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BL460 =J55 I
Jennings, Hargrave, 18177-1890.
Phallicism, celestial and terrestrial heathei
and Christian, ils connexion with the Rosii
In two large volumes, demy ito, with Maps and Illustrations,
and a separate Chart of Faith Streams,
EIYERS OF LIFE;
OE,
SOUECES AND STREAMS OF THE FAITHS OP
MAN IN ALL LANDS.
Showing the Evolution of Religious Thought from the Rudest
Symbolisms to the Latest Spiritual Developments.
By Majoe-Geneeal J. G. R. FORLONG, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.E., M.A.I.,
A.I.C.E., F.R.H.S., F.R;A.Socy., &c., &c.
Contents of Vol. I.— I. Introductory pages, 1-30 ; II. Tree Worship.
pp. 31-92; III. Serpent and Phallic Worship, pp. 93-322; IV.
Fire Worship, pp. 323-402; V. Sun Worship, pp. 403-53-1; VI.
Ancestor Worship, pp. 535-548.
Contents of Vol. II.— VII. Early Faiths of Western Asia, as in Kaldia
and Assyria, pp. 1-141 ; VIII. Faiths of Western Aborigines in Em-ope
and Adjacent Countries, pp. 142-448; IX. Faiths of Eastern Abori-
gines, Non- Aryan, Aryan, and Shemitic, pp. 4i9-622.
Appendices.— I. A Coloured Chart of all Faith Streams, 7^ x 2i
feet, folded or on roller; II. Map of the World, as known about
Second Century B.C., showing Early Races and Faiths; III. Sketch
Map of Ancient India, and from Baluchistan to Anam, showing Early
Tribes, their Sacred Places, &c. IV. Synoptical Table of Gods, God
Ideas, and many Features which all Faiths have more or less in common.
If on roller, this is 3 feet x 21 inches.
Two Volumes, demy 4to, 1270 pages, with Maps, Plates, and numerous
Illustrations, cloth; and large separate Chart in cloth case, £6 63.
Chart alone, £2.
"General Forloug has devoted many years and incurred very heavy cost
for the purpose of presenting to the world a work which no student of
Comparative Religion can afford to neglect. The author has allowed neither
time, distance nor cost to prevent him from visiting any spot where he thought
it possible to discover monumental data ; he has studied not only the written
sources of Indian mythology, but has done so by the light of the explanations
GEORGE RED WAY, 12, YORK STREET.
FORLONG'S RIVERS OF LIFE.
given by living native autliorities, aud of the yet existing ancient customs of
India. He has visited the most famous sanctuaries both of Europe and Asia,
studying alike the ruins of Jerusalem, of Delphi, of Parnassus, and of Rome.
The importance of ascertaining and recording tlie explanations which learned
Brahmans give of the symbols and mythological records of their early faith,
which no books contain, is great and obvious. The list of authorities not only
cited but read by the author contains some 800 volumes, including the latest
eflforts of the best-known scholars to pierce the obscurity which veils the
ancient faiths of Asia."— 5/. James's Gazette.
" This is the most comprehensive work that has yet appeared on Compara-
tive Religion. It is indispensable to the student, because it not only contains
all the subjects treated of by past writers, but that of more recent Oriental
scholars, and sheds over such knowledge the light of personal investigation.
The learned author has during a long course of years utilised with indefati-
gable diligence the singular facilities afforded him by his duties as an Engineer
under the Indian Government. Symbolism, often only studied by the aid of
pictures and books, he has studied on the spot, aud has collected an immense
mass of information not generally attainable, .... here all arranged
and classified with perfect clearness. From this encyelopredia .... he
shows the evolution of faiths No one interested in Comparative
Eeligion and ancient symbolism can afford to be without this viovV:'— Index
(America).
"Under the title of 'Rivers of Life,' a very remarkable book has just '
appeared. It is the work of General Forlong, who first went out to India
some forty years ago. He belongs to a service which has produced many able
men, some of whom, like Yule and Cunningham, stand high as authorities
on matters of Oriental archseology. From the size of General Forlong's
volumes, and the experience of the author, the work will no doubt form one of
the most important contributions on the Evolution of human Faiths which
has yet appeared The author shows aU through that he is not without
a strong religious feeling. He is to be congratulated on his courage in
bringing before the reading public such a mass of information on topics as yet
only known to a few. The author may prove right or wrong in the tracing of
words, but the value of the ideas which he traces out in most cases does not
depend in any way upon etymology for their significance."— (??a5^ow Eerald.
" This is a very important work, in two volumes of nearly 1300 pages,
treating exclusively of Tree, Serpent, Fire, Sun, and Ancestor worship, and
all the early faiths of the aboriginal races of Asia, Europe, and adjacent
countries, indeed, of all the world. It shows clearly all the movements, growth,
aud evolution of universal religious thought."— Ty^e American.
GEORGE RED WAY, 12, YORK STREET.
PHALLICISM.
Surely it is more philosophical to take in the whole of life, in every
possible form, than to shut yourself up in one doctrine, which, while
you fondly dream you have created it, and that it is capable of self-
existence, is dependent for its very being on that human life from
which you have fled, and which you despise. This is the whole secret
of the Pagan doctrine, and the key to those profound views of life
which were evolved in their religion. This is the worship of Priapus,
of human life, in which nothing comes amiss or is to be staggered
at, however voluptuous or sensual, for all things are but varied mani-
festations of life; of life, ruddy, delicious, full of fruits, basking in
sunshine and plenty, dyed with the juice of grapes; of life in valleys
cooled by snowy peaks, amid vineyards and shady fountains, among
which, however, " Ssepe Faunorum voces exauditse, ssepe visse formse
Deorum." — J. H. Shorthouse, in " John Inglesant."
And those members of the body, which we think to be less honour-
able, upon these we bestow more abundant honour, &c. — i Corin-
thians xii. 3 .
PHALIJCISM
CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL
HEATHEN AND CHRISTIAN
ITS CONNEXION WITH THE ROSICRUCIANS AND THE
GNOSTICS AND ITS FOUNDATION
IN BUDDHISM
WITH AN ESSAY ON MTSTIC ANATOMY
11 A K (\ K A \ V ^] !■ N N 1 N(;s
AUTHOR OF "thk hosickucians," etc. etc.
LONDON
G I O j; O h 1^ 1^ 1) W A \
YORK STREET COVENT GARDEN
MDCCCLXXXIV.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
iNTEODTTCTIOIf ix
Chaptee I. — Definitions and Distinctions leading up to the verities of
Phallicism , i
Chapter II. — The History of the Phallic " Sjmibol-Structures ;" their
Origin, Genealogy, and Variety through the succession of the his-
torico-religious ages ......... 5
Chapter III. -The Story of the Classes of the Phalli .... 23
Chapter IV. — Celestial or Theosophical Doctrine of the Unsexual Trans-
cendental Phallicism . . . . , . . . .41
Chapter V. — The Mysteries of the Phallus ; its idealised Gnostic, Rosi-
crucian or Christian rendering's
50
Chapter VI. — Rites and Ceremonies of the Indian Phallic Worship, and
its connexion with general religious meanings . . . • S^
Chapter VII. — Hebrew Phallicism 64
Chapter VIII. — The Rosicrucian and Gnostic Meanings of the Obch'sks,
Pyramids, and Phallic Monuments of the Peoples of Antiquity 70
Chapter IX. — The Phalli and Ophiological Priapic Monuments typical
of " The Fall" l-j
Chapter X. — Priapic Illustrations loi
Chapter XI. — Transcendental Ideas of the Rosicrucians; their Cabalistic
Philosophy as to the Occult interchange of Nature and of Magic . 115
Chapter XII. — Considerations on the Mystic Anatomy of the Rosi-
crucian Philosophers . . . . . . . . .125
Chapter XIII. — Rosicrucian Profundities ; 133
Chapter XIV. — The Gnostics and their Beliefs 142
Chapter XV. — The Indian Religions. Annotations on the Sacred
Writings of the Hindus i7y
Chapter XVI. — An Original Essay on Mystic Anatomy, and the Master
Passion, or " The Act" igo
APPENDIX.
The Worship of the Lingam (Phallus), or Male Principle, in India . . 239
Physiological Contests— The Pelasgi— The Round Towers of Ireland —
Adoration of the Vulva j , ,
Lingam Gods in Great Britain 2,0
viii Contents.
PAGE
Phallic Worship among the Gauls 25^
Phallic Idolatry of the Jews 259
Gnostic Rites 26?
Symbol Worship 266
The Symbol of the Serpent 274
The Rationale of Generation— The Sacrifice of Virginity— Consecrated
Women — Bridal Devotions 278
The Religions Rites of Ancient Rome 2g2
Sacred Colours— Bells in Ancient Worship— The Cock as an Emblem . 287
1^^^=-^ 293
Notice.— A small series of engravings illustrative of the subject of the
present work is in preparation, under the superintendence of a gentleman
connected with the British Museum, and will be issued, with letterpress
descriptions, in a convenient form, for presentation to subscribers.
Those who may care for this supplement will please notify their wishes to
the publisher, in order that a copy may be forwarded, for which there is no
charge whatever ; but in no case will the illustrations be supplied through
agents, or otherwise than on direct application to The Fcblisheb.
INTRODUCTION.
All these original fiicts and theories, as applicable
to general religion, were first brought forward by the
author in a work entitled, " The Indian Religions ; or.
Results of the Mysterious Buddhism," published in the
early part of the year 1858. Subsequently to the ap-
pearance of that book several other writers, impressed by
its importance, hitherto unsuspected, took up and enlarged
upon the details referring to this subject, without, how-
ever, touching, or seeming to be even aware of, the spirit
and inner meaning of the matters which they so confi-
dently and ignorantly handled, with, however, all the
innocent good faith in the world. This exploration into
the modern day refers to the recurrence of the introduction
into history of the " Phallic Theory," as supplying
the necessarily mystic groundwork of all religion —
nay, furnishing altogether tha reasons for religion. Con-
spicuous among these writers, subsequent in time to the
production of the work above referred to, is Dr. Thomas
Inman, of Liverpool, a writer of singular ingenuity, but
astray in his general disbelieving conclusions, his par-
ticulars being correct, while his results are arrived at
erroneously, though in full sincerity, which is deeply to
be regretted, considering the display of so much inde-
fatigable research and the expenditure of so much valu-
able labour. Dr. Inman is the author of two ponderous,
very learned volumes, entitled, *' Ancient Faiths
b
^ Introduction.
EMBODIED IN Ancient Names." To a Certain extent
there is a similarity in this valuable work to that of
Godfrey Higgins, which displayed wonderful penetration
and power of analysis, and indomitable philosophical in-
sight, enthusiasm, hardihood and perseverance, published
under the title of " Anacalypsis ; or. An Attempt
TO Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis," in heavy
quarto volumes, in 1833, 1834, 1836: The "Celtic
Druids," another important quarto of Godfrey Higgins,
abounding in antiquarian truth, and beautifully illustrated,
appeared in 1829; and, in 1834, an invaluable
antiquarian Phallic book, "The Round Towers of
Ireland," written by a very accomplished scholar, Henry
O'Brien, who, of course, mainly on account of his in-
sight, solidity, and genuineness, especially as advocating
nay, proving— unwelcome and startling antiquarian con-
clusions in regard to the Round Towers, encountered
not much less than a storm of opposition. These books
(we may aver), on account of their difficult, evading and
reluctant (even obstinate) subjects for discovery, range
under the same head as Dr. Inman's "Ancient Faiths."
Th^y explain idolatry.
Messrs. Staniland Wake and Westropp, and Dr.
Phene, a well-known and industrious antiquary, produced
memoranda and books of greater or less importance and
noteworthiness upon this strange but engrossingly se-
ductive " Phallic" subject, when their attention had been
led up to it ;— though, in truth, the emulative attention
of these scholars was first challenged by the works in
which the topic was dilated upon (but only in the certain
proper way) by the present writer.
The curiosity in regard to this subject spread, as was
Introduction, xi
to be expected. Efforts at the disinterment of the con-
clusions of the ancient mystical writers, taken up from
point to point, followed on the writings of the present
author. The Americans in particular, in circuitous de-
flections or more promising direct searching out, wrote
and published in recognitive quarters. And this move-
ment evoked sparks of re-animation to the truths of the
Phallic theory in viu-ious directions back again in our own
country. Through these means was incited notice to
these grand philosophical problems of the real meaning
of the old idolatries in which lay the expression of
enthusiastic religion. The seeds, cast at hazard origi-
nally with much distrust of their reception in this present
too-sharpened intellectual age, took root in the New
World. The mainly forgotten puzzles among our inquisi-
tive brethren in America found fit matrix in which to
sprmg. And in response to this antiquarian signal,
sounded across the seas, books in America made their
appearance, arising principally from certain abstract (and
before that time unconsidered, except by Sir William
Jones, the great Indian authority,) speculations as to the
groundwork of that shadowy religion — « mystery of all
mysteries" — Buddhism — handled nowadays by yery many
and very incompetent hands. These original ideas about
Buddhism were published by the present writer in his
work "The Indian Religions," which contains the germ
of all the new views. But all these discourses by other
people, and speculative attempts to discover — this hover-
ing for ever round and round a subject, more than
general description of which is denied, and which is ever
intended to be denied — even in the mental interest of the
querists themselves — have been vain, because they have
^" Introduction.
been insufficient, formed out of that which could sustain
no structure, and springing from minds not abstract and
keen enough to find out for themselves— being not
adequately gifted.
There is always a fixed point of reserve in these occult
matter.., beyond which it is hopeless-as it has always
been, and always must be— to penetrate. Large and
important enough is the margin up to this rigid line
beyond which, to all ordinary explorers, access and dis-
covery is as impossible as it would be uncomfortable if
by any possibility of comprehension arrival at these grand
supernatural truths could ever be realised— that is, by the
usual most acute inquirers among the people. But the
m^yority of investigators-even learned investigators-are
dull enough, and are too cold of imagination to be im-
pressed with great facts if they happen to be remote
Ideas and new and difficult to be believed. Therefore
all IS at the best in this general incredibility And the
secrets are so fixed and so sure-being so deep-buried
tor all time m symbols so mysterious as to be far
beyond reading-that the paraded decipherments, to those
knowing ones whose attention has been drawn to them
through the aggressive vanity of the Egyptologists and in
the effi-ontery of some of the predominating scientific
people, although trumpeted in the Press as discoveries
are laughed at quietly by those who "know better " But
the persuading of the public is easy by the strength of
names, and through the « influence of authority in matters
of opinion,»_a persuasion which did not escape the
penetration of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, nor does it
evade the detection of certain cool observers disposed to
pass over with a certain measure of contempt the parade of
Introduction. xiii
the string of letters — marking degrees — which, Hke the
paper vertebras of the flexile tail of a kite — adorn many a
name stamped with the stamps of academical and other
supposed and accepted learned societies.
The present writer furthermore claims to be the
first introducer, as the grand philosophical problem, of
the vast religious and national importance of " Buddhism,"
so important to England, as being the mistress of India,
of the immense Buddhistic countries, with their prodigious
populations. Buddhism and its speculative foundations,
and the question whether these are founded in absolute
vital truth, or whether they are to be dismissed as mere
mythology, has now become such an important topic that
no words can realise the extent and possible results of
the same.
The attestation to the justice of his claim is to be
found in the fact of the number of books upon
the subject of Buddhism which have appeared since
the date of the " Indian Religions ; or, Results of
the Mysterious Buddhism," produced in the years
of the great Indian Mutiny — viz., 1 857-1 858. This
book — a moderate-sized octavo — although entirely
opposed to the arguments and line of indoctrination of
nearly the whole of the British Press and the political
people, headed by the Times, and to the opinions
enunciated and approved by the general ratification
of the people of England (in appearance), was warmly
adopted and certified as establishing truths by no less
distinguished and enthusiastic and patriotic authorities
than a previous Governor-General, the Earl of Ellen-
borough ; by Sir Erskine Perry, Judge of the Supreme
Court of Bombay, and several other members of the
XIV hitrocliictio?!.
Council of India ; by Lord Lyndhurst, the Lord Chan-
cellor, many members of Parliament, principally from the
Conservative ranks, and many scholars and enlightened
men, not only in France and England, but in Germany,
and particularly in the United States of America, where
these subjects were viewed largely, apart from politics.
We may declare that the book was received with great
marks of favour — this, in its explanations, as speaking
truth (and useful, enlightening truth), in regard to the
real opinions and feelings of the vast population of India,
both of the Hindoos and the Mahometans. Notwith-
standing this, it was truth, necessarily unpopular and
disbelieved in at that time — now long past — provoking
and enraging in the then natural fierceness of feeling and
in the impulse of intense hostility in England to every-
thing (native) of India. This _ work, " The Indian Re-
ligions," now totally out of print and very scarce, was
published anonymously, and was founded upon a mass of
authoritative proofs furnished to the author from India
itself. It bore — at once an entreaty and a warning —
upon its title-page the significant words of Themistocles
in his own native Greek, as applied and addressed to the
people of England, " Strike, but hear !"
It was really a very bold challenge offered to public
opinion in England — so aroused, and so, as the present
writer thought at the time, mistaken — this laying before
the people of England such a remonstrance in regard
to the general unfortunate policy. Of the mistakes of
this policy the British people are now thoroughly con-
vinced.
In some very eminent but at that time unpopular
quarters in England (1857-1858) this novel and un-
Introduction. xv
expected anonymous work secured deep attention and
won firm reliance. But although too bitterly true, as the
book called in qu3Stion the entire round of opinion and
of decision, in regard to remedies, as pronounced in
England through the Press, and as emanating from the
authorities, and confirmed and authorised by Parliament
(then aroused to the intensest spirit of indignation and
of excitement), its arguments were considered as in-
credible, and its statements as too extraordinary, and as
too truly unexpected, when announced as coming from
(of all people in the world) an " Indian Missionary," as
was stated on the title-page. This authorship and this
origin were very naturally regarded as a phenomenon
when the " Indian Missionary" appeared as the apologist
on the Indian side. He was only arguing, however, for
truth. He offered real evidence. The judicious people,
on consideration, discovered, to the general amazement,
that the foundations of Buddhism had been hitherto
wholly misunderstood. It was realised at last that these
foundations were not only mystical and unexplainable —
because occult and cabalistic — not only impossible of
denial, (that is, in their "results" or conclusions) —
but that they were true. The difficulty, especially
in this country, is to make new ideas, and new and
apparently contradictory views of things, understood, above
all (and inveterately so) in the case of religion. There is an
amount of prejudice inconceivable to all who have not been
either compelled or have elected to move in the face oi it.
(" Have you not heard," says Mr. William Morris,
" how it has gone with many a cause before now ? First,
few men heed it. Ne.xt, most men contemn it. Lastly,
all men accept it. And the cause is won !")
xvi hiiroduction.
Mr. Gerald Massey, in his "Natural Genesis and
Typology of Primitive Customs," has drawn his ideas
upon very important mythic subjects from a remote source.
Comparatively speaking, he has thus 'rendered them
second-hand. He has gained his notions from the
" Indian Religions ; or. The Results of the Mysterious
Buddhism," and the " Curious Things of the Outside
World," respectively published so long ago, and more
particularly from the " Rosicrucians," in its first edition,
published early in [870,
Truly, in certain respects, Mr. Gerald Massey has read
wrongly, and has been over-eager. He has traced
erroneously the outlining of his conceptions when his
originals seemed somewhat restive in his own mistaking
hands. Mr. Gerald Massey's two ponderous tomes,
" The Book of the Beginnings," present, in the first
instance, the very serious fault of being greatly too bulky,
and the book is far too expensive for general acceptance
and circulation. In addition, the work is uninviting from
its diffusiveness, and it labours under the singular demerit
that, whilst many of its particulars are correct, and its
groups of facts to a large extent trustworthy, the general
deductions therefrom are wholly mistaken. They are
guide-posts which indicate to those who consult and spell
them over, in curiosity and hope, the wrong paths. It
is certainly most inauspicious in the interests of the pro-
founder students of these difficult subjects that this
unintended although bewildering maze of erroneous
results from apparently correct particulars should be so
confidently paraded. For doubt and continual distrust
are the parents of successful discovery.
As if all the mysteries — reluctant enough to previous
Introduction. xvii
inquirers — had miraculously opened out of themselves to
the new examiner, and had satisfactorily disclosed them-
selves to the discovery of one man in the latter time !
Such overweening confidence is most absurd and most
disastrous. Truly must we be forced to consider that all
previous great men and the long line of profound thinkers
— labouring through the ages — had worked in vain.
Mr. Gerald Massey's text is that all religions and all
mysteries evolved from out of the heart of Africa. ' We
simply reject all his accumulation of particulars as founded
on a wrong basis. The effect of such books is only to
clog the subject and to confuse the reader.
We prefer other claims to the reader's consideration.
The present book may be undoubtedly pronounced new
and perfectly original. It is professedly constructive. It
finds its justification in an elaborate consideration of the
monuments of the old world, and in the usages and ideas
of the moderns. It is most important in one respect. It
seeks to be the builder up of a belief— of a Christian
belief. This, in opposition to most modern books of its
nature. It will be found strange, puzzling, startling.
But all its conclusions will be supported by abundant
proofs — to the right-minded and to the most accomplished
and the most deeply-read among the antiquaries.
Curious and inquisitive readers will find in it all that
they want to know concerning that extremely recondite
and interesting subject. The Phallic ideas will be dis-
covered herein, upon indisputable evidence, to be the
foundation of all religions. The tokens and traces
of this peculiar — and, as it became in its treatment by
the peoples of antiquity, this refined and picturesque
worship are to be recognised as deeply sunk in the
xvin Introduction.
art and architecture of all nations. Phallicism gave
richness, colour, and poetical variety to all the myths.
Furthermore, these indications are detected as lying
purposely and felicitously concealed (but only in their
own pure method of acceptation) in all the insignia of the
Christian Church. This at every point where mysterious-
ness (and therefore truth) commences, and where plain-
teaching (or the practical) ceases. It may be very safely
assumed as a distinguishing fact in the examination of the
work that just in proportion to the knowledge, learning,
and taste of the reader will be the quickness of his
discovery, recognition, and appreciation.
It is really believed that almost every book, in whatever
language, from which anything of import could be
obtained towards the flood of light (within the proper
bounds) cast upon this fascinating subject, has been
examined and adduced in evidence. The mystic sexual
anatomy, as bearing upon religion, and the " whys" and
the "wherefores" of the necessarily occult existence
of these curious subjects, have been carefully gone
into.
The work will assume, as a sort of ground truth, that
this contemporaneous— greatly too self-suflicient and too
self-reliant — time remains too complacently confident in
its own conclusions. The present age has made up its
mind as to that which is to be believed and that which is
not to be believed. There is certainly no want of books
to enter largely into an examination of the religious ideas
and systems which have prevailed in all ages. Religion
of some sort, and an acknowledgment of the gods, is
necessary for man. Histories — more or less able, and
books informing people, in the greater or lesser degree.
Introduction. xix
of that which they did not know before — are continually
appearing. Memoirs, theses, and accounts, orthodox,
critical, and explanatory, some with much learning and
indicative of considerable labour, trace out the original
footsteps of the nations, which, according to the earliest
notions connected with the progress of the human race,
set out, seeking new places of settlement and more
convenient and inviting homes. But, like most of those
who have descried first — and then traced — the reappear-
ance of Indian religions, ideas, and myths in Egypt, in
Persia, in Europe, in the most remote directions even in
America — querists — truly the most undaunted and reso-
lute querists — have thought that they ended when they
pointed out the similarity.
Those who are surprised to find the tenacity of these
Phallic vestiges, and that they are all to be re-read in
the Egyptian and in the Greek and Roman systems of
theological construction, and in their monuments, seem to
think that the wonder disappears, and that the riddle has
been read, when these strange things are seen reduced
into order and are evident in their new home. On the
contrary, the fact is that the wonder, instead of being
explained, is only just beginning. The problem, instead
of being resolved, has only just shifted its place, and is
as much a problem still.
All religions commence in myths and disappear in
myths ; — because the ends and purposes of life — of man
altogether — the meaning of nature itself — are wrapped
up in mystery. In the present work the author's object
is to show that the modern time owes everything to
the ancient. There is not a form, an idea, a grace,
a sentiment, a felicity in art which is not owing, in
XX Introduction.
one form or another, to the Phallicism, and its' means
of indication, which at one time in the monuments —
sfatuesque, architectural — covered the whole earth. All
this has been ignored — averted from — carefully concealed
(together with all the philosophy which went with it),
because it has been judged indecent. As if anything
seriously resting in nature, and being notoriously every-
thing in nature and art (everything at least that is grand
and beautiful), could be — apart from the mind making it
so — indecent.
It may be at once boldly asserted as a truth that there
is not a religion that does not spring from the sexual
distinctions. All these great facts have been obliterated.
In the present work an attempt has been made to do justice
to the greatness and majesty of the ancients, and to exhibit
their ideas of religion, and of the character of religion, as
true — though necessarily clouded over (or rather illus-
trated) with allegory (mythologies), as the truths of
all religions must be — naked truth never being intended
for man.
Thus we are pre-eminently constructive. The work
will be found to contain a complete survey of the rationale
of Buddhism and its philosophical inflections and the
depths of its mystic ideas. In regard to Buddhism and
to its purpose and foundation — whether true or false —
the world is in a state of greater contention than ever at
the present period. This is witnessed by the numerous
books which continually appear, treating of Buddhism
and of the theories concerning it. It will be found
that, reposing upon the abstractions of Buddhism, the
network of mythological allegory which has been raised
over it, and the mystic dogmas which have been embraced
Introduction. xxi
in it, have refined, and metamorphosed, and spread, and
fitted, and adapted themselves into the beliefs of other
countries, the widest separated in time and place.
It is a noteworthy fact — a guiding principle in the
influences of civilisation all over the world — that all
religions and all forms of religion — preternatural, as we
contend, and enlightened in man's receptivity (or soul),
from the original design and intention of a Personal
Providence — have started from the centre of Asia.
The arts of life and the systems of living in community —
the gradual coalescing and amalgamation and the settle-
ment of nations — have moved majestically in the sublime
march of the centuries — " tiring out Time," as it really
seems to us — contemplating, in these latter days (when
a general impatience seems to beset all mankind) ; these
latter days, full of evil, full of fear, self-conceit, weariness,
confusion, and woe, from the East, all round the world, to
the West. The mind of man has moved forth from the
Tigris and the Euphrates — only become errant when
'^driven out''' — out from the allegorical "Garden;" in
after time from Balkh (with foundation unknown), the
Mother and Anarch of Cities, or as the commencement
of a previous new era to the world, or to a new dispen-
sation, from the Mountain of the Ark, or the Cradle of
Humanity, following the course of the latitudes West-
ward and tracking the Sun to the Westernmost shores of
the New World. Here, arrested by the mighty Pacific
Ocean, which seems the grand barrier to mankind and
his designs — " Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther"
— along that never-ending line, ranging athwart the world,
the histories of man seem to culminate. Perhaps here,
on the shore of the far — the farthest — West, where the
xxii Introduction.
" tired civilisations" seem rousing up as for a new display
— having made the whole circle of the earth — the rest-
less demonstrative communities, with their inventions and
astonishments (how unlike the tranquil greatness of the
ancients !) may subside to peace. For a second new
promenade of the peoples of the world around the earth
seems unlikely.
Enormous labour — the labour of many years — and an
enthusiasm which was converted out of the utmost original
disbelief of these wondrously stimulating and beautiful
Phallic beliefs ; — all this curious inquest into the meaning
and reality of the Phallicism which lies at the root of all
religions — as also of the Christian religion — pains, trouble,
and suspicious examination until convinced, have gone to
the compilation of the present book. Its chief merit, or
at least one of its choice merits, is its conciseness and
brevity. Tt comprises, within the limits of a modest
octavo, all that can be known (or, at least, all that is
permitted to be known by prudent, competent persons)
of the doctrines of the Buddhists, Gnostics, and
RosiCRUciANs, as connected with "Phallicism."
We have gone over the whole ground with care to
distinguish. We have filled up with details of the primi-
tive worship of the creative principle, under such symbols
as the Obelisk, Pillar, and Pyramid. We have traced
the division of sects, and have discriminated in the cha-
racter of the Phallic monuments, whether as referring to
the preference of the Lunar influence or of the Solar power,
as the cause of the earliest wars and of the " primeval
dispersion." An endeavour has been made to effect this
history of the monuments of antiquity, not in the spirit
and in the manner of the antiquary and compiler only.
Introduction. xxiii
but with the object of the recovery of a faith, believing
(as we do) that the peoples of antiquity had excellent
reasons for what they did, and were actuated by a fine
and true instinct. It will very readily be perceived that
the element of faith is necessary to the proper apprehen-
sion of the reality and seriousness of the array of real
matters which we pass in review. Nothing strikes for-
cibly, or arrests the attention efficaciously, which is not
believed in by the writer, and the absence of this reliance
is very soon detected.
Not to burthen our pages with small type and interrupt
the narrative with subsidiary, confirmatory matter in the
places where it is not so readily to be looked for, we
have decided to relegate to an Appendix certain notes of
value in elucidation, and transcripts of facts and items of
evidence. These will be found to materially help the
reader to a proper and consecutive understanding of the
subject.
A subject lying so out of sight in the ordinarily beaten
historical paths — in regard of which we have truly so
much investigation and such exposition so reiterated that it
wearies — will of course be found abstruse and difficult to
reconcile with ordinary conclusions to those whose atten-
tion before this has not been called thereto and to those
who have not hitherto made it a special study.
The various accounts, and the conjectures more or less
happily hazarded, given by different authors respecting
the reality and meaning — philosophically and vitally —
of the Phallic worship, and why its prevalence should
have been so great in olden times, will not a little serve
to puzzle the reader and to upset the foregone conclu-
sions which he has derived in the course of his education.
xxiv Introduction.
He will find, indeed, that he has much to be enlightened
concerning, if he has not diligently sought for knowledge
at the right sources, for the proper understanding of these
religious aberrations, and to comprehend the deep impres-
sion which the unseen world (to the shame of the moderns)
held over the ancients.
In this book will be found a more complete and more
connected account than has hitherto appeared of the
different forms of the worship (which has distinguished
all ages), or peculiar veneration (not idolatry), generally
denominated the Phallic worship. No previous writer
has disserted so fully upon the shades and varieties of
this singular ritual, or traced up so completely its mys-
terious blendings with the ideas of the philosophers,
as to what lies remotely in Nature in regard to the origin
and history of the human race. The well-known work
of Richard Payne Knight is a mine of learned matter
bearing upon this subject ; but it is devoted more espe-
cially to the rites which celebrated the worship of Priapus
among the Romans.
The antiquarian world has yet to do justice to the
memory of Henry O'Brien, a most penetrating antiquary,
who — gifted particularly and richly by nature — soon
perceived the folly and inconsequence of the conclusions
afloat in his day in regard to the Round Towers of
Ireland. Among the competition essays as to the origin
and destination of these famous Round Towers, furnished
in answer to the desire to settle this point, if possible,
by the offer of its first prize or gold medal, by the
Royal Irish Academy, in 1 833 — 34, appeared one essay —
which proved to be by O'Brien — that should properly
have settled the debate for ever. Its arguments and
Introduction. xxv
proofs, in justice to its well-directed learning, should
have been accepted at once. However — as is generally
the case in these remote and difficult inquiries — O'Brien
was disbelieved. Owing to the want of resolute and
quick-sighted capacity to judge accurately, the usual pur-
blind conclusion was arrived at. Notwithstanding this
conspicuous failure of literary justice the striking merits
of O'Brien's masterly treatise made themselves evident
in a certain degree, and the second prize was adjudged
to this piece, while the gold medal and the first place
were assigned to an essay by Dr. Petrie — another
Irish antiquary — whose notions, being commonplace,
were safegoing and plausible, and better agreed with
the temper of the adjudicators. Dr. Petrie refused
to allow of the extreme antiquity of the Round Towers,
gave them a Christian origin, and assigned to their
erection a much later date. Never was incompetence
made more manifest. Poor Henry O'Brien died a young
man, having, when in London, become one of the chief
contributors, in his own particular line of antiquities, to
Fraser's Magazine at the time of its highest distinc-
tion. He wrote and laboured with all the en-
thusiasm of a cultured Irishman, and with the correctness
of a sage. His book upon the " Round Towers" is now
acknowledged as the only correct book, and the best book,
upon the subject. It has become very scarce, and is
eagerly bought up wherever encountered.
Edward Sellon — to whose care, knowledge, and dis-
crimination the world is indebted for the arrangement of
the choice Phallic collection in the British Museum — has
furnished an account of the Phallic worship in India only,
which is authenticated by passages in the writings of
xxvi Introduction.
Sir William Jones, Wilford, and other historians, travel-
lers, and commentators, more or less skilled and prepared
by study.
The most painstaking and indefatigable of all these
explorers into the foundations of the old religions is
Godfrey Higgins. But he loses sight of the great con-
tention implied in the very cause in wading amidst
the labyrinths of evidence. The question in reality is
not whether the forms of the religion are true, but
whether religion itself is true. We believe that it
is, and we have written accordingly — that is, to con-
struct. Godfrey Higgins has given to the world — like
Thomas Inman and others — marvellous books, monu-
ments of industry and of expense. But they reduce
I religion to a mechanical exercise. They are historical
accounts of rites, ceremonies, and usages — and how they
have passed in the practice of all the peoples — matters,
truths, and relations which nobody disputes. The ma-
chinery of a religion, or of all religion, every person can
understand. That which impels the machinery is the
great subject to be discussed.
To explain the symbols and the mysticism always
accompanying them, together with the recondite refe-
rences to the unsuspected powers of Nature implied in
the imagery — often a purposed dream or " masquerade"
— of the celebrated Gnostic gems ; — to decipher the
hieroglyphics which puzzle strangers to these curious
subjects ; — to elucidate the meanings conveyed in the
monuments and relics, sculpturesque and architectural —
all expressive of something of moment to be transmitted
and communicated, — left as a legacy, as it were, by the
old times to the later times, — all this, which, of course.
Introduction. xxvii
is the aim of all writers, is a work of difficulty, which
must be still further aggravated unless the reader is
surrounded by books of prints, or by the actual gems,
statues, sculpture, to which reference in the text is made.
And even then the inferences will not be understood,
since the only valuable foundation of all must be meta-
physic truth, or none at all. It is with a view to further-
ing the study of the subject that we write suggestively.
Much, however (we may add), will be found in the book
to be very original. Some considerable proportion of
its contents, we apprehend, as it will sufficiently startle,
will be thought — certainly at first — to be beyond belief.
Lest it should be supposed that the author shares the
opinions — apparently wholly realistic — of the writers who
express their views in the Appendix, superadded at the
end of the book, he is desirous of recording a firm dis-
claimer.
He admits, in many respects, the truth o^ facts put
forward, whilst he dissents from, and disallows, as
founded upon too hasty judgment and upon mistake,
the conclusions which seem to be sought to be elicited
from them. The object of the author in the present
book is metaphysical construction, not religious destruc-
tion.
Hargrave Jennings.
CHAPTER I.
DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS LEADING UP TO THE
VERITIES OF PHALLICISM.
Religion is to be found alone ivitb its justification and
' explanation in the relations between the sexes. There and
therein only. To imply that the thing " Natural Selection,"
which can only arise, as any movement forward can arise,
through some power, or through something analogous to
the operation of the sexes, in choice and selection ; and
power upon that choice and selection to multiply, and to
bring into life, and to propagate like sexes, producing of
themselves ; to imply that this thing, " Natural Selec-
tion" or the " survival of the fittest," is acting within the
matter, so to say, is, when argued rigidly down to foun-
dation results, to say that " Natural Selection" is Deity
itself — which begs the whole question.
Such is inevitably the fate of all the logical methods of
philosophising, the Aristotelian or Baconian method,
which argues from particulars to generals; this is the
scientific, and the plausible way, but it is, as we have
always contended, the wrong way. Once grant the
premiss, and it is all over with the argument, because
the question is already begged, and settled, nor can
there be farther dispute. This is easily shown in the
fallacy of beginning with any assumption, or by appro-
priating any particular ground or foundation to commence
B
2 PhallicisjJi.
upon. Thus, there must be some truth, or the abstrac-
tion, truth, can he fixed, and become recognisable in the
human reason. We assume that the human reason can
become an efficient, or the foundation for truth. From
this comes the fetal metaphysical error of discovering the
possibility of human reason in truth, and the convevse of
finding a ground of truth to build upon, in human reason.
Such concession at once gives science, and gives to realism
all that it needs ; and will admit and pass, as undoubted,
all the innumerable links of any interminable chain of
argument, leading anywhere, when the first touch or link
or the premiss — whatever it be — is acknowledged as
authentic, and a veritable thing. We are only correct
when we retire into cloudland with speculation, and at
once deny the possibility of special truth, or abstract
truth, or indeed any truth. " Truth" being your truth,
or my truth, or any man's truth. Where can we find
the standard ?
We remember that, many years ago, Robert and
William Chambers, of Edinburgh, in a review of the
current philosophies, with an explanation of their varying
characteristics, chose to criticise the disbelieving philo-
sopher, David Hume, who seeks to expose the fidlacy of
that which is accepted as the clearest possible common
sense and reason, namely, of the invariable tie of con-
nexion between cause and effect, or the certainty of cause
being followed by eifect, and eifect being preceded by a
cause. They ended with a summing up which was very
efficacious and trenchant as far as it went, and seemed to
lay open the whole of this apparently obvious absurdity
of the great rationalist. The orthodox brothers thought
their epigrammatic disposal of the question, and their
Definitions and Distinctions. 3
derisive wonder at it, complete and unanswerable ; but
to what, in reality, did it all amount ? To an evasion,
not a resolution of the difficulty. They stated that, when
Hume arrived at the end of his finely-sifted, elaborate
metaphysical conclusions, and came out, at last, with
such a startling climax, he only truly, and in fact, arrived
at a belief, himself, and that he, who was denying the
very possibility of belief, " came to a belief that there
was no belief." This was a flying jeer, a Parthian dart,
of the brothers Chambers ; we do not know whether any
doubt of the soundness of their philosophy ever occurred
to them. They evidently thought they were carrying oft
the philosophical colours in triumph, after the skirmish,
and exposing the nonsense of disconcerted Hume. It
never penetrated to the conviction of these self-satisfied
commentators, guiding the public judgment as they
thought, that they were not confuting Hume, but only
effecting their retreat under the cover of a witticism.
What was the fact ? They were only mistaking an
emotion for a belief. Hume did not " believe" that there
was no connexion between cause and effect. He only
felt an emotion, or persuasion — a distrust whether there
was, or whether there could be, necessarily and abstrac-
tedly, any connexion between cause and eftect.
These two distinctions, in fact, philosophically stand
wide apart. It is only in the coarse metaphysical
intellect that they are not kept separate. And most of
the modem philosophers, because their philosophical
intellects are not of the highest, and their penetration not
of the refined character — nature having denied them the
delicate power of analysis, or the closest discrimination,
confound emotions of the heart with reasons and con-
4 Phallicism. ■
elusions of the intellect and the head ; — while, in fact,
the head and the heart, or the reason and the affections,
have been set in hopeless opposition to each other from
the beginning of time. Men believe, and yet cannot be
said to have faith. Men have faith (that is, know), and
yet cannot be said to believe. Thus men have faith in
what they cannot believe, for instance, in transubstantia-
tion. And they have belief in what they can never know,
that is, in the spiritual world, and in the doctrine of
spirits; and in past events, which, however, did not
certainly transact as related. There is, indeed, no " fact"
which cannot be argued away, and shown to be nothing.
Very consolatory this, for the inhabitants of that which
they presume is a real world. It has been shown, even,
conclusively, that it is impossible that man can be in
contact with real solidity ; and that Time itself is only
an abstraction.
The purport of the foregoing remarks will be the more
readily seen as we advance with our theme, and recognise
the religious intensity of the Phallic worship, its vitality,
and its display in the Phallic monuments, both in those
devoted to the solar and the lunar myths, which equally
indicate the same Fire-Worship in its grand division of
celestial and terrestrial adoration. In this element of
" Fire" and the magical rites and fonnulas arising out of
it, all the mystic analysis and anatomy of Nature rest :
and this science is genuine, as founded on the astronomy
and astrology of the Chaldeans and other early nations,
who were the heirs of the first knowledge or revelation.
Phallic Symbol-Structures.
CHAPTER II.
THE HISTORY OP THE PHALLIC " SYMBOL-STRUCTURES ;"
THEIR ORIGIN, GENEALOGY, AND VARIETY THROUGH
THE SUCCESSION OP THE HISTORICO-RELIGIOUS AGES.
To cite the expressions of a very able and original
writer, who adopted the subject of Phallicism, and the
highly important part it has played in the history of
the religions of the world, we might have spoken of
the terms in which we treat of our general subject, in
the present chapter. We might have professed to give
' The Causes of the Original Dispersion of Primitive
Nations in times of remote antiquity ;' and enlarged on
' presumptive proofs of original connexion between
various -nations, now widely scattered ; deducible from a
critical examination into the intrinsic signification and
character of ancient sacred edifices, &c., of which the
ruins and imperishable remains still exist in several
countries.' This was substantially the title of an ably
reasoned article, published under the name of npoTEVs,
author of a work on the " Real Nature of the Sin of
Adam." The article appeared with the two words,
" Fiat Lux," printed oo its forefront, in the Freemasons^
Quarterly Review, in the year 1840. In proceeding with
this dissertation the author says he shall discuss the
subject generally, under the four following heads — viz. :
Firstly, in examining what was in reality intended, mysti-
cally figured, and represented, under the colossal and
other national monuments, and sacred edifices of antiquity.
6 Pba/Iicism. -
— Secondly, in showing that it was in consequence of a
disturbance which took place in the unity of the faith of
the early inhabitants of the earth, at the renewed period
of its existence (that is to say, soon after the Flood), that
these same symbolical edifices came to be erected in
commemoration of the grand schismatic division. —
Thirdly, in setting forth that the ancient emigrations with
which we are acquainted, are to be distinctly attributed,
in the first instance, solely to this division of faith and
to separate religious opinions. — Fourthly, and chiefly, in
pointing out the value of a system of interpretation which
seems to supply the only key for expounding the religious
mysteries of all nations, or which may prevail to open the
sealed historic volume that contains the records of
remote antiquity, and by applying it to the problematical
dispersion of nations, (which has so often occupied the
attention of the learned), and tracing the original motives
of their separation by a series of almost irrefutable in-
ferences, show that it may thus be determined on a surer
basis than can otherwise be established, what nations
were in reality of an original stock, by proving them to
have held common religious opinions when, as yet, but
two grand sectarian divisions disputed for ascendency in
the minds of men.
In answer to the first of these inquiries, as to what was
mystically figured, and represented under the colossal and
other monuments and sacred edifices of antiquity, we will
proceed to designate respectively, as the head and type
of all succeeding edifices of like character, the Tower of
Babel, and the great Pyramids of Egypt. The first of
these was erected not long after the foundation of the Chal-
dccan monarchy, by Nimrod, the son of Cush, 2221 B.C.
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 7
The temple of Belus formed a square nearly three
miles in compass. In the middle of the temple was an
immense tower, six hundred feet in height. The ruins
are now two hundred and thirty-five feet high. The
Great. Pyramid forms a square, each side of whose base
is seven hundred and forty-five feet, and covers an area
of nearly fourteen acres. The perpendicular height is
five hundred and sixty feet. The Pyramids were erected
probably not long after the foundation of the Egyptian
monarchy by Misraim, the son of Ham, -2188 B.C.,
Babylon and Memphis being among the first cities built
after the Flood. And when the totally different forms of
these immense national edifices are considered, the in-
quiring mind can scarcely fail to seek for the causes which
decided their ancient architects to employ so gigantic a
mass of materials, in one or the other of these two
definite forms, above every other which might have been
selected ; and we think it will scarcely be denied that the
forms respectively of these stupendous monuments
(which, as will be shown, were only the original arche-
types of innumerable others which have been subse-
quently constructed,) must unavoidably be considered as
having been adopted as the carrying out of some paramount
idea or intention on the part of their primeval founders.
There is cause to believe, that in the erection of the
Chaldaean Tower, the principles of true "Masonry"
were at first abided by ; but, subsequently, the corrup-
tion of human nature urging men to overthrow a spiritual
worship, which absolutely required purity and holiness,
they sought to establish a system that virtually incul-
cated the worship of the creature more than the Creator,
and furnished a pretext for the practice of unrestrained
8 Phallicism.
licentiousness, as part and parcel of religious rites. Such
was the ancient worship of the Lingam — a worship which
we read of as recognised and established throughout all
antiquity ; such was the object really worshipped under
its colossal representative, in the Chaldcean Tower, that
magnificent, monster " Upright," defiant, as it were, or
appealing, for both of these meanings are, in certain
senses, (and acceptations), identical. This was the pro-
digious Tower, or obelisr, (or obelis/^, the '' k" and the
" c" being interchangeable), known from the description
in Scripture, and the hints contained in its allegories, or
rather magnificent myths, as to the causes of the original
Dispersion, as the Tower of Babel, Bab, or Babble.
Thence has come down to us the name for vain talking,
confusion, the " confusion of tongues," or languages ;
when the sudden supernatural interposition came from
the divine Architect of the Universe, making a fool of
mankind, and, in the impossibility of the people under-
standing each other's meaning, rendering society, or a
general community of design and purpose of the human
race, as working to one common end — however obvious,
in common sense, the object might be — impossible.
We are here seeking to establish, firstly, the philo-
sophical possibility of magic ; and, secondly, the actual
working of magic in the real affairs of the world ; not-
withstanding the contradictions of common sense, rightly
enough, perhaps, to the possibility of magic, which
means the unnatural interference with nature, and is a
contradiction in terms, when we estimate " nature" as all
that is, or as fixed and unalterable, in its own laws, as
supreme ; . especially, in the total absence of any proof, at
any time, or at any period of the world's history, as
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 9
receivable in record or testimony, reasonable and believ-
able, that anything like magic, or interference from with-
out nature, ever obtruded or interjected from outside that
nature, into that nature — which, however mistiiken or
misunderstood from the natural infirmities of man — still
" builds the world," and is the world : — nothing other
being so, or being possible to be so. But, after all —
man is not all ! Nor is common sense all — or indeed
anything out of this our world of Man !
So much for this famous Chald^ean Tower, "Tower
of Babel," or Phallus, of whose notorious existence
traditions, even in the most remote nations, almost uni-
versally exist ; and of whose actual signification many
weighty proofs have been collected by that very zealous,
penetrating and able antiquary, the late Mr. Henry
O'Brien, author of a very conclusive book, " The Round
Towers of Ireland." These Round Towers were all
" Phalli," or- Fire-Towers, raised in adherence to, and in
expression of the inconceivably ancient faith of the Per-
sians, Parsees, or Fire-worshippers. To Mr. O'Brien's
proofs we might certainly add others equally numerous
and irrefragable, were we here intending, in this chapter,
an elaborate treatise, instead of a circumscribed review of
the circumstances affording proofs.
The worship of the Lingam, then, of which the Pillar
Tower was, as has been said, a gigantic figure, involved
and signified the worship of the Male Principle of the
Universe ; by which was intended, originally, as has been
intimated, the worship of the True and Only God ; in
accordance with which assertion we find that one inter-
pretation of the word Jehovah undoubtedly signifies the
Universal Male. In India, where undeniable proofs have
.10 PhallicisiU.
been found of the existence, at one period, of true
"Masonry" (see Freemasons' ^arterly Review, p. 159),
this signification is found to be involved in the names of
the principal deities. Accordingly we find that temples
in honour of this Universal Male Power, were always
erected in the figure of its representative, the Lingam ; that
is to say, in the form of a tower or column — God in his
unity. Almost innumerable examples of such edifices
abound in ancient countries, where this worship was either
primitive, or introduced at later periods, and they fully
illustrate these facts.
Wilford remarks (Works, vol. iii., ^i^s) ^^"^^ ^^^ Phallus
was publicly worshipped by the name of Balleswara Linga,
on the banks of the Euphrates. The cubic room in the
cave of Elephanta likewise contains the Lingam (vol. iv.,
413), as does also the pagoda of stone at Maherbaliporam,
or City of the Great Baal (vol. v., 69). Sir William Jones
observes, (vol. ii., 47), "columns were erected, perhaps
as gnomons, others probably to represent the Phallus of
Iswara." Enough has here been cited, without doubt,
to dispose both the learned and the unlearned to con-
sider that the true signification of the pillar and tower
was in reality such as has here been stated.
In many parts of the Bible we find the pillar to have
been undoubtedly a sacred emblem ; as in Isaiah, xix. :
" In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the
midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border
thereof, to Jehovah, and it shall be for a sign, and a
witness to the Lord.'''' And this was the especial form in
which it pleased God himself to appear, when he dwelt
in the pillar that went before his chosen people, as
solemnly recorded by Moses.
Phallic Symbol-Structures. ii
When, however, pillars were set up to receive the
profane rites of idolatrous worship, we find them noticed
in Scripture as an abomination, in like manner as their
great Babylonian archetype ; which being obnoxious to
God, as such, was destroyed by " fire from Heaven," as
its blasted and vitrified ruins still remain incontrovertibly
to attest.
Having thus briefly noticed the worship of the Lingam,
or male principle, it remains to show what was the true
and real thing signified under the form of the pyramid,
TRTANG-LE, or CONE : and with respect to the mysteries
concealed and represented in the figure of the pyramid, I
apprehend, that before Mr. O'Brien's luminous remarks
on that subject, the scientific world in general were in
almost Cimmerian obscurity as to the real and opposite
tendency of the worship indicated by edifices erected in
that form. A remark in the Asiatic Researches (vol. ii.,
477), that "the pyramids of Egypt, as well as those
discovered in Ireland, [the Round Towers are meant,
which are obelisks, and not pyramids'^, and probably, too,
the Tower of Babel, seem to have been intended as
nothing more than images of Mahadeo,"* shows how
confused were the notions of the learned, as to the real
character of the pyramid, " when we are thus led to
suppose that the pyramid and tower alike represent an
identical and male power, and typify an identical object
of adoration." The writer of the foregoing passages
seems to be in some fault here, because the pyramids,
towers, obelisks, and pillars, although of the same family
of objects, imply a different significance. In reality, the
towers and inclined pillars, and the obelisks with the
* Mahadeo, Maha-Deo — How like, this, to "Mother of God!"
X2 PhallicisDh
characteristic which the architects call the "orbicular"
curve, are the same as the broad pyramid, only slim
and aspiring; and the pyramids are the same as the
pillars and towers, only broad in the base and latitudinal.
The fact of the matter is that all of these are pyra-
midal forms, and that they only differ in their slimness
or breadth, for they all express the same religious, mys-
terious idea ; which is, swelling, rising, or extension —
the characteristic or the motive movement, in both sexes,
for that "grand act" — that grand human act — which
secures us everything, the uprising and protrusion of the
peculiar instruments, male and female, for success in the
sexual magic congress. This we shall declare in different
parts of our book, to be magic, and a holy sacrament or
charm ; and it doubtless is sympathetic magnetism of its
kind, from which it is perfectly possible, and proper, to
extract all irregular ideas, or obscenity, if the mind be
purified adequately to will it so.
Certain philosophers have chosen to view this matter
in another light, in regard of the sameness of the Phallic
symbols, whether the pillar, tower, or pyramid. We
reckon all these symbol-structures to signify, ultimately,
but one thing — the " Fire," apotheosised as celestial, and
worshipped as the only possible, and the genuine repre-
sentative of the supreme, the chief deity, to be addressed
in adoration, appeased and moved to mercy in mystic rites,
protesting sacrifices, and innumerable appealing services,
solemnities and observances, forming a fixed code, con-
stituting an immutable law ; to be confided to the hand
of the Arch-Priests as Sovereigns, and to Sovereigns in
their character of Hierophants and Sacred Guardians.
These theorists say that as the tower was sacred to the
Phallic Symbol-Structures. ij
male power of the universe, so likewise was the pyramid,
triangle, or cone, adopted by the votaries of an opposite
worship, as the real and consecrated emblem and repre-
sentation of that procreative female energy in which,
according to them (considering it as the true and vital
conceptive power of nature), resided absolutely and solely
the underived principle of life ; which female power they
chose alone to deify, and, like their opponents, conse-
crated their unhallowed worship by the most profane and
licentious rites.
Thus the great Pyramids were at Memphis the colossal
monuments of a separate worship, with all its concomitant
mysteries ; and as in the Tower of Babel, the three-
fold objects of astronomy, astrology, and religion were
indissolubly involved and united in them.
Baron Humboldt observes, in his Researches (in total
ignorance, however, of this theory), " In every part of
the globe, on the ridge of the Cordilleras as well as in
the Isle of Samothrace, in the ^gean Sea, fragments of
primitive languages are preserved in religious rites." Sir
William Jones expressly states that the meaning of ^ yon?
or * bhaga^ is undoubtedly the female special sensual part ;
and in his plate of the Hindu Lunar Mansions, (see the
iu-ticle on the Antiquity of the Indian Zodiac), this con-
stellation of the ' yoni' is figured as three stars, inclosed
by the Hindu draughtsman in a representation of that
object ; which, in his figure, is made to resemble an in-
verted pyramid, or truncated cone. Venus Genetrix is
sometimes represented in the form of a conical marble ;
" for the reason of which figure," says Tacitus, " we are
left in the dark ;" but, adds Sir William Jones, " the
reason appears too clearly in the temples and paintings of
14 PhallicisfJh
Hindustan, where it never seems to have entered the
heads of the legislators or people, that anything natural
could be offensively indecent," Wilford mentions that
according to Theodoret, Arnobius, and Clemens Alex-
andrinus, the Yoni of the Hindus was the sole object of
veneration in the mysteries of Eleusis. For proofs of
the high antiquity of this worship in China, the discerning
reader need only consult Lord Macartney's Travels, vol. i.
'Hager, Monument of Yu.' "In both Americas j*^ we
learn, " it is a matter of inquiry what was the intention of
the natives when they raised so many artificial pyramidal
hills, several of which appear to have served neither as
tombs, nor watch-towers, nor the base of a temple."
About 2,000 years before our era, sacrifices were offered
in China, to the supremeijbeing, on four great mountains,
called the Four Yo. The whole country of Mexico
abounded in pyramids, and Humboldt declares the basis
of the Great Cholula to have been twice as broad as that
of the Egyptian Cheops, though its height is little more
than that of Mycerinus. The fact is, that wherever
this peculiar worship has flourished (and it must never
be lost sight of that all idolatry can be shown to have
been originally based on one or other ramification of it,)
traces are left behind and relics remain, which have always
been found to puzzle the learned antiquarian no less than
the unlettered conjecturer.
"In the Mexican Codex Borgianus," says Humboldt,
"the head of the sacrificing priest is covered with one of
those conical caps which are worn in China and on the
north-west coast of America ; opposite this figure is seated
the god of fire." We may note that the triangle was
indisputably a sacred emblem from all antiquity, as
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 15
might be shown by innumerable examples. There are
exceedingly curious coins called Cistophori of Pergamos,
which city Cicero mentions as possessing a great number of
them, on which we see represented various, devices, indi-
cative of recondite mysteries ; the triangle surmounting
the whole, and held in the deadly fangs of serpents.
In commenting on the particular branch of idolatry
under discussion, we cannot but remark, that there appears
just reason to believe, that this was the peculiar abomina-
tion into which the Ten Tribes of Israel lapsed, at their
separation from Judah under Jeroboam. Indeed strong
presumptive proof is offered, insomuch as, from the
account given by Herodotus, and cited by Josephus, of
the invasion of the Eg^-ptian Shishak, under Rehoboam,
it appears that, having conquered Jerusalem, and defiled
the public buildings, by carving on them the distinctive
symbols of his own peculiar and national creed (that is
to say, according to the same author, by defacing them
with representations of that very symbol, the mysterious
yoni, which we have been discussing), he returned to his
own country without in any way molesting Samaria, the
residence of the Ten Tribes, who, it needs not any great
measure of sagacity to perceive, had doubtless embraced
his religious views. What those views were, in the sight
of God, is fully expressed in Kings, i , xiv., 7, 8, 9, and
XV., 26, 30, 34 ; also Kings, 2, iii., 2, 3, &:c.
It is supposed by those who have pursued these deeply
interesting and original Phallic inquiries the most closely,
and achieved philosophic results therefrom with the
greatest success, that it was in consequence of a dis-
turbance which took place in the unity of the faith of the
early inhabitants of the earth, that is to say, soon after
1 6 Phalli asm.
the Flood, that these . same symbolical edifices came to be
erected, in commemoration of the grand schismatic divi-
sion.
At the time of the building of Babel, we have the
highest authority for knowing that the sentiments of the
men then and there engaged, were in complete unison,
for Moses records that "the Lord said, Behold, the
people is One." Had this unity of feeling been mani-
fested in persevering in the worship of the true and only
God, upon whose almighty name men already began to
call, even while Adam was yet alive, doubtless it would
have been, instead of a subject of reproach, an occasion
of approval to Him " whose name is One." (See Ephes.,
iv., 5, 6.) But when this unanimity was manifested only
in the departure of men from the principles of religion
and true ' Masonry,' and consequently from Truth itself,
the Lord God " scattered them abroad," as we read,
" upon the face of all the earth."
As has been already observed, traditions are still
extended almost throughout the length and breadth of
the earth, of this miraculous and notable transaction : it
is impossible in the space here assigned even casually to
designate the various and modified forms in which this
history has been handed down, from the remarkable
legend preserved by the Mexican priests, as related by
Humboldt, even to the wild fables believed by the
savages of the South Seas, and strangely analogous to
the primeval account.
In Wilford's Essay on the Nile, vol. iii., p. 360, we find
that this diversity of opinion Q e. the superiority of the
male or female emblem of the sexual part, that of genera-
tion, in regard of the idolatrous, magic worship) seems to
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 17
have occasioned the general war which is often mentioned
in the Puranas, and was celebrated by the poets of the
west as the basis of the Grecian mythology. According
to both Nonnus and the Hindu mythologists, it began in
India, whence it spread over the whole globe, and all
mankind appear to have borne a part in it. These
physiological contests, arising from a profound considera-
tion of the mysteries of animal generation, and its super-
natural "wherefore," and on the comparative influences
of the sexes in the production of perfect offspring (in
itself, down to this instant day, the greatest possible, and
the apparently irresolvable, mystery) : — these mighty
physiological disputes, induced in the reflective wisdom of
the earliest thinkers, laid the sublime foundations of the
Phallic Worship. They led to violent schisms in religion,
and even to bloody and devastating wars, which have
wholly passed out of the history of these earliest times ;
or rather they have never been recorded in history;
remaining only as a tradition, or, if at all holding place,
holding it only in the faintest, although the sublimest
form, as a fable. These physiological contests were dis-
guised under a veil of the wildest allegories and emblems,
in Egypt, and India especially, and generally in every
other country.
The epoch of warfare and bloodshed is alluded to
frequently as the " Age of Contention," or " Confusion."
That this essential difference of opinion as to the real
ascendency and superiority of male or female^ as such,
involved also the physical problem of the predominant
agency of either sex in the mystery of generation, which
it is clear they were pleased erroneously to look upon as
synonymous with Creation itself, is we think fully evident,
c
1 8 Phallic'ism.
We are inclined, however, also to believe that the Pish-de-
Danaan sect, those fierce contenders for the supremacy
of the female influence, certainly derived no little of the
plausibility of their pretensions from a reference to the
primeval prophecy that the " woman's seed-should bruise
the serpent's head." In that sense at least it is natural
to suppose that they could hardly foil to consider other-
wise than as supremely sacred and magical, that mystical
centre of woman's body, reference to which is, in the
grandly superstitious and grandly sacramental sense,
made in a whisper, the best proof of the possibility of
magic, and of the supernatural, motived, directly personal
interference of the gods (by whatever name we may call
Them, or, in concentration, as One, Him) with the doings
of Man. That female part, before which we even, now,
apart from Phallicism, can " fall down and worship," as
the most glorious object in all God's creation, when
disclosed as the Rose in the Garden of Flowers in the
perfectly-formed naked* figure of a beautiful woman, is, in
fact, that which it is desecration to uncover other than
reverentially and worthily. Notably, according to the
ancient true ideas, especially among the Jews, it was
* The word *' naked," considered radically, comes, we think, from
the Greek word — " Nike" — meaning « victory," in one sense as the
victory of the Evil Genius, and also "victory" in the sense of power —
that is, female power. The same word also signifies " death." Thus in
Genesis : —
" But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the Garden,
God hath said : — ' Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it —
Lest ye die!' " This injunction, be it remarked, strangely and con-
tradictorily as it sounds, was made to botli " Man" and " Woman." —
{Genesis. — Chap, iii., v. 3.) The whole of Genesis is cabalistic, and
therefore of the fullest force, though its purpose and its meanings are
impenetrably covered over with mystery.
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 1 9
always regarded as the very centre and most sacred point
of the religions. Amongst the Hebrews it was philo-
sophically and mystically considered as deep sunk in the
profundities of mystery,- to break in, unpreparedly, upon
which would impugn the eternal supernatural " charm"
the legend of which lay inextricably in the " Cabala :" and
which display would compromise, nay, obliterate its pur-
pose and use, in the reproduction of the generations ; thus
disobeying, in its extinguishment, the enjoined exercise of
the physical means for the renewal and perpetuation of
life out of ourselves. The abstract strangeness of this
fact has escaped the wonder of people, however startling
it would appear of itself, even naturally, except from
experience, which takes away the surprise from everything,
and which familiarity reconciles us to the miracle even of
our own being.
Take away the shame incident to the sexual parts of
woman and of man, and accustom us to the continual
familiar sight of them, and we shall grow to regard
them with as much indifterence as the face or the feet.
Shame, human shame, is taught and acquired, it
being the effect of community, coming from the natural
habit of blushing at fellowship in relation to these things.
We never blush at the mere consciousness of being in
love, yet grow confused even at love which is the purest
when we are brought to book in the sight of other people.
Another remarkable effect in the case of experiencing
passion, or love, is that when it is felt most intensely, it
becomes embodied, as it were, even as a sort of sickness.
And it is doubtful whether, indeed, to the natural man,
love be not a disease, like a fever that is caught, although
it is delicious in its sensations, and in its " love-lorn"
20 Phallicism,
weakness and lassitude. Is this a proof of what strange,
glorious, unimaginable heaven there may be prepared for
us, of which, in this state, we know nothing ; when even
its premonitory, anticipative, mysterious illnesses, or
diseases, may be actually the deliciously divine affliction
of immortal Love, descending out of the skies, or out of
the celestial regions, into the responsive soul of man ?
Thus it may really be profoundly true, as Plato thought,
that not only the "music of the spheres is true," and
that, thus, music is veritably the atmosphere, or mag-
netism, of the angels, as Robert Flood and the Rosi-
crucians taught ; but that Shakespeare was right when he
implied that " Music is the food of love ;" which almost
every man's and woman's daily experience assures them
it must be.
We were, however, about to instance, as a remarkable
proof of the purifying power of real, intense, although
personal love, when gone forth and incorporate, as it
were, into the object, which then becomes truly an
enchanted object, that, in these exalted cases, bodily desire
for the object is rarely felt or thought of,* which would
seem to show, wild enough as it seems to assert it, that
* If it be thought about at all, in relation to the individual with
whom the person may be in love, in these exalted cases, the thought of
the " loved one" is simply magic In excelsls, or a state of passionate
delirium, in which the object transcends out of the natural. Hence
Platonic love, and love of the highest, may be true. Therefore this
sort of love is so refined and spiritual as to be sinless, bodily contact
being impossible of it. Such ideas as the foregoing are the groundwork
and the ra'tson d'etre of the possibility of perfect monasticism ; and of
nunhood or the maintenance of perpetual virginity; and of the realisa-
tion of that self-devoted trampling upon the flesh, which is the glorious
distinctive mark of the Saints, Martyrs, and Hermits, male and female,
all the more gloriously great, when the one class — as in the Roman
Phallic Symbol-Structures. 21
the passion of copulation is truly accidental to man, and
not natural to him. [Refer to our chapter upon the Mystic
Anatomy of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, and to passages
referring to the reveries of some of the Gnostics.] Indeed,
unless the mystery maintained in the hiding away and
rendering unknown these objects had conserved com-
pletely the irresistible desire to " know," and to be secret
viewers of the male special distinctions and the female
special peculiarities — the human man, having a soul, and
woman, having a soul, as a son and a daughter of God in
a certain sublime, physical sense — it would seem philo-
sophically that desire must have become obliterated, and
that means must have failed, through the extinguishment,
first of impulse, and then absolutely of power — the
magic, in this respect, being conjured out of man through
interference, ab extra; with the fullest proof of con-
centrate, occasional design of a still stronger magic, and
of a still more powerful exertion of power than the con-
genital magic and the natural power. For it must always
be remembered that man is an object of himself, as a
being with a "soul," shipwrecked from without (he
knows not whence), into this world of animated forms,
with destinies wholly opposite ; and here produced and
domesticated wholly for a different object, seemingly by
accident, as a contrast and phenomenon, the ruin of a
ruined spirit, perhaps, yet the acknowledged master, no
mate, of all the lower animals, even up to those of the
highest grade, whose characteristics yet touch the brute
Catholic religion they are presumed to be — are perfect, and the other
class, the female devotees, are beautiful. All this, from a certain point
of view, is considered fanaticism ; but nevertheless it is a very fine
fanaticism.
22 Phallicism,
in some respects. Some such view as this is clearly the only
hope of humanity. Man is a machine, dependent upon the
surrounding elements, and upon his food and its decom-
position for his nutrition, and consuming his exquisitely-
attuned and manipulated machinery, gradually, in the
terrestrial, vital, animal heat (or " flameless fire," to make
use of a paradoxical figure) ; for man falls to pieces
(again, a figure or rhodomontade), when he can no longer
maintain himself in his " nature." Yet the valorous
defence, that liis nature makes, even against itself, is
truly wonderful, stupendous. But man fails, at last, in
the incessant war, because he is endowed — however, in
health and constitution, richly endowed — only to endure
for a brief time. There is a never-ceasing ravage, except
for the indispensable intervals of restoring sleep, effected
upon his fine nerves ; upon which his emotions, beautiful,
or the reverse, according to his refinement, play as upon
harpstrings, when the angels touch or the devils assail.
All this, the astrologers say, is regulated by the " traverse
through time" of his horoscope (fatality, or necessity) ;
although man, nevertheless, has his independent will, or
power of election for good or evil, in ways and by
methods which supematurally render free-will and " ne-
cessity" identical in the divine counsels ; of which Man, in
his extremely limited capacity, " most ignorant of what
he's most assured," can form no more conclusive idea,
than he can of abstract time or space, or anything
scarcely, even the " cogito, ergo sum," identity. He has
only a fear of that outside — and a reverence for it, born
out of fear, scarcely out of love of it.
Classes of the Phalli. 23
CHAPTER III.
THE STORY OP THE CLASSES OF THE PHALLI.
The two influences, Male and Female, are conspicuous
in certain differences in the Phallic monuments, which
unitedly, however, signify the same thing. The disputes
of the comparative superiority of the Male over the Female
principle, or of the Female over the Male, were the origin,
amongst the earliest nations, of vast desolating wars, of
which no history, scarcely even legend, has descended to
modem periods. Therefore, no account remains of these
primeval wars, which brought about the building of the
famous Tower of Babel, and were ultimately the cause of
the confusion of languages and the original dispersion of
the nations. Obelisks, Towers, and Steeples represent
and figure forth the Male principle. Pyramids, Circular
magnified forms, and Rhomboidal, or Undulating, Ser-
pentine shapes, denote the Female natural power. The
one set of forms are masculine ; therefore aggressive, and
compelling. The other set of forms are feminine ; there-
fore submissive, and ennobling. But all are alike Phallic,
and mean the same thing, that is the natural motived
power which causes and directs the world, that power
which is the world, in fact.
We have perhaps brought sufficiently into view, and
realised to the reader's attention, as most important, in
every sense, as explanatory of religion and of religious
mysteries, both the theories of the myths, and the
actualities of the mysteries, whether heathen or ethnic.
•24 Phallidsni.
Christian or vindicatory. These Phallic objects, innume-
rable, are always peculiar in their form, and are of all
sizes. If these sometimes prodigious structures are
Obelisks, Columns, or Pillars, or as occasionally happens,
single, rough-hewn, or partly-fashioned uprights, they
represent and figure forth the male principle. Subse-
quent to the very early, devotional ages, these pins, or
uprights, assumed the forms of solid or slender towers,
tors, or springing, rising, pointed fabrics. Amongst the
Muslemmim these were minarets, with egg-shaped sum-
mits ; in the architectural practice among the Christians,
the tower attenuated into the spire or steeple. But the
memorial structures with the larger base, and with that
broader incidence which might be denominated, with a
certain aptness, the Satumian angle, indicated the oppo-
site influence, that of the Female, in mystic type or
apotheosis. These symbol-structures, involving the idea
of the feminine power, are the more broadly vaulting in
shape. Chief, and most majestic of all these monuments,
are the Pyramids. All the mystical monuments of this
form and fashion are in the general sense, equally Phalli —
that is, devoted to, and in witness of the worship of the
distinctive sexual peculiarities. We accept the whole as
meaning the one thing, Phallicism, all interpreted under the
general, rising, forceful form, aspiring towards the stars.
Stately beyond idea, and gloomily majestic, as is the aspect
of these Lunar or "Womanly monumental structures, they
can be soon distinguished. This group of the Feminine-
Phallic forms comprises the Pyramids in the first rank.
The Obelisk is a shrunken, vertically thin, concentrated
pyramid : the Pyramid is a widely squared out obelisk :
both express the same idea. In the conveyance of certain
Classes of the Phalli. 25
ideas to those who contemplate them, the pyramid boasts
of prouder significance, and impresses with a hint of still
more impenetrable and more removed mystery. We
seem to gather dim, supernatural ideas of the mighty
mother of Nature, the dusk divinity crowned with towers,
the ancientest among the ancients, the Isis, or mysterious
consort of the Dethroned, and Ruined, that almost two-
sexed entity without a name. She of the Veil which is
never to be lifted, perhaps not even by the angels, for
their knowledge is limited. In short, this tremendous
abstraction, Cybele, Idea Mater, Isiac controller of the
zodiacs, whatever she be, has her representative figure in
the half-buried Sphynx, even to our own day, watching
the stars, although nearly swallowed up in the engulphing
sands. This is the Gorgon survival of the period of the
Ark, eldest daughter of the mythologies, whose other
face (for, Janus-like, she looks two ways,) turned away
from the world, is beautiful as the fairest one of Paradise.
That other face of the Gorgon, or Sphynx, resembles, in
■ one respect, that side of the Lunar disc ; the side of the
Moon turned away from observers on the earth, that face
which no mortal eye ever saw, or will see, and which,
for this reason, is one of the greatest mysteries in all
the sky.
The foregoing remarks furnish the clue to this double
history of the Phallus, in the divided character of its
worship, whether the Obelisk or Pillar, or whether the
Pyramid be the idol. It is too plain to be misunder-
stood. As the Greeks wrote Palai for Pali, they rendered
the word Paliputra, by Palaigonos, which also means the
offspring of Pali, literally signifying the offspring of the
Phallus. It was notoriously the Toni and not the Phallus,
26 Phallicism.
which alone received the veneration of the Hindus,
though now divided into innumerable sects and an in-
extricable maze of polytheism. Wilford observes that
the Yavanas were the ancestors of the Greeks, and
(vol. iii., p. 358) that the Pandits insist that the words
Tdvana and Toni are derived from the same root, Tu,
and that the Yavanas were so named from their obstinate
assertion of a superior influence in the female over the
male nature. An ancient book on astronomy, in San-
scrit, bears the title of Tdvana Jatica, which may be
interpreted " the Ionic sect." There is an ancient proverb
amongst the Pandits, that " no base creature can be lower
than a Yavana," truly showing the fluctuating nature of
human opinions and theories, which, nevertheless, have
torn the bosom of society, and shaken nations to their
centre. Their creed caused the new people in Greece
to name their new country itself Ionia, from that conse-
crated Yoni which they revered, and to distinguish them-
selves as the Ionic, or Y6-nic sect, in indubitable reference
to their peculiar opinions. These and such-like researches,
furnish us with the real meaning of proper names, and
amongst others that of the great goddess Ju-no, which
Wilford asserts to be derived from the Yoni of the
Hindus ; also if we analyse the name of Diana, or Di-
Yana, the great goddess of the Ephesians, we shall at
once perceive an identical etymology ; and when we
remember that Ju-no was fabled to have been born at
Argos, and that she was peculiarly worshipped there, we
shall fully coincide in that opinion, for it is to be observed
that this name of Argha is derived from the Bhaga of
the Hindus, and both signified the Yoni, and likewise an
ark or boat, which was used throughout antiquity as a
Classes of the Phalli. 27
type of the Yoni itself. The Hindu goddess, Bagis, was
indifferently called Vagis, from which, no doubt, is derived
the Latin vagina; and when we remember that Plutarch
makes the otherwise inexplicable assertion, that Osiris*
(or the incarnation of the male principle) was commander
of the Argo ; and when we learn that the true meaning
of the name Argha-nat'ha, or, as we mostly render it,
(speaking of the great idol), Jagernath, is no other than
" lord of the boat," we shall perceive at once the drift
of these dark sentences, when truly and intelligibly
expounded.
The discussion of this word Argha naturally induces
us to remark concerning an intermediate or middle sect,
which, says Wilford, " is now prevalent in India, and
which was generally diffused over ancient Europe." It
was introduced by the Pelargi, who, Herodotus says,
were the same as the Pelasgi. Many ancient writers
affirm that they were one of the most ancient peoples in
the world. It is asserted that they first inhabited Argolis,
and about 1883, ^'^-j passed into CEmonia, or Yo-
monia, and were afterwards dispersed, or emigrated into
several parts of Greece. Some of the Pelasgians that had
been driven from Attica, (Ya-tica), settled at Lemnos,
whither, some time after, they carried some Athenian
women, whom they had seized on the coast of Africa.
They raised children by these captive females, but after-
wards destroyed them together with their mothers,
through jealousy, because they differed in manners from
themselves, which horrid murder was attended by a
dreadful pestilence. Such is the account given by the
classic writers (Pausanias, Strabo, Herodotus, Plato,
* Osiris and /r/V, the Is^uara and Fs'i of the Hindus.
28 Phallichm.
Virgil, Ovid, Flaccus, Seneca, &c.). But, when we weigh
the foregoing arguments, can we doubt that these women
were destroyed through jealousy of theh;j;eligion, and not
because they differed merely in manners, in accordance
with the peculiar characteristics of fanaticism, which
brooks no opposition to its devouring nature ?
The word Pelargos was derived, says Wilford, from
P'hala and Argha, (Phallus, and Argha from Bhaga, or
Yoni), those mysterious types which the later mythologist
distinguished under the names of Pallas and Argo.
The Pelargi venerated both male and female prin-
ciples in union, as their compound appellation indicates,
and represented them conjointly, when their powers were
supposed to be combined, by the intersection of two
equilateral triangles, thus, x , that peculiar symbol
" Form'd all mysteries to bear,"
the emblem of Lux, and to which innumerable perfec-
tions and virtues, including those of the Cross, have been
attributed, from time immemorial. The union of these
two symbols, denoting the Male nature, and the Female
nature, or the Phallus, the mark of which is the upright
line, and the Yoni, the recognitive mark of which is the
horizontal line, are best rendered, or depicted, in the
double, or conjoined equilateral triangle in intersection.
The pyramidal, aspiring, equilateral triangle is Male, and
signifies Fire, and the rushing force of fire, mounting
upwards in its own impulse, contradicting nature, inas-
much as it shoots up against gravity. The pyramid in
reverse, or pointing down, is the indicating symbol ot
Water, or of the lunar. Female influence. The cross
section of these all-significant figures gives the sexalpha.
Classes of the Phalli. 29
or Six- Alphas, the one half of the Cabalistic Machataloth
or the six ascending signs of the zodiac, moving to junc-
tion upwards in their influences (the one half of the
ecliptic, figuratively the spear or glaive of Saint Michael),
and also the other half of the same, six signs in reverse,
meaning the junction, in cross action, and importing the
whole number of the astronomical, and astrological, twelve
equal divisions, or the Twelve Signs of the Great Circle.
This, also, means the dominion of the Moon in man's
body, as passing through all the twelve signs. The
symbol, or sign, of this mystical union is framed as
thus : — Fire-Water, Water-Fire, Male-Female, Female-
Male, in equal interchange, and the figure representing its
idea, its glyph or special "hieroglyph," is given in our
illustration. This figure means Life mystically, and the
giving of life ; it is the solemn mark, typical of the sexes in
conjunction ; and it is also called the seal of the princely
magician, Solomon, the King of the Jews, who builds and
sanctifies the temple, Solomon's temple ; the myths regard-
ing which are manifold. Solomon, in this view, is not only
the monarch, and the mighty enchanter ; he is not only the
king of the Jews, but he is, also, supernaturally viewed,
the Champion, or Hero of the Fire. Fire, in all the
religions, has been chosen as the representative mark of
the supreme divinity, as the most faithful and closest
mystical celestial image ; as that idea of God vouchsafed
and approved ; in all the forms of faith, Chaldaic, Hebrew,
Oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Northern and Sou-
thern, Eastern and Western, nay, distinguishing the
Mexican and Peruvian, the Toltecque, and other religions
found prevailing on the discovery of the New World ;
and all which, heathen and Christian alike, find direct
30
Phallicis7n.
exemplification in the Phalli, speaking as it were all over
the world, from all time ; and yet remaining the symbol
(only to be understood by the " Rosicrucians," and even
to these vouchsafed, limitedly, with the '* seven-fold
guard" for silence,) which gives to Man, mystically and
supernaturally, at once his only hope and, at the same
time, his deepest dread. For, according to the assertion of
the ancient philosopher, man found all his Gods in fear.
With the analysis of one more example we must im-
perfectly conclude this portion of our Gnostic subject;
and the next example that occurs in this line of exami-
nation is the history of Mycenje ; which, we are of
opinion, will confirm what has hitherto been advanced.
Mycenae, on which name Henry O'Brien has commented,
was situate at the extremity of the plain of Argos, and was
the capital of a kingdom whose last sovereign, Epytus,
was dispossessed, i 104, B.C., on the return of the Hera-
clidse, descendants of Hercules.
History informs us that Hercules was a Mycencean
prince, who was, for some reason or other, banished with
all his family and descendants from the country, and his
throne possessed by an usurper. Let us examine this
name of Hercules. Chris, becoming the Christus,
Christ, in the Christian ideas, or the Conservator, Saviour,
the Greeks used to express by x or Spanish iota, the
aspirated Im of the Orientals, who said harts. In Hebrew,
heres signifies the Sun (Isaiah, xix. 18), but in Arabic the
meaning of the radical word is to preserve {haris, pre-
server^ ; and Heri-cal, from which Hercules, is a Hindoo
name of the ' sun. " I cannot help suspecting," says
Wilford, " that Hercules is the same with Heracida, and
signifying the race of Hera or Heri ;" that is, the children
Classes of the Phalli. 3 1
of the sun, of which the Phallus always presented the
emblem, as the vivifier and preserver of nature. Hence,
perhaps, the cry, or appeal, Haro ! (Rescue 1 Preserve !)
in Jersey. This is valid by ancient law. We may here
observe, as a curious citation, that this is a very old custom
in Jersey, surviving time out of mind, the origin of which
no one knows. Concerning its meaning there has been .
prodigious dispute. It is sufficient to say that it has
puzzled all the antiquaries in England, to judge from the
Transactions of all the learned societies, and reiterated
inquiries and examination in Notes and ^eries, and other
professedly explaining periodicals. The supposed ag-
grieved person, in regard of this singular calling upon
the name of Haro, has the right to go into the highway,
and to make public protestation of his wrong. He
acclaims upon this mysterious name, shouting as if to an
imaginary person. He kneels down in the middle of the
road, turns his face to the east, like a Mahommedan,
raises his voice, and calls aloud upon an invisible some-
body, to whom he appeals by the unintelligible name of
Haro, Haro, " to the rescue ;" invoking help, or a
champion, which, in some sort of superstitious, super-
natural fashion, the suppliant is imagined thereby to
obtain.
That Hercules and his followers of the Phallic sect
were driven from Mycence by conquerors of the opposite
religious party, we deduce from the ruins themselves of the
Cyclopasan pyramidal gate of Mycente (of which so many
puerile and flimsy explanations have been given), whose
stupendous triangular pediment, and other appropriate
architectural arrangements, prove it to have been con-
structed by the upholders of a contrary faith. In con-
3 2 Phallkism.
firmation of this, we read (-vol. v., p. 270, Asiatic
Researches^ that Diodorus Siculus says, "the posterity
of Hercules reigned for many centuries in Pali-bothra (or
Baali-putra)," which means literally a country peopled by
the children of the sun.
We have here to explain that all Architecture, ancient
and modern, is governed simply by two ideas of expres-
sion, both of which are eminently Phallic, and full of
meaning, certainly of sacred meaning. The governing
line of all the temples in the old religions is horizontal ;
thus the Jewish temple, or tabernacle, line is horizontal,
following the form of the ark [argha, arc, arche, case or
container), the oblong magical depository of the mysteries,
in the penetralia of which, the altar-fire, or fire of the
gods, is to burn. This is the shrine of the gods, the
container of gods or their images. The Egyptian
temples — the architectural wonders of the world — are
vast, horizontal, hieroglyphic-covered bulks, severe, pon-
derous, pyramidal, impressive only of gloom, and of
majestic, though terrible rites always. The Greek
temples, with their elaborate, richly-detailed friezes,
resembled long chests, with rows of colonnades stretching
down the sides, and widened on platforms, or stylobates,
as they are technically called. Besides, following out the
same levelled lines, which expressed the architectural
feminine idea, there were the magnificent depressed pedi-
ments, the tympana of which were filled with mythological
sculpture. These were the tetrasiyles, sestyles, octostyles,
decastylesy or dodecastyles, into which the grades of the
frontal and rearward colonnades of the temples were
distinguished ; the porticiis pronaos^ and posticus, were
technical names of the grand colonnades east and west-
Classes of the Phalli. ^-5
Over all, the glory of the sun of the Olympian
- Greece was lavished. All the temples, and their majestic
detail, were made up to the sight in the superb, deeply-
sunk, architectural shadows, the grandeur and the beauty
of which are known only to the artist, revelling as he
does upon the pictorial wonders of Grecian colonnades,
entablatures, pediment, lacuna (in the interiors), and
mouldings, and the outlines that exhaust elegance and
taste, literally.
The Roman temples indicate the same feminine lateral
line and horizontal extension. This horizontal archi-
tectural form was that sacred to the feminine mysticism.
Construction of this character hinted the adoption of the
female idea, as to the principal ruling power. But the
ascending or aspiring line, such as that of the perpen-
dicular Phallus, or obelisk, meant the opposite idea, or
the male influence. This was the Phallus or Phallos
((f>a\\os), proper, the masculine upright, the ascending,
forceful assertion of armed nature, the column of slender,
sworded, celestial Fire.
The double Lithoi, or Phalli, are twin powers, or
double, just as Light itself is a twin power, or double, in
its own nature and capacity, for it is not only light, but
also, and at the same time, the Matter out of which light
is made; the light being always the brighter, in pro-
portion as the substantive matter which supplies its life
(magically), is the thickest and the densest. All this is
well understood among the most acute and the soundest
naturalists and physiologists. These are the gods of the
Phalli ; for, in the philosophic, theosophic, theogonic
sense, the Phalli are not idols. They are Male-Female,
Mind-Matter, Sun-Moon, Heaven-Earth, Conception-
D
.34 PhaUicism.
Image, Fire-Water ; the Upright Line and the Lateral
Line together constituting the Cross, and (farther) the
cross of Crucifixion. Which of all this — Two Senses, or
Double Sense, or United Sense in Double Sense^which
of all is first ? or which can be first in dignity, when we
examine abstractions so profound, and so evading, and
metaphysics so extremely attenuated and shadowy ?
We may now pass on to the results of these curious
inquiries as to the real meaning of the Phalli, the over-
powering significance of which has been too much
ignored. The Phalli are sacred monuments, but, for fear
of certain ideas that might be raised in relation to them,
many worthy scholars shrink from them. We aim in our
dissertation, involving the architectural and archteological
points of our general subject, at explaining the value of a
system of interpretation which seems to contain the only
key for expounding the religious mysteries of all nations,
or which may prevail to open the sealed historic volume
that contains the records of long bygone antiquity, and
a whole round of interesting puzzles. The riches
obtainable in the more remote and hidden departments
of this Phallic, and consequently Gnostic, subject, we
may almost say are inexhaustible. We have care-
fully refrained from straying in, or have only dis-
cursively visited, those tempting nooks and avenues,
those inviting paths whose bright vistas, branching out of
the subject, would have led us undesirably far. But
keeping the straight line traced out for our purpose, we
fijid ourselves, as it were, arrived at the shores of an
ocean which abounds indeed in precious spoils, but which
time will not admit the means of adequately securing.
However, we seek, in all propei-, justifiable respects, to
Classes of the Phalli. 35 '
fiithom a doctriile which, more than any other ever
broached, promises to unravel and disentangle the real
history of mankind, the true causes of their ancient wars
and emigrations, and of their institutions from the earliest
records of humanity, and which certainly affords the only
rational clue to the mazes of universal mythology.
Sir William Jones has casually remarked on tlie
analogy between the Gothic, Celtic, and Persian, with
the Sanscrit ; on the identity of many of the Indian,
Egyptian, and Grecian gods; on the analogy between
Peru and part of India ; on the early connexion between
India and Africa ; on the probability of Ireland behig
peopled by Persian migration. But if the foregoing
principles that guided that process of inquiry by which
we clearly identified the worship of the Mexicans and of
the ancient Chinese (by an inquisition into the radical
names and natures of their temples and their gods) were
followed up and duly carried out by men of real erudition,
conversant with primitive and radical languages, and
ancient universal history, we are persuaded tbit— by a
strict etymological inquiry into the proper names (with
all their ramifications) of the countries, of the gods, and
of the temples of the ancients, in connexion with the
foregoing theories— we might arrive at a knowledge
of the universal history of the worid, far exceeding in
scientific interest any yet possessed, and at a complete
and satisfactory elucidation of innumerable obscure and
enigmatical facts relative to the vestiges and records
which remain of the nations of old, whether architectural,
mythological, or historical, and which only afford food for,
we had almost said, irrational conjecture, vague surmise,
or puerile and pedantic disquisition.
^6 Pballic'wn.
Very recently a most industrious author and antiquary,
who spent many years on military service in India, labo-
riously and enthusiastically, recognising the importance of
his quest into the meaning of worships, made comparison
of the monuments, to deduce the tokens of real religion.
He found them all, on close and critical examination, to
mean but the one thing, the very Phallic worship which in
remote days overspread the whole world, and which has
left its living remains, even conspicuously to be observed
about us in our own day, with solid foundations actually
in our own religion, and in every intelligible form of
Christianity,
Major-General Forlong's book, entitled " The Rivers of
Life : An Account of the Faiths," — abounding in illustra-
tions, and published in two elaborate quarto volumes, — is
to a very considerable extent Godfrey Higgins over again.
And Godfrey Higgins' encyclopcedic works may be con-
sidered as seriously compromising, nay as destructive of,
real lively fiiith and real religion ; because that which is
supernatural is submitted to realistic questioning that
damages the mystery in which yet truly lies the power
and the force of all religions. We however repudiate in
this present book all idea of offering to the reader any-
thing but " construction ;" true, although doubtless it
will prove to be profound, mystical, strictly " Christian"
paradoxical construction. We contend for special revela-
tion, necessarily wrapt up in mysteries. We maintain the
possibility of 7niracle in the mysteries of God; although
in the world, and in the ideas of the world, there is
nothing more fixed and true than the impossibility of
miracle. The principle for which we contend throughout
all our statements and arguments is that the ideas of
Classes of the Phalli. 37
man — such a limited, vain creature as he is, beside the
Mighty Powers outside of him — are all wrong and absurd,
and that his common sense and his * reason' are utterly no
reason at all. These ambitious * attempts to wrestle with
Divinity — not in the mystic senses involved in the
matching of his powers with the Angel of the Lord, in
the figurative struggle of the Patriarch, when on his
journey, in the emblematic Scriptures, he meets and
strives with the Mysterious Being sent on a message to
him — are but the pufFed-up vanity, as it were, of the over-
educated, audacious child !
We are all for construction — even for Christian,
although, of course, philosophical, construction. We
have nothing to do with reality, in man's limited, mecha-
nical, scientific sense, or with realisni. We have under-
taken to show that mysticism is the very life and soul of
* Let the words of Goethe always be present to men gifted with
habits of thought, if they, at the same time, happen to be blest with
penetration. — " The marionette fable of Faust," says Goethe, " mur-
mured with many voices in my soul. I too had wandered into every
department of knowledge, and had returned early enough satisfied with
the vanity of science. And life, too, I had tried under various aspects,
and always came back sorrowing and unsatisfied."
Let such seeker check himself, and recur to the wise warnings
supplied poetically in Christopher Marlowe's ** Faustus" — the unques-
tionable original of all the " Fausts," and their instigator — these subjects
of the daring man, and the too ambitious and questioning and defiant
learned man, inducing him to overpass his nature, and to " rush in" —
like the fool — where " Angels fear to tread."
" Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight.
And burned is Apollo's laurel -bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man ;
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise
Only to wonder at unlawful things.
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits."
38 Phallic'ujn.
religion; that rites and ritual and formal worship and
prayers are of the absolute necessity of things ; that 'the
Bible is only misread and misrepresented when rejected as
advancing supposed fabulous and contradictory things ;
that Moses did not make mistakes, but spoke to the
" children of men" in the only way in which children, in
their nonage, can be addressed; — that the world is,
indeed, a very different place from that which it is assumed
to be ; that what is derided as superstition is the only
true and the only scientific knowledge; and, moreover,
that modern knowledge, and modern science, are to a great
extent not only superstition, but superstition of a very
destructive and deadly kind.
In the first book which we published concernmg these
subjects, and in beginning our design to bring to the con-
temporaneous knowledge some true ideas of the Rosi-
CRUCiANS, we descanted in a work* called "The Indian
Religions ; or Results of the Mysterious Buddhism," on the
fact of Stonehenge being phallic in its design and purpose,
a phallic temple of an antiquity prodigious, even probably
a relic of the First Dispersion ; and we stated that it
expressed deified phallicism in perplexing but convincing
forms all over it. Such statements were, of course, greatly
to the consternation of jog-trot believers, who could not,
for a moment, conceive that such extraordinary, and sup-
posedly indecent, things were possible. Doubtless, at
* *' London Asiatic Society. — ' The subject of Ramii, or Boodh,
and the Buddhists, or Bhuddists, is so enveloped in obscurity, but still
of such deep interest, that it is well worthy the attention of the learned
and curious ; for it is a religion that has spread far and wide ; of which
Fo in China was the chief; and which it is said Is recognised in this
country, at Stonehenge.^ " " The Wonders of Elora ; or The Nanative
of a Journey in India." By John B, Seely, Captain B.N.I. London :
1825. See also Godfrey Higgins' " Anacalypsis," <' Celtic Druids," SiC.
Classes of the Phalli. 39
first, the safely-moving, would-be respectable antiquarian
world, and, still more suspiciously, the rigidly judicious
Christian and the orthodox, were full of disbelief and
disapproval. Yet they are, now, fast changing their
opinions, and giving in one after the other, more or less
reluctantly, in the face of such insurmountable evidence.
But, as yet, they do not fully see the majesty and
grandeur, and even the profoundly sublime. Christian
beautiful side in the mysterious and solemn sense of this
truly great subject ; so guardedly watched by the philo-
sophers and mystics of all time.
We find that Major-General Forlong has adopted all
our references, made so long ago, as to the sexual mean-
ings of the myth indicated in Stonehenge. He treats of
it as a Phallic monument, and places his mysterious
" Snake," whose effigy is the key and symbol of all these
Lunar Theosophic reveries, immediately in front of and
below his drawing of Stonehenge. He identifies the
symbol with the singular object, standing solitarily in
advance of Stonehenge, popularly known under the name
of the " Friar's Heel."* This upright, dark stone, which
rears itself singularly and weirdly in the solitude, and
stands by itself, some distance in advance of the circles of
gigantic Trilithoi, collectively called "Stonehenge,"
is strangely changed in its transmission down to
modem times, and is now passed off into a masquerade of
* The " Friar's Heel," always anxiously shown to every visitor
and explorer at Stonehenge, is a dark, formless, oblong stone, evidently
in direct connexion with, but placed much in advance of, the grand
exterior circle of stones. It is the same kind of stone, and of about
the same significance, as the famous Cab, Keb, Kebla, or Caaba ;
) or Bfth-el, Bothel, or " House of God" — or central-point for adoration
for the Hadgis, or pilgrims to the sacred Mecca, — which is, as is well
known, the " Jerusalem" 'of the Mahommedans.
4° Phallicism.
lingual transformation or re-rendering. This commemo-
rative stone, or upright, is no " Friar's Heel," as it is
familiarly designated ; but it is a Lingham or Phallus, and
is dedicated to Freya or Freia, or the " Friday Divinity,"
god or goddess, for there is no sex in these respects ; it
is either or both, as an abstraction or a personified Idea.
It is a Friday god or goddess, or a queen, Venus or
Aphrodite, Bhaga, or the "Genius of Fire," not, of
course, the genius of ordinary fire, but of the super-
sensual, superessential, divinely operative, celestial Fire.
Obelisks have been raised as sacred mystical objects,
and bowed before as idols in all ages ; looked upon,
mystically and figuratively, as the " Keys of Paradise."
We in England should properly have set our greatest
arch^ological acquisition, the Obelisk, not as at present,
standing in its mistaken, mean position, amidst the
angles of the Thames Embankment ; but, imitating the
ancients, and the acute, judicious, artistic people of the
middle ages, in Italy and elsewhere, we should have
placed this priceless, magnificent Memphian trophy
between Sir Christopher Wren's kingly towers, flanking
the western porticoes of Saint Paul's Cathedral; and
having raised this magic Emperor of the Uprights in
front of our colossal Christian Temple, we should have
crowned and surmounted him with the glorious symbol
of the " Saviour" (in this Christian country), emphasising
and capping the splendours and dignities of all the gods
of all the thousands of years of Egypt, with the trium-
phant Cross ! Such would, indeed, have been a worthy
object for the multitude of London to gaze at. But
London is confessedly not Athens, any more than any one
of its metropolitan and corporate administrators has ever
proved himself a Phidias, or a Pericles.
■ Transcendental Phallicism. 41
CHAPTER IV.
CELESTIAL, OR THEOSOPHICAL DOCTRINE OF THE UNSEXUAL,
TRANSCENDENTAL PHALLICISM.
Over the porticoes of all the Egyptian temples, the
winged disc of the sun is placed between two hooded
snakes (the cobra capello), signifying that luminary placed
between its two great attributes of motion and life. The
same combination of symbols, to express the same attri-
butes, is observable upon the coins of the Phoenicians
and Carthaginians. {Me dailies de Dutens, p. i ; Mus.
Hunter, tab. 15, fig. 5, and viii.) These same symbols
also appear to have been anciently employed by the
Druids of Britain and Gaul, as they still are by the
idolaters of China. See Stukeley's Abury; the original
name of which temple, he observes, was the "Snake's
Head :" and it is remarkable that the remains of a
similar circle of stones in Boeotia had the same name in
the time of Pausania's. The Scandinavian goddess, Isa or
Disa, was sometimes represented between two serpents
[01. Rudbeck Adant., pt. iii., c. i, p. 25, and pt. 1i.,
p. 343, fig. A, and p. 510]; and a similar mode of
canonisation is employed in the apotheosis of Cleopatra,
as expressed on her coins.
Perpetual lamps are kept burning in the inmost recesses
of all the great pagodas in India, the Hindoos holding
Fire to be the essence of all active power in nature.
Numa is said to have consecrated the perpetual Fire, as
the first of all things, and the soul of matter; which
42 PhallicUm.
without it, is motionless and dead. Fires of the same kind
were,- for the same reasons, preserved in most of the
principal temples, both Greek and Barbarian ; there being
scarcely a country in the world where some traces of the
adoration paid to fire are not to be found. \Hiiet. De-
monst. Evang. Prap., iv., c. 5 ; Lafitau, Mcsurs, t. i.,
p. 153.] T\\e prytanaa of the Greek cities are the points
where the sacred fires were burned in the Temples,
The characteristic attribute of the passive generative
power was expressed in symbolical writing by different
enigmatical representations of the most distinctive cha-
racteristic of the sex; such as the Shell, called the
Concha Veneris [August, de Civ. Dei, lib. vi., c. 9], the Fig-
leaf [Plutarch de Is. et Osir, p. ^6^'], the Barley-corn
[Eustath. in Homer, p. 134], or the letter Delta [Suidas'] ;
all of which occur very frequently upon coins and other
ancient monuments, in this sense. The same attribute,
personified as the goddess of love or desire, is usually
represented under the voluptuous form of a beautiful
naked woman, frequently distinguished by one of these
symbols, and called Venus, Cypris, or Aphrodite, names
of rather uncertain etymology. Other attributes of the
goddess of beauty were on some occasions added, whence
the symbolical statue of Venus at Paphos had a beard,
and other appearances of virility; which seems to have
been the most ancient mode of representing the celestial,
as distinguished from the popular, goddess of that name ;
the one being a personification of a general procreative
power, and the other only of animal desire. [Signum et
hujus Veneris est Cypri harhatum corpore,sedveste muliebri,
cum sceptro et statura viri. Macrob., lib. iii., p. 74.] The
fig was a still more common symbol ; the statues of Priapus
Transcendental Phallicism. 43
being made of the tree, and the fruit being carried with
the phallus in the ancient processions in honour of
Bacchus. Whence we often see portraits of persons in
Italy painted with the % in one hand, to signify their
orthodox devotion to the fair sex. [See portrait of
Tassoni prefixed to the 4to edition of the Seccbia Rapiia,
&c.] Hence, also, arose the Italian expression '■^far-la-
jica-p which was done by putting the thumb between the
middle and forefingers, as it appears in many Priapic
ornaments now extant ; or by putting the finger or the
thumb into the corner of the mouth, and drawing it down ;
of which there is a representation in a small Priapic figure
of exquisite sculpture engraved among the Antiquities of
Herculanasum. [Bronzi.^ tab. xciv.)
It is to these obscene gestures that the expressions of
'.'figging," and "biting the thumb," which Shakespeare
probably took from translations of Italian novels, seem to
allude. [See i Henry IV., Act V., sc. 3, and Ro?}ieo and
Juliet, Act I., sc. I.] Another old writer, who probably
understood Italian, calls the latter " giving the fico ;" and,
according to its ancient meaning, it might very naturally
be employed as a silent reproach of effeminacy.
The key, which is still worn, with the Priapic hand, as
an amulet, by the women of Italy, appears to have been
an emblem of simiUir meaning, as the equivocal use of the
name of it, in the language of that country, implies. Of
the same kind, too, appe;u-s to have been the cross in the
form of the letter T? attached to a circle, which all, or
most, of the figures of Egyptian deities, both male and
female, can-y in the left hand, and by which the Syrians,
Phoenicians, and other inhabitants of Asia, represented
the planet Venus — worshipped by them as the natural
44 Phallicism.
emblem or image of that goddess. [Prodi, Paraphr., lib.
ii., p. 97. See also Mich. Ang. " De la chausse,^' part ii..
No. xxxvi., fol. 62, and Jablonski Panth., Egypt., lib. ii.,
C. vii., s. 6.] The cross in this form is sometimes
observable on coins ; and several of them were found in
a temple of Serapis, demolished at the general destruction
of those edifices by the emperor Theodosius ; and were
said, by the Christian antiquaries of that time, to signify
the future life. [Suidas in v., Tavpo<;r\ In solemn
sacrifices all the Lapland idols were marked with it from
the blood of the victims [_Scheffer, Lappanic, c. x.,
p. 112]; and it occurs on many Runic monuments found
in Sweden and Denmark, which are of an age long
anterior to the approach of Christianity to those countries ;
and, probably, to its appearance in the world. [01. Rud-
beck, Atlant., p. ii., c. xi., p. 662, and p. 1 1 1, c. i., s. iii. ;
01. Varelit Scandagr. Runic; Bor/ase, Hist, of Cornwall,
p. 106.] On some of the early coins of the Phoenicians,
we find it attached to a chaplet of beads placed in a circle,
so as to form a complete rosary. From the very name of
" rosary," in connexion with these ultra-remote matters,
we can perceive the replication — if we may make use of
such a word — of the Rosicrucian adepts to these far-off
and figurative views of the mysterious relationship of the
Cross and Rose : and, moreover, of the meanings con-
veyed through the apocalyptic symbol of the " Crucified-
Rose ;" which, to ordinary understandings, is unintelligible,
and a masquerade — although a signally grand, significant
" masquerade" — only to be played before and presented
to the apprehension of the true Rosicrucian Initiates. The
" Rosary," as a form, is precisely the same symbol, although
the devotees are mainly, if not wholly, in a state of igno-
Transcendental PhalUcisju. 45
ranee as to the real meanings conveyed in all the ideas
which go with it ; the same in the hands, and in the use,
of the Lamas of Thibet and China, the Hindoos, the more
profound sects among the Buddhists, and the Roman
Catholics — at least among the most deeply-thinking and
penetrating of them. [Fel/erin, Vi/Ies., t. ii., pi. cxxii.,
fig. 4 ; Archceoi, vol. xiv., p. 2 ; Nichoff., s. ix. ; Maurice,
Indian Antiquities, vol. v.]
The Scandinavian goddess, Freya, had (like the Paphian
Venus) the characteristics of both sexes. [Malkt Hist,
de Danemarc, Introd., c. vii., p. 116.]
Considering the general state of reserve and restraint
in which the Grecian women lived, it is astonishing to
what an excess of extravagance their religious enthusiasm
was carried on certain occasions ; particularly in cele-
brating the orgies of Bacchus. The gravest matrons and
proudest princesses suddenly laid aside their decency and
their dignity, and ran screaming among the woods and
mountains, fantastically dressed or half naked, with hair
dishevelled and interwoven with ivy or vine, and some-
times with living serpents. [Plutarch in Alexandr.~\ In
this manner they frequently worked themselves up to
such a pitch of savage ferocity, as not only to feed upon
raw flesh (Apollon. Rhod., lib. i., 6^,6, and SchoL), but
even to tear living animals to pieces with their teeth, and
eat them warm and palpitating. \yul. Firmic, c. 14;
Clement. Alex. Cohort., p. ii. ; Arnob., lib. v.] The en-
thusiasm of the Greeks was, however, generally of tlie
gay and festive kind ; which almost all their religious rites
tended to promote. Music and wine always accompanied
devotion, as tending to exhilarate men's minds, and assimi-
late them with the deity; to imitate whom was to feast and
Phallkism.
rejoice, to cultivate the elegant and useful arts j and there-
by to give and receive happiness {Strabo, lib. x., p. 476).
The Babylonian women of every rank and condition
held it to be an indispensable duty of religion to prostitute
themselves, once in their lives, in the temple of Mylitta,
who was the same goddess as the Venus of the Greeks,
to any stranger who came and offered money ; which,
whether little or much, was accepted, and applied to
sacred purposes. Numbers of these devout ladies were
always in waiting, and the stranger had the liberty, regu-
lated by a certain determining form of lot, of choosing in
whatever direction his liking should prevail, as the women
reclined in rows in the walks about the temple, guarded by
the sacred usages, but exposed otherwise freely enough ;
no refusal being allowed {Herodotus, lib. i.). A similar
custom prevailed in Cyprus {Herod., c. 199), and pro-
bably in many other countries, it being, as Herodotus
observes, the practice of all mankind, except the Greeks
and Egyptians, to take such liberties with their temples,
which, they concluded, must be pleasing to the Deity, since
birds and animals, acting under the guidance of instinct,
or by the immediate impulse of Heaven, did the same.
The exceptions he might safely have omitted, at least
so far as relates to the Greeks ; for there were a thousand
sacred prostitutes kept in each of the celebrated temples
of Venus, at Eryx and Corinth ; who, according to all
accounts, were extremely expert and assiduous in attending
to the duties of their profession. {Strabo, lib. viii. ; Diodor.
Sic, lib. iv. ; Philodetni Epigr. in Brunck. Analect., vol. ii.,
p. 85.) It is not likely that the temple which they served
should be the only place exempt from being the scene of
these freedoms. Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims the
1 ranscendental Phallic ism. 47
same exception in favour of the Romans, but, as we
suspect, equally without reason ; for Juvenal, who lived
only a century later, when the same religion and nearly
the same manners prevailed, seems to consider every
temple in Rome as a kind of licensed brothel : —
" Nuper enim, ut repeto, fanum Isidis et Ganymeden,
Pads, et advectas secreta palatia matris,
Et Cererem, (nam quo non prostat femina templo ?)
Notior Aufidis maechas celebrare solebas." — Sat. ix., 22.
While the temples of the Hindoos possessed their
establishments, most of them had bands of consecrated
prostitutes, called the Women of the Idol, selected in their
infancy by the Brahmins for the beauty of their persons,
and trained up with every elegant accomplishment that
could render them attractive, and insure success in tlje
profession which they exercised at once for the pleasure
and profit of the priesthood. They were never allowed
to desert the temple; and the offspring of their pro-
miscuous embraces were, if males, consecrated to the
service of the deity in the ceremonies of his worship ;
and, if females, educated in the profession of their
mothers. {Maurice Antiq. Ind., vol. i., part i., p. 341.)
Night, being the appropriate season for these mysteries,
and being also supposed to have some genial and nutritive
influence in itself {Orph. Hymn. ii. 2), was personified as
the source of all things, the passive productive principle
of the universe {Diodor. Sic, I., i., c. vii.), which the
Egyptians called by a name that signified "night"
A6vp or x6a>p, called Athorh still in the Coptic. {jfablo7iski,
Panth. Egypt., lib. i., c. i., s. 7.) Hesiod says that "the
nights belong to the blessed gods; as it is then that
dreams descend from Heaven to forewarn and instruct
.48 Phallic tsnu
men." (Hesiod. E/>y. jT)^.) Hence Night is called
€v,
before the Phallus — Adam being the primitive Phallus,
great procreator of the human race. " It may possibly
seem strange," he says, " that this orison should be daily
said before the body of Adam," but " it is a most con-
fessed tradition among the eastern men that Adam was
commanded by God that his dead body should be kept
above ground till a fulness of time should come to commit
if yixVxDDis to the middle of the earth by a priest of the
Most High God." This means Mount Moriah, the Meru
of India.
" This body of Adam Xvas embalmed and transmitted
from father to son, till at last it was delivered up by
68 Phallicism.
Lamech into the hands of Noah." Again, "The middle
of the Ark was the place of prayer, and made holy by
the presence of Adam's body." [/<^/(i., p. 121.] "And
so soon as ever the day began to break Noah stood up
towards the body of Adam, &c., &c., and prayed."
Here come in the ideas of the Gnostics, and the super-
stitions concerning " Gallus" and the solemn " cockcrow,"
the announcement of the mom and the driving back
of the darkness, its beaten and discomfited mysterious
agents vanishing in the strengthening, magnificent, and
yet solemn light, till at last the Sun appears on the
rim of the horizon.
To return however to the tables of stone, and to the
Pillar of Jacob. Our modern rendering of their form is
a diagram, or in other words, two headstones placed side
by side. Now if we alter the position a little, allowing
one to recline horizontally, surmounted by the other
perpendicular, we shall obtain a complete Linga and
Yoni — the " sacred Name" of the " holy of holies"
before mentioned, and the PHlar or Mast in the Argha
or boat, as represented in the Ark of the Egyptians.
The treatment of the Wings of the supporting doves, or
sacred birds, on each side of this ark, conveys to us a
sufficiently correct idea of where the Hebrews obtained
their Cherubim and Seraphim, only substituting a human
head and body for the bird's delineation.
Upon consulting the Hebrew dictionary of Gesenius
we shall find the word jn (aroun) and px (aron) sig-
nifying an ark, a chest. In Genesis 1. 26, the word is
used as a mummy-chest or cofHn for Joseph in Egypt.
The ark of the covenant might, in the same wav, be
called the coffin. For these reasons, it is concluded that
Hebrew Phallicisin. 69
the object of veneration in the Ark of the Covenant of
the Jews, was a Phallus. It must always be remembered,
in all these symbolical and architectural variations, that
figurative construction springs from two mathematical
forms only. The governing form of all the classic archi-
tecture is the horizontal line Thus the Egyptian, the
Grecian, the Roman, and all other classic temples are
horizontal, oblong, and resemble the chest, or ^^ ark of
the Israelites." On the contrary, the Christian archi-
tecture, and that style which the Mahommedans, and the
Indians and the Oriental peoples generally, have chosen
as typical and indicative of their religious beliefs, takes
as its keynote (as we may describe it) the upright, or the
perpendicular line. The blending of these, at the inter-
section or cross-point, forms, of course, the sublime figure
indicative of the Christian religion, or the religion of the
Cross.
PhalUcism,
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ROSJCEUCIAJf AND GNOSTIC MEANINGS OF THE OBELISKS,
THE PTEAMIPS, AND THE PHALLIC MONUMENTS OF
THE PEOPLES OF ANTIQUITY,
It is observed by Dionysius, the geographer, that
Bacchus was worshipped with peculiar zeal and devotion
by the ancient inhabitants of some of the smaller British
islands. What islands are meant is uncertain ; but pro-
bably the Hebrides or Orcades. Here the women,
crowned with ivy, celebrated his clamorous nocturnal
rites upon the shores of the northern ocean, in the same
manner as the Thracians did upon the banks of the
Absinthus, or the Indians by the Ganges. In Stukeley's
Itinerary is the ground-plan of an ancient Celtic, or
Scandinavian temple, found in Zealand, consisting of a
circle of rude stones within a square ; and it is probable
that many others of these circles were inclosed in square
areas. Stonehenge is the most important monument of
this kind now extant ; and from a passage of Hecat^us,
preserved by Diodorus Siculus, it seems to have been not
wholly unknown to that ancient historian ; who might
have collected some vague accounts of the British Islands
from the Phoenician and Carthaginian merchants, who
traded there for tin. "The Hyperboreans," said he,
" inhabit an island beyond Gaul, in which Apollo is wor-
shipped in a circular temple considerable for its size and
richness." This island can be no other than Britain.
The large obelisks of stone found in many parts of the
Meanings of the ObeBsks. 71
north, such as those at Rudstone and near Boroughbridge
in Yorkshire, belonged to the same religion. Obelisks,
as Pliny observes, were sacred to the Sun ; whose rays
they signified both by their form and name. (l.ib. xxxvi.,
1. 14 ) They were, therefore, the emblems of light, the
primary and essential emanations of the deity; whence
radiating the head, or surrounding it with a diadem of
small obelisks, was a mode of consecration or deification
which flattery often employed in the portraits both of the
Macedemonian kings and of the Roman emperors. The
mystagogues and poets expressed the same meaning by
the epithet aykeios or aykaios ; which is occasionally
applied to almost every personification of the deity,
and more especially to Apollo; who is likewise called
AYKHFENETHS, or as Contracted, aykhtenhs ; which
mythologists have explained by an absurd fable of his
having been born in Lycia; whereas it signifies the
Author or Generator of Light ; being derived from aykh,
otherwise aykos, of which the Latin word lux is a con-
traction. [Lukeios. Liikaios. — Luke, Lukos. — //., A. loi,
Scbol. Didy?n. et Ven. HeracHd. Pant., p. 417, ed. Gale.)
In symbolical writing, the same meaning was signified
by the appropriate emblems in various countries ; whence
the ZEY2 MEiAixios at Sicyon, and the Apollo Carina
at Megara in Attica, were represented by stones of the
above-mentioned form {Fausan. in Cor.^ c. 9, s. 6) ; as
was also the Apollo Agyieus in various places ; and both
Apollo and Diana by simple columns pointed at the top
(Obelisci or Phalli) ; or, as the symbol began to be
humanised, with the addition of a head, hands, and feet.
On a Lapland drum, an instrument which was employed
for the purposes of magic and divination, amongst the
\
72 Phallicisfu.
consulting mediums of the Lapps and Finns, the goddess
appealed to — Isa, or Disa — is represented by a pyramid
surmounted with the significant emblem so frequently
observed in the hands of the Egyptian .deities (0/. Rud-
beck Atlant.^ p. ii., c. v., p. 277, and c. xi., 261) ; and the
pyramid has likewise been observed among the religious
symbols of the savages of North America, {Lafitau,
McBurs des Sauvages, t. i., pp. 146 and 8.) The most
sacred idol, too, of the Hindoos in the great temple of
Juggernaut, in the province of Orissa, is a pyramidal
stone (Hamilton's Travels in India) ; and the altar in the
temple of Mexico, upon which human victims were
sacrificed to the deity of the Sun, was a pointed pyramid,
on one side of which the unhappy captive was extended
on his back, in order to have his heart taken out by
the priest. (Acosta's History of the Indies, p. 382.)
The spires and pinnacles with which our old churches
are decorated — indeed, all uprights, including all the
architectural families, and the varieties of tors, towers,
and steeples, the especial mark and glory of Christian
building — come from these ancient symbols. They are
everywhere indicative of the Phallus, or index-finger
denoting the " Fire," — the aspiring fire, against the in-
clination of gravity, which was the first vitalised idea, or
Idol, worshipped magically and philosophically — the en-
livening, godlike Power. The innumerable weathercocks,
with which the pointed steeples 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 emblem — the magical " look-out," to descry the
dawn. The cock, with his "lofty and shrill-sounding
cry," in the profundity of the universal stillness, is the
Meanings of the Obelisks. y^
natural herald of the day, and therefore sacred to the
fountain of light. (Pausan., lib. v., p. 444.) In the
symbolical writing of the Chinese, the sun is still repre-
sented by a cock, in a circle ; and a modern Parsee would
suffer death rather than be guilty of the crime of killing
one. (Hyde de Rellg. vet. Persanim.) It appears on
many ancient coins, with some symbol of the passive pro-
ductive power on the reverse {See coins of Himera,
Samothrace, Suessa, ^c). In some instances it is united
with Priapic and other emblems and devices, signif)^ihg
different attributes combined. (lb. and Sellnus.) The
Egyptians, among whom of ancient nations the Obelisk
and the Pyramid* were the most frequently employed as
significant objects, held that there were two opposite
powers in the world perpetually acting and reacting
against each other; the one generating as the other
destroyed ; and the other destroying as fast as the other
generated. The former of these powers the Egyptians
called Osiris, and the latter, Typhon. By the contention
of these two the world was produced, including all the
operations of the mind, which was also called "matter," thus
agreeingwith the realistic contentions of the arch-physicist,
Spinoza. By the mutual assistance and inter-action of
these two contending Supreme Powers, that mixture of
good and evil, of procreation and dissolution, which was
to constitute the harmony (necessarily the balance) of
* The Obelisk, always means the male instrument, while the Pyramid
signifies the female corresponding tumefactive, or rising power —
power not submissive, but answerably suggestive ; synchronised in the
anatomical clitoris, (root, in the Greek, probably, from r/y/oi 'epmaioi, little hills, or mounds of Mercury; •
of whom they were probably the original symbols. They
were placed by the sides, or in the points ot intersection,
of roads ; and every traveller that passed (" Siste, viator,^'')
threw a stone upon them in honour of Mercury, the
guardian of all ways, or the general classic conductor,
{AnthoL, lib. iv., Epigr. 1 2 ; Phurnut. de Nat. Dear.)
There can be no doubt that many of the ancient Crosses
observable in such situations were erected upon these
mounds, their pyramidal form affording a commodious
base, and the substitution of a new object being the most
obvious and usual remedy for such kinds of superstition.
The old Pelasgian Mercury of the Athenians consisted
of a human head placed upon an inverted obelisk with a
phallus ; of which several are extant. We find also female
draped figures terminating in the same square form. These
seem to be of the Venus Architis, or Primitive Venus ;
of whom there was a statue of wood at Delos, supposed
to be the work of Dccdalus ; and another in a temple upon
Mount Libanus, of which the description of Macrobius
exactly corresponds with the figures now extant. Her
appearance was melancholic, her head covered, and her
face sustained 'by her left hand, which was concealed
under her garment. (Sat. i., chap, xxi.) Some of these
88 Phallicism:
figures have the mystic title ashasia upon them, signifying
perhaps the welcome or gratulation to the returning
spring: for they evidently represent nature in winter,
still sustained by the inverted obelisk, the emanation of
the sun pointed downwards but having all her powers
enveloped in gloom and sadness. Some of these figures
were probably, like the Paphian Venus, androgynous ;
whence arose the Herjiiaphrodit^e, afterwards represented
under more elegant forms ; accounted for as usual by
poetical fables. Occasionally the attribute seems to be
signified by the cap and wings of Mercury.
The symbolical meaning of the olive, the fir, and the
apple, the honorary rewards in the Olympic, Isthmian,
and Pythian games, all bore reference to the myths, and
the mysteries in religion. The parsley, which formed
the crown of the Roman victors, was equally a mystic
plant ; it being represented on coins in the same manner
as the fig-leaf, and with the same signification {Hesych ;),
probably on account of a peculiar influence which it is
still supposed to have upon the female constitution.
The confusion of personages and of characteristics
among the gods and heroes, arising from a confusion of
names and terms, was facilitated in its progress by the
belief that the universal generative principle, or its sub-
ordinate emanations, might act in such a manner that
a female of the human species might be impregnated
without the co-operation of a male. {Plutarch. Sym-
posiac, lib. viii., probl. i.) And as this notion was ex-
tremely useful and convenient in concealing the frailties
of women, quieting the jealousies of husbands, protecting
the honour of families, and guarding with religious awe
the power of bold usurpers, it was naturally cherished
• The Phalli. 89
and promoted with much favour and industry. Men
were supposed to be produced in this supernatural way.
Even the double or ambiguous sex was attributed to
deified heroes ; Cecrops being fabled to have been both
man and woman.*
Among the rites and customs of the temple at Hiero-
polis, that of the priests castrating themselves, and assum-
ing the manners and attire of women (as the women of
the temple disguised themselves as men sometimes)
is one of the most unaccountable. The same customs
prevailed in Phrygia among the priests and priestesses
of Cybele and Attis. They, perhaps, arose from a notion
of being made emblematic of the Deity by acquiring an
androgynous appearance. It is possible, likewise, that
the male devotees might have concluded that a depriva-
tion of virility was the best incentive to that spiritual
enthusiasm, to which women were observed to be more
liable than men ; and to which all sensual indulgence, par-
ticularly that of the sexes (although the opportunities
therefor, from these circumstances, were most convenient),
was held to be peculiarly adverse. The ancient German
prophetesses, who exercised such unlimited control over a
people who would submit to no human authority, were
virgins consecrated to the Deity, like the Roman Vestals.
{See Tacit, de M. G.)
The similarity of the religious systems of India and of
Egypt is so great, that it is impossible to doubt that they
arose from the same source. One of the most remark-
able parallels in the usages springing from theosophical
ideas prevailing in Hindostan, and in the land of the
* Justin, lib. ii., C 6; Su'tdas., Euseb. et Hieron. in Chronic, ; Plutarch,
de sera numin. v'md'icta. ; Eustath. in Dionys. ; Dlodor. Sic, I. i., c. 28.
90
PhalHcism.
Pharaohs, is the hereditary division into castes, derived
from metempsychosis. This doctrine formed the rule,
and was a fundamental article of faith in both India
and Egypt, as also with the ancknt Gauls, Britons, and
many other nations. The Hindoo castes rank according
to the number of transmigrations which the soul is sup-
posed to have undergone, and its consequent proximity
to, or distance from, re-absorption into the divine essence,
or intellectual abyss, from which it sprang. The sacred
Brahmins, whose souls are approaching to a re-union with
their source, are far above the wretched pariahs, who
are lowest in the alphabet of castes. These last are
without any rank in the hierarchy; and are therefore
supposed to have all the long, humiliating, and painful
transmigrations yet before them. As the respective
distinctions are, in both, hereditary, the soul being sup-
posed to descend into one class for punishment and
ascend into the other for reward, the misery of degrada-
tion is without hope even in posterity ; the wretched
parents having nothing to bequeath to their unfortunate
offspring that is not tainted with everlasting infamy and
humiliation. Loss of caste is therefore the most dreadful
punishment that a Hindoo can suffer ; as it affects both
his body and his soul, extends beyond the grave, and
reduces both him and his posterity for ever to a situation
below that of a brute.
From the specimens that have appeared in European
languages, the poetry of the Hindoos seems to be in the
same style as their art ; and to consist of gigantic, gloomy,
and operose fictions, destitute of all those graces which
distinguish the religious and poetical fables of the Greeks-
The incarnations which form the principal subjects of
The Phalli. 91
sculpture in all the temples of India, Tibet, Tartary, and
China, are above all others calculated to call forth the
ideal perfections of the art, by expanding and exalting
the imagination of the artist, and exciting his ambition to
surpass the simple imitation of ordinary forms, in order
to produce a model of excellence worthy to be the cor-
poreal habitation of the Deity : but this, no nation of the
East, nor indeed of the Earth, except the Greeks and
those who copied them, ever attempted. Let the precious
wrecks and fragments, therefore, of the art and genius of
that wonderful people be " collected with care and pre-
served with reverence," as examples of what man is
capable of under peculiar circumstances ; which, as they
have never occurred but once, may never occur again !
After the supreme Triad, the framers of the vast
Oriental system supposed an immense host of inferior
spirits to have been produced ; part of whom afterwards
rebelling under their chiefs Moisasoor and Rhaabon, the
material world was prepared for their prison and place of
purgation ; in which they were to pass through " eighty-
nine transmigrations" prior to their restoration. During
this time they are exposed to the machinations of their
former leaders ; who endeavour to make them violate the
laws of the Omnipotent, and thus relapse into hopeless
perdition, or lose their caste, and have all fhe tedious and
painful transmigrations already passed to go through again ;
to prevent which, their more dutiful brethren, the Ema-
nations that remained faithful to the Omnipotent, were
allowed to comfort, cherish, and assist them in their pas-
sage: and that all might have equal opportunities of
redeeming themselves, the Divine Personages of the
" Great Triad" (the same, in efficacy and purpose, as
g 2 PbalHcism.
the Christian " Trinity,") had at different times become
incarnate in different forms (the Christian system of
"Mercy," or of "Mediation" or "Redemption"), and
in different countries, to the inhabitants of which they
had given different laws and institutions suitable to their
respective climates, natures, and circumstances. It would
follow from this, that each religion may be good, and
may be efficacious in the furtherance of the Divine ulti-
mate intentions, of which, of course, Man must be entirely
ignorant ; and in regard of which, he may make complete
mistakes, from the insufficiency of that which he assumes
to be reason ; while of absolute truth man knows nothing ;
or why can he not foresee the future just as he recalls
the past ?
The head of Proserpine appears, in numberless in-
stances, surrounded by dolphins. And upon the very
ancient medals of Side in Pamphylia, the pomegranate,
the fruit peculiarly consecrated to her, is borne upon the
back of one. {Mus. Hunter., tab. xlix., %. 3, &c.) By
prevailing upon her to eat of pomegranate, Pluto is said to
have procured her stay during half the year in the infernal
regions ; and a part of the Greek ceremony of marriage
still consists, in many places, in the bride's treading upon a
pomegranate. The flower of it is also occasionally employed
as an ornament upon the diadems of both Hercules
and Bacchus, and likewise forms the device of the Rhodian
medals ; on some of which we have seen distinctly repre-
sented an ear of barley springing from one side of it, and
the bulb of the lotus, or nelumbo, from the other. It
therefore holds the place of the male, or active generative
attribute ; and accordingly we find it on a bronze frag-
ment published by Caylus, as the result of the union of
The Phalli. 93
the bull and lion, exactly as the more distinct symbol of
the phallus is in a similar fragment above cited. {Recuell
(TAntlquites, Sec, vol. vii., pi. Ixiii., figs, i, 2, and 3.)
The pomegranate, therefore, in the hand of Proserpine
or Juno, signifies the same as the circle and cross, before
explained, in the hand of Isis ; which is the reason why
Pausanias declines giving any explanation of it, lest it
should lead him to divulge any of the mystic secrets of
his religion. {Corinth., c. xvii., s. 4.) The cone of the
pine, with which the thyrsus of Bacchus is always sur-
mounted, and which is employed in various compositions,
is probably a symbol of similar import.
Those caps resembling the Petasiu of Mercury explain
its purpose, and its significance, guarded, however, effec-
tually in the injunctions of the mythological Uarpocrates
(the everlasting « protector of the mysteries"— the Great
Sentinel, or Tiler of the Freemasons) ; who holds the
guards of the « Triple Lodge" of the Heavens above, the
"Earth" in the midst, "between the Waters and the
Waters," and the "Under Regions."*
These caps, the Petasi, Phrygian Caps of the mystic
* The mystic authority of this inexorable officer, or Grand Guard
stretching, in imagination, over the " Three Worlds," and emblemed
in his trenchant, bared glaive, which, in reality, is typical of the Sword
of Saint Michael. We see this weapon figured in the arms of the Cor-
poration of the City of London, in the upper chief quarter, or canton (as
the Heralds call it), as the Sword of Saint Paul. In popular acceptation,
this is the dagger wherewith Sir William Walworth despatched thJ
rebel, Wat Tyler ; Wat Tyler however was only struck down by the
mace of the Lord Mayor, then, of course, in full panoply of his
knight's plate-mail ; and was despatched by the dagger, or mnerlcordey
of one of the King's own Knights in attendance ; whose name is not
recorded,^ and who certainly never popularly obtained the honour of
killing Richard the Second's most formidable enemy.
94 Phallicts?n.
fiery purification, " the form of which is derived from the
^gg>" says Payne Knight,* "and which are worn by the
Dioscuri" (Dl-oscurl, the secret, dark, or unknown gods),
"as before observed, surmounted with asterisks, signify
the hemispheres of the earth. (^Sext. Empiric, xi., 37 ; see
also Achill. Tat. hagog., p. 127 b. and 130 c.) And it
is possible that the asterisks may, in this case, mean the
morning and evening stars."
The cap is the Isiac, or Memphian, thrice-sacred head-
cover, and is the origin of the united "king-priestly"
mitre, the diadem of the Persian monarchs, as also of the
mythic hood of the Doges of Venice, or the "coronet-
encircled" crown, with the bulged salient cap — cloven, in
the instance of the Emperors of the East and the West
in Europe, those of Russia and of Germany.
Both " destruction" and " creation" were, according to
the religious philosophy of the ancients, merely " disso-
lution" and " renovation ;" to which all sublunary bodies,
even that of the Earth itself, were supposed to be periodi-
cally liable. " Fire" and " water" were held to be the
great efficient principles of both; and as the spirit or
vital principle of thought and mental perception was alone
supposed to be immortal and unchanged, the complete
dissolution of the body, which it animated, was conceived
to be the only means of its complete emancipation. Herein
* Payne Knight evidently did not know that this mythic cap, or
cover for the head— called, in modern times, the "Cap of Liberty" —
and which is always red, means the Sacrificial Rite of Circumcision.
« Whence this Cap," he observes, " became a distinction of rank, as it
was among the Scythians (iriXocpoptKoi, * Scythians of rani,' Lucian.
Scyth.), or ' a symbol of freedom and emancipation,' as it was among the
Greeks and Romans, is not easily ascertained. (See Tib. Hemsterhuis.,
Not. in Lucian. Dialog. Dear., xxi.)"
The Phalli, 95
the doctrines of the Budd/jists (or BZ'uddists, which
latter is the more proper accentuation,) precisely agree
with the ideas of the Greeks and Romans. The Egyp-
tian monarchs erected for the final deposition of their own
bodies those vast pyramidal monuments (the symbols of
that " Fire" of which they were commemorative), whose
excessive strength and solidity were well calculated to
secure them as long as the earth itself lasted.
The corporeal residence of this divine particle or
emanation, the soul, as well as of the grosser principle ©f
vital heat and animal motion, was supposed to be the
blood. Hence the ever-reappearing ideas of the sacred
character of the blood, prevailing in all the theologies which
have learning for their base ; and notably amongst the
Orientals (the Hebrews, particularly), the Greeks, the
Romans, and even the Christians, in the delicacy of their
profounder philosophical leiuning, as indicated in their
ideas of the " mystic processes" of the Crucifixion, the
Holy Eucharist, and the deep meanings of the order of
the " Round Table," and concentrating around the ideas
of the " Red Cross," and the « Roses."
Purification by fire is still in use among the Hindoos,
as it was among the earliest Romans, and also among the
native Irish ; men, women, and children, and even cattle,
in Ireland, leaping over, or passing through the sacred
fires annually kindled in honour of Baal ; an ancient title
of the Sun, or rather of the " Celestial Fire" — the last
thing to be penetrated to (in magic) of all created
things.
To this idea of sacrifice, and to the expiatory sacrifice
in blood, we owe the compositions, so frequent in the
sculptures of the third and fourth centuries, of Mithras,
g6 Phallicism.
the Persiiin Mediator, or his female personification, a
winged Victory, sacrificing a bull. It seems probable that
the sanctity anciently attributed to red or purple arose
from its similitude to blood, for it had been customary,
in early times, to paint not only the faces of the statues
of the deities with vermilion (properly carmine), but also
the bodies of the Roman Consuls and Dictators, during
the sacred ceremony of the Triumph ; from which ancient
custom the imperial purple of later ages is derived.
^ From these ideas of the magic and the sacredness of
colours, particularly in the augurial and heraldic sense, it
is apparent that the ancient augurs were heralds. The
modern heralds are, or ought to be, rightfully, augurs in
certain illustrative respects, in regard to the due marshal-
ling of arms in the mystic or meaning sense. Red is the
royal colour. Purple is the imperial colour, as meaning the
union of royalties, or the Greater Kingship, or the title of
" King of Kings." The richest blood has a purplish tinge,
as is well known. From this reason, comes the very little
understood word " blue-blood" {sang-azur), as implying
the true, pure aristocracy. Therefore, in the mystic and
mythological sacred inflection, whilst Jupiter becomes the
King of the Gods and claims red, or instant, or simple
blood-colour, as his distinguishing colour, the anarch,
or earliest of the Gods, or father of Jupiter, or as he
may be designated, in this connection, the Emperor
of the Gods — Saturn, has assigned for arch-kingly, or
imperial colour, the exquisitely-heightened blood-
colour, in deepest dignity, or purple. The real Tyrian
purple, as it is called, was not absolutely red, as
by most mistaken historians it is assumed to have
been, but a carmine, of inexpressible brilliancy and
The Phalli. 97
beauty. The tinge of this truly majestic colour, and its
mysterious means of production, are, with the true com-
position of the celebrated Greek Fire of the ancient
times, and the mode of hammering glass as a metal, and
using this brittle solidity as a means of constructing fabrics,
registered among the lost arts. And these and similar are
rejected in the modern scientific self-satisfLiction,and laughed
at as being, in the contemporaneous estimate, impossible :
as impossible as the ever-burning lamps, or other marvels
dreamed about, written about, or talked about.
Bells and jingles are always part of the paraphernalia
among the Follies, Fees, or Fays ; Mimes or Tom-Fools
flocking out to mischief and merriment in the Festivals,
Carnivals, and Pantomimes sacred or secular. These and
such have figured, in all the historical ages, in all coun-
tries, from the classic times until the present. They are
equally to the front in our own day, as every one
knows. But these fanciful ideas, involving the careering
of both classes of priests and priestesses — real Bacchantes
and Bacchanals — in grand parade, and with all the custo-
mary celebration of Priapic usages, are much better under-
stood, and infinitely more picturesquely and artistically
celebrated and represented, with greatly more art, address,
and taste, in Paris and Vienna, than in London.
Many Priapic figures of the old times (still extant)
have bells attached to them {Bronzi d^Ercolano, t. vi., tav.
xcviii.), as the symbolical statues and temples of the Hin-
doos have ; and to wear them was a part of the worship of
Bacchus among the Greeks {Megasthen. apud Strab., lib.
XV., p. 7 1 2), whence we sometimes find them of extremely
small size, evidently meant to be worn as amulets, with
the phalli, limula, Szc. The chief priests of the Egyp-
H
98 Phallicism.
tians, and also the high priest of the Jews, hung these
bells, as sacred emblems, to their sacerdotal garments ;
and the Brahmins still continue to ring a small bell at the
intervals of their prayers, ablutions, and other acts of
mystic devotion ; which custom is .still preserved in the
Catholic Church at the elevation of the host. {Plutarch.
Symposiac, lib. iv., qu. 5 ; Exod., c. xxviii.) The Lace-
demonians beat upon a brass vessel or pan — a kettle-
drum ; which idea was, perhaps, the origin of the " kettle-
drums" solely pertaining to the Household Cavalry of the
Sovereign of England, and covered with the banners, or
trophies, of the royal arms. The Lacedemonians, as a
mystic observance, or ceremony in honour of their gods,
beat upon these metallic discs, or drums, on the death of
their kings. We still retain the custom of tolling a bell
on such occasions. The Chinese raise a clash amidst their
metals, at the time of an eclipse, in order, as they say, to
scare away the " Great Dragon," which has laid a plot
to carry away the light — his great enemy, the " Dragon
Slayer," Phoebus, the Sun.
The reason of these parallel ceremonies, among all the
peoples, and the singular similarity of their superstitions,
locally and generally, as if they, with one consent, were
addressed to the same object, with only slightly varying
manners ; and the use made, apparently, of the self-same
machinery to work towards these ends, remain as generally
unknown as ever, in spite of innumerable guesses. The
raison d'^etre of ancient ceremonies which still survive, and
their obstinate adherence and tenacity in the usage, even
in the affections of the people, — the inherent life of
superstitions, surprises us, whilst they, in truth, bewilder.
<* It is said," says the Golden Legend by Wynkyn
The Phalli. 99
de Worde, " the evil spirytes that ben in the regyon of
fh' ayre doubte moche when they here the belles rongen :
and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen when it
thondreth, and when grete tempeste and outrages of
wether happen, to the end that the feindes and wycked
spirytes shold be abashed and flee, and cease of the
movying of the tempeste." This ringing of the bells of
the Church, at the time of thunderstorms, is still practised
in many parishes in England.
The God Pan is called in the Orphic Hymns, Jupiter
the mover of all things, and is described as harmonising
all things by the music of his pipe. (^Hymn. X., ver. 12,
Fragm. No. xxviii., ver. 13, ed. Gesn.) He is also called
the pervader of the sky. (Or ph. Hymn. V.)
Among the Greeks, all dancing was of the mimetic
kind. Dancing was also a part of the ceremonial in all
mystic rites, whence it was held amongst the Greeks and
Romans in very high esteem. {Deipnos., lib. i., c. xvii.)
Pan is sometimes represented as ready to execute
his characteristic office, and sometimes as exhibiting the
result of it ; in the former, all the muscles of his face
and body appear strained and contracted ; and in the
latter, fallen and dilated ; while in both the phallus is of
disproportionate magnitude, to signify that it represented
the predominant attribute. These figures are frequent in
collections of small bronzes. The reader, intent on the
investigation of these truly (in every view) most im-
portant subjects, is confidently referred, for conviction, to
the magnificent collection (the choicest and rarest in
the world) of Phallic ancient remains from all parts,
and gathered from all countries, now deposited in the
British Museum^
100 Phallicism.
In one instance, amidst the ancient Phallic objects. Pan
appears pouring water upon the instrument {Bronzl
d'Ercolano, tav. xciii.), but more commonly standing near
water, and accompanied by aquatic fowls ; in which cha-
racter he is confounded with Priapus, to whom geese
were particularly sacred (Petronli Satyric, cxxxvi. — vii.).
Hence the Swan of Leda, and his Priapic doings with the
heroine, and her enjoyment thereof. Swans frequently
occur as emblems of the waters upon coins ; and some-
times with the head of Apollo on the reverse. See Coins
of Clazomena in Pellerin, and Mus. Hunter,, where may
be found some allusion to the ancient notion of their
singing ; a notion which may have arisen from the noises
they make in the high latitudes of the North, prior to
their departure, at the approach of winter.
Pr'iapic Illustrations. loi
CHAPTER X.
PRIAPIC ILLUSTRATIONS.
All students of ancient literature, and the admirers, in
the modern day, of the unequalled originality and grace
wherewith the Greeks and Romans — particularly the
former — invested their ideas, must carefully guard them-
selves against mingling up their modern prepossessions
with the achievements — as they stand before them — of
the old-world artists. It is sufficient to reflect that all
true art, in its broad sense, comes from the ancients.
This art still remains without a rival. Devotional senti-
ment of quite another order accompanies all the art and
literature of the middle ages. The world — and this
earthly state for man, so impossible to be understood for
its real meaning and ultimate purposes — was treated
gloomily. The earth, and the condition of mankind, were
regarded as an arena of penitence, of sorrow, of humilia-
tion ; and as a condition " lapsed" for some reason, of
which man could not see the point, or in reality assent to
its justice.
Now, when people began to reflect in the early world
upon the vast — the very vast — importance of the sexual
relations, which seemed to form the key of all that " was,
and is, and is to be" — the tools (to speak the fact
strangely) — which were, in their way, to raise, or to
build the whole human construction, mind and body ; —
these tremendous thoughts as to the " how" in which the
whole of this was to be done, impressed and over-
I02 Phallicism.
shadowed, and no wonder that they should so impress
and overshadow ! The early peoples of the world, find-
ing that Man had already got so much in his own indi-
vidual personal power, grew to recognise that they had
gained a wonderful gift, given to them for some great
end, since God had given it. The reflective mind, look-
ing inwards, recognised the Gods — and all the powers
of the Gods — in the natural facts of reproduction ; the
machinery (to use such a word) of which, being so
contrary and unexpected, struck them as clearly the
result of thought, and of a direct design, not accidental.
The objects of this grand display — to speak in the
abstract — remained the great puzzle. We think in
vastly too light a manner — grown free and presuming
in our familiarity — of these truly serious things, now, in
the modem day, when science seems to have explained
all that is the world.
The Greeks and Romans brought forward the real
and the visible — we mean the instruments — of the sexual
relations in a way, and with a freedom, inconceivable to
those who know nothing of the underlying meaning
evident in their gems and coins, and sculpture.
Indeed, so artfully is all this veiled, and so little obvious
is the line of connection between the object set forward as
an expression, and the thing itself (which is simply in all
cases, the conjunction of the sexes), that it requires very
considerable practice, and much learning and quick in-
sight, to gather up the meanings. To prove all this, it
will be only necessary to refer to the glyptic remains
(very remarkable) of which we superadd the descriptions,
from a very rare and curious book of the last century,
with the title of " Veneres et Priapi." These gems
Priapic Illustrations. 103
and coins and fantastic representations come down from
the very remote times of the Rome of the Ccesars.
Priapus, under all his forms, and in his classical, poetical
renderings, whether as Hermes, as Pan, as Faun, as
Shepherd, as single-bodied or as double-bodied, human,
semi-human, half-caprine, block, reversed cone, stone or
stump, bears the same lineaments, the same orbicular
development, the identical metamorphoses and mystic
meaning, and is set up, at all bounds, in innumerable
pillars or posts, or obelisks, or reversed pins, or longi-
tudinal, reversed, pyramidal fragmentary blocks or
shapes, as " God of the Gardens." This strange figure —
Priapus or Pan — with his horns and his hirsute accom-
paniments, with the reeds, and the cymbals, and the
clashes of metal produced in the jar of the
" silver- kissing cymbals,"
and the discordant screams and yells and shouts which
accompany him — all of this overpoweringly vehement,
mythic ritual of which the Bacchanals and Bacchantes gave
riotous and disorderly dancing or leaping or convulsionary
expression — is, in certain senses, urged in the world's sense
of things as a protest against the order and regularity of
nature. This Priapus or unnatural grotesque figure may
be treated as a Scarecrow, or as the First of the Scarecrows.
Indecency, according to modern ideas, is pushed to an
extreme in these irregular, lustful scenes. Most of the
representations in "Veneres et Priapi" are too free
(they are all quite the reverse of coarse) to reproduce,
almost to describe. The general impression one bears
away after an examination of these masterpieces of ancient
art, is the false one that the people to whom they were
familiar must have been glaringly sensual and systemati-
104 Pballicism.
cally libidinous. But we must remember that Lycurgus,
who knew nature well, was the first to be convinced that
the free exhibition of the naked human form, whether
male or female, when grown familiar, was the surest
and most complete means" of reducing desire within rule
and limit, and of placing irregular eagerness within the
bounds of control. For this reason, that wise and prudent
legislator made it a rule in Sparta that the public gym-
nastic exercises should be partaken of in common by both
males and females. Thus, the races and combats, and
the round of the training for the healthful and beautiful
display of the limbs — of course under proper and judicious
regulations — the games which were always, in their in-
dications and expressions, sacred and mystical, Lycurgus
ordered should be celebrated, in the sight of the whole
of the people, by both youths and maidens in a total
state of nudity. With our modem ideas, this would
seem to be almost impossible. But we can well recog-
nise how all these strange exhibitions, and how all these
most widely accepted Phallic facts, bore sway among the
peoples of antiquity. Every department of the art of the
ancients, in all parts of the world, bears the most unmis-
takable witness of this great truth.
The foregoing observations may be referred more
particularly to the collection of engraved gems, illustrat-
ing the remoter mythology of the Greeks and Romans,
published at Leyden some years before the outbreak of
the great French Revolution. This work,* consisting
* Veneres, ut'i observantur in gemm'ts anttquls, Lugd. Batavorum. n.d*
The letteq)ress in French and English has been attributed to D'Han-
carville, but, we think, he was far too serious an author to express
himself, as he seems to do, with the lightness of the writer of the
preface and notes to this volume.
Priapic Illustrations, 105
of seventy-one plates, will express things very significant
to those who are capable of taking up the meanings of
the old, unfortunately discredited theosophy ; and, singular
ill the matter, it is even more remarkable by the manner
in which it is presented. The collection may be con-
sidered not only as a monumental masterpiece of the
fancy of the ancients, but as a memorial of their talents
and skill in designing and engraving. " My real opinion,"
says the author of the preface to the volume, " is that
the greatest part of these exceedingly curious engraved
stones cannot have been executed before the empire of
Augustus and Tiberius." I think it also probable that
several of them are the precious figures of Elephantis,
the Greek courtesan — which were supposed to be irre-
coverably lost, and only surviving in tradition, for their
inexpressible success and magnificence in the Venus-like
and Priapean sense. This famous Elephantis, not
merely the Greek courtesan, but the courtesan par
excellence, had the audacity (or majestic courage?) to
compose books, and to provide illustrations upon the
choicest secrets of her profession, in justification and in
glory of it.
" Suetonius says that Tiberius had these books placed
in his private library, and that the fiimous ,, greater
and lesser Incarnations, by which one or other of the Triad
imparted a portion of his divine essence both to men
(generally Bahurdurs or heroes) and to brutes. The
The Indian Religions. 179
tendency to deify heroes and irrational creatures was not
peculiar, however, to the Hindus, for the Assyrians,
Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans had the same custom, as
had also the Egyptians in a much more extended degree.
The system of Avatas was followed by an almost
universal deification, not only of the elements and the
heavenly bodies, but of every recognised attribute of the
Supreme Being and of the Evil Spirit. Omnipotence,
Beneficence, Virtue, Love, Vice, Anger, Murder, all
received a tangible form, until at the present time the
Hindu pantheon contains little short of a million Gods
and Demi- Gods. It is admitted, however, that to many
of them they pay only relative honour. It is a little remark-
able that of this host of divinities, especially in Bengal,
Siva is the God whom they are especially delighted
to honour. As the Destroyer, and one who revels in
cruelty and bloodshed, this terrible deity, who has not
inaptly been compared to the Moloch of Scripture, of all
their divinities suggests most our idea of the Devil. It
may therefore be concluded that the most exalted notion
of worship among the Hindus is a service of Fear. The
Brahmins say that rhe other Gods are good and bene-
volent and will not hurt their creatures, but Siva is
powerful and cruel, and that it is necessary to appease
him.
Although this deity is sometimes represented in the
human form in his images, it is not thus that he is most
frequently adored. The most popular representation of
him is unquestionably the Linga, a smooth stone rising
out of another stone of finer texture, siniilacrum membri
virilis, et pudendum midiebre. This emblem is identical
with Siva in his capacity of " Lord of All."
I«0
Phalli as 711.
It is necessary, however, to observe here that Pro-
fessor Wilson, while admitting that " the Linga is per-
haps the most ancient object of homage adopted in India,"
adds that it became popular " subsequently to the ritual of
the Vedhas, which was chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to
the Elements, and particularly to Fire.^' How far the
worship of the Linga is authorised by the Vedhas,
Mr. Edward Sellon says, is doubtful.*
However this may be, it is abundantly clear that the
Lingaic, or (which term covers the meaning generally)
Phallic worship is the main purport of several of the
PuranasA Of this there cannot be a doubt. | The
universality of Linga-Puja (or worship) at the period of
the Mahommedan invasion of India, is well attested. The
Idol destroyed by Mahmoud at Ghizni (notwithstanding
the remarkable stories related by the Mahommedan
chroniclers of a colossal image of human form which the
Brahmins offered immense sums to save from destruc-
tion, and which, upon being shattered by a blow from
Mahmoud's mace, disgorged a vast treasure of gold and
precious stones of immense value, the whole of which
story Wilson asserts is a pure fiction,) was nothing more
than one of those mystical blocks of stone called Lingas.
Si-va under the type of the Linga is practically almost the
only form in which that deity is reverenced. The pre-
valence of this worship throughout the whole tract of the
Ganges, as far as Benares, is sufficiently conspicuous.
* In truth and in the abstract sense, it is precisely the same thing,
only presented in another form. Phallic Worship is Fire-Worship,
f Puranas, the modern Scriptures of the Hindus, as distinguished
from the Vedhas, or more ancient Scriptures.
+ Wilson on Hindu sects (Js. Res., vol. xvii.)
The Indian Religions. 18 1
In Bengal the Lingani* Temples are commonly erected
in a range of six, eight, or twelve, on each side of a
Ghautt leading to the river. Kalma is a circular group
of one hundred and eight temples erected by the Rajah
of Burdwan, These temples, and, indeed, all those found
in Bengal, consist of a simple chamber of a square form,
surmounted by a pyramidal centre ; the area of each is
very small. The Linga of black or white marble, and
sometimes of alabaster slightly tinted and gilt, is placed
in the middle.
Speaking of Siva and Pawati,{ M. de Langlet says : —
" Les deux divinites dont il s'agit, sont tres souvent et
tres pieusement adorees sous la figure du Linga (le Phallus
des anciens) et de Tyoni dans leur mysterieuse conjunc-
tion. L'yoni se nomme Bhaga {pudendum muUebre),
Madberi douce, et Argha, vase en forme de bateau, dans
laquelle on offre des fleurs a la divinite ; tels sont les noms
de PAdhera-Sacti (energie de la conception vivifiee par le
Linga). Quand cette deesse est representee par le
symbole que je viens. d'indiquer, elle prend le nom de
Devi (divine), plus communement que ceux de Bhavani,
de Pracriti, &c. Suivant les theologiens Hindous, une
vive discussion s'eleva entre Pawdti (nee des montagnes),
* The Lin' gam, or Llngham (with the aspirate H), is everywhere
the protuberant.
f Ghaut, " a high place," applied to a pass, such as the Laulpct
Pass, where travellers ascend from the campaign country to the table-
hind of the Deccan ; also, and in this instance, signifying an artificial
"high place," constructed cither of stone or marble, with an immense
flight of steps leading down to a river. There are numerous ghauts of
this description on the banks of the Ganges, where the banks are too
high to allow the people to approach the stream with safety.
X As. Res., vol. xvii., pp. 2o8, 209, and 2 10.
1 82 Phallicisjn.
et Maha-deva (le grand dieu), peu de temps apres leur
manage, sur Tinfluence des sexes dans la production des
etres ; ils convinrent de creer separement une race d'indi-
vidus, Les enfants de Maha-deva furent nombreux, et
se devouerent au culte de la divinite male ; mais ils man-
quaient d'intelligence et de force, et ils etaient mal con-
formes. Ceux de Pawati etoient beaux, bien faits et
d'un excellent naturel ; cependant, obsedes par les Lin-
gadja, ou enfants de Maha-deva, ils envirent aux mains
avec eux, et les vainquirent. Maha-deva allait dans sa
fureur aneantir d'un coup d'ceil les Yonidja vainqueurs, si
Pawati ne I'eut appaise. Les Brahmanes ofFrent aux
Linga des fleurs, et ont soin quand ils font leurs cere-
monies d'allumer sept lampes, lesquelles selon Mathurin
Veyssiere la Croze, resemblent au chandelier a sept
branches des Juifs,* qu'on volt a Rome sur I'arc de Titus.
Les femmes portent des Lingas an cou et aux bras ;
celles qui desirent devenir fecondes rendent a cette
idole un culte tout particulier; elles ont d'autant plus de
conliance dans ses pretres que ceux-ci font vceu de
chastete."f
The offerings are presented at the threshold. Benares
is the peculiar seat of this form of worship. The prin-
cipal deity, Siva, there called Viweswarra, as observed
already, is a Linga; and most of the chief objects of pil-
grimage are similar blocks of stone. No less than forty-
seven Lingas are visited, all of pre-eminent sanctity ; but
there are hundreds of inferior note still worshipped, and
• De Langlet is in error here. The Punchaty, as its name implies,
consists of five, not seven, lamps.
f Monuments Anciens et Modernes de Y Hindoustan, par L. L, de
Langlet. Paris; 2 vols., fol., iHio.
The Indian Religions. 183
thousands whose fame and fiishion have passed away. It
is a singular fact, that upon this adoration of the pro-
creative and sexual Sacti (or power) seen throughout
nature, hinges the whole gist of Hindu faith, and not-
withstanding all that has been said by half-informed per-
sons to the contrary, this piija does not appear to be
prejudicial to the morals of the people. "Among a
people of such exuberant fancy as the Hindus," says Sir
William Jones, " it is natural that everything should
receive form, and life. It is remarkable to what a degree
their works of imagination are pervaded by the idea of
sexuality.
" Indeed, it seems never to have entered into the heads
of the Hindu legislators and people that anything natural
could be offensively obscene, a singularity which pervades
all their writings, but is no proof of the depravity of their
morals ; thence the worship of the Linga by the followers
of Siva, of the Toni by the followers of VisbnuP {Sir
William Joneses Works, vol. ii., p. 311.) "It is unattended
in Upper India by any indecent or indelicate ceremonies."
{Wilson on the Hindu Sects. As. Res., vol. xvii.)
We find amongst the sacred paintings of the Hindus
numerous representations of devotees, both male and
female, adoring the Linga ; and a description of one
of these pictures will suffice for all. The domestic
temple, in which the emblem is usually placed, is a dewal,
a term derived from de-va, a deity, and hai-ela, a house —
/.(?., the " house of God." Indeed, the natives have no
such word as " Pagoda" for their temples, which are
always called Dezuals.
The worshipper is seated, dressed, and arrayed in all
her jewels, as directed by the ritual. In her right hand
184 PhalHcism.
she holds a 7iiala, or « rosary," of one hundred and eight
round beads, which is not visible, as her hand is placed
within a bag of gold brocade (kampkab), called gumuki,
to keep off insects or any adverse influence. Her langi,
or bodice, is yellow, her dress transparent muslin edged
with gold (upervastrd). In front of her are the five
lamps, called punchaty, used in this puja, together with
the jari, or spouted vessel, for lustral water; the d'lppa,
or cup, to sprinkle the flowers which she has offered, and
which are seen on the Llnga ; and, lastly, the gantha, or
sacred bell, used frequently during the recapitulation of
the prescribed miintras, or incantations. Nearly all the
pujas are conducted with frequent ringing of bells, the
object of which is twofold, first to wake up the atten-
tion at particular parts of the service ; and, secondly,
to scare away malignant dewas and evil spirits ;
precisely, in fact, for the same reasons as they are
used at the celebration of mass in Roman Catholic
countries.
The Linga and the Earth are, according to the Hindus,
identical, and the Mountain of Meru is termed the " Navel
of the Earth." Meru is supposed to be the centre of
the universe, and is said to be 8,400 yojans high, 32,000
broad at the top, 16,000 at the bottom. It is circular,
and formed like an inverted cone. This notion was not
confined to India, for when Cleanthes asserted that the
earth was in the shape of a cone {As. Res., viii.), this
is to be understood only of this mountain, Meru of India.
Anaximenes {Plutarch de placlt. philosoph.) said that this
column was plain and of stone, exactly like Meru — the
pargwetie {Pawdti) of the inhabitants of Ceylon {Join-
vil/e. As. Res., vol. vii.). "This mountain," says he, "is
-The Indiafi Religions. 185
entirely of stone, 6S,ooo yojanas high, and 10,000 in
circumference, and of the same size from the top to the
bottom."
In India the followers of Buddha (Trailoyeya-Derpana)
insist that that mountain is like a drum, with a swell in the
middle, in that same form as the tomtoms used in the East.
In the West the same opinion was expressed by Leucippus,
and the Buddhists in India give that shape also to islands.
This figure is given as an emblem of the reunion of the
powers of Nature. Meru is the sacred and primaeval
Lin^a : and the earth beneath is the mysterious I'^oni
expanded, and open like the Padma or Lotus. The
convexity in the centre is the navel of Vishnu, and the
physiological mysteries of their religion are often repre-
sented by the emblem of the Lotus ; where the whole
flower signifies both the earth and the two principles of
its fecundation. The germ is both Meru and the Linga;
the petals and filaments are the mountains which en-
circle Meru, and are also the type of the 7^oni. The
four leaves of the calix are the four vast regions turning
towards the four cardinal points. Of the two geogra-
phical systems of the Hindus, the first or more ancient
(as set forth in the Puranas) describes the Earth as a
convex surfiice gradually sloping towards the borders, and
surrounded by the ocean. The second, and more modern
system, is that which has been adopted by their astro-
nomers. The followers of the Puranas consider the
earth as a fiat surface, or nearly so, and their knowledge
does not extend much beyond the old continent, or the
superior hemisphere.
The leaves of the Lotus represent the different islands
in the ocean around Jambu, and, according to the Hindu
1 86 Phallicism.
system, the whole earth floats upon the waters like a
boat.
The Argha* of the Hindus and the cymbium of the
Egyptians are also emblems of the earth, and of the
Tonl. The Argha or Cymbium signifies a vessel, cup or
dish, in which fruits or flowers are offered to the Deities,
and ought to be in the shape of a boat ; though many
are oval, circular, or even square.
Iswarra, or Bacchus, is styled Argha-Nautha, or
" Lord," the original contriver of the " boat-shaped
vessel ;" and Osiris the Iswarra, or Bacchus of Egypt,
according to Plutarch, was commander of the Argo, and
was represented, by the Egyptians, in a boat, carried on
the shoulders of a great many men. The ship worshipped
by the Suevi, according to Tacitus, was the Argha, or
Argo, the type of the pudendum mullebre. The Argha,
or Toni, with the Linga of stone, is to be found all over
India as an object of worship. Flowers are offered to it,
* The three words Amha, Nabbi, and Argha seem to have caused
great confusion among the Greek mythologists, who even ascribe to
the earth all the fanciful shapes of the Argha, which was intended at
first as a mere emblem. Hence they represented it in the form of a
boat, of a cup, or of a quoit with a boss in the centre, sloping towards
the circumference, where they placed the ocean. — Agathem., book i.,
c. i. Others describe the earth as a square or parallelogram, and
Greece was supposed to lie on the summit, with Delphi in the navel, or
central part of the whole, — Pind. Pyth. 6. Eurlp. Ion., v. 233. The
Jews, and even the early Christians, insisted that the true navel of tlie
earth was Jerusalem, and the Mohammedans, Mecca. The Argha is
a type of the Adhera-Sacti, or Power of Conception, exerted and
vivified by the Linga or Phallus, one and the same with the ship Argo,
which was built, according to Orpheus, by Juno and Pallas, and accord-
ing to Apollonius, by Pallas and Argos, at the instance of Juno. —
Orph. Argon, v., 66. ApolL, lib. ii., 5, ilyo. As, Res., vol. iii.
The Indian Religions. 187
and the water, which is poured on the Linga, runs into
the rim which represents the Yoni, and also the fossa
navicidaris, and Iswarra is sometimes represented standing
instead of the Linga in the middle, as Osiris in Egypt.
{^As. Res., viii.)
Pkitarch has said of the Egyptians, that they had
inserted nothing into their worship without a reason.
" Nothing merely fabulous is introduced, nothing super-
stitious, as many suppose ; but their institutions have
either a reference to morals or to something useful in life."
The mass of mankind lost sight, however, of morality in
the multiplicity of rites, as it is easier to practise cere-
monies than to subdue passions ; so it was in India and
Egypt.
In the course of investigating the ceremonies of the
Hindus, and in attempting to elucidate their meaning, it
will be found necessary to draw an analogy between them
and those of the Egyptians. The resemblance is very
striking; they mutually serve to explain each other.
When the Sepoys, who accompanied Lord Hutchinson in
his Egyptian expedition, saw the temple at Denderah,
they were very indignant with the natives of the place for
allowing it to fall into decay, conceiving it to be the
temple of the consort of their own god, Siva ; a fact, to
say the least of it, no less singular than interesting.
The religion of Egypt no doubt had its origin in India.
The annihilation of the sect and worship of Brahma,
as the Iswarra or " Supreme Lord," is described at large
in the Kasichandra of the Scanda-Piiran ; where the
three powers are mentioned as contending for precedence.
Vishnu at last acknowledges the superiority of Siva ; but
Brahma, on account of his presumptuous obstinacy, had
i88 PhalHcism.
one of his heads cut off by Siva, and his puja, or worship,
was abolished.
The intent of this legend is evidently to advance the
claims of the Siva sect ; and if we substitute the con-
tending facts for the battle of the Deutas, or angels, the
fable will appear not quite destitute of historical fact, nor
wholly without foundation.
Mystic Anatomy,
CHAPTER XVI.
MYSTIC ANATOMY, AND THE MASTER PASSION OR " THE ACT."
These sections of our book are drawn from conside-
rations arising out of the mysterious philosophy of the
inter-celestial and terrestrial human anatomy of the ex-
perts of the ancient classic times and of the middle ages,
and particularly from the remote myths and mythologies
of the Oriental countries.
The whole system and the view of the act, both
theoretic and practical, is considered, whether it be viewed
as a rite, a sacrifice, a sacrament, a magic spell or prac-
tice, and is developed and commented upon according to
the mystic doctrines propounded by Jacob Bcehm. The
examination of this difficult and evading subject is de-
duced according to the mystical ideas outlined in origin
and regularity as produced out of the occult influence of
the planets in genuine Chaldaic and authoritative astrology,
which, totally misunderstood, are blundered and spoiled in
modern attempted renderings (which in themselves supply
their own proof of insufficiency, and are their own confuta-
tion), and in the hints and suggestions gathered from amidst
the mazes which are purposely interwoven to blunt and to
lead away, to disappoint, and to baffle inquiry, of the
Cabala, in which all the learning and knowledge of the
old world was shut up, and its power and light laid aside
when the Old Primeval World was "Ruined." The
action, inter-action, and cross-action of the stars in the
mutual effects and operation upon each other, of the
1 90 Phallicism.
planets, and more particularly the cross-moving and the
amplifying and waning, crescent and decrescent powers
(aggressive and defensive) of the Moon — all relatively
qualifying and harmonising — all this is the telluric and
celestial history, " set, as it were, to sleep" in the divine
" orchestration," springing to life, meaning, and vigour in
the " music of the spheres" (no false thing, but a real
thing), by means of which the ministers of the origi-
nating God made the creation of the World possible —
Nature, in this super-essentially divine handiwork, finding
at once its support and its imperfections in the reluctant,
persistently protesting "bass," without which contrast
music would be impossible. Music, in other senses than
those of man — who, in reality (as he has become in
his lost and depraved state), is " deaf as an adder" — is
the " air of Paradise." Sometimes, even now, at magic
moments, with those who are gifted to apprehend its
effect, there come floating over the soul dim, dreamy
recollections of that happy place, mingled with sad
reflective consciousness, that, through the treason of his
great progenitor, Adam, man has for ever lost his first-
intended, celestial home.
The doctrine of the mystics is that the Second Great
Luminary, the mighty Moon (ruler and Queen of the
Darkness), is all-powerful in certain senses. She takes
half-part in the rendering of men's fate. She labours (in
the half-part) to make up the human and every creature's
destiny. The figure of the Man, like a phantom, has to
pass through " Mansions" — or the thirteen lunations — in
the year. Man is made " in the moon," for the mystic
passage of the child in the mother's womb is marked by
distinct stages at these nine strange gates (or more
Mystic Anatomy. 191
properly ten) through which the child pusses to birth, or
to the true moment for the deciding horoscope in astro-
logy, when the child, for the first time, confronts the
stars. The influences of the moon are feminine influences,
and refer to the secondary or responsive principle, pul-
sative throughout nature, as constituted now in the
material formularies. We can alone find the life and the
vigour and the purpose and meaning of music, as detailed
in its intertangling effects and dominating play upon the
affections and passions in its hieroglyphic musical tele-
graphics. These are operating upon the sensitive nerves,
and the heart of man — as we witness every day when
the administration of the music is prosperous and ade-
quate — in the swelling and sinking of this sympathetic
communication passing between the soul of man and the
divinities.
We may now consider the mystic physiology of the
human being (" Male and Female created He them") and
the rationale (celestial and otherwise) of the methods and
the motives and purposes of Generation. This we will
recommend and desire as not to be perused except with a
raised mind and in a serious spirit — in a word, we would
be understood to wish that all who do not feel themselves
capable of this philosophical coolness and reticence, and
of this abstract mode of study, and of this critical serious-
ness, should forego this important section. The whole
subject is sought to be raised into high, abstract and
spiritual levels, and the topics are reduced into narrow
definitions. Lurking principles in the physiology of the
" human construction" are examined with care. The
range of statements springs from out the profound mystic
anatomical philosophy of those masters of speculation.
1 9 2 Phallicisni.
Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Albcrtus Magnus, Phito, and
the Idealists; Battista Van Helmont, Guglielmus Pos-
tellus, Jerome Cardan, and the Mystics; Robertus de
Fluctibus, and the Alchemists ; Jacob Boehm, and the
Transcendentalists ; — all the greatest minds of antiquity
and of the middle ages.
Coition, human, is synthesis — it is the union of '' Half-
Sex," Man (so assumed in this abstract sense), and " Half-
Sex," Woman (so assumed, also, in this abstract sense).
The union of these " Two" half-sexes is the establish-
ment of a "Whole" Sex — hermaphrodite (Hermes-
Aphrodite, Venus-Mercury). Tiie mechanical definition
of Sex is power of blissful protrusion, human organic
shooting, willed, conscious magnetism (for an end), with
climax of dissolution and destruction (in the end), perish-
ing as in the "flower" of this " stalk " Thus Cornelius
Agrippa and Paracelsus — thus the mystic anatomists, like
Fludd and Van Helmont.
The orders " increase" and " multiply" are orders to
be taken as identical, although, in fact, they are directly
contradictory. It is these things which are set against
each other which constitute the stupendous and irresistible
natural temptation (obtained out of shame, or out of denial
and disgrace,) of all this enchanted side of life.
It is from these conjoint reasons that, in its mystery,
the universal success and universal power of this side of
life springs. It is inseparable from the human being, and
yet, strange to say, in the philosophic, and therefore the
true, sense, it is only accidental to the human being. This
passion is the master passion. This passion is the key-
note of everything. All the other passions are made the
servants of this dominant one. Ambition is made a fool
Mystic Anatomy. 193
by it. Revenge mainly is caused by it. Love rage is
worst rage. Avarice pours out its treasure to obtain it.
Pride submits the lowest to it. Luxury is the greatest
in it.
Therefore, for these reasons, which are indisputable
(as all the world and the experience of all the world
witnesses), both in the past time and in the present,
there is the greater necessity that out of man's re-
sponsible nature (for he has a responsible nature, from
fear in regard to himself,) should be derived the natural
safeguards against this endowment or the reverse? (as
which shall we distinguish it ?). As we well know, all the
grace, beauty, delight, and glory of life spring from it,
as well as the possibility of horror and terror. It is a
heaven on earth in some senses, and yet, in its very
nature, there is a possibility of converting this heaven
into a hell. In any way, it is a heaven which resigns all
its flames (bright flames) of joy, and leaves (in the end)
in our hands only these natural physical results of com-
bustion, dust— the mortal residuum which perpetuates
the heirship of degradation and of shame. Man is the
heir of the first Adam, and therefore he is born into
disgrace and has consequently to face the penalty, for the
pure angels avert from him.
"Cursed now is the ground for thy sake" Who
shall save him, this ruin of ruins, this "Man," out
of the terror of the abyss into which he has fallen
through the treason of his first progenitor, yielding
in his weakness to the lures of the Great Enemy?
Who shall rescue the condemned? Only the pitying
Champion whose Immortal Mercy has traversed all the
worlds, bad as well as good. We instance this to show
194 Phallicism.
that the idea of the Saviour is an inseparable necessity for
fallen Man. We think that the world is wrong in its
thus childishly ignoring the philosophical and critical
examination of this all-important range of objects of
attention, which we feel soliciting and provocative in our
body every day of our lives, and without the- regulcited
indulgence of which, as the chief spur, we should wither,
spoil, and consume. These are things which must be
thought of, whether we will or no. There is a prudery —
which, after all, is only hypocrisy — which is worse
than the reasons for shame or the exhibition and the
confession of even the shame itself. Nature has no
shames. But the human creature, in his humanity, has
shames — overpowering, ineradicable shames.
While Man remains Man it is impossible to resist the
force of his natural desires, which we do not see why we
should not designate by their true, well-understood name,
lust. There is an irresistible rush to the Female, beautiful
body. There is a certain sort of wild, ungovernable im-
pulse, totally beyond reason and sense, exhibited in all these
successful cases, which we shall not be far wrong in cha-
racterising as a kind of the wreaking of a feeling, similar to
"rage," however absurd the expression may seem, upon this
presented personality. Against all the mischiefs, dangers,
and inconveniences which would be sure to arise from the
mistimed presentment of this irresistibly beautiful shape,
man has taken his measures from the beginning of time.
Thence dress. Thence (particularly) the female dress,
artfully contrived, in all judicious, well-regulated countries,
to disappoint, to evade, to mask, to involve, to abnegate,
to conceal. Thence " skirts" — the longer the better in
the puritanic sense,-^the fuller, the wider, in the (neces-
Mystic Anatomy. 195
sary, in society) defrauding sense. Therefore we cover
woman's beautiful body carefully up. Thence the long
robe and the hiding of the legs of woman.* Hence the
* It has been a question with the mystic anatomists, and with artists
who have made progress in refinement and in occultism, whether the
beauty of the outlines of the legf of women — strangely as such a theory
may sound — has not been greatly contributed to, really, by exposure,
and that the covering them up (in the long robe) has not conduced to
their shapely langulshment. This may partly arise (indeed, we think it
does arise) from the natural self-consciousness of women, and from their
sensitiveness when disrobed. For nature is most artful in its address
to the senses. This mystic, natural heightening of the gracefulness of
the shape of the female lower limbs, may also originate in the magnetism
springing between woman's eager response (sanctified by natur^') and
man's sexual poetical desires, in the high artistic, my ihologic il sense.
This is a strange philosophy ; but it boasts fullest authority in some of
the Rosicrucian profundities, even although these latter may not be of
earth, but may spring from magic, though they seem to bear such inti-
mate reference to it. From a consideration of the above reasons, it is
clearly in the interest of women to wish to inspire intense personal
desire for their charms in the minds of men ; and, to secure the success
of this paramount intention, it must naturally be their aim (if they were
allowed) to freely display their legs, the beauty of these latter being
still more important — strangely to say — even than their faces as the
incitement in the great end of woman. Thus it is the policy of women
(and the sharpest-minded among them know it) to show as much as
possible of their lower limbs, this disclosure being the chijf means of
exciting that passion (the most flattering and charming to woman) in
which lieth the power to mjvke the greatest fools of men (even of the
wisest, as all history, sacred and profane, avoucheth)— certainly of all
men. Men, in fact, by nature, have been made the slaves of women,
in some respects. From some of these reasons arise the results which
prove the power, even the enthusiasm, of their mystic sacredness, of
carnivals and masquerades (all "saturnalia" of their kind), where the
sexes interchange dress and characteristics, and women become as men
and men become as women. Thence mimes, mimics, grotesques, sal-
timbanques — those that the French call follesy folUt'ms, Mardeun and
debardeuses, and all the infinite variety of that fantastical, natural and
unnatural " pied populace," with Momus and the mopes, Satan and the
1 96 Phallicism,
universal anonymity of the lower half of the person of
woman, which in reality is an extinguishment biblically
" for the fear of her." We have Scripture warrant for
this fear in the ordinances of the Bible. Women are
commanded to " cover their heads" in that obscure text
and in that strange deterrent warning, for " fear of the
angels." There is a vast amount of magic mysticism
mingling with these special orders in regard to women in
the sacred Scriptures which we do not elect — at all events
satyrs and the sylvans, and the representatives and the caricatures of
that playful "Father" and "Mother" of "Nature" — animate and
reanimate, natural and supernatural — who presided at (and joined in)
that grand carnival and display, and "gran" Biblical "/e-j-Za," when
the multitude of the Children of Israel, finding that Moses delayed
his coming down from the Mountain (of Sinai), dissatisfied with their
chiefs, rose in rebellion to demand of Aaron a visible trophy, or talisman,
or supernatural object, or god, " to go before them." And when
their desire was acceded to, they bowed down before the Golden Calf,
and in their crowds they ran riot, in a sort of frantic, sacred defiance,
and "Ate and drank, and rose up to play." As to this '''■play" —
what it was — and what was its universal character — and that it was, in
fact, a grand, indecent orgie — all keen-sighted antiquarians and Bible
explorers and explainers (all, of course, except the rigidly orthodox)
are now fully agreed. This " god," to " go before them," the grand
talisman to incite them to victory, was undoubtedly the Phallus,
demanded by the Israelites in their recollection of the mysteries of the
Egyptians. For the " sign" of the phallus {phallos,
Supreme— artful constructions (« this side life")— of the
magnificent apostate, the mighty rebel, but yet, at the
same time, the " Light-bringer," the Lucifer— the " Morn-
ing Star," the "Son of the Morning"— the very highest
title " out of heaven," for in heaven it cannot be, but out
of heaven it is everything. In an apparently incredible
side of his character — for let the reader carefully remark
that qualities are of no sex — this Archangel Saint Michael
is the invincible sexless, celestial "Energy" — to dignify
him by his grand characteristic — the invincible " Virgin-
Combatant" clothed — (and yet suddenly interposes a
stupendous mystery, a mystery which lies at the very root
of true Buddhism and Gnosticism, for both, in their
radical metaphysical bases, are the same) — clothed, and
at the same time armed, in the denying mail of the
Gnostic « refusal to create."* This is another myth, a
"myth within myths," at the same time that it is a
stupendous "mystery of mysteries," because it is so
impossible and contradictory. Unexplainable as the
Apocalypse. Unrevealable as the "Revelation."
The writings of Jacob Behmen abound with these
strange contradictory theosophic speculations. This is
truly the mysticism of the Gnostics, the Manichees, and
Buddhists. It is also, in certain of its phases, the mysticism
of the Platonists. It is precisely the ■ reverse of those
doctrines usually attributed among the learned to the
Buddhists and to the reasoning philosophers amonn- the
professors of the forms of belief enumerated above.
Facts may be right in philosophy, and yet the interpre-
tation of some of the facts, or of most of them, may be
* The metaphysical foundations of Buddhism and Gnosticism are
the same.
2 1 4 PhalllcUm.
all wrong, because the inquirer's means of examination
may be incommensurate or faulty in some principal
respects, which may spoil all his deductions and con-
clusions, even in the instance of, otherwise, very clever
men. Ambition and self-occupation and self-conceit are
great deterrents in these respects. Even absolute igno-
rance has a great deal to do with such mistakes. For
academic distinctions, in themselves, are not worth
much.
But to resume with our ultra-metaphysical distinctions
in the region of this (save for that leading mystic, Jacob
Behmen, and for one or two others of a similar pro-
foundly thoughtful character) unknown, and hitherto very
superficially explored, "mystic anatomy." Women may
be said to be " Men-Forward." Men may be said to be
" Women-Backward." To comprehend all this it is
absolutely necessary to possess an intimate acquaintance
with the details of human anatomy, particularly in its
most extraordinary and evasive forms. At the same
time, nothing can be made of this reluctant and mys-
terious subject except by those gifted with powers of
the keenest acuteness of observation and the most
cautious judgment. Man and Woman are the same, in
reverse of each other. The junction is the " shock." It
is not seen, except by the mystic anatomists, that in the
umbilicus and its extension instant and contemporaneous
man, and every man, is (and must be) in continuous and
corporeal direct descent from the prototype, and must
consecutively, in an eternal chain of a line, until inter-
rupted, propagate as a single being forward, while man is
man, and the strange foreign race — to speak thus of man
as an abstraction, from an altogether different standpoint
Alystic- Ancitoniy. 2 1 5
from that usiuil — this strange foreign race, out of Nature,
designated as Man, projected from the outside of Nature,
as it were — ab extra of everything — like a human meteo-
rolite (to put the case poetically) out of " unknown other
worlds." Soul is nothing, body everything, in "This
World." Body nothing, soul everything, " Out of This
World." Woman (in pregnancy) is in a "magical"
and, in one sense, unnatural state. This is, of course,
apart from her being the means of perpetuating the race,
which would almost seem the only object, as vouched in
her peculiarities and by her personal configuration, of her
being introduced into the world at all. It is certainly
not for the pleasure of man, except in his state of mistake
and of degradation.* A woman, about to give birth to a
child, has ceased to be a real woman — in the exalted and
intensifying sense — because she is not a woman properly —
that is, a virgin. For a true, perfect woman — as a tho-
roughly independent entity — must be a virgin, because
she has nothing to do with the opposite sex, having never
been conjoined with the opposite sex, and having thus
lost her perfectly independent singleness. A woman that
is not a virgin is a spoiled woman. She is thus, in the
admission or the supposition of all the peoples — highly
so, in the ideas of all the most imaginative and refined
nations. Woman forfeits her supernatural privileges and
powers when she is despoiled — this in certain senses— of
her virginity. She is said to be capable of clairvoyance
of prophecy— of divination — of supernatural insight; —
said to be sacred and holy — to have powers over the
spirits — in her condition of unconsciousness, or of maid-
* This is in the abstracted sense, of course, for we have elsewhere
spoken of this pleasure as the very highest pleasure for man.
2 1 6 Phallic fsjn.
hood. Tliese are great, wondrous endowments.* She
inspires all Nature with the fear of her. The poets have
* The prescription to King David, the " favourite of Heaven," be it
remembered, by his most skilful physicians, when the King was "old
and stricken in years," was the attendance and ministration of a maid,
" I. Now King David was old, and stricken in years, and they
covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. 2. Wherefore his
servants said unto him, ' Let there be sought for my Lord the King a
young virgin, and let her stand before the King, and let her cherish
him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my Lord the King may get
heat.* 3. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts
of Israel, and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the
King. 4. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the King, and
ministered to him; but the King kneiu her not." — I Kings, i. i — 4.
** Our author has given Abishag, the very fair damsel's adumbration,
most curiously.
" This danger of incontinence, King David being a very old man, is
another convincing argument that our author's cataplasm and remedy
and relief for the infirmities of old age is a virgin. For virgins are the
greatest temptations, very naturally, to the fault of incontinence.
" Now if the Sin of eating the fmit of the ' Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil' were the Scriptural Knowledge of a Woman (as is the opinion of
some learned men), a spotless Virginity may likely be the very thing in pro-
tractingthat Evil Dayof Man,whichthe beguiling of Woman by the Devil,
and her seduction by the Evil One, first brought upon the unhappy Man.
"Or admit, if our First Parents had not eat the 'Apple' (as most
Divines allow they really did), Man might have been conceived without
sin, and Woman might have brought forth without sorrow ; this and all
other Acts being naturally performed, according to the Will of his
Creator, as the Sun goes round without sin, but that, by the Fall, Will
and Pleasure, and particularly this form of delight, has become sinful
and atrocious ; and Lust has grown exorbitant and dominating over
everything in the world. When perhaps this natural instinct — before
the ' Fall' — was a pure, innocent, natural propensity, as for the Stars to
keep their courses. Even in Nature, every way corrupted by these
means, the Remedy is highly rational. For, in this case, the Virgin
heat and uncontrollable desires, irritated and exalted by the juxta-
position and contact of Man, however thus old and physically incapable,
exerts itself magnetically and sympathetically, spurred by the abounding
Mystic Anatomy. 1 1 7
feigned that a naked woman, if a maid, can walk through
the world, and that all Nature will thrill and tremble at
fancies of inventive and imaginative Woman, luxuriating in the feeble
object thus only accidentally, grudgingly, and enviously afforded, exerts
itself by its magic invisible expansion, radiation, and incubation (woman
becoming the ' man' in force here, let it be carefully remarked) ; and then
she so acts, with that vigour sent forth outwardly in her instinct of
delight (contrived by Nature), in seeking to reproduce and to multiply,
notwithstanding the useless, old, expended form presented to her, so
that her own excitement at disappointment reinforces her power by
implying to it the air of fury. Now the remedy and the restoration to
health and strength of the aged Man in this vivifying, singular adminis-
tration of the matchless physician (woman), who prescribes the remedy,
is found in the fact that the Virgin expands that vigour outwardly, in
her instinct mechanical (the gift of cunning Nature) for preserving her
decaying species, her ' longing,' as it is called, which springs from her
intense desire to produce of herself, and to give her likeness to the
world. Here springs all the end of humanity. Thus the woman's
powers and incitements find their escape and safety outwardly, which
she would otherwise consume and use up, according to her nature,
inwardly in procreation, the natural intention of her by her Divine
Author. And on the other, this ' Old Dust and Ashes,' this ' Old
Man,' this ancient ' stump with not a green leaf upon it,' may, by his
concubine, full of spirits and vitality, have sparks of reanimation kindled
in him (a new elixir vit/z), so as to keep the embers alive, that, for want
of the fuel of life, are not able to break out into the grand magical flame
of Lust, however eager and willing in intention, although insufficient to
take green wood or powder (the wrong sort of powder) of wood. But
if the Old Man's Vital Flame, thus trembling and lambent, flickering,
so to say, over himself, should proceed to try to animate posterity in
over-stimulus — tempted to destruction by the Devil — he must only
expect his own speedy Extinction, and instead of re-acquiring new life,
he must die outright. Thus the woman, however beautiful and tempt-
ing, must be sacred to him, and (aided by the angels, who will help
him in his refusal and continence) he will forswear her." — '■'■The Cure
of Old Age and Preservation of Youth. By that great Mathematician
and Physician, Roger Bacon. Edited by Richard Browne, M.L.
Coll. Med. Lond. London, Printed by Thomas Flesher, St. Paul's
Churchyard, 16S3."
2 1 8 Pballicisjiiy
her, and bow before her and worship her ; that the devils
will fly from her face, and the wild animals crouch at her
feet ; the angry thunders of Heaven be stilled, and the
bright sun — and, still more, the moon, because the moon
is the genius, and (mysteriously and mythically) the
maker of woman — beam forth.
" 'Tis said that the lion will turn and flee
From a maid in the pride of her purity."
^nJ yet — to set against this — perpetual maidhood, or
even prolonged maidhood, is impossible to woman, except
as attended with unutterable mischiefs, amongst which, as
certainly not the least, will be reckoned, even in the best
reo-ulated female mind, that of the almost certain ruin
of her beauty. These facts and theories — and more
facts and theories that lie behind and press upon one
in their number — furnish problems and wonderings as to
what should really be, as Nature intended, or as con-
ducive to the general vital policy, or of the preternatural
intentions in regard of her ; whether the lines of pro-
bability in regard to woman's life in the world — beautiful
and ruinously seductive as woman is to man — lead up
to distrust if she be, or to the conclusion that she is
not, intended for personal rigid holiness, for the putting
aside and denial, with the terrors, both to woman and
man, which correspond with this uncomfortable fixedness
of her fate ; or whether the instinctive desires and pre-
possessions should be allowed (and enjoined), with full
scope accorded ; and whether, in a new order of things,
free licence and absolute cosmopolitism should become
mode and manners, introducing to as equally great, or
worse, dangers and to spiritual demoralisation, with no
reference to any responsibility of man, and to his
Mystic Anatomy. 219
absolute ruin m other ways. We hope no time like
this will arrive — even in America, where there is most
danger.
But to return, and, in a certain measure, to repeat. A
woman that is not a virgin is a " spoiled woman." She
is a "victim:" — hence (in visible forms) her investment
in white from time immemorial at her bridal or be-
trothal ; for white was the colour of the victims among
the Greeks and Romans, even among the Christians.
She Is not man, of course, because man is by Nature
barren, though, if the " First Woman" was achieved
out of the body of " Man," as we are told in Scripture,
the first man could not have been barren, but must
have been capable, in some incomprehensible manner,
of reproducing his own kind, Man must, therefore,
originally have been fertile, even in this very important
and extraordinary respect, at least in this first instance,
and even in this especial exclusively feminine charac-
teristic. We must accept this as the true reading of the
story of the Garden of Eden, unless we construe these
portentous particulars as allegory, conveyed in the terms,
and by the means, only possible. The imagination of
man is always baffled in his conception of a miracle. But
the whole of this singuhu* side of life, through whatever
interpretation we may place upon it, or however we may
seek to justify to ordinary reason even the natural phe-
nomena wherewith we are all so familiar, which show has
become so continual, and is so inseparable to us, that we
pay it no attention, and never recur with a " side glance"
to it (" wondering at the wonder," as we may say) ; the
whole of this side of life, as we safely declare, is magical,
therefore miracle : therefore, being miracle, certainly not
2 20 Phaliicism.
Nature, because it is unnatural, as common sense under-
stands Nature.
In regard to Woman — all her peculiarities and sym-
pathies, her weakness and her unworthiness, her magic
inferior nature, and her magic sinister, and yet heavenly
(as the assuasive to the inherent brutality of man) superior
nature, arise out of this fact — of her being under man, of
her being the subject and not the object of creation.
** Mrs. Quickly. Say — what thing ? — what thing ?
» Falstaff. What thing ?— Why—
" A ' Thing' to thank God on !"
This, as thus put forward, is a jeer of Shakespeare, but it
contains profound philosophical truth as to the real cha-
racter of woman, apart from her magic excellence, from
the magical point of view, — apart from her sex altogether.
Again, the act of generation, the most resistless morsel
in the Devil's " armoury of temptations," as it has ever
been found in all ages all over the world, and which has
seized to itself the highest idea of beauty which the mind
and the eager sympathies of man have been ever able to
achieve (blind, and mad, and a delusion as, in reality, it
is), this first idea, in the earliest age, and grasp at the
" unattainable," is, at the same time, man's last snatch, in
age, at the ultimate departed joy (when power has gone,
even in remembrance), and it is the last cling for felicity
that flashes up out of vitality in the expiring embers of
surrendering age ! In the old days — in the ancient Pagan
times — in the highest cultured, in the most poetic classic
periods, this link between earth and heaven — as it may
most truly be called — was sacred — was an act of worship,
— it is so intimated in all the myths and mythologies. It
was a sublime religious " rite" in the old classic times, as
Mystic Anato7ny. 1 1 1
also among the Jews. The Jews were always a very
lustful people. There are certain natural reasons which
render this tendency peculiar and remarkable in them. It
is very generally admitted that, also, the Mahometans,
among all the tribes and races, are very prone to libidinous
indulgence. The act was sacred, as a rite, to the gods,
in the ancient times. It was always looked upon as a
sacred rite among the Christians. These ideas are strictly
valid — although never taken notice of — even in these latter
times, supposed to be exceedingly chaste, and accepted as
scrupulously religious — abounding, nevertheless, in a vast
amount of hypocrisy, as they undoubtedly do. At least,
this in all men's private judgments and convictions about
these sensual matters.
According to the Mahommedans all a woman's form
is " magical," while the man's form is mechanical. All
the Orientals, as is well known, hold the idea of woman
very lightly. The woman's body the Mahommedan covers
up and hides (as if Nature was ashamed of it) in public,
and always at those times when circumstance or necessity
compels her appearing in public. But for his own private
gratification the Oriental reduces woman's form to its
earliest nakedness, therefore to its magic, therefore to its
primitive provocation in the beauty of its magic sym-
metrical bareness, when no eyes see but his own, offering
her body as the means of his most exquisite enjoyment.
The reader will probably perceive by this how ex-
quisitely fine and delicate the tastes of some of the most
refined of the Orientals must be, and will at once
further apprehend the causes and reasons — and realise
the justification — for the extreme, implacable, and relent-
less jealousy of the Turks and those other stubbornly
2 2 2 Phallicism.
sensual peoples. This universal passion affects nations
and countries — as we know it does individuals — very
differently. But amongst the Orientals, where " love
rage" is very often the greatest of "rages," the cool
inquirer and the correctly comparing and weighing philo-
sopher will soon perceive how the greatest of danger
must the most speedily spring up there in regard to that
point where all the passions of men concentrate the most
forcibly into fierceness. Oriental man, at this wholly-
disclosed naked beauty of woman, when permitted to
concentre all his uninterrupted, ravished attention on it,
without distraction from outside things, is wholly occupied
in his gaze, which sight of the glorious object — being
complete — intensifies his pleasure and intoxication. The
man of the East treats his lust for this beauty, — for
all these enjoyments are not forbidden to him; for his
heaven is composed of houris, and these enjoyed under
the most delicious of circumstances, with ever-springing
renewal of power and pleasure, — the Oriental — let it be
remarked — indulges his vagaries of idea in these luxurious
respects — his whims and his fancies, notably in the dis-
play of the limbs of the women in his seraglios, either
freely displayed or temptingly and artfully semi-invested, —
either for temptation to, or in rest from, or in solicitation
in the future for, the exercise of his desires — in dia-
phanous or opaque drawers or trousers in the Harems.
The Moslem, in fact — to put the case very roughly, but
very truly, and very beneficially, in the right interests of
this very delicate but extremely important subject (espe-
cially considering the tendency — doubtless lax and irre-
gular — of the present times) — the Oriental — to use a
coarse image — " devours" women in this way — "eating
Mystic Anatomy. 223
of his own flesh" — committing continually the first sin,
and the ciipital sin — perpetuating the first abomination,
making his women, in appearance (we will do him the
justice to imagine that he stops short here), like men, yet
remaining women, — in truth, the acme of lust. A lust
"bred out of hell," and all the more hideous and Satanic
because hinting of the dark Eblis (or the " bright
Lucifer") by presenting itself in the lures of the beauty,
snatched at in its magic, out of the splendours of heaven.
The Moslem does not stop at women in the gratifying of
his lewd, not amorous, propensities, but he extends his
lust to all fit forms, and all forms that may present to
him, in the masquerade of this feminine class. We have
seen something of these strange aberrations from nature
in the history of those debased masters of the world — as
they esteemed themselves — the ultra-luxurious Emperors
of Rome, in the high-class devotees among the Chinese,
even amidst the common people, in the classic times,
amongst the early races, in by-corners and in certain
directions in the old world, as well as in the new,
both in old and new times. These Orientals, of this
irregular class, this debased brood, have recourse to
either sex, or to neither sex, or to both sexes (ac-
cepted) in one. His own form, to make the indign
side of it mysterious in character, the Moslem invests in
long, dignified, concealing, muffling robes. He covers as
much as he can of woman's form in public, as people hide
away jewels and valuables which they wish to keep all to
themselves, in accordance with the selfish, grudging sug-
gestions of his avaricious sensuality, insisting on keeping,
in his tyrannical, austere jealousy, all her beauty to him-
self^ purposely to overwhelm himself, at the right times
2 24 Phailicism.
for his self-gratifying purposes, with fleshly seduction.
He strips her, as much as is possible to him, in private,
to give edge and point and spur to his domineering lust,
which will know no check from magnanimity or forbear-
ance, and is stimulated by resistance. He covers as much
as he can of his own fbrm, in his morbid and yet
highly-sensitive pride and dark, personal reserve, except
for war, when, of course, he astutely clothes and arms
himself fitly. The Turks are perhaps the most formally
decent and proud, in all the dignified, serious walks of life,
of all peoples. Mahomet had supernatural genius and
princely pride. The Turk bowstrings his enemies, giving
them thus the masculine accolade, and according them
the dignity of the honourably condemned. He accords to
his male criminals the privileges due to them as men, and
inflicts execution, implied under the terms of respect,
under pronounced and distinct and accepted methods of
execution, or of removal out of this world. He confers
the observances of execution, such as the honour of be-
heading, or by the methods of getting rid of his victim,
or the " devoted to death," put in practice by the Thugs,
who made a consecrr^tive rite or sacrifice of the strang-
ling of their victims,.or were even supposed to assist them
religiously in freeing them from the " animal rings and
purgatories," hindering them in their forward progress of
exaltation out of the condemnation which to these specu-
lative Asiatics this earthly life meant. This sort of
honourable method of putting to death is practised in
the instance of males. But in the instance of females,
in the inspiration of the disdain of them, in Eastern
countries, the woman is removed out of the world as
not properiy of it, and is therefore submitted to indign
Mystic Afidtomy. 225
methods of putting to death, if criminal, — such as are
applied to the lower orders of creatures — not that the
cruelty is greater, but that the carelessness and disregard
are greater and more contemptuous.
The bowstring, or hanging, or execution by the sword
or axe or poison, are the means employed to execute
justice upon males among the Turks. There is con-
sideration and a certain kind of honour in all these forms
of death. Something of the same view of the inferiority
of woman generally prevailed amongst the Romans,
even in their most highly civilised times, under the
Emperors. Thus it was against the Roman law to put a
virgin to death, because a virgin (while such) was sacred,
and not to be exposed to this last penalty, which was a
degradation in a certain occult sense — that is, as a dese-
cration from the sacredness of the idea of virginity, which
was a matter for the gods, and a characteristic of the
gods.
Farther than this — in regard of our own country. By
the old constitutional, unwritten law of England women
condemned to death were never hanged (like the
canine creatures, for instance), bul burned, which was
the nobler penalty, applied to mvirr.v'rc (to those who
rebelled against the gods) and to those not guilty of any
crimes of a low depth of enormity. PV to^this, execu-
tion by fire, and also to that, in many minds,- :he bitterer
portion of the sentence, the previous outrage of them by
the executioners, the first female Christian martyrs were
subjected, many of whom are now reckoned among that
glorious company of saints in heaven who laid down their
lives in all the constancy of adhesion to their belief.
But the nobler and the more manly (that is, in the
226 PhaUlcism.
sense worthy) punishments, the Turks inflict when their
enemies are males, when they condemn their criminals.
But another form of retribution is meted out to the
women. Their last punishment and penalty varies. The
master of his slaves must evolve fine distinctions out of
the compassion of his own hosom, if he feels them. But
he possesses the power to dispose of his property as he
pleases ; and, in the instances where he disdains, he
destroys with cold-blooded indifference. He. submits his
delinquent women to the last punishment and penalty in
his own contemptuous fashions. The Turk ties up his
unfortunately lapsed women — women lapsed from the
tyrannical bodily allegiance and serfdom to him, alone, in
the relentless greediness of his inexorably selfish lusts —
in the dark jealousy, and the slinking disdain of his own
disappointed, particuliu- desire to grasp all to himself —
in the sack, and dismisses them into that — " outside of
life," as we may, in our ignorance of it, in this, our real,
genuine, sensible life, designate it : — whatever it be, in
his carelessness of regard to it in the case of the female ;
in respect of whom he will not even admit the idea of a
soul : — thus he gets rid of the removed woman as a
thing — as a thing to be delivered over into the void.
Woman, in truth, owes her position in the social scale
solely to the ideas of the Christians in these respects.
Women owe everything to Christianity — both their
honour and their place. And their allegiance and
worship is due to the magnificent idea, occurring solely in
the Christian gospel, of the immaculate birth of the
Redeemer of Mankind through (of course, the "Virgin")
Mary, the " Mother." It is a strange thing, that none
of our acutest theologians (at all Qvents, the modern
Mystic ylniitomy. iij
ones) will see — or, iU least will not admit — that the
one half of the Christian Gnostic group are perfectly
right in assigning this assimied truth of the Miraculous
Birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by the
Immaculate Virgin (incapable of sin, in this capacity) into
this " metaphysical show" of the world (as the Buddhists
contend that it is), in the only manner (that is, as the
super-excellent, first and best of Men) that can be enter-
tained at all. God's knowledge is not man's " ignorance."
Where would the world have been, and where should
we men have been, had this been so ? Except through
hopes, springing solely from and arising from the mys-
teries connected with the Virgin Mother — woman is a
lost creature. Western women — that is, Christian
women — rest thereon their hopes, and the excelling
dignity (more than that of men, according to Cor-
nelius Agrippa) which the world ascribes to them, more
especially the privileges and advantages of marriage,
which, denying to them a succession of a partnership of
men — and of course the pleasures of boundless variety —
gives them one wherewith to grow old, and wherewith,
in their own indispensable interests, to be content ; — all
women of the Christian persuasion owe their position to
this elevation of the idea of " woman" in the person of
the Virgin Mary — first and holiest of her s°x, in the
inexpressible greatness of her magic state. We advance
but a few steps in the examination of religious matters
before coming up, fiice to face, with a mystery — which
is soon found — before our eyes, and against our common
sense (which, in these matters, is tiothing) — to convert,
and to metamorphose, into a miracle. Not all the logic
of the schools — not all the elaborate wisdom of the
22 8 PhaUicism.
dialectics, nor of the talking, disputative philosophers or
scientific men, can move against this certainty. And
the irresistible moral is caution and self-doubt — wherein
we feel disposed to accept everything and deny nothing.
The idea of a realised God — apart from the exaltation of
man's attributes and of the human form (we use the
word ' human' advisedly — omitting the distinction of male
and female), reflection assures us is utterly impossible. If
we begin to think otherwise we fall into the trap set by
the devil, and veer about, perceiving that God — if we
begin with our definitions — may be anything or nothing.
We again distinctly assert, beyond fear of contradic-
tion, that women owe their rescue, in men's ideas, entirely
to the operation of the Christian ideas, and especially to
the influence of chivalry in the old days. The persua-
sions of the Christians in regard to the true character of
women, and their place in the scheme of things, are quite
different to those of the Asiatics. The Christians base
their views upon the impulses and the heroic notions,
emphasising action, as seen in chivalry and knight-
errantry, which are especially instincts of the Cross. It
is very similarly the case with the Israelites. It was the
bringing of the Virgin Mary and the " Magdalen" to the
front that raised woman, that elevated her out of the
degradations customary in the East, and out of the
humiliating and contemptuous idea entertained of the
sex by the Jews. There is no limit to the repugnance
felt to the feminine idea generally among the Jewish
people : the exception is to the heroines, who passed
out of the disabilities of women into the splendours of
championship proper to man, saving their nation in the
devotion of their self-sacrifice — proving triumphant, such
Mystic Anatomy. 229
as Judith, Jael, Deborah, and others similar to these,
who, in this respect, from the greatness of their achieve-
ments, became, as it were, sovereigns, for sovereigns are
of no sex, and in every instance may well be classed as
of the nobler sex, or as " good as men." At least, these
grand Hebrew heroines became of almost as much dignity
and repute as the Jewish champions to the Jews.
These sexual notions constitute the groundwork and
form the difference between the ideas among the Turks
and those prevailing among Christians in regard to women.
These fixed persuasions, derived from their religions, are
the source and reason of the contrary character of the treat-
ment of women and the opposite views in regard of them,
by the people of the two religions, Mahometan and
Christian — indeed, by the professors of all the Asiatic
forms of belief. In respectful and in truly reverential
consideration of these sexu.d facts (continually becoming
occult) lies the foundation of all faiths and of all philo-
sophies starting from the views of the true character of that
creature much puffed up in his civilisation, man ; which
true character is, in reality, sufficiently low. We believe
that in the progress of the ages man has strayed away
from the original enlightenment, and that, ceasing to be
the heaven-seeing and heaven-receptive child, nearest to
the truth in the child's instincts, impressionable to heavenly
or angelic influences, man has become devil-endowed in
knowing ; eating, as it were, the second Apple.
The whole magic, real side of human nature, and the
supernatural origin of that strange universal feeling, which,
from want of a better knowledge of what, in reality, it is,
we call shame, in regard to particular parts of our persons,
prove to the more profoundly thoughtful, and to those
230 PhaUicism.
who can abstract themselves from the usages of life suf-
ficiently to take independent views, " from the outside,"
of their form and " make-up" (as it were), and wonder
at the uses, and the disgrace, in the exercise of certain of
their members — seized and adapted to answer extra-
ordinary objects, having nothing to do with the person's
individual well-being — all these strange matters startle
and confuse, and supply the deepest problem in life.
The idea of the shame of the Act is the foundation of
not only all celibacy or monasticism, both sacred and
profane, and penance, or self-immolation — in other words,
of " sacrifice" — but at once explains and justifies — even
enjoins and orders it ; — at all events, in all instances of
special self-devotion to the service of God-Almighty —
for Priests, and those to whom are committed the guar-
dianship, and, at the same time, the exercise of the mys-
teries. For this reason, in the Romish Church, the cup
of the "Sacrament," the Cup of the "Holy Spirit of
God," or of the '* Holy Ghost," is denied to the Laity —
very properly and obviously. For this sacred, mystic
reason — also very properly and obviously — the " Blessed
Cup," the ''Sang Real,'' or "Blood Royal" mystically
in the elaborate and splendidly-magnificent " parade of
solemnities" of the High Christian Church — however, not
acknowledged, and considered an illegitimate, or bastard,
daughter of the Established Church, or Parliamentary
Protestant Church (an impossible Church) — contains
" niixed potation," or " water," mixed with and diluting
or tempering the " wine," the power, and the meaning
of the full mystery conveyed in the Wine being veiled,
even to the celebrants.
The Brothers .of the "R. C." sought resolutely to
Mystic yinatomy. 231
stand aloof from all mankind in these respects — of mas-
tering their passions in regard to women. They laboured
— and laboured successfully in their own way — to trample
upon the base parts of their nature — to avert from the
temptation and to refuse the embraces of women. The
histories of all the saints supply abundant proof of this ;
the foundations of the principle of monasticism rest, all
over the world, on this abnegation.
Curiously enough, in the observances of all peoples,
especially in the instance of the older peoples, and those
of the most highly refined and cultivated disposition, this
hermit-like life, though contrary to nature [even contrary
to orders], was esteemed the holiest. There has always
been a certain sort of apology offered to nature — as if
nature were otlended at, and only permitted in a certain coy
and reluctant way, the kind of indecent thing; as if nature
were frowning and deprecating, assenting in one sense,
and refusing in another ; disapproving, even denouncing.
There has always been a sort of amiably apologetic idea
about marriage. There has been implied (upwards) the
plea, or the plaint of necessity : — certainly of necessity,
but, just as certainly, of necessity seeking indulgence.
Marriage, and the other tender relationship — so accen-
tuated, but so signally snatched, and so transitory (happily
so transitory, for otherwise it would make " short work"
with man — and woman, too ! — and would soon kill) ; these
pleasures are begged for with downcast eyes, and with
hesitation and shamefacedness, as a boon — as a boon
indeed ! — in regard of which, every fibre of man — and
of woman, too — particularly of the youth of either
sex — passionately clamours. To the body of man — and
of woman also — that very fine work (the handiwork ? —
232 Phallicism.
yes-, doubtless, the handiwork !) — of Nature, this so
very intimate halving or coincident magic junction, or
fellowship " out of" nature, and " in" nature — and
this at the " same time") is the only heaven — at all
events, is the best heaven. The Bride has always been
ashamed of herself. She has always needed consolation
and simulated retrieval, as if to condone penalties. Some
of the quaint forms of marriage, also, speak of the need
of (and of the possible proffer of) instant rescue — even
at the instance of, and as by the ordainment proceeding
from. Nature herself, or from the authors of nature.
However, from the strictly phallic, and from the Priapean
view — which is an universal one — the Bride has elected
(hence come the prodigious responsibilities of the man)
to forego the rights of pleased exercise which her mother.
Nature, has conferred upon her — rights extending to an
infinitely wider privilege than those assigned to the one
man chosen (and, perhaps, the man soon to prove traitorous
to his undertakings — which may, perhaps, be beyond
him). She, herself, has, perhaps, in her fond and foolish,
over-hasty trust, and ignorant and inconsiderate self-
abnegation resigned her rights to a community general in
regard to husbands, or efficients equivalent. This will
depend upon the view taken of the natural rights of
women in regard to the very proper, and very natural,
and incontestably inalienable privileges, of her claims, as a
woman, on man.* All women — of course all the girls,
* Mr. Long's "Babylonian Marriage Market" (sold in 1882 to
the Holloway Institution for 6,300 guineas) was absurdly named,
seeing that the subject had nothing whatever to do with marriage.
Probably the aristocratic and other crowds who filled the Royal
Academy and gazed with curiosity upon this picture would have
been shocked had it been described under its right name. When
Mystic Anatomy. 233
and the young women — may be, in some senses, con-
wlU England — and educated England, in the greater degree — become
less hypocritical and more candid ? The scene represented in the
picture related to the historical, legalised indulgence of the merest
accidental lust (an awful tyranny), in fulfilment of a sacred obligatory law
in Babylonia. We only wonder whether the crowds of ladies, old and
young — most diligent in the avail of glasses to realise particulars — these
mostly fashionable ladies, who crowded round and admired this picture
(which fell far short indeed of its object), were aware of its real meaning.
The following is the authentic account of this slavish (but in its
intention sublime) solemnity, as practised by the Babylonians. It is
strictly true in all the particulars as given by Herodotus.
*' Les Babylonlens," says Dulaure, "ont une loi bien honteuse ;
toute femme, nee dans le pays, est obligee, une fols dans sa vie, de se
rendre au temple de Venus, pour s'y livrer a un etranger. Plusieurs
d'entr' elles, dedaignant de se voir confondues avec les autres, a cause de
• I'orgueil que leur inspirent leurs richesses, se font porter devant le temple
dans des chars couverts. La, elles se tiennent assises, ayant derritire elles
un grand nombre de domestiques qui les ont accompagnees ; mais le
plupart des autres s'ass^yent dans la pi^ce de terre dependante du temple
de Venus, avec une couronne de ficelle autour de la tete. Les unes
arrivent, les autres se retirent. On voit en tout temps des allees st'parees
par des cordages tendus. Les etrangers se promenent dans ces allees,
et choisissent les femmes qui leur plaisent le plus. Quand une femme
a pris place en ce lieu, elle ne peut retourner chez elle que quelque
etranger ne lui ait jete de I'argent sur les genoux, et n'ait eu commerce
avec elle hors du lieu sacrc. II faut que I'e'tranger, en lui jetant de
I'argent, lui dise : 'J'invoque la dcese Mylitta.' Or les Assyriens
donnent a Venus le nom de Mylitta. Quelque modique que soit la
somme, il n't'prouvera point de refus : la loi le defend ; car cet argent
devient sacre. Elle suit le premier qui lui j^te de I'argent ; et il ne lui
est permis de repousser personne. Enfin, quand elle s'est acquittee de
ce quelle devait a la deese, en s'abandonnant a un etranger, elle retourne
chez elle. Apr^s cela, quelque somme qu'on lui donne, il n'est pas
possible de la seduire. Celles qui ont en partage une taille elegante et
de la beaute ne font pas un long sejour dans le temple ; mais les laides
y restent davantage, parce qu'elles ne peuvent satisf:iire a la loi, II y
en a meme qui y demeurent trois ou quatre ans." — Herodote, Clio,
chap, cxcix.
234 Phallic ism.
sidered as the universal children of Veii»9-i— in this way ;
the great Mother, the grand, sublime Isis ; she whose
" veil" — in magic awe — is never to be removed — be-
cause, according to the mythologists, the consequences
would be only too fatal. Venus is the "flower of
heaven." This is the Venus-Pandemos ; — for the god-
dess, Venus, has many names. In truth, Venus, in some
of her phases, is double-sexed. There is the "Venus
barbata^^ or "be arded Venu s," in the same double way,
and with the same double meaning, as, in the mytho-
logical sense, there is not only a huna, but a Lun^^j. The
name Venwj-, in itself, is masculine in its termination, and
the goddess becomes the god, and the god the goddess,
sometimes. The chief or leading Venus is, however, in
the most beautiful and glorious relationship to man — the
"Venus Victrix," the Venus-Pandemos — that is, the
patroness of all free women ; or, to sum up in one super-
lative word, Venus is the Grand " Hussey" of the World.
Now, in regard to the loftiest rights born with every
female, and the talismanic tokens of which she bears, and
parades (secretly) throughout the worlds, both visible
and invisible — both natural and supernatural, both human
and divine — she puts in evidence, in the establishment of
which she can appeal to her personal proofs — unless
(which happens, sometimes) she be defrauded by nature
as " spoilt work" — which marshalling of proofs (as we
repeat) is irresistible and triumphant in any court of the
world, and has always so been — in any court, and before
any judgment-seat. Human or Divine.
There is a large amount of hypocrisy in thus seeking
to deal, in the selfish, apologetic, bargaining way, about
the matters which are referred, coarsely, to the promptings
Mystic Anatomy. 235
of the "flesh." In fact, they are simply promptings to
signal honour and glory, and delight — but this, let it be
remarked, in the natural sense. Now, the natural and
the supernatural are utterly opposed, except where they
stand as one, in -magic and miracle — in regard to which,
it is contended, throughout our book — and as the text of
our book — that both are r^ai things. We — 'that is, the
human race — as it were, protests to the superintending
Providence in regard to this desire of the body — found
so supreme a temptation that the assault of it will even,
in the instance of the most faithful man of God, endanger,
or rather shake heartily, even down to the wholly
" toppling down" thereof — his faith and his allegiance.
Awful thought ! We are prepared to swear a thousand
oaths that we only wish it " this once ;" and we pray, as
we pretend, for the withdrawal of the attention meanwhile,
and for the averting of the eyes of the Deity — whatever
this unknown Deity may seem, or show, or disclose, or
" vouchsafe," or be to us — even for a short moment ;
otherwise we feel that we cannot " command ourselves,"
and we shall, in that unfortunate case, lay all the blame
upon " nature," or upon the God himself. We, as it
were, put the case to the superintending Providence — we
call " Him," or " It" — " Nature," because it then be-
comes clearer to our senses, and is more reconcilable to •
our infirmities, which seek kinship and repose in nature,
and by nature. We call all this " outside" — which,
distrust and fear about it disturb ; we seek to enter this
court of the Mighty Judge by side entrances, and to
essay the "private access," in order to slink from the
terrors, and to escape, in our fear and self-inclining, the
challenge of those " Awful Sentinels" which stand armed
236 Phallklsm.
on either side of the legitimate, and only properly-
authorised, entrance to the Tribunal. We call all of this
" Nature," being reluctant to acknowledge the vivid
vitality of the " Personality" of the Ruling and Governing
God. Therefore we manufacture to ourselves all sorts
of apologies and protestations about these certain ques-
tionable incidents of " marriage" (as they seem in human
fear), and so forth ; as if to ask so many sanctions of
the Church to make it holy, never being satisfied, or
feeling quite easy, until blessing after blessing is sought
over it — the trespass of the desire to live, and to enjoy,
as then the only limit — to ask but once ; and then to beg
the privilege, in the interest of humanity, to the obtaining
of a representative of ourselves and the continuing of
man, securing the privilege, out of the mercy and forgive-
ness of Providence, for forming such libidinous wishes,
sprung as weeds only, fit for the fire, out of the " devil-
sown" mortal field, left as the legacy of the " Enemy of
Mankind" for the fated inheritors of that fearful field, of
and for the children of Adam to inherit — >the heirs of
the " Curse."
There is nothing in the lower and sensible world that
is not produced and hath its image in the superior world.
Since the form of the body, as well as the soul, is made
after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the
forthcoming body which is to close the newly-descending
soul is sent down from the celestial regions to hover over
the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate,
in order that the conception may be formed according to
this model. We have before declared, in this chapter on
the mystic anatomy, enlarged upon by Cornelius Agrippa,
that the human " act," by which the power of perpetua-
tion has been placed in the exercise by man, and has been
Mystic Anatomy. 237
elevated into the irresistible n'citunil temptiition, is rightly
a solemnity, or magic endowment, or celebration to which
all nature not assents simply, but concurs, as the master-
key, however blindly or ignorantly, or brutally often
practised. The Sohar, iii., 104, a, b, declares that "At
connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One (blessed be
He !) sends a human form which bears the impress of the
divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and,
if we were permitted to see it, we should perceive over
our heads an image resembling a human fece. And it is
in this image that we are formed. As long as this image
is not sent by God, and does not descend and hover over
our heads, tliere can be no conception ; for it is written^
" And God created man in his own image" (Gen. i. 27).
This image receives us when we enter the world, it
develops itself with us when we grow, and accompanies
us when we depart this life, as it is written, " Surely
man walked in an image."
The followers of this secret doctrine of the Kabbalah
claim for it a pre- Adamite existence. It is also called the
secret wisdom, because it was only handed down by tradition
through the initiated, and its whole story is indicated in
the Hebrew Scriptures by signs which are hidden and
unintelligible to those who have not been instructed in
its mysteries. All human countenances are divisible
into the four primordial types of face which appeared at
the mysterious chariot-throne in the vision of the prophet
Ezekiel — viz., the fiice of man, of the lion, the ox, and
the eaf^le. Our faces resemble these more or less accord-
ing to the rank which our souls occupy in the intellectual
or moral dominion ; and physiognomy does not consist in
the external lineaments, but in the features which are
mysteriously drawn in us.
APPENDIX.
THE WORSHir OF THE LINGAM (PHALLUS) OR MALE
PRINCIPLE IN INDIA.
One day as Mahadeva (Siva) was rambling over the
earth, naked and with a large club in his hand, he chanced
to pass near the spot where several Munis were perform-
ing their devotions. Mahadeva laughed at them, insulted
them in the most provoking and indecent terms, and, lest
his expressions should not be forcible enough, he accom-
panied the whole with significant signs and gestures. The
offended Munis cursed him, and his Linga or Phallus fell
to the ground. Mahadeva in this state of mutilation
travelled over the world bewailing his misfortune
The world being thus deprived of its vivifying principle,
generation and vegetation were at a stand Gods and
men were alarmed, but, having discovered the cause of it,
they all went in search of the sacred Linga, and at last
found it grown to an immense size and endowed with life
and motion. Having worshipped the sacred pledge, they
cut it ^ith hatchets into one-and-thirty pieces, which,
polypus-like, soon became perfect Lingas. The Devatas
left one-and-twenty of them on earth, carried nine into
heaven, and removed one into the inferior regions for
the benefit of the inhabitants of the three worlds
To rhe event related is ascribed the origin of the
Linga or Phallus and its worship. It is said to have
happened on the banks of the Cumud-vati or Euphrates,
2 40 Appendix.
and the first Phallus was erected on its banks (under
the name of Bales war a Ling a). This is confirmed
by Diodorus Siculus, who says that Semiramis brought
an obelisk from the mountains of Armenia and erected
it in the most conspicuous part of Babylon. It was
150 feet high, and is reckoned by the same author
one of the seven wonders of the world. The Jews,
in their Talmud, allude to something of this kind ;
speaking of the different kinds of earth of which the
body of Adam was formed, they say that the earth which
composed his generative parts was brought from Baby-
lon. — (Wilford, A Dissertation on Semiramis. Asiatic
Researches, vol. iv., pp. ^f^y — 378.)
Henry O'Brien quotes from Sir William Jones an
account of attempts made against Sheevah (Siva) by a sect
of hypocritical devotees whose practices he had exposed.
It concludes as follows : — " Not yet disheartened by all
these disappointments they collected all their prayers, .
their penances, their charities and other good works, the
most acceptable of all sacrifices, and, demanding in return
only vengeance against Sheevah, they sent a consuming
fire to destroy his genital parts. Sheevah, incensed at
this attempt, turned the fire with indignation against the
human race, and mankind would have soon been destroyed
had not Vishnou, alarmed at the danger, implored him to
suspend his wrath. At his entreaties Sheevah relented.
But it was ordained that in his temples those parts should
be worshipped which the false devotees had impiously
attempted to destroy." And accordingly the Eastern
votaries, suiting the action to the idea, and that their
vivid imagination might be still more enlivened by the
very form of the temple in which they addressed their
Appendix. 241
vows, actually constructed its architecture after the model
of the membrum virile, which, obscenity apart, is the
divinely-formed and indispensable medium selected by
God himself for human propagation and sexual prolificacy.
This was the Phallus of which we read in Lucian, in his
treatise ' De Dea Syria,' as existing in Syria of such
extraordinary height, the counterpart of our Round
Towers, and both prototypes of the two * pillars'
which Hiram wrought before the temple of Solo-
mon." (O'Brien, Round Towers of Ireland, 100-
101.)
A Frenchman recently returned from India, and who
furnishes me with these details, assures me of his having
furtively penetrated into the most secret sanctuary of the
pagoda of Treviscare, consecrated to the worship of Siva,
and having seen there a kind of granite pedestal consisting
of a large base and a column supporting a basin, from the
centre of which runs vertically a colossal Lingam about
three feet high. Below, in the stone forming the base, is
a large cleft representing the female sex. In this sanc-
tuary, which is only lit from above, and on this stone, the
priests of Siva initiate into the mysteries of love the
young devidanis or dancing girls of the temple. —
(Dulaure, Histoire Abregee de dijferens Cultes.)
Unlike the abominable realities of Egypt and Greece
we see the phallic emblem in the Hindu Pantheon without
offence, and know not, until the information be extorted,
that we are contemplating a symbol whose prototype is
indelicate. Obelisks and pillars, of whatever shape, are
symbols of Siva or Mahadeva. He is Fire, the destroyer,
the generator, and the conical or pyramidal shape being
the natural form of fire, is applied to its representative and
R
242 Appendix.
symbolised by a triangle apex upward. As the deity pre-
siding over generation his type is the Linga, almost the
only form under which he is reverenced. It is also,
perhaps, the most ancient object of homage adopted in
India subsequently to the ritual of the Vedas, which was
chiefly, if not wholly, addressed to the elements, and par-
ticularly to fire. There can be no doubt that at the
period of the Mahommedan invasion the worship of the
Linga was common all over India. Twelve great Lingas,
which were objects of especial veneration, were at that
time standing at widely distant places, one being at
Rameriseram in the extreme south. Of these several
were destroyed by the early Mahommedan conquerors, the
most notable being that at Somnath, in Guzerat, demo-
lished by Mahmud of Ghizni, concerning which Mirk-
hond, a contemporary of that conqueror, writes as fol-
lows : — « The temple in which the idol of Somnath stood
was of considerable extent both in length and breadth.
The idol was of polished stone. Its height was about
five cubits, and its thickness in proportion ; two cubits
were below ground. Mahmud, having entered the temple,
broke the stone Somnath with a heavy mace. Some of
the fragments he ordered to be conveyed to Ghizni, and
they were placed at the threshold of the great mosque."
The story of the idol being hollow and having a. number
of jewels hidden within it is a modern European embel-
lishment, for which no foundation is discoverable. The
Hindus insist that the blackstone in the walls of the
Caaba at Mecca is a Linga or Phallus of Mahadeva, and
that it was placed in the wall, out of contempt, on the
establishment of Islamism, but that the newly-converted
pilgrims would not give up its worship, and that the
Appendix. 243
ministers oF the new religion were consequently forced to
connive at it. At present the principal seats of the l>ingii
worship are in the north-east and the south of India, parts
furthest removed from the early Brahmanical settlements,
a circumstance serving to confirm the theory that this
worship is a remnant of the ante-Brahmanical religion.
The temples dedicated to it are square buildings, the
roofs of which are round and tapering to a point. In
many parts of Hindustan, and notably along the banks of
the Ganges, they are more numerous than those dedi-
cated to the worship of any other of the Hindu idols.
Each of the temples in Bengal consists of a single chamber
of a square form, surmounted by a pyramidal centre ; the
area of each is very small. The Linga, of black and
white marble, occupies the centre ; the offerings are pre-
sented at the threshold. Benares is the peculiar seat of
this form of worship, the principal deity there, \'iswes-
wara, " the Lord of All," being a Linga, and most of the
chief objects of pilgrimage being similar objects of stone.
Some of these emblems, usually of basalt, are of enormous
size, one at Benares requiring six men to encircle it.
Lingas of the sort called partha linga are made for daily
or temporary purposes by Brahmans or by women them-
selves, of earth or of the clay of the Ganges, and offered
in Siva's temples, being thrown into the river after wor-
ship. The Linga is never carried in procession. Devi,
Siva's consort, is often represented with a Linga on her
head. One of the forms in which the Linga worship
appears is that of the Lingayets, Lingawants or Jangamas,
the essential characteristic of which is wearing the emblem
on some part of the dress or person. The type is of small
size, made of copper or silver, and is commonly worn
244 Appendix.
suspended in a case round the neck, or sometimes tied in
the turban. They are numerous in the Deccan, especially
in Mysore, and also in Tehngana. — Moor, Hindu Pantheon.
Coleman, Mythology of the Hindus. Wilson, Sketch of
the Religious Sects of the Hindus. Wilford, Dissertation
on Semiramis, &c.
The strictest chastity it prescribed to the priests of
Siva, and when they exercise their ministry they are
bound to abstain from all desires that the image they
worship might suggest. As they are obliged to officiate
in a state of nudity it follows that should they fail to
control their thoughts, and should excited imagination
transmit its influence to their external organs, the people,
who could not fail at once to become cognizant of such
prickings of the flesh, would stone them. — (Sonnerat,
Voyage aux Indes, i., 3 1 1 .)
PHYSIOLOGICAL CONTESTS — THE PELASGI THE ROUND
TOWERS OP IRELAND ADORATION OF THE VULVA.
There is a legend in the Servasaru of which the figu-
rative meaning is obvious. When Parvati (Devi) was
united in marriage to Mahadeva (Siva), the divine pair
had once a dispute on the comparative influence of the
sexes in producing animated beings, and each resolved by
mutual agreement to create a new race of men. The
race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous, and
devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the
male deity, but their intellects were dull, their bodies
feeble, their limbs distorted, and their complexion of
many different hues. Parvati had at the same time
created a multitude of human beings who adored the
female power only, and were all well-shaped, with sweet
Appendix. 245
aspects and fine complexions. A furious contest ensued
between the two nations, and the Lingajas were defeated
in battle ; but Mahadeva, enraged against the Yonijas,
would have destroyed them with the fire of his eye, if
Parvati had not interposed and appeased him ; but he
would spare them only on condition that they should
instantly leave the country, with a promise to see it no
more, and from the Yoni, which they adored as the sole
cause of their existence, they were named Yavanas. . . .
There is a sect of Hindus who, attempting to reconcile
the two systems, tell us, in their allegorical style, that
Parvati and Mahadeva found their concurrence essential
to the perfection of their offspring, and that Vishnu, at
the request of the goddess, effected a reconciliation
between them ; hence the navel of Vishnu, by which they
mean the os tincce, is worshipped as one and the same
with the sacred Yoni. — Wilford, On Egypt and the Nile.
Asiatic Researches, vol. iii., pp. 361 — 3^3-^
The modern Hindu phallic worship is mainly of this
type. " The Argha, with the Linga of stone, is found
all over India as an object of worship ; it is strewed with
flowers, and water is poured on the Linga. The rim
represents the Yoni" (Wilford, On the Sacred Isles in the
West. Asiatic Researches, vol. viii., p. 274). " The Linga,
the immediate type of the regenerator Siva, is generally
represented in mystical conjunction with the Yoni and
Argha If he dig a pond, the Hindu, if a Saiva,
imagines it a type of the Yoni or Devi, and cannot fully
enjoy the comfort it offers him until it be reunited to the
other types of elemental nature. After numerous cere-
monies, a mast is, on a lucky and sacred day, inserted
into the centre of the mysterious Yoni or tank. The
246 Appendix.
mast represents the Linga or Siva, and now the typical
reunion of the original powers of nature is complete.
The last ceremony of placing the Linga or mast is com-
monly called the marriage of the Linga and Yoni. Strictly
speaking, the brim of the tank is the Yoni, its area the
Argha. In front of most temples of eminence is seen a
tank, some of them exceedingly beautiful, and in the
centre of the tank a mast, generally with wooden steps
nailed up its sides, to facilitate ascent to its cross-trees,
for the purpose of hoisting a flag or decorating the Linga
or mast with garlands of flowers, or sprinkling it with
water, or placing lights on it. In some temples Devi is
exclusively worshipped by her votaries, the Sactis, and
the tanks attached to such temples have no mast or
Linga." — (Moor, Hindu Pantheon, 2>'^^ — 39o.)
The Phallic, and at the sjtme time Persian, origin of
those remarkable monuments, the Irish Round Towers,
has been most exhaustively demonstrated by Henry
O'Brien. According to him they were erected by a
colony of the Tuath-de-Danaans, or Lingam-God-
Almoners, who, fleeing from Iran, the ancient name of
Persia, in consequence of the victories achieved by their
rivals, the Pish-de-Danaans, or 2'b;2/-God-Almoners, settled
in Ireland. The names Fiadh-Nemeadh, or Fidh-Ne-
mead, given to them in early Irish annals, he translates as
Consecrated Lingams, Fidh being the plural of Budh,
which signifies not only the sun as the source of genera-
tion, but also the male organ. He continues : — " The
Round Towers of Ireland were specifically constructed for
the twofold purpose of worshipping the Sun and Moon
— as the authors of generation and vegetative heat— and
from the nearer converse which their elevation afforded of
Appendix. 247
studying the revolutions and properties of the phuietiiry
orbs. .... Having been all erected in honour of the
Budh or Linga, they all partook of the phallic form ; but
as several enthusiasts personified this abstract, which, in
consequence of the mysteries involved in the thought and
the impenetrable veil which shrouded it from the vulgar,
became synonymous with wisdom or wise man, it was
necessary, of course, that the Towers constructed in
honour of each should portray the distinctive attributes
of the individuals specified. Hence the difference of
apertures towards the prceputial apex, the crucifixions
over the doors, and the absence or presence of internal
compartments. Those venerable piles vary in their eleva-
tion from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet. At some
distance from the summit there springs out a sort of
covering, which, accompanied as it sometimes is with a
cornice, richly sculptured in foliage, in imitation pr^putii
humani, terminates above in a sort of sugar-loaf crown.
Their diameter at the base is generally about fourteen feet
through, that inside measuring about eight, which de-
creases gradually but imperceptibly to the top, where it
may be considered as about six feet in the interior. The
distance of the door from the level of the ground varies
from four to twenty-four feet. The higher the door, the
more irrefragable is the evidence of the appropriation of
the structure. The object was twofold : at once to keep
off" profane curiosity and allow the votaries the undis-
turbed exercise of their devotions, and to save the relics
deposited underneath from the irreverent gaze of the
casual itinerant. In their masonic construction there is
nothing in the Irish Towers appertaining to any of the
four orders of architecture prescribed by the moderns.
248 Appendix.
Prepared stone is the material of which they are generally
composed, and evidently, in some instances, brought from
afar. Sometimes also they appear constructed of an
artificial substance, resembling a reddish brick, squared,
and corresponding to the composition of the Round
Towers of Mazunderan. With three exceptions all have
a row of apertures towards the top, just under the pro-
3 acting roof. In general the number is four, and then
they correspond to the cardinal points. In three instances
there is one aperture towards the summit, in one instance
there occur five, in one six, in one seven, in one eight
apertures. Inside they are perfectly empty from the door
upwards, but most of them are divided, either by rests or
projecting stones, into lofts or stories, varying in number
from three to eight. A striking perfection observable in
their construction is the inimitable perpendicular invari-
ably maintained." (O'Brien, Round Towers of Ireland,
61, 511—515.)
"When once the idea obtained that our world was
female, it was easy to induce the faithful to believe that
natural chasms were typical of that part which charac-
terises woman. As at birth the new being emerges from
the mother, so it was supposed that emergence from a
terrestrial cleft was equivalent to a new birth. In direct
proportion to the resemblance between the sign and the
thing signified, was the sacredness of the chink, and the
amount of virtue which was imparted by passing through
it. From natural chasms being considered holy the vene-
ration for apertures in stones, as being equally symbolical,
was a natural transition." (Inman, Ancient Faiths em-
bodied in Ancient Names, i., 415.)
The most ancient oracle and place of worship at Delphos
Appendix. 249
w:is that of the earth in a cave which was called Delphi,
an obsolete Greek word synonymous with Yoni in Sanscrit;
for it is the opinion of devout Hindus that caves are
symbols of the sacred Yoni. This opinion prevailed also
in the West, for perforations and clefts in stones and
rocks were called Cavim Diaboli by the first Christians,
who always bestowed the appellation of devils on the
deities of the heathen. Perforated stones are not un-
common in India, and devout people pass through them,
when the opening will admit it, in order to be regene-
rated. — (Wilford, On Mount Caucasus. Asiatic Re-
searches, vol. vi., p. 502.)
Those prophetic women of Etruria designated Sibyls
were, says O'Brien, " named from the same cause, being
priestesses of the serpent — i.e., the Sabh or Yoni
Pythia is exactly synonymous with Sibyl, meaning the
priestess who presided over the Pith, which, like Sabhus,
means as well serpent as Yoni, and the oracle which she
attended was called Delphi, from De, divine, and phith>
Yoni — it being but a cave in the shape of that symbol,
over the orifice of which the priestess used to take her
seat upon a sacred tripod or the religiously-emblematic
pyramid." Dr. Inman says that in some places it was
positively believed that " oracles of a peculiarly sacred
nature were uttered by or through the vulva — i.e., la
bocca inferior e of sibyls, pythonesses, or statues, or through
clefts in the earth, as at Delphi." So, according to Major-
General Forlong, the jmap^ e of p;old set up._by_ Nebu-
chadnezzar on the plain of Dura, in the province of
Babylon, was nothing_but a ph allic obeli sk, as is shown
by its height being sixty cubits and its diameter but six. —
{Rivers of Life, ii., 304.)
250 Appendi
IX.
LINGA3I GODS IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Of the worship of the lingam General Forlong writes :
— " The generality of our countrymen have no conception
of the overruling prevalence of this faith and of the
number of its lingam gods throughout our islands. We
have been hoodwinked by the unjustifiable term 'crosses'
applied to the ancient symbols, which were always in the
form of obelisks or columns, and erected on prominent
places, as on knolls or open woodland sites, at cross
roads and centres of marts or villages. These emblems
were usually on a platform, raised one to five or even
seven steps. The only plausible reason for calling these
objects 'crosses' is that, being the Terminus or pillar-god,
he is usually found where fields, paths or highways meet
or cross, and because the new faith, as it triumphed over
the old, laboured to adapt, remodel and rename the old
columns and pedestals, to suit the new ideas, and in its
ignorance lost sight of the old deity, both in the Lingam
and Cross. The Fire-god might still have his niches on
these shafts, but with Virgins and babies, having circles
or haloes round them, and in companv with rayed suns,
roses, triangles and horse-shoe forms, sufficiently appro-
priate to please the most fantastic Yonik or Ionian
worshippers ; whilst arrows, or spear-heads and daggers,
were transformed into Jleur-de-lis charms, grateful to
the vision of every Lingam devotee. The mutilation
and transformation were probably thought complete when
the columns were surmounted by a cross in the old Tau
or circle forms; which, however, only rendered the whole
more replete with Sivaik symbolism. As education, or
rather power to follow preachers, was attained, these
Appendix. 25 1
* Bethels,' or ' Vilhige Crosses,' had roofs erected over
them, or the roof was sprang from a point about three-
quarters up the shaft, and carried on pillars and buttresses ;
the base was in some cases cut away to give more room
and shelter for gatherings. Elsewhere the lingam was
thickened or wholly encased, and so veiled by the ornate
architecture of the time, that none but an awakened or
practised and educated eye could detect the old symbolism.
.... There is no mistaking the consistent conclusion of
Britton's researches that ' the original form of all market
crosses was simply a stem like Chester, or a tall shaft on
steps.' It suits precisely this Innis Mura of Ireland, the
god of the Roman nympheum, and all the unadorned
Lingams of the East, as distinguished from the Sri-Lin-
gams, or Linga-in-Argha. It was natural for the new
priest to resort to the old and sacred places of meeting,
at the foot of the old god's pedestal, and in time to erect
there a canopy or shelter for himself and congregation.
.... The shires of Glocester, Wilts, and Somerset,
still claim over two hundred * crosses and remains of
crosses,' erected not only as the centres round which
towns grew, but on hill-tops, islands, headlands, by sacred
wells and on dangerous defiles. That these objects were
a power in the land — recognised faith-emblems — we see
from the fierce and persistent manner in which so many
earnest Christian sects warred against them and all their
ephemeral substitutes, such as maypoles, holy trees, and
real crosses. The iconoclasts knew, what others in later
times forgot, that these were no modern symbols, but
emblems of their great enemy, that powerful faith which
had struck its roots deep and widely into every sensuous
and emotional feeling of man's nature." {Rivers of Lifi\
252 Appendix.
ii., 381 — 383.) The author proceeds to give a brief
account of a number of so-called crosses, the phallic origin
of which may be visibly recognised. To quote a few of
these descriptions may be interesting. " Glendower shaft
at Corwen, Merioneth, a blunted column with a Yoni or
Omega form at head, and a * curious dagger' or spear,
the conventional phallic device." " The Bisley shaft,
Glocestershire, is a perfect Lingam, or the glans of one,
such as we see on Assyrian altar sculpturings, and it is
said to be built over a sacred well." " Tottenham, or
Tothamshire, is a covering to the old Toth or Linga, and
is now a solid spire, rising straight from the ground, the
favourite form throughout the Eastern world." " The
Nevem shaft, Pembroke, would pass for a good Maha-
deva in any part of India." "Cheddar shaft, on the
Mendip Hills, and Chipping Column, North Glocester-
shire, are or were the most perfect Mahadevas possible,
both as to column and pediment, being raised on three
steps, like so many Eastern lingams." "Glastonbury
shaft was clearly a lingam or glans, such as Assyrians
worshipped, but much more tapered, and ending in a
nude figure. Britton wrote that it had fallen with the
building surrounding it — the Yoni or cell — into complete
decay in his time." {Ibid., ii., 385-6.)
O'Brien points out the Phallic origin of the may-
pole. The garland traversed by the pole was typical of
the Yoni, the pole of the Lingam.
" In Southern England two names occur in later days,
which seem to have somewhat replaced Taut, — Idris the
Giant, and Michael the Archangel. The latter has
been worshipped as a god at various times, and in widely
different countries, but usually in or near to waters, as in
Appendix.
■53
Armorika, Apulia, and on the sacred islet cone of St.
Michael, where Romans, as well as Phoenicians, seem to
have thickly congregated ; and upon his mount St. Michael
had also a chair, the Celtish euphemism for ark or womb.
.... There are four great archangels which the world
has, at different times and under various forms, accepted as
Maha Kals or Great Sivas. The Michael or archangel of
Jahveh corresponds to the Gabriel of Ak^ and is a god
of ' Tumbas,' caves or arks, wielding a rod or Tri-Sool.
.... Without Mahakal the labourer laboureth in vain,
the fig-tree cannot blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold,
and there shall be no herd in the stalls The Corn-
wall and Normandy mounts of St. Michael are com-
paratively close to each other, and the latter is also called
a Mons Tumba. The faith ideas of these St. Michaels
are ever the same At Penzance, on Midsummer-
eve, which good Christians prefer to call the eve of St.
John the Baptist, the young and old of both sexes
assemble with lighted torches ; three tar-barrels erected
on tall poles in the market-place, on the pier and in
other conspicuous spots, are then urged into a state of
vivid combustion. No sooner are the torches burned out
(there is evident significance here) than the inhabitants
pour forth from the quay and its neighbourhood, form a
long string, and run furiously through every street, vocife-
rating ^Ane^^e ! an_eye !' (' Islitar ! Isluar !'), and at length
suddenly stop, when the two last of the string (a mighty
serpejit ), elevating their clasped hands, form an eye to
this enoriiious needle (Siva), through which the thread of
populace runs, and thus they continue to repeat the game
254 Appendix.
till weariness dissolves the union." — {Rivers of Life^ ii.,
244-249, i., 45^-)
" In the churchyard of the village of Rudstone, in the
East Riding of Yorkshire, there stands fixed in the ground
a single upright stone. It stands about four yards from
the north-east corner of Rudstone Church, which is
situated on a high hill. Its depth underground is equal
to its height above — a fact which was ascertained by
Sir William Strickland in the year 1776. All the
four sides are a little convex, and the whole covered with
moss. It is of a very hard kind of stone. It is twenty-
four feet long above ground, and it is five feet ten broad
and two feet thick. The weight of it has been computed
at upwards of forty tons. The village probably took its
name from the stone. The word Rud in Yorkshire means
red. It is spelt Rudstan, and often Ruddestan. Imme-
diately adjoining to the town of Boroughbridge,inthe North
Riding of Yorkshire, and within about a mile of the
ancient capital of Britain, Iseur, may be seen three similar
stones, almost equally large." (Godfrey Higgins, Celtic
Druids, Ixxiv.) Here is a perfect Linga, and the asso-
ciation with the word red is very significant, this colour
being used in anointing such stones. Higgins himself
elsewhere says, " Throughout all the world the first object
of idolatry seems to have been a plain unwrought stone,
placed in the ground as an emblem of the generative or
procreative powers of Nature." — (Celtic Druids, 209.)
"No one who has studied phallic and solar worship in
the East could," says the author of Rivers of Life, " make
any mistake as to the purport of the shrine at Stone-
henge ; although I confess the many accounts of it I had
read had not awakened my attention to the real facts, so
Appendx. 255
misleading are many European writers on this, to them,
unknown lore. Here stand upright stones, forming, as it
were, a circular shaft within a perfect argha, or spoon-
like inclosure, and there to the eastward the holy
* Pointer' in the Os Yoni, over whose apex the first ray
of the rising god of the midsummer solstice shines right
into the centre of the sacred circle In May, 1874,
I made some very careful drawings of the Stonehenge
shrine, and in the ' Pointer' at once distinguished ' the
ever-anointed one.' He faces towards the circle, and in
spite of every allowance for the accidents of weather-
wear, &c., no one who has at all looked into Sivaik lore
will hesitate for a moment in pronouncing him a veritable
Maha-Deva ; the prepucial lines have worn stronger than
they probably first were, so that decency forbids our
drawing the object larger Those persons who
have studied such monoliths all over the world in the
market crosses and Hermai at cross-roads in Scythic
and Celtish lands, and in the shrines of Greek and Latin
races, will have no hesitation in agreeing with mc." —
{Rivers of Life, vol. ii., p. '2.t^t,.')
PHALLIC -WORSHIP AMONG THE GAULS.
A curious survival of the Phallic worship thus inaugu-
rated in France subsisted down to a comparatively recent
period. The first Bishop of Lyons, Potin or Photin, was
honoured in Provence, Languedoc and the Lyonnais, as
St. Foutin. Under this name, the connexion of which
with " foutre" is obviously the reason for his being thus
selected, he replaced Priapus, whose attributes were
conferred upon him, and whose outward semblance he
usurped. To him was ascribed the power of rendering
256 Appendix.
barren women fertile, of restoring exhausted manhood, and
of curing secret diseases, and it was consequently the custom
to offer to him, as to his predecessor Priapus, ex voto in
wax, representing the weak or afflicted members. At
Varages, in Provence, the floor of his chapel was covered
with them, and when the wind happened to clash them
together the thoughts of those paying their devotions to
the saint were apt to be suggestively interrupted. At
Embrun amongst the relics in the principal church was
included the phallus of St. Foutin, and the worshippers of
this, in imitation of pagan rites, offered libations to their
idol by pouring wine on its extremity, which is described
as being reddened by the practice. The wine was caught
in a jar and allowed to turn sour, when, under the name
of "holy vinegar," it was employed by women for a
singular purpose. At Orange, in the church of St.
Eutropius, was another phallus made of wood, covered
with leather, and furnished with its natural appendages,
which was highly venerated by the inhabitants of the
town, but which was burnt by the Protestants in the
market-place in 1562, when it emitted a very evil odour.
At Puy en Velay barren women prayed to a St, Foutin,
and scraped away an enormous phallic branch presented
by the saint, believing that these scrapings infused in
drink would render them fertile. Other Priapic statues
were similarly converted into saints. At Bourg Dieu,
near Bourges, the inhabitants continued to worship one
existing, no doubt, from the time of the Romans. The
monks not daring to put an end to such religious practices,
converted it into St. Guerlichon, or Greluchon. Barren
women flocked to the abbey to implore the saint's
prolific aid and to celebrate a novena in his honour, and on
Appendix. 257
each of the nine days stretched themselves at full length
on his figure placed horizontally, and then scraped away
some particles from a part of his person as prominent as
the corresponding member in his prototype Priapus.
These particles in water constituted a miraculous beverage,
and the continued belief in their efficacy resulted in a
diminution of the member in question. At the commence-
ment of the present century a statue of St. Greluchon
was to be seen, in the wall of a house at Bourges, with
its member almost entirely scraped away by female
devotees. St. Gilles in Brittany, St. Rene in Anjou,
St. Regnaud, and St. Arnaud, were similarl)- adored,
though- in the case of the latter a mystic apron usually
shrouded the symbol of fecundity, and was only raised in
favour of sterile devotees ; its mere inspection was, how-
ever, sufficient, with faith, to effect miracles. Near Brest
stood the chapel of St. Guignole, or Guingalais, evidently
derived from gignere, to beget. The phallic symbol of
this saint consisted of a long wooden peg traversing his
statue, and showing itself in front in a very salient fashion.
The local votaries scraped off the end of this miraculous
and never-failing peg, and these scrapings, mixed with
water, formed a powerful antidote to sterility, though
scandal credits the monks of the abbey with affording a
certain amount of aid in this matter. When by oft-
repeated scrapings the peg got worn away, a blow from
behind with a mallet brought it to its pristine prominence,
and thus another miracle was presented to the faithful,
whose devotion continued unabated till the middle of the
eighteenth century. Guignolet was also honoured at
Puy in the same way, the scrapings being infused in this
case in wine, and the cure taking care that the phallus was
258 Appendix.
always in a state of prominence befitting the saint's peculiar
reputation, and although an archbishop in this instance tried
to put a stop to the cult, it subsisted till the Revolution. —
(Dulaure, Histolre Abregee de differ ens Cultes,n., i6-]^ seqq.)
The enormous phallus of white marble found at Aix>
in Provence, was an ex-voto offered to the deity presiding
over the thermal waters, by a grateful or expectant patient.
The bas-reliefs of the Pont du Gard and the amphitheatre
at Nimes show singular varieties of phalli, simple, double,
and triple, with branches, pecked by birds, furnished with
wings, claws, bells, &c. One is bridled and ridden by a
woman holding the reins. At Chatelet, in Champagne,
a triple phallus in bronze, with the central member in
repose, and the other two in the fullest vigour, was
discovered. One of the most singular monuments of this
worship was found in an ancient tomb discovered near
Amiens. It is in bronze, and represents a human figure
in a walking attitude, half covered with the kind of hood
called Bardocuculus. It is in two parts, and on removing
the upper portion, consisting of the head, arms, and body,
a Phallus hidden in its hollow is revealed, and appears
standing on the two human legs. The chapter of the
cathedral of Amiens preserved this in its treasury till the
Revolution (Dulaure, il., 240 — 243). Drinking-glasses
made in the form of Phalli, such as were used in the
mysteries of Colyth, have been discovered. In the
museum at Portlcl, on the cover of an ancient vase, which
seems to have been used for sacred purposes, is an
enormous phallus, which a woman is embracing with
her arms and legs ; whilst another shows a dealer in phalli,
offering a basketful of his wares to a woman, who exhibits
evident delight at their extraordinary proportions.
Appendix. 259
PHALLIC IDOLATRY OF TEE JEWS.
"No one can study their history, libenited from the
blind which our Christian associations cast over us, with-
out seeing that the Jews were probably the grossest
worshippers amongst all those Ophi-Phallo-Solar devotees
who then covered every land. These impure faiths seem
to have been very strictly maintained up to Hezekiah's
days, and by none more so than by dissolute Solomon. This
king devoted his energies and some little wealth to rear-
ing Phallic or Solo-Phallic and Fire shrines over all the
high places around him, and especially in front of Jerusalem,
and on and around the Mount of Olives The
builders of the shrines of the Tyrian Hercules were those
whom this prince got in Hiram and his staff; and seeing
Phallic and Sun-gods enshrined on all the mounts of
* the holy city,' Hiram would not forget, in constructing
Solomon's temple, all the idolatrous forms of his own land.
On each side of the entrance, under the great phallic spire
which formed the portico, were placed two handsome
phallic columns over fifty feet high, capped with lotuses
encircled with pomegranates, a representation of the
Queen of Heaven and of the gravid uterus, and the
symbol of a happy and fruitful wedded life The
phallic columns were hung about with wreaths of chains,
which always denote serpents These columns
were called, that on the right Jakin, or Mie that shall
establish,' and that on the left Boaz, or 'in it is strength.'
Syrian temples had two huge phallic columns in the
vestibule, so that Jakin and Boaz in Solomon's shrine were
strictly in keeping. The constant recurrence of two
stones, whenever stones are required, is a strange but
consistent idiosyncrasy of all phallic-worshipping races.
2 6o Appendix.
The temple was only 120 feet long, 40 broad, and 60
high, in two stories, while the porch was a large tower,
40 feet long, 20 broad, and 240 high! The Holy of
Holies was cut off with golden chains from the rest of
the inner temple, shrouded and bedecked with two hooded
serpents, called Cherubim, and with serpent symbols.
The carvings on the walls were symbolic palm-trees, open
flowers and cherubim, &c. The temple was very like
hundreds we see in the East, except that its walls were a
little higher than usual and the phallic spire out of pro-
portion. The Jewish porch is but the obelisk which the
Egyptian placed beside his temple, the Boodhist pillars
which stood all around their Dagobas, the pillars of
Hercules, which stood near the Phoenician temple, and
the spire which stands beside the Christian church. The
little ark stands under the shadow of the great spire,
and beside the real little ark within we have the idea
repeated by the presence of Jakin and Boaz." — (Forlong,
Rivers of Life, i., 213 — 219.)
HEBREW BAAL-PEGOR.
The ceremonies observed in the worship of Baal
Phegor, or Baal Peor, have exercised the pens of several
commentators. According to Philo worshippers pre-
sented all the outward orifices of the body. Rabbi
Solomon Jarchi, in his Commentary on Numbers xxv.,
ascribes to them a still more indecent and disgusting
practice. According to him the worshipper, presenting
his bare posteriors to the altar, relieved his bowels, and
offered the result to the idol, "Eo quod distendebant
coram illo foramen podicis et stercus offerebant." Beyer
concludes that the Moabitish women first prostituted
Appendix. 261
themselves to the idol and then to the Israelites, and
this view is held by St. Jerome, who, in his commentary
on Hosea ix., represents the idol as having in its mouth
the characteristic of Priapus, '' Denique interpretatur Beel
Phegor idolum tentiginis habens in ore, id est in siimmi-
tate pellem, ut turpitudinem membri virili ostenderet."
Inman, translating peor as " the opening of the maiden's
hymen," and Baal Peor as " My Lord the opener,"
holds him to have been a Priapus, and adds : " From
time immemorial the. virginity of woman has been spoken
of as her greatest treasure. Hence it has been claimed
for the deity. In ancient times the claim was made by
the god as personated by or inhabiting the body of his
priest on earth. Sometimes the demand was made for
the god as represented by his image, which was specially
formed for the purpose."
HEBEEW PHALLICIS3I.
Brugsch Bey, in his address regarding the Jewish
Exodus, delivered at the Oriental Congress in 1874., said
that " the serpent of brass called Kereh, or the polished,
was regarded as the living symbol of God." A serpent
and a pole for a perpetually recurring phallic emblem.
It may generally be taken to represent the membrum
virile^ accompanied by the quickening or exciting passion.
The Israelites had certainly no monopoly of it.
The exact shape and make of the image set up by
Aaron to be worshipped in the wilderness has been
greatly squabbled over by orthodox and unorthodox.
The best Hebraists hold the translation 'calf untenable,
and even if it were probable that the Israelites, as has
been alleged, had a recrudescence towards the faith of
their loathed taskmasters the Egyptians, there remains
262 Appendix.
the fact that the image of a calf holds no part in the
mythological pantheon of these latter, whose adoration
was paid to living bulls and cows. The most tenable
view philologically is that something round or orbicular,
possibly a cone like that symbolising Venus, is intended
by the original word employed.
The ancient Jews had small Lares and Penates, or
Yonis and Lingams. We have two instances of such in
the idols of Rebeccah and the (^ueen Mother Maachah
(i Kings XV. 13) — that of the Queen is called a Miphlit-
zeth, or in the language of the Vulgate, a " Simulacrum
Priapi." In those oscillations into idolatry, of which they
were culpable from the very outset, they appear some-
times to have leaned to the masculine and sometimes to
the feminine cult, though it may be said that generally
the tribes preferred the worship of the female energies or
of the Grove. The Ephod, like the Ark, is a feminine
symbol, and Gideon's attack on. the altar of Baal was an
attempt to upset the worship of the Sun-god. Micah,
having both Ephod and Teraphim, the latter being Lin-
gams or penates, seems to have worshipped both organs.
In latter times we find the dwellers on P/lounts Moriah
and Zion, Ebal and Gerizim, at constantly recurrent
enmity, and different cults prevailing alternately or exist-
ing coavally. " Our inspection of and investigations
regarding the sacred shrines in and about Jerusalem — and
of many similar sacred hills in the East, where the votaries
of the Right and Left Hand sects, Sivais and Vishnuvas,
or lon-im, have similarly determined upon a joint worship
— has long convinced us that the Holy Sepulchre was the
Lingam and Solar Fire shrine of the * Secret God,' ' The
Most High,' and « Lord of all Holy Fires,' and that the
Appendix. 263
great Omphik or Wombiil Mount of Mure or Moriah
was the Vishnulte shrine of Terra or Parvati, mother of all
rounded mounts, especially those with caves and wells"
(Forlong, Rivers of Life, ii., s^3)' The writer proceeds
to point out very clearly the existing traces of such
worship in either instance.
It is clearly established that the word " thigh," used in
Genesis xxiv. 2 and xlvii. 29, is a euphemism for that
member the prceputial curtailment of which was a
covenant between the children of Israel and the Al-
mighty. The hand of ' the eldest servant of the house'
and that of Joseph were placed respectively on the
phallus of Abraham and of Jacob when the oaths referred
to in the verses noted were taken. The practice still
prevails. " When the Mamlouks appeared for the first
time at Rahmanyah our pickets arrested a native of the
district who was crossing the plain. The volunteers who
took him asserted that they had seen him leave the
enemies' lines, and treated him harshly, looking on him
as a spy. Meeting them, I ordered him to be taken to
headquarters. Reassured by the way in which he per-
ceived I was speaking, he sought to prove that he was
not a follower of the Mamlouks. Seeing that I could
not understand him he lifted up his blue shirt, and taking
his phallus in his hand, remained for a moment in the
theatrical attitude of a god swearing by the Styx. His
face seemed to say, ' After the terrible oath I am taking
to prove my innocence, can you doubt it ?' His action
reminded me that in the times of Abraham the truth was
sworn to by placing the hand on the organ of genera-
tion." — {Memoire sur PEgyptc, part ii., p. 193.)
"There is a striking resemblance between the Hindoo
2 64 Appendix.
and the Hebrew myths. The first tells us that Maha-
deva was the primary being, and that from him arose the
Sacti. The second makes Adam the original and Eve
the product of his right side. After the creation the
Egyptian, Vedic, and Jewish stories all place the woman
beside a citron or pomegranate tree, or else one bearing
both fruits ; near this is a cobra or asp, the emblem of
male desire, because these serpents can inflate and erect
themselves at will. The unopened flowers of the citron
and its fruit resemble a testicle in shape ; the flower of
the pomegranate is shaped like a bell, which closely
resembles the female breast, and when arranged in
bunches of three, recalls to mind the phallic triad. The
fruit of the pomegranate typifies the full womb. The
eating of the apple is equivalent to receiving that which
is at this day, to many a young and fair daughter of Eve,
* the direful spring of woes unnumbered.' " — (Inman,
Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Nanies, i., 498-9.)
GNOSTIC RITES.
The belief and practices of some of the Gnostic sects
were most revolting. " The soul, according to the
Ophites, on its departure from the body, has to pass
through the regions of the Seven Powers, which it cannot
do unless fully impregnated with knowledge (gnosis),
otherwise it is seized and swallowed by the dragon-
formed ruler of the world (Satan Ophiomorphos), and
voided through his tail back upon earth, where it animates
a swine or other brute, and repeats its career once more.
But if filled with knowledge it escapes the Seven Powers,
tramples upon the head of Sabaoth, and ascends to the
eighth heaven, the abode of B.irbelo, the Universal
Appendix. 265
Mother. But if convicted of having left any offspring
upon earth, it is detained below until it has collected all
of them and attracted them within itself. This * collec-
tion of itself was obtained by the observance of perpetual
chastity, or rather (by the usual compensation) of all the
unnatural vices that invariably spring from such an article
of faith. If, however, a female of the congregation should
allow herself to become pregnant, the elders caused abor-
tion, and taking the foetus pounded it in a mortar,
together with honey, pepper, and other spices and per-
fumes. Then this ' congregation of swine and dogs'
assembled, and each dipping his finger into the mess,
tasted of it. This they termed the Perfect Passion,
saying, ' We have not been deceived by the Ruler of
Concupiscence, but we have gathered up again the back-
sliding of our brother.' .... In illustration of the
punishment for leaving offspring behind, and so doing the
work of the Demiurgus, they told a wild legend that Elias
himself had been rejected from the gates of Heaven,
though to his own conscience a pure virgin, because a
female demon had gathered up his seed and formed infants
therewith, which to his confusion she there produced in
testimony. Hence the origin of the Succubx in later
times, although they were supposed to do the work of
their father the devil in a different way, connected with
his supposed relations to the witches whose lover he was
ex officio^'' — (King, The Gjwstics and their Remains, 128.)
"The Nezaires or Nazarains form a special sect in Syria,
and live scattered amongst Mahometans, Druses, and
Christians. They adore God and believe in Jesus Christ
as a prophet chosen to instruct mankind and give them
law. They pray indifferently to the apostles, the Virgin,
'2.66 Appendix.
and the ancient prophets. They practise baptism by
immersion, celebrate the Nativity, the Ascension, and
some other of the festivals instituted amongst us. They
have a singular one which they call by the name of the
Womb, In this solemnity they salute women with a
holy respect, and affectionately embrace their knees,
whence comes their title Worshippers or Adorers of the
Womb. Libertinage is elevated into a maxim by the
Nezaires. Amongst other depravities they allow a plu-
rality of wives. The day of the Circumcision, when their
year commences, all the women are gathered together in
the hall of sacrifice, the windows are closed, and the
lights put out. The men then enter, and each takes by
chance the first woman who comes to hand. This abomi-
nation is renewed several times during the year, and
particularly at the festival of the Womb, in memory of
the creation of man and woman. It is customary for the
chief of the law to take part in it with his wife, obliged
like any other woman to mingle with the crowd."
(Mariti, Voyage, vol. ii., p. 62.)
SYMBOL WORSHIP.
We come now to speak of what we may designate
female emblems. It may easily be understood that few
people, if any, would be so gross as to use in religious
worship true simulacra of those parts which their owners
think it shameful to speak of and a punishment or reproach
publicly to show " As a scholar," says Dr. In-
man, " I had learned that the Greek letter Delta is
expressive of the female organ, both in shape and idea.
The selection of name and symbol was judicious, for the
word Daleth and Delta signify the door of a house and
Appendix. 267
the outlet of a river, while the figure reversed represents
the fringe with which the human Delta is overshadowed
.... and typifies what is known to anatomists as the
Mons Veneris, or the door through which all come into
the world." — {Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Barnes,
i., 158, 107, 146.)
"The female organs of generation were revered as
symbols of the generative powers of Nature or matter, as
the male were of the generative power of God. They
are usually represented emblematically by the shell, or
Concha Veneris, which was therefore worn by devout
persons of antiquity, as it still continues to be by pilgrims
and many of the common women of Italy. The union
of both was expressed by the hand .... which, being
a less explicit symbol, has escaped the attention of the
reformers, and is still worn as well as the shell by the
women of Italy, though without being understood. It
represented the act of generation, which was considered
as a solemn sacrament in honour of the Creator." —
(R. P. Knight, On the Worship of Priapus, 28.)
" The TRIANGLE, in the Old World, was a sacred form,
representing the properties — capacity and dilatation — of
the female symbol. When we speak of the symbolical
marks of the Hindus we shall find the triangle, with the
apex downwards, to be the appropriate symbol of Vishnu
considered as the principle of humidity. To descend is
the property of water, and it naturally assumes that figure.
Nor is the triangle with the apex pointing upwards a less
appropriate symbol of Siva as fire, it being the unvaried
form of the igneous element, whose property is ascen-
sion." — (Moor, Hindu Pantheon, ii^.)
"As regards the conical caps worn by priests and the
2 68 Appendix.
mystery implied thereby it may be pointed out that the
helmet of Pluto was the emblem of the generative prin-
ciples hidden or undeveloped in the bosom of the earth."
— (Rolle, Religions de la Grece, i., 68.)
" In studying the meaning of the fish as an emblem
sacred to Ishtar and Y^nus, we first notice its extraordinary
fecundity. We next note that the fish selected is one
which, when looked at from above, is almond-shaped. A
gold carp may stand as the type of the sacred fish. To the
surgeon or anatomist, to whom every part of the body is
familiar, the side view of a carp is suggestive ; the fork in
the tail reminds him of what he knows as la fourchette.
The accoucheur will remember how frequently he has heard
of the OS tinea, and may recollect how anxious he was to
catch a tench, that he might see the reason why the
opening into the womb was called the tench's mouth.
.... Putting these things together, we conclude
that the fish was sacred because the form of its body
represents one door, and the form of its mouth the other
door, through which all the animal creation passes into life.
The figure of a priest is given in one of the works on
Nineveh, where part of the clothing consists of a big fish.
The head of the minister is surmounted by its head,
which, having its mouth open, indicates the origin of the
bishop's mitre. As it would, of course, be inconvenient
to wear the whole animal, the head was used to typify
the body generally, and the mitre was formed to represent
the head." — (Inman, Ancient Faiths, i., i ii-i 12, 166.)
" The shape of the pomegranate resembles that of
the gravid uterus in the female, and the abundance of
seeds which it contains makes it a fitting emblem of the
prolific womb of the celestial mother. Its use was
Afxpendix. 269
adopted largely in various forms of worship. In one
part of Syria it was deified, and a temple erected in its
honour." — (Inman, Ancient Faiths, ii., 61 i — 12.
The LOTUS was the most sacred plant of the ancients,
and typified the two principles of the earth's fecundation
combined, the germ standing for the Lingani, the fila-
ments and petals for the l^oni. " Nympha signifies a
young nubile woman, a certain part of the yoni and the
calyx of roses ; the lotus is a nympha?a. Hence a maiden
is symbolised as being and having a rose, and the lotus
typifies Isis and Sacti." — (Inman, Ancient Faiths, ii., 396.)
" The FIG-TREE is repeatedly joined with the vine by
the sacred writers. Its Hebrew name is tenah,
derived from a root which signifies ' to be crookened
or bent ;' also * to copulate.' The word expressive of the
fig-tree is the same as that used for coitus. It was of
the leaves of this tree that aprons were made to cover
our naked parents, and none can see the leaf without
understanding the reason of the selection ; it resembles
the trefoil, the fieur-de-lys, and sundry other emblems
suggestive of the triad. .... The fruit of the tree
resembles in shape the virgin uterus. Its form led to the
idea that it would promote fertility. To this day, in
Oriental countries, the hidden meaning of the fig is almost
as well known as its commercial value We can-
not doubt, when we put these considerations together, that
* to sit under the vine and fig-tree' was an expression
equivalent to enjoying all the luxuries of life, as an
old prayer-book expresses it, * at bed and at board.' " —
(Inman, Ancient Faiths, i., 526 — 8.)
" When speaking of the so-called Ass)Tian grove, I
stated that the pine cone offered by priests to the deity.
270 Appendix,
represented by that emblem, was typical of the " testes,"
the analogue of the mundane eg^. In an ancient gem
depicted by Maffei we notice the peculiar shape of the
altar, the triple pillar ai-ising from it, the ass's head and
fictile offerings, the lad offering a pine cone surrounded
with leaves, and carrying on his head a basket, in which
two phalli are distinctly to be recognised. The deity to
whom the sacrifice is offered is Bacchus, as figured by the
people of Lampsacus. On his shoulder he bears a
thyrsus, a wand or virga terminating in a pine cone, and
having two ribbons dangling from it. We see, then,
that amongst certain of the ancients the pine cone, the
BASKET, and the thyrsus were associated with Bacchus,
or the solar deity under the male emblem. Out of
twenty-seven gems figured by Raponi, in which the
thyrsus occurs, in all it either indicates Bacchus or else
is associated with such surrounding circumstances as to
suggest an idea of licentious enjoyment. It is one of the
emblems introduced into a representation of a female
offering sacrifice to the god of Lampsacus. In two pictures,
where the actors are drunk, the thyrsus has fallen down
abattu. In Bacchic scenes the thyrsus is occasionally
associated with the ring, the emblem of the female, and
in one very significant scene, wherein Bacchus and
Ariadne are seated upon a lioness, the pine cone and
fillet are being caressed by the female." — (Inman, Ancient
Faiths, ii., 490—493.)
<« Mandrakes are like our plant the Orchis tnascida,
and their roots closely resemble the scrotum or the two
testicles; consequently they were supposed to have potency
in love affairs and were offered to Venus. There is a picture
at Pompeii, in which a loving couple are presenting offerings
Appendix. 271
to the God t)f the Gardens, and amongst them the man-
drake may be recognised They are chiefly
interesting to us as an illustration of the close attention
paid by the ancients to those edibles which had, or were
supposed to have, an influence upon the organs which are
concerned in the creation of a new being. Dudaim are
only twice mentioned in the Bible (Genesis xxx. 14, 16,
and Song of Solomon vii. 13), and in both instances they
are connected with scenes of love. We may indeed con-
sider that their name is derived from dud. Move, that
which unites together.' I find from Royle that the
'atropa mandragora' is generally identified with love
apples. He says : — * The root is generally forked, and
closely resembles the lower part of the body of a man,
including the legs. The fruit is about the size of an
apple, very ruddy, of an agreeable odour, and is still
often eaten as exhilarating to the spirits and provocative
to venery Reuben finds mandrakes and brings
them to Leah, the neglected wife of Jacob. With the
tempting fruit the patriarch becomes exhilarated, and, as
we conclude, unusually tender to his ugly spouse. Under
the influence of the charm we must also imagine that
the husband was prodigal in payment of the duties of
marriage, and to such a degree that the delighted wife
named the son who resulted from the union Issachar, not
because she had received her hire, sachar, but because
"she had had her fill," sbacar. So far as we can learn there
was, in ancient times, an idea that any plant or animal
whose colour, appearance, and sometimes even whose
name, resembled that of any part of the body, was sure to
be useful in affections of that part. The Orcfjis mas-
cida, whose roots are very remarkable for their sliape.
272 Appendix.
was used whenever there was maleficia or impotentia,
and the mandrake was employed for a similar purpose." —
{Ancient Faiths, i., 338, ii., 250-251).
" According to the ' Doctrine of Signatures,' that
the appearance of an object indicates the malady for
which Nature has designed it for a remedy, the locust
was employed as a medicine for certain affections of the
genitals. A singular amulet illustrating this is figured by
Caylus, a locust of the natural size, cut in agate, engraved
on the base with the explanatory address to its influence,
* Locusta serva penem Tisicratis.' To explain the selec-
tion of this insect for such a purpose, it must be
mentioned that the Greeks saw in its cylindrical, cam-
bered, annulated body an analogy to the phallus ; and
hence its virtue as a fascinuni, as its figure implied what
the latter form actually represented. Hence Ecclesiastes'
simile, ' the grasshopper shall be a burden,' alluding to
the loss of virile power consequent on old age." — (King,
The Gnostics and their Remains, 212-213.)
"The GOAT, on account of its genital member, was
amongst the Egyptians placed in the ranks of the gods,
for the same reason that the Greeks paid divine honours
to Priapus This animal being strongly inclined
to the act of Venus, it was held that the member of his
body which is the instrument of generation merited to be
adored, because it is by this that Nature gives birth to
all beings." — [Dlodorus Siculus, lib. i,, sec. 88.)
Dulaure says that the Greeks adored, under the names
of Pan, Fauns, Satyrs, &:c., rural deities whose figures at
the same time represented the shape of the goat and the
characteristic attribute of Priapus. They had the horns,
sometimes the ears, and always the thighs, legs, and feet
Appendix. '^H
of the animal, and also the phallus in a state of vigour.
« Temples have been raised to them ; they are represented
in a state of energy, arrectis ita membra ut bird naturam
imitentui.^^ — (Diodoriis Sic, lib. i., sec. 2.)
The FLAGELLUM in the hands of Osiris had its mean-
ing, it being long known that flagellation served as a
means for the restoration of virile power. Accordmg to
Dr. Inman the crook, usually borne in his other hand, had
also a connective hidden meaning difficult to indicate. He
further traces a curious relation between the scourge and
animals whose hides are marked with spots, and in con-
nexion with whom it is frequently depicted. General For-
long points out, too, that Khem, an Egyptian phallic deity,
is also furnished with a whip, " the quickener or exciter."
Quoting from Mr. M'Clatchey's China Revealed, that
"the old phallic gods, represented under two evident
symbols, the Kheen or Yang, which is the membrum
virile, and the Khw-an or Yin, the pudendum muliebre,
or Yoni," he adds that " Yang, the agitator or whip, is
seen acting on Yin, as representing receptive female vis
inertia.''^
Porphyrus says that the bull chosen to fill the part of
a god at Heliopolis had genital organs of extraordinary
size, the better to denote the generative power that the
sun exercises upon nature by its heat. Ammianus Marcel-
linus also says that the bull adored at Memphis had
evident tokens of generative faculty.
Dulaure, in speaking of the most remarkable isolated
phallus which Vivant Denon found at Thebes, in Upper
Egypt, in a woman's tomb, says that this phallus (which had
been a living organ) was embalmed and wrapped in ban-
dages, and was found placed on the corresponding organ of
274 Appendix.
the female mummy. The engraving he gives of the
mummy and the phallus proves that the latter was of
more than natural size, and did not belong to the human
species. " I am inclined to believe," he adds, " that the
mummy was that of a woman of rank, and the em-
balmed phallus that of one of the sacred bulls, extracted
after the animal's death, and placed in the tomb as a
preservative against the evil spirits which the ancients
believed tormented the souls of the dead. The Greeks
and Romans sometimes placed figures of the phallus in
sepulchres from a similar motive." — (Dulaure, Histoire
Abregee des Cultes, &c., ii., S^'57-)
Another animal was similarly honoured. " There is a
place in Egypt called Chusea. The Aphrodite is wor-
shipped in it, under the name of Urania. The people also
worship a cow, and state, as a reason for their faith, that
the cow belongs to this divinity. For the cow has an
intense burning for copulation, and longs for it more than
the male, so that when she hears the bellowing of the
bull she becomes exceedingly excited and inflamed
The Tsis herself, however, the Egyptians depict with horns
like a cow." — (^lian, De Natur. Animal., x. 27.)
THE SYMBOL OF THE SERPENT.
" For a long period I was unable to see any significance
in the adoption of the serpent as an emblem ; nor did I
recognise it until I conversed with a gentleman who was
familiar with the cobra in India. He told me that this
snake and the Egyptian cerastes are both able to inflate
the skin around the head, and to make themselves large
and erect. In this they resemble the characteristic part
of man ; consequently the serpent became a covert name
Appendix. 275
and a mystic emblem. To this conclusion any one will
readily assent who knows that in France the eel is used
as a word embodying the same idea When once
we recognise the real signification of the symbol, we readily
understand how it is that the serpent inserting a tail into
a mouth symbolises eternity. A man perishes, yet man
persists ; the genus continues, through the constant re-
production of new scions from older branches. Yet there
are no branches from the old stock, except by the union
of father and mother. The symbol of union, therefore,
becomes the sign of eternity, or rather of perpetuity ; in
other words, the emblem which we all regard without a
qualm is nothing more than the mystic Adam and Eve,
the * zachar' (digger) and the ' nekebah' (hole), * la queue
et I'abricot fendu.' " — (Inman, Ancient Faiths embodied in
Ancient Names, ii., 710, 712.)
"The connexion between life and that which is typified
by the serpent is seen more conspicuously in the French
language than in any other modern tongue which I am
acquainted with. In it the phallus and existence have
the same sound, the former [/? tvV] being, however,
masculine, while the latter [la vie'] is feminine" (Ibid., i.,
497-498). The same author describes a gem belonging to
M. Lajard as follows : " The real age of the gem and its
origin are not known, but the subject leads that author to
believe it to be of late Babylonian workmanship. The stone
is a white agate, shaped like a cone, and the cutting is on its
lower face. The shape of this gem indicates its dedi-
cation to Venus. The central figure represents the
androgyne deity Baalnu, Astaroth, Elohim, Jupiter gene-
trix, or the bearded Venus Mylitta. On the left side of
the cutting we notice an erect serpent, whose rayed head
2,76 Appendix.
makes us recognise the solar emblem and its mundane
representative, mentula arrecta ; on a spot opposite to the
centre of the male's body we find a lozenge symbolical of
the yoni, whilst opposite to his feet is the amphora, whose
mystic signification may readily be recognised — it is meant
for Ouranos, or the Sun, fructifying Terra, or the Earth,
by pouring from himself into her. The three stars over
the head of the figure, and the inverted triangle on its
head, are representations of the mythological four, equi-
valent to the Egyptian symbol of life. Opposite are the
moon and another serpent of smaller size than that
characterising the male, which may be readily recognised
by physiologists as symbolic of iemio ditoridis. In a
part corresponding to the diamond on the left side is a
six-rayed wheel, emblematic, apparently, of the sun. At
the female's feet is placed a cup, which is intended to
represent the passive element in creation" (Jbid., i.,
p. xiii.) Following the track of Dr. Donaldson, who in
the Book of Jashar demonstrates that the word " akab,'*
translated heel in Genesis xiii. 22, is a euphemism for
pudenda viidiebria, he holds that the interpretation of
the sentence, " Thou shalt bruise his head, and he shall
bruise thy heel," should be " Gloriam fascini congressio
tollit et caput ejus humile facit, sed infligit injuriam
moritura mentula quam impregnationem efficit et uteri per
novas menses tumorem profert." — [Ibid., i., 602.)
" We may rather ascribe the introduction of ophiolatry
into Christian sects as the movement of a very consider-
able and intellectual body which rose into great import-
ance in the second and third centuries, and which became
prominent as a branch of the Nicolaitans and Gnostics.
These affirmed (and truly, though they saw it not) that
Appendix. lyj
from the beginning God— that is, the Creator— had, in
ophite form, manifested himself to the world, that ' he
himself was of Draconic form,' and was that Serpent of
Paradise which had on that occasion imparted wisdom and
knowledge to our first parents (were they far wrong ?) ;
so these Christians kept serpents in baskets, chests, and
arks, and their Eucharistic service consisted in opening an
ark and enticing the serpent to come out by bits of
bread, which having done, and folded himself about the
bread, then he was a veritable Beth-el and Beth-lehem,
and ' the sacrifice was complete ;' the pious might then
kiss the serpent, and the service was concluded by
singing hymns to Almighty God. Such was but the
continuance of services which had been very old when
these began. Bacchanals well understood the consecrated
cup and hymns to the Agatho-demon, and Demosthenes
suflfered severely for his eloquent denunciation against
iEschines for being the bearer of such Bacchic and serpent
mysteries. Delphi strictly kept its Sabbaths, or seven
days, by similar hymns and mysteries to Python. A
stranger at the Christian sacrament might see in its bits
of bread a similar idea — the enticing of the Spirit."
" It would seem that the Caduceus of Mercury, that
Rod of Life, is due to the fact of the ancients having
observed that serpents conjoin in this double circular but
erect form, as in iEsculapius' rod. Dr. C. E. Balfour,
when at Ahmednagar in 1841, saw two living snakes
drop into his garden, off the thatch of his bungalow, in a
perfectly clear moonlight night. They were (he says)
cobras, and stood erect as in the form of the jiEsculapian
rod, and no one could have seen them without at once
recognising that they were in congress. It is a most
278 Appendix.
fortunate thing, say Easterns, to see this, and if a cloth be
then thrown over them, it becomes a form of Lakshmi,
and of the highest procreative energy." — (Forlong, Rivers
of Life, 1,21 T,.)
THE RATIONALE OF GENEEATION. THE SACRIFICE OF
VIRGINITY. CONSECRATED WOMEN. — BRIDAL DEVOTIONS.
The Romans were accustomed to invoke the assistance
of several deities in the matter of generation. Meursius
(Antiquities, vol. v., De Puerperio) mentions Saturnus ut
semen conferrit. Liber et Libera ut semen emitterent hie
viris, ilia feminis, Janus ut semeni in matricem comme-
anti januam aperiet, Juno et Mena ut flores menstruos
regerent ad foetus concepti incrementum, Vitunus ut
vitam daret, Sentinus ut sensum. St. Augustine {De
Civltate Dei, lib. vi., cap. 9) completes the catalogue,
adding, amongst others, Jugatinus, who brings the spouses
together ; Virginiea, who loosens the virginal zone ;
Volupia, who awakens desire ; Stimula, who stimulates
the husband; Strenia, who lends him the strength of
which he has need ; and does not forget Liber, who gives
to the man invoking him a reproductive emission ; whilst
Libera accords the same favour, as it was then regarded,
though ideas have somewhat changed on this point, to
woman.
The young Hindus, according to Mendez Pinto, could
not be received in Paradise with their virginity.
Duquesne, in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry, saw
brides make a complete sacrifice of their virginity to a
wooden idol ; and a similar custom obtained in the
neighbourhood of Yra, where young girls offered the first
fruits of Hymen to a similar idol with a Linga of iron.
Appendix. 279
with which the sacrifice was effected. The custom
also prevailed amongst the ancients. At Biblos young
girls had the alternative of prostituting themselves for a
whole day to strangers or of sacrificing their hair t o the
goddess. If we may judge by the lively outcries raised
by ditferent writers against this worship of the V enus of
Biblos, and against its indecency, it is evident that the
girls of this city preferred to " keep their hair on."
In ancient Palestine generally, and even in Jerusalem
itself, we find two distinct words are used to indicate
prostitution; the first, "kadesh," signifies "a consecrated
one ;" the second is " zanah," whose primary meaning is
semen emittere. The distinction between the two is very
much the same as that which obtains between the "bebis"
of India and the temple women, tht " zanahs" being
those who adopt the practice from love of lucre or
from passion, whilst the " kedeshah" adopted it mainly
from a religious feeling. When the law was enunciated
that the hire of a whore and the price of a dog should
not be brought into the house of the Lord for any vow,
the words used are zanah and celeb^ so that we do not
take it to apply to the consecrated ones The
kedeshim seem to have worn a peculiar dress, by which
they could be recognised. When Tamar wished to
entice Judah, she arrayed herself like a consecrated one,
and the patriarch thought her a Kedeshah, and conse-
quently one with whom he might legitimately go, —
(Inman, Ancient Faiths, ii., 175 — 177.)
Amongst the Romans Mutinus, or Tutinus, seems to
have been the name given to the isolated Phallus, and
Priapus to that attached to a Hermes or other figure.
Under either form, it was held to preside over the fertility
28o Appendix.
of women and the sources of conjugal vigour. In conse-
quence of these supposed virtues brides, before being
delivered over to their husbands' embraces, were con-
ducted by their parents to one of these images, and, with
heads covered by a veil, seated themselves on the most
salient portion. St. Augustine says on this subject, " A
custom thought to be very proper and very religious
amongst the Roman ladies is that of obliging brides to
seat themselves upon the monstrous and superabundant
fascinum of a Priapus" {De Civitate Dei, vi., 9). So
Lactantius would seem to refer to the practice obtaining
in some Oriