub — his favorite 
 food, and drags his body through it in pan- 
 tomime, gliding and shuffling to promote its 
 birth. Here, difficult and intricate though 
 
 *Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 64. 
 
of Primitive Races 105 
 
 the ceremonies are, and uncertain in meaning 
 as many of the details must always probably 
 remain, the main emotional gist is clear. It 
 is not that the Austrahan wonders at and 
 admires the miracle of his Spring, the bursting 
 of the flowers and the singing of the birds; it 
 is not that his heart goes out in gratitude to 
 All-Father who is the Giver of all good 
 things; it is that, obedient to the push of life 
 within him his impulse is towards food. He 
 must eat that he and his tribe may grow and 
 multiply. It is this, his will to hve, that he 
 utters and represents.'' 
 
 In a monograph* of the Shinto religion of 
 the Japanese, R. Hitchcock states that the 
 leading function of the female deity is to in- 
 crease the food supply. She is given the name 
 of the Goddess of Food, or the Producer of 
 Trees and the Parent of Grasses. She is 
 spoken of as Abundant-Food-Lady, and seems 
 to be a personification of the earth. 
 
 A further description of these rites is un- 
 necessary, as wherever found they are all of 
 
 *Shinto, or the Mythology of the Japanese. 
 
106 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 the same general type. They have been 
 described in North America, in Central Africa, 
 in Japan, in Siberia, in India and they probably 
 exist in many other localities. The above 
 references indicate that they were primitive 
 man's expression of his desire for food, this 
 fundamental motive finding expression in an 
 elaborate ritual. 
 
 Now since in the above rites, where the in- 
 crease of the food supply is the main motive, 
 the entire development and symbolism centers 
 about articles of food, and since in the phallic 
 rites an entirely analagous development and 
 symbolism centers about the generative organs, 
 it is only reasonable to infer that the phallic 
 rites have to do with the desire for children. 
 In this we have the meaning of sex worship. 
 It is primitive man's expression of his desire 
 for the perpetuation of the race and so it 
 represents a biological necessity, the earher 
 motive being for the preservation of the 
 individual. 
 
 Fortunately the conclusions which the above 
 arguments would appear to warrant are borne 
 
of Primitive Races 107 
 
 out by the statements of those who have 
 studied these matters in great detail. Miss 
 J. Harrison,* who also quotes Dr. Frazer, 
 states: "The two great interests of primitive 
 man are food and children. As Dr. Frazer 
 has well said, if man the individual is to live 
 he must have food ; if his race is to persist he 
 must have children, 'to hve and to cause to 
 live, to eat food and to beget children, these 
 were the primary wants of man in the past, 
 and they will be the primary wants of men in 
 the future so long as the w^orld lasts.' Other 
 things may be added to enrich and beautify 
 human life, but, un'ess these wants are first 
 satisfied, humanity itself must cease to exist. 
 These tw^o things, therefore, food and children, 
 were what man chiefly sought to secure by 
 the performance of magical rites for the regu- 
 lation of the seasons. They are the very 
 foundation stones of that ritual from which 
 art, if we are right, took its rise." 
 
 There is a very striking parallelism between 
 these two rites. It would be interesting to 
 
 * Ancient Art and Ritual. 
 
108 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 trace out these analogies step by step, but 
 we shall refer to them only in a general way. 
 
 The outward form of the two rites is very 
 similar. In both a religious ceremony is en- 
 acted. In the development of this ceremony 
 a system, in which a priesthood forms a promi- 
 nent part, is developed in both instances. 
 The element of mystery runs through both 
 procedures and, as Steven D. Peet* has stated, 
 the nature worship ceremony of the North 
 American Indians bears a remarkable resem- 
 blance to the mysteries of the Eleusis and of 
 the Bacchanalia. 
 
 In both the nature rites and the phallic 
 rites, a sacred ceremonial object develops, 
 and about this object a very elaborate sym- 
 bolism evolves. Just as in the most primitive 
 form of sex worship we saw that the deity 
 consisted of a rude representation of the 
 generative organs, so in nature worship we 
 find that the ceremonial object is at first a 
 rude representative of the deified animal or 
 
 *Secret Societies and Ancient Mysteries: International Congress 
 of Anthropology, 1893. 
 
of Primitive Races 109 
 
 plant. This sacred symbol is eventually con- 
 ventionalized. We have observed this in sex 
 worship, as explained by Inman, Payne Knight 
 and others. In the same way in nature wor- 
 ship, ceremonial objects are conventionalized. 
 Spencer has shown this in the case of the 
 Austrahans, the ceremonial objects eventually 
 coming to bear a remote resemblance on'y to 
 the original animal or plant representation. 
 A. L. Kroeber* has observed the same develop- 
 ment in the Arapaho Indians. The buffalo 
 symbol for example, (a very important one 
 in this tribe since the buffalo is the chief food) 
 has become highly conventionalized, and is 
 finally represented by a formal rectangular 
 design. This design now means the earth, 
 and it is also used as a life symbol. 
 
 Again, just as we saw how in sex worship 
 the religious symbol came to be expressed 
 throughout decorative art, and in fact eventu- 
 ally became a leading motive, so it has been 
 shown that in the nature worship of the 
 
 *SjTnbolisin of the Arapaho Indians: American Museum of Natural 
 History. 
 
1 10 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 Indians this same evolution takes place. A. 
 L. Kroeber and Clark Wissler, among others, 
 have shown that the decorative art on the 
 moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc., of 
 the Indians, all representing a highly con- 
 ventionalized symbol, expresses religious mo- 
 tives throughout. This symbolism can be 
 interpreted only by an understanding of 
 religious motives. The analogy of this sym- 
 bolic development to that associated with sex 
 worship is at once apparent. 
 
 Finally, just as in sex worship the motive 
 came to dominate most of the practices and 
 usages of civil hfe, so it can be shown that in 
 tribes practicing nature worship, the rehgious 
 motive has a very powerful influence. The 
 performance of rites to increase the food supply 
 are among the most important of primitive 
 man's duties. Any man who enters into these 
 rites listlessly is not respected, and the leaders 
 of the rite are the head men of the tribe. In 
 Austraha, one of the main functions of each 
 Totem group is to increase the supply of its 
 
of Primitive Races 111 
 
 own Totem animal or plant by magic cere- 
 mony. 
 
 In summing up, therefore, the analogies be- 
 tween sex worship and nature worship, the 
 following features may be reviewed: the out- 
 ward form is the same, i. e,, that of a rehgious 
 ceremonial rite in which a sacred object is the 
 representation of the deity. The symbolism 
 associated with this object develops in the 
 same way in both instances. In the course 
 of time this symbohsm becomes conventional- 
 ized, and eventually it finds its way into 
 primitive art. It then becomes the leading 
 motive in primitive art and finally the rehgious 
 motive is forgotten and the aesthetic motive 
 alone remains. Were further proof necessary, 
 these analogies alone would be sufficient to 
 enable us to understand the meaning of sex 
 
 worship. 
 
 The ritual associated with the worship of 
 sex then, arose in response to emotions which 
 are grouped around the instinct of reproduc- 
 tion. These feehngs are so primitive and at 
 the same time so fundamental, that it is diffi- 
 
112 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 cult for us to realize that early man should 
 dignify them by religious ritual. They stand 
 out as expressions of a biological demand. 
 As stated above, sex worship was not a con- 
 scious expression on the part of certain 
 individuals, but it was the unconscious ex- 
 pression of longings and desires on the part 
 of the race. It represents a phase in man's 
 mental evolution, a process of mental develop- 
 ment. Its dynamic value, from a biological 
 standpoint, is at once apparent. In order to 
 survive man must reproduce his kind, and the 
 emotions associated with reproductive in- 
 stincts must be of adequate dynamic value. 
 
 It has been stated that sex worship, as 
 practiced during the primitive state of civiliza- 
 tion, was a healthy phase in racial evolution. 
 In a higher degree of civilization, however, the 
 reversion to this motive was a regression, and 
 decadent sex worship as it existed during the 
 middle ages was an attempt by certain un- 
 healthy elements in the race to revert to the 
 primitive. In decadent sex worship we are 
 
of Primitive Races 113 
 
 dealing with an instance of faulty mental 
 adaptation in a way in which we had not been 
 accustomed to consider it. It is a case of 
 faulty adaptation in the race, or at least in 
 certain elements of it, rather than in the in- 
 dividual. These general analogies are note- 
 worthy from the standpoints of mental evolu- 
 tion and abnormal psychology. 
 
 In order to show how sex worship as prac- 
 ticed by a later civilization was the expression 
 of an unhealthy tendency, we must digress 
 sufficiently to show the setting in which de- 
 cadent sex worship existed. It is necessary 
 to give a chronological outline indicating how 
 primitive beliefs succeeded each other as a 
 result of man's progressive development. 
 
 The earlier beliefs were an expression of 
 nature worship. This as we have shown, 
 was mostly associated with the question of 
 food supply. It has been shown that during 
 this period of primitive man's existence group 
 thinking predominated, and man thought of 
 himself as part of the group rather than as an 
 individual. At this time, therefore, the idea 
 
114 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 of the deity which was evolved was not that 
 of an individual god. Generally speaking, it 
 was the "vegetation spirit" existing through- 
 out nature which was deified. This was the 
 general period of earth worship, — the forces 
 of nature associated with the earth being man's 
 main interest. The earth at this time was 
 highest in primitive man's regard. 
 
 During the time of earth worship, the social 
 organization of the tribe was such that the 
 mother was the dominating influence in social 
 structure. Descent was matrilinear, and a 
 society known as matriarchy existed, as con- 
 trasted to the later patriarchy. The mother 
 was the leading figure in social as well as in 
 family life. At this period a certain degree 
 of sexual promiscuity existed; the mother of 
 the child was known but the father was not 
 and so the descent was in the female line. 
 With earth worship, then, there was mother 
 w^orship, and the term "Mother Earth" had 
 a very real significance. 
 
 With the social state of matriarchy, the 
 mother cults developed. These mother cults 
 
of Primitive Races 115 
 
 evolved the numerous female deities of antiq- 
 uity, Themis, Demeter, Cybele, and many 
 others being the expression of mother worship. 
 These deities were generally associated with 
 the wild elements of nature, — with the wind, 
 and the hills and the forests. 
 
 Associated with the mother religion in a way 
 which at first does not appear to be very clear 
 arose the phallic cults. It should be here 
 stated that the mother religion was not the 
 religion of the mother alone, but also that of 
 the mother and child. The child was the 
 adolescent, — a youth about to be initiated at 
 the public ceremony, at which he was often 
 circumcised and after which he was able to 
 take up the reproductive functions of the male. 
 Miss J. Harrison has shown that Dionysus 
 was the embodiment of this conception. Here 
 the youth was necessary only to the extent 
 that he could become a father. It was his 
 generative attribute which was sanctified, 
 rather than that he was a male being existing 
 as an individual. For this reason, the deifica- 
 tion of the phallic principle, i, e., the genera- 
 
116 Sex Worshij) and Symbolism 
 
 live attribute, preceded the deification of the 
 male as an individual. At least this is the 
 impression one gains of this development. 
 In any case, we note that the phallic ceremo- 
 nies were associated with the mother religion. 
 The period in which both existed was mostly 
 prehistoric. 
 
 We see the beginning of the evolution of the 
 male god in the phallic cults. This was 
 eventually followed by the patriarchal system 
 and here we are on more familiar ground. 
 Patriarchy succeeded matriarchy, but whether 
 as a gradual evolution or otherwise is not 
 clear. Some writers speak of bitter conflicts 
 in Persia, India, Greece and elsewhere. In 
 any case the religion of the father replaced 
 that of the mother; the social system changed 
 and the father took his place at the head of 
 the family. During this period we are told* 
 that man shifted his belief from the earth to 
 the sky, the sun was found to be the source of 
 energy and worship was transferred to the 
 Heavens. Just as formerly the female deity 
 
 *Miss J. Harrison, Themis, Introduction. 
 
of Primitive Races 117 
 
 was identified with the earth, so the male 
 deity was identified with the sun, Zeus and 
 Apollo being two examples of the latter type 
 from a great many. 
 
 We are now approaching a well known his- 
 toric period. The religion of the father and 
 the son had replaced that of the mother and 
 child. The age of hero worship had com- 
 menced and this hero was often identified 
 with the sun. For this reason, the fact that 
 a myth is in the form of a sun myth does not 
 argue against its being the expression of a 
 very deep religious motive. As has been 
 stated, earlier motives are carried forward, 
 and so while sun worship is a somewhat later 
 development than the phallic beliefs, it is 
 quite natural that many phallic ideas should 
 find expression at this subsequent period. 
 
 We have now reached a time when sex wor- 
 ship became decadent, for Christianity fol- 
 lowed sun worship and hero worship ; and this 
 brings us to the present day. The religion of 
 father and son remains, and much of the form 
 
118 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 of the earlier worship has been retained in the 
 modern. 
 
 The above outline of the changes and evolu- 
 tion of early religions is most schematic. It 
 enables us, however, to see that sex worship 
 was entirely out of place during the middle 
 ages, in a civilization which had long before 
 discarded matriarchy. The questions of the 
 food supply, and of children, were no longer 
 so immediately pressing, and the faith in 
 magical performances had been shaken. Man 
 had emerged from the group as a definite 
 personality, and the development of a new 
 religion which expressed other feelings and 
 desires had taken place. WTiat we wish to 
 emphasize at present is, then, that sex wor- 
 ship as it was carried on during the middle 
 ages was a distinctly unnatural tendency in 
 the race. 
 
 At this time opportunity may be taken to 
 reconcile different interpretations which some 
 writers have given regarding early religious 
 motives. Considerable variation and some 
 contradiction may be observed in the \ATitings 
 
of Primitive Races 119 
 
 of different authors in describing a religious 
 development of much the same period. One 
 writer may describe the features of nature 
 worship and quite ignore the presence of sex 
 worship. Others may describe only phallic 
 rites. These discrepancies may be understood 
 when the order in which the various beliefs 
 developed is recognized. Nature worship de- 
 veloped first, but much of its symbolism was 
 carried into the phallic ceremonies. Thus we 
 see the phallus associated with the pine cone 
 and other elements of vegetative life. Some 
 of these elements, the pine cone for example, 
 finally came to have a phallic significance, but 
 at an earlier period they probably represented 
 the vegetation spirit. In fact, reproductive 
 attributes of both nature and man were often 
 worshipped at the same ceremony. 
 
 While we should not as a rule expect to find 
 phaUic rites associated with the earlier forms 
 of nature worship, since sex worship developed 
 at a somewhat later period, still in this con- 
 nection we cannot be too dogmatic; the primi- 
 tive Australians appear to be at the stage of 
 
120 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 mental development when simple nature wor- 
 ship predominated, yet, from Mutter Erde^ we 
 learn that with the Austrahans a ceremony 
 consisting of the throwing of a spear into the 
 earth was of phallic significance. This co- 
 existence of these two related motives is not 
 unnatural since they both equally represent 
 fundamental biological demands on the part 
 of the race. 
 
 We may now return to the interpretation 
 of decadent sex worship. When we under- 
 stand the setting in which sex w^orship was 
 practiced in the middle ages we are better 
 able to appreciate its significance. As stated 
 above, it was the attempt by certain elements 
 of the race to return to more primitive mo- 
 tives, and to derive satisfaction from beliefs 
 which had long been outgrown by advancing 
 civilization. This clinging to an early type 
 of reaction, or the return to more primitive 
 feelings, must be regarded as an unhealthy 
 tendency. Moreover, at this time, the motive 
 itself was no longer expressed in the natural 
 
 *A. Dieterich: Mutter Erde. 
 
oj Primitive Races 1^1 
 
 and healthy way of primitive times. Sex 
 worship during the middle ages became de- 
 praved; excesses and perversions appeared 
 and the entire development, as it existed at 
 that time, was biologically undesirable. 
 
 It also appeared that at certain times in 
 the mental evolution of the race a degree of 
 development is reached from which no further 
 progress is made. At least, we are aware of 
 such an instance in the case of a very primi- 
 tive community in Southern Italy. A writer, 
 Norman Douglas,* in 1914 found the exist- 
 ence of a phaUic cult in Calabria. The women 
 sanctified a crack of one of the walls of the 
 temple, their attitude toward it corresponding 
 to the yoni worship of India. Near by was 
 an ancient stone pillar held in great venera- 
 tion, which was the representative of the 
 phallus. 
 
 It is observed that in this small community 
 some remnants of phallic behef of a very 
 primitive type have been retained for centur- 
 ies. The rehgious development, an index of 
 
 *Norman Douglas: Old Calabria. 
 
122 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 mental development, has become "set" as it 
 were and no further progress is possible. It 
 is not entirely for want of opportunity that 
 this locality has not taken up higher religious 
 beliefs. The Catholic Church has introduced 
 its teachings, but the people have represented 
 the images of the Saints, of the Virgin Mary, 
 and of Christ somewhat after the fasliion of 
 toy dolls. These are used as fetishes to ward 
 off disease and no higher conceptions are 
 grasped. Ideas regarding after life and im- 
 mortality are disregarded in favor of the im- 
 mediate need of protection against supposed 
 evil influences. With these people, therefore, 
 motives are utilized which satisfy only the 
 most fundamental and immediate desires. 
 
 We have now followed a definite motive in 
 mental development through its rise, its elab- 
 oration and its decadence. W^e therefore 
 have its life history in the race before us; we 
 have been enabled by analogies of other 
 motives and by utilizing the conclusions of 
 various writers, to understand its meaning and 
 
of Primitive Races 123 
 
 to give its interpretation. It remains to be 
 seen what general conclusions regarding either 
 racial or individual development in this sphere 
 may be drawn. 
 
 It appears that when an important motive 
 of this sort develops in the race, it embodies 
 the expression of fundamental desires. Since 
 it carries with it a strong and ever present 
 desire in this way, it is strikingly dynamic 
 in nature. It dominates all social organiza- 
 tion, and with primitive people it dominates 
 much of the conduct of the individual. When 
 such a motive is seriously entertained it is 
 pragmatic, i. e., it serves a useful end, or at 
 least the conceptions which it embodies are 
 entertained because they are thought to be 
 of the highest value to the race. 
 
 As mental development continues, these 
 more fundamental and primitive motives 
 cease to be all absorbing. Eventually, the 
 subject of the food supply becomes less press- 
 ing. Races continue to increase and multiply 
 with or without the performance of sacred 
 rites and man begins to question the utility of 
 
124 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 his imitative magic. Higher desires force 
 themselves into consciousness, and earher 
 motives are no longer outwardly expressed; 
 the form of the early motives is retained how- 
 ever: usages, symbols and practices which 
 have long ceased to be dynamic and whose 
 meaning is entirely forgotten are still observed; 
 so we see evidences of primitive racial motives 
 cropping up in all sorts of ways in later civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 But to say that the earlier motives are no 
 longer outwardly expressed is not to infer that 
 they do not exist. Fundamental as they are 
 in our mental development, they enter into 
 our general personality and become a part of 
 our makeup. How is the motive expressed 
 in sex worship a part of our motives and 
 feelings of today? Superficially it does not 
 appear to be present, but a little reflexion 
 shows that it is there. It has become so much 
 a part of us that we scarcely recognize its 
 presence, the instinct to reproduce being com- 
 mon to everyone. Every woman feels this 
 
of Primitive Races 125 
 
 to be her duty, — her rehgious duty if the dic- 
 tum of the Church is to be followed : 
 
 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; 
 and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As 
 arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so 
 are children of the youth. Happy is the man 
 that has his quiver full of them; they shall 
 not be ashamed, but they shall speak with 
 the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127, 
 
 During earlier times barrenness was 
 regarded as a curse, and many charms 
 were in use to counteract this calamity. 
 A sentence from a letter of Juha Ward 
 How^e to her young sister about to be married, 
 affords an apt reference to this sense of duty: 
 "Marriage, like death, is a debt we owe to 
 nature, and though it costs us something to 
 pay it, yet we are more content and better 
 established in peace when we have paid it." 
 The feeling associated with the command 
 "to increase and multiply" is so much a part 
 of our innermost thoughts and feelings that 
 further references to it are unnecessary. 
 
126 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 To what extent may we utilize the evolu- 
 tion of this motive in the race, in understand- 
 ing certain phases of mental development 
 associated with reproductive instincts in the 
 individual? In interpreting the racial history 
 of this motive we have seen that it is dynamic ; 
 it develops in response to biological demands. 
 It is a very elementary and primitive desire 
 to be raised to the dignity of a religion, but 
 none the less it is a very essential one. We 
 have seen that when this motive is replaced 
 by higher ones, a return to it bespoke faulty 
 mental adaptations on the part of those w^ho 
 did so. Analogies between the individual and 
 the race in this sphere exist in a general way, 
 and their presence is significant. 
 
 Analogies in the sphere in the normal mental 
 development of the individual may be con- 
 sidered first. In dealing with the developing 
 thoughts of childhood, we shall refer to one 
 particular tendency, i. e., that of day dreaming. 
 We know that a certain amount of the day 
 dreaming of the child has to do :with the feel- 
 ings and emotions associated with the questions 
 
oj Primitive Races 127 
 
 of reproduction, considered in its broadest 
 sense; i. e., including fictitious lovers, mar- 
 riages, children, etc. Now probably with the 
 child, the day dreaming associated with these 
 feelings is of biological significance, just as the 
 rituals associated with similar feelings are of 
 value to the race. The little girl who is the 
 mother of her doll, who plays at housekeeping, 
 who fictitiously assumes the responsibilities 
 of married life and what not, — ^the child by 
 developing this feature of her existence in 
 fancy is probably preparing herself for reality. 
 The little boy who becomes a hero in his own 
 fancy, marries a princess, and who overcomes 
 all sorts of diSiculties; or the small boy who 
 in his play enters into all the activities of adult 
 life, — probably this child, by entertaining the 
 thoughts of his future life, prepares himself to 
 some extent for future life. These fundamen- 
 tal motives, therefore, which arise in response 
 to biological demands, are the expression of 
 desires, both in the case of the individual and 
 of the race, and they act not only harmlessly 
 
128 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 but probably beneficially at a certain stage 
 of mental evolution. 
 
 Again, we have shown how in the race 
 remnants of early and primitive motives con- 
 tinue to appear in various ways long after 
 their outward dynamic value has been lost 
 and when their meaning is no longer under- 
 stood. Is this not true of the individual? 
 Do we not all recognize in the moods and 
 mental attitudes and even in some of the 
 actions of the adult, remnants of feelings and 
 forces which were dynamic in childhood.^ 
 These feelings exist although they are not 
 consciously appreciated. The actual experi- 
 ences are forgotten but the moods and 
 emotions remain. This is analagous to the 
 influence which primitive racial thoughts, 
 beliefs and usages have on present day civ- 
 ilization. The meaning of these usages and 
 symbols is forgotten in many cases but the 
 outward form still exists. 
 
 In the individual, a motive of this kind does 
 not become a religion or a ritual as in the case 
 with the race, but it nevertheless is forcefully 
 
of Primitive Races 129 
 
 expressed in that it excites an absorbing inter- 
 est and forces itself strongly into consciousness > 
 during the phase of its dynamic develop- 
 ment. As stated above, just as in the early 
 mental evolution of the race, we find that the 
 question of reproduction comes prominently 
 to the fore, so with the individual we find that 
 at the adolescent period of life the sexual in- 
 stinct is very fully elaborated. Just as with 
 the race reproduction is necessary for the con- 
 tinuation of the race, so with the individual, 
 elaboration of sexual instinct is necessary in 
 order that adult sexual responsibilities may be 
 assumed. This consists of much more than 
 mere physical development. In a complex 
 state of civilization many adjustments in the 
 sphere of sexual indulgence and continence and 
 marriage have to be made. This phase of the 
 individual's life is a very important one. It 
 is the rule for proper reactions to occur at this 
 time, in which case the reproductive instincts 
 assume their proper place in mental life. But 
 if satisfactory adjustments do not occur the 
 consequences may be serious. In the healthy 
 
130 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 mental evolution of the individual, therefore, 
 just as in the normal mental evolution of the 
 race, we see that motives arise, assume a 
 dynamic character, play their part in the 
 developing mind, and leave lasting impres- 
 sions. They serve a useful purpose during 
 one phase of mental evolution. We have 
 seen that they may be harmful in the race if 
 utilized at a later period. Let us see to what 
 extent this is true of the individual. 
 
 Psychiatrists during recent years have come 
 to believe that in certain mental states w^e see 
 a reversion to a more primitive type of re- 
 action, — a tendency to utilize earlier adapta- 
 tions, the reactions of infancy and childhood 
 in meeting situations which arise in adult life. 
 If this assumption is correct it is seen that a 
 reversion to something more primitive is an 
 undesirable reaction in the individual as well 
 as in the race. Here too we find that the 
 emotions and feelings associated with the 
 reproductive instinct may be inadequately 
 developed. It has been shown above that the 
 
of Primitive Races 131 
 
 day dreams of the child are probably beneficial 
 rather than harmful. Is this day dreaming 
 beneficial to the adult? We know from our 
 experience that it is not, and in its relation to 
 the reproductive sphere this is particularly 
 true. The adult who substitutes the realities 
 of life by elaborate day dreams is approaching 
 dangerous ground. The young woman who 
 in adult life is constantly dreaming of an ideal 
 but fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from 
 unhealthy sources; and the young man who 
 ecstatically becomes a hero or a racial bene- 
 factor is equally at fault. In instances where 
 such thoughts are believed in and acted upon 
 as we observe again and again in mental dis- 
 orders, a serious condition of the mind has 
 arisen. When an attempt is made to gain 
 satisfaction in these immature ways at a 
 later stage of development, or when there is a 
 failure to develop at a certain point, the re- 
 action is harmful in both the individual and 
 in the race. 
 
 It is during the adolescent period that these 
 failures of adaptation generally occur. At 
 
132 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 this time, the whole development in the re- 
 productive sphere, particularly in the mental 
 characteristics associated with the sexual in- 
 stinct, considered in its broadest sense, does 
 not take place. There may be much rumina- 
 tion about this topic, but the responsibilities 
 of adult sexual life, of marriage, of child bear- 
 ing with the female, are not adequately met. 
 Fancies are substituted for reality, and while, 
 as stated above, young women may dream of 
 ideal lovers, they at the same time are shy 
 and unnatural in their attitude toward the 
 opposite sex. Young men, instead of taking 
 their place in the life of the adult community, 
 realize adult ambitions only by elaborate day 
 dreams. In abnormal mental states, we see 
 young men in their fancies become important 
 personages, religious benefactors and national 
 heroes. They may shun all association with 
 women but at the same time maintain that 
 they have a cultural mission to populate the 
 earth. We see here how the feelings associ- 
 ated with reproductive instincts have been 
 faulty or inadequate. This return to some- 
 
oj Primitive Races 133 
 
 thing more primitive is an unhealthy atavistic 
 tendency and makes for both racial and in- 
 dividual inferiority. 
 
 A word may be said regarding symbolism 
 of the race as applied to the individual. We 
 have stated that symbolism is a primitive and 
 rudimentary way of expressing thought. It 
 would seem logical therefore that if in some 
 abnormal mental states there is a return to 
 more primitive reactions, w^e may find a ten- 
 dency to symbolize. This tendency is fre- 
 quently observed and the symbolism is often 
 very elaborate. A knowledge of the inter- 
 pretation of racial symbolism is doubtless of 
 value in the case of the individual. When 
 men's thoughts deal with the same subject 
 and when they tend to symbolize, they are 
 likely to express themselves in much the same 
 way symbolically. If in abnormal mental 
 states thoughts are entertained which have 
 to do with the motives we have been discussing, 
 it is reasonable to suppose that the racial and 
 individual symbolism will show certain analo- 
 gies. 
 
134 Sex Woi'ship and Symbolism 
 
 Again, in the pages of recent psychiatry, we 
 learn that in abnormal mental states there is 
 a reversion not only to the primitive motives 
 of childhood, but also to the primitive motives 
 of the race. Just to what extent this tendency 
 exists remains for studies of the future to show. 
 Certainly, striking instances may be cited ; for 
 example, let us quote from a recent study in 
 psychiatry:* **One such patient with a very 
 complicated delusional system states that 
 he is the father of Adam, that he has lived 
 in his present human body thirty -five years, 
 but in other bodies thirty million years, and 
 that during this time he has occupied six 
 million different bodies. He has been the 
 great men in the history in the development 
 of the human race; he himself created the 
 human race. It took him three hundred 
 million years to perfect the first fully developed 
 human being; he is both male and female and 
 identifies all the difterent parts of the Uni- 
 verse with his own body; heaven, hell and 
 purgatory are located in his limbs, the stars 
 
 *Jelliffe and White, Diseases of the Nervous System, page 689. 
 
of Primitive Races 135 
 
 are pieces of his body which had been torn 
 apart by torture and persecution in various 
 ages of past history; he is the father and 
 creator of the various races and elements of 
 the human organization, etc." Any one who 
 has done even a cursory reading in mythology 
 cannot but be struck by the similarity in form 
 as well as in thought between this production 
 and what we find in myths. 
 
 The general analogies which we have indi- 
 cated are such as one would have reason to 
 expect. The history of both the healthy and 
 unhealthy mental evolution o^ the race is in 
 many respects the history of the individual; 
 in order to understand these analogies it is 
 necessary to understand the mental develop- 
 ment of primitive man. Recent studies have 
 given us much valuable information in this 
 direction. In primitive usages we find the 
 expression of early man's deepest longings 
 and desires, and so a dynamic interpretation 
 of such motives is possible. It remains for 
 the psychiatrist to learn to what extent the 
 
136 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 findings of special investigators of primitive 
 races may be utilized in explaining mental 
 evolution, and also the development of ab- 
 normal mental states. This study is a com- 
 paratively recent one but it already gives in- 
 dications of offering ample rewards. 
 
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Brand, John: Observations on Popular 
 Antiquities. 
 
 Bryant: System of Mythology. 
 
 Cox, Rev. G. W.: The Mythology of the 
 Aryan Nations. 
 
 DeGubertnatis, Angelo: Zoological Mythol- 
 ogy. 
 
 Deiterich, A. : Mutter Erde. 
 
 Dixon, Roland B.: The Northern Maidu. 
 
 Dorsey, George A. : Traditions of the Caddo, 
 (Carnegie Institute.) Indians of the bouth 
 West. 
 
 Frazer, J. G.: Adonis, Attis and Osiris; 
 Balder, the Beautiful; Psyche's Task. 
 
 Goodrich, V. K.: Ainu Family Life and 
 Rehgion, Popular Science Monthly, Novem- 
 ber, 1888. 
 
 Grosse: The Beginnings of Art. 
 Harrison, Miss Jane: Ancient Art and Rit- 
 ual; Themis. 
 
 137 
 
l38 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 Hearn, Lafcadio: Japan; an Attempt at 
 Interpretation. 
 
 Herodotus: (Rawlinson's Trans.) 
 
 Higgins, Godfrey: The Anacalypsis; Celtic 
 Druids. 
 
 Hitchcock, Romyn: Shinto or the Mythol- 
 ogy of the Japanese, (Smithsonian Institute.) 
 
 Howitt, A. W.: The Native Tribes of South 
 East Australia. 
 
 Jennings, Hargrave: The Rosicrucians ; The 
 Indian Religions. 
 
 Jevons, F. B.: The Idea of God in Early 
 Religions. 
 
 Judson: Myths and Legends of the Missis- 
 sippi Valley and the Great Lakes. 
 
 Karpas, Morris J.: Socrates in the light 
 of Modern Psychopathology. (Journal of 
 Abnormal Psychology. 1915.) 
 
 King, C. W.: The Gnostics and their Re- 
 mains; Hand-book of Engraved Gems. 
 
 Knight, R. P. : The Symbolical Language of 
 Ancient Art and Mythology; Two Essays on 
 the Worship of Priapus. 
 
 Kroeber, Alfred L.: Symbolism of the 
 
of Primitive Races 139 
 
 Arapaho Indians. The Arapaho, (Bulletin of 
 the American Museum of Natural History.) 
 
 Langdon, S. : Tammuz and Ishtar. 
 
 Layard, A.: Babylon and Nineveh; Nineveh 
 and its Remains. 
 
 Leuba, James H. : A Psychological Study of 
 Religion. 
 
 Monsen, Frederick: Festivals of the Hopi. 
 (The Craftsman, June, 1907.) 
 
 Murray, Gilbert: Hamlet and Orestes: The 
 Rise of the Greek Epic. 
 
 Newton, John: Assyrian Grove Worship. 
 
 O'Brien, Henry: The Round Towers of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Peet, Stephen D.: Secret Societies and 
 Sacred Mysteries. 
 
 Perrot, and Chipiez: History of Art in 
 Phrygia, Lidia, Caria and Lycia; History of 
 Art in Persia. 
 
 Prescott: Conquest of Peru. 
 
 Pratt, J. B.: India and Its Faiths. 
 
 Rawlinson, G.: History of Ancient Egypt; 
 Ancient Monarchies. 
 
 Reclus, Elie: Primitive Folk. 
 
140 Sex Worship and Symbolism 
 
 Rivers, W. H. R. : The Todas. 
 
 Rhyn, Dr. Otto: Mysteria. 
 
 Roscoe, John: The Northern Bantu. 
 
 Rocco, Sha: Ancient Sex Worship. 
 
 Rousselet, Louis: India and Its Native 
 Princes. 
 
 Spencer, B. : Native Tribes of the Northern 
 Territory of AustraHa. 
 
 Solas, W. J.: Ancient Hunters. 
 
 Starcke, C. V.: The Primitive Family. 
 
 Stevens, J.: Central America, Chiapez and 
 Yucatan. 
 
 Symonds, J. A. : A Problem in Greek Ethics. 
 
 Wissler, Clark: Symbolism in the Decorative 
 Art of the Sioux. 
 
 Westropp, Hodder M.: Primitive Sym- 
 bolism. 
 
 Wood, Rev. J. G.: The Uncivihzed Races. 
 
 Wood-Martin: Pagan Ireland. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adaptations, faulty, 131- 
 
 132. 
 Adjustment, of individual, 
 
 129. 
 Adonis, sun god, 75. 
 American Cyclopedia, 23. 
 American Museum of 
 
 Natural History, 6. 
 Anacalipsis, 38. 
 Analogies between the 
 
 Individual and the 
 
 Race, 126. 
 Ancient Grove Worship 
 
 of Assyria, 49, 71. 
 Ancient Sex Worship, 25, 
 
 30,41- ^ ^ 
 
 Androgyne deity, 36, 68. 
 Arapaho Indians, 109. 
 
 Bacchus, representative of 
 male generative attri- 
 bute, 22. 
 
 Bacchanalia, 74, 78, 87, 
 108. 
 
 Bear, sacred animal, loi. 
 
 Bull, phallic significance 
 of, 63. 
 
 Bull roarer, nature of, 99. 
 
 Bureau of Amer. Eth., 5. 
 
 Caves of Elephanta, 43. 
 Ceremonial objects, con- 
 ventionalization of, 109. 
 Chinese Review, 44. 
 
 Collective or group feeling, 
 importance of, 21. 
 
 Collective thought of the 
 race, relation to religious 
 development, 17. 
 
 Crux Ansata, 51. 
 
 Dairy, sacredness of, 100. 
 
 Dances, at Witches' Sab- 
 bath, 89. 
 
 Decadent Sex Worship, 79, 
 81, 91, 113; interpreta- 
 tion of, 120. 
 
 Deity, female, function 
 of in Japan, 105. 
 
 Deities, Teutonic, 93. 
 
 Dietrich, A., 120. 
 
 Dionysia, 74, 78. 
 
 Dionysus, 115. 
 
 Dorsey, G. A., loi. 
 
 Douglas, N., 121. 
 
 Dragon, relation to ser- 
 pent, 45. 
 
 Earth, Worship, 114. 
 Egg, 50, 62, 74. 
 Eleusenia, 74, 77, 87, 108. 
 Emasculation, a form of 
 
 worship, 31. 
 Essay on the Assyrian 
 
 *' Grove," 39. 
 
 Female deities, 115. 
 
 141 
 
142 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Festivals to Increase food 
 supply, 98.^ 
 
 Fire, male principle, 36. 
 
 Fire Worship, 36, 88; 
 Identified with sex wor- 
 ship, 42. 
 
 Fish, phallic significance, 
 
 35- 
 Frazer, 6, 17, 31, 32, 94, 
 107. 
 
 Gnostics, early secret 
 society, 83; phallic amu- 
 lets of, 90; reversions of, 
 84. 
 
 Goat, priapic animal, 88; 
 Symbol of Khem, 25. 
 
 Golden Bough, 6. (See 
 Frazer.) 
 
 Group Thought, 113. 
 
 Harrison, J., 6, 18, 99, ioi> 
 104, 107, IIS, 116. 
 
 Hearn, L., 52. 
 
 Heraldry, origin of sym- 
 bols, 51. 
 
 Hermes, phallic nature of, 
 36. 
 
 Higgms, 38. 
 
 Hitchcock, R., 105. 
 
 Holy Grail, Symbolism of, 
 
 93- 
 Homosexuality, In Greek 
 
 life, 85; practice of Rosi- 
 
 cruclans, 84. 
 Hopi Indians, loi, 102. 
 Howe, J. W., 125. 
 Howitt, A. W., 6. 
 
 Initiative magic, 104. 
 India and its Native 
 
 Princes, 43. 
 India and its Faiths, 80. 
 Indian Religions, 48. 
 Indians of the Southwest, 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Infantile reactions, 130. 
 Initiation ceremony, 115. 
 Inman, T.,_5, 50, 54. 
 Interpretations of Sex 
 Worship, 96. 
 
 Japan, an attempt at In- 
 terpretation, 52. 
 
 Jennings, H., 5, 28, 42, 48, 
 51, 62, 72, 92. 
 
 Karnac, 26. 
 Karpas, M. J., 83. 
 Khem, description of, 24. 
 King, C. W., 54. 
 Knight, R. P., 5, 27, 30, 
 
 37,47,48,49,54,58,63, 
 
 65, 83, 87, 90, 91. 
 Knights of the Round 
 
 Table, 93. 
 Knights Templar, phallic 
 
 amulets of, 90; practices 
 
 of, 86. 
 Kroebler, A. L., 109, no. 
 
 Layard, A., 60. 
 LIngam with yoni, 41. 
 Lost god, the, 75. 
 Lotus, significance of, 56- 
 
 58. 
 
INDEX 
 
 143 
 
 Male date palm, signifi- 
 cance of, 49. 
 
 Matriarchy, 114. 
 
 May-pole, associated with 
 phallic worship, 39, 47. 
 
 Moon, associated with 
 female deity, 71. 
 
 Mother Earth, 70, 114. 
 
 Mother religion, 115, 116. 
 
 Mutter Erde, 1 20. 
 
 Murray, G., 20. 
 
 Mysteries, teaching of, 
 78-79. 
 
 Nature Worship, 5, 97, 
 
 108, no. 
 Newton, J., 39, 49, 71. 
 Nineveh and Its Remains^ 
 
 60. 
 North American Indians 
 
 and sun worship, 70; 
 
 nature worship, 98, 108, 
 
 109. 
 
 Obelisk, phallic interpreta- 
 tion, 38. 
 O'Brien, 38, 56, 58. 
 Obscure Sex Symbolism, 
 
 36. 
 
 Order of the Garter, 93. 
 Osiris, 76. 
 
 Pan, significance of, 22. 
 Patriarchy, 114, 116. 
 Pepys, S., 48. 
 Peet, O. S., 108. 
 Persephone, 77. 
 Phallic hand, symbol of 
 prostitution, 91. 
 
 Phallic rites, motive for, 
 
 106. 
 Phallic symbols, 27; in 
 
 art, 50. 
 Phallic Worship in China, 
 
 44. 
 Phallic Worship, nature of 
 
 23, 98. 
 Phallus, as a charm, 90, 
 
 93; as a decoration, 90. 
 Plant and Flower Symbols 
 
 54. 
 
 Pomegranate, female sym- 
 bol, 55. 
 
 Pratt, J. B., 80. 
 
 Priapiea, 87. 
 
 Priapus, disguises of, 188. 
 
 Primitive motives, con- 
 tinuance of, 128; rever- 
 sion to, 134. 
 
 Primitive Symbolism, 28. 
 
 Problem in Greek Ethics, 85. 
 
 Psyche^s Task, 94. 
 
 Puberty Initiations, 103, 
 115. 
 
 Qualities of animal and 
 vegetable nature ven- 
 erated, 39. 
 
 Racial feelings, expression 
 of. In religion, 19. 
 
 Racial Motives, in primi- 
 tive religions, 19; dyna- 
 mic value of, 123. 
 
 Rain making rite, 99. 
 
 Rawlison, 24. 
 
 Reproduction, motive of, 
 21. 
 
144 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rhyn, O., 78. 
 
 Rise of the Greek Epic, 20. 
 
 Ritual, motive for, 106; 
 related to food supply, 
 102, 103. 
 
 Rivers, W. H. R., 6, 100. 
 
 Robin Goodfellow, 94. 
 
 Rosicrucians, 42, 92. 
 
 Rosicrucians, phallic amu- 
 lets of, 90; practices of, 
 
 84, 85, 93. 
 Round Towers of Ireland, 
 
 38, 73. 
 Rousselet, 43. 
 
 Sacred Animals, 60-65. 
 
 Sacred prostitution, evi- 
 dences of, 29. 
 
 Satan, at Witches Sabbath, 
 88. 
 
 Secret Societies for deca- 
 dent sex worship, 83. 
 
 Serpent Worship, 61, 62, 
 
 72, 73- 
 Sex Worship: 
 
 An unconscious racial 
 expression, 22; bio- 
 logical significance 
 of, 96; as basis of 
 early religions, 28; 
 In Africa in Mod- 
 ern times, 26; de- 
 cadence of in Middle 
 Ages, 90; primitive 
 form, 108; influence 
 in present thought, 
 124; part of evolution 
 of the human mind. 
 
 23; in symbolism, 34; 
 where it existed as 
 basis of early religions, 
 28. 
 Sex Worship and Nature 
 Worship, analogies of, 
 III ; relation of, 119. 
 Sexual act, as part of wor- 
 ship, 27-28. 
 Shinto, or the mythology of 
 
 the Japanese, 105. 
 Smithsonian Inst., 6. 
 Snake, phallic significance, 
 
 of, 35. . 
 Socrates in the light of 
 Modern Psychopathology, 
 
 83- 
 
 Spencer, 6. 
 
 Star and crescent, 54. 
 
 Stonehenge, significance 
 
 of, 38, 69. 
 Sun Myth, 117. 
 Sun Worship, 36, 69, 72, 
 
 73. 
 
 Symbolic Language of 
 Ancient Art and Myth- 
 ology, ^ 49, 59- . 
 
 Symbolism, racial, in the 
 individual, 133. 
 
 Symonds, J. A., 85. 
 
 Themis, 6, 99, 116. 
 Thunder god, 99. 
 Thunder rites, 99. 
 Todas, the, 6, 100. 
 Totem, no. 
 Tree Worship, 48. 
 
INDEX 
 
 145 
 
 Upright objects as phalli, 
 
 37. 
 Vegetation spirit, 114. 
 
 Water, female principle, 
 
 36. 
 
 Weathercock, emblem of 
 
 the sun, 50. 
 Westropp, H. M., 28, 45, 
 
 55. 
 
 Wilder, A., 59. 
 Witchcraft, 92. 
 Witches' Sabbath, nature 
 
 of, 87, 92. 
 Wissler, C, I02, no. 
 Worship of Priapus, 48, 83 
 
 87,91.' 
 
 Yam ceremony, 103-104. 
 
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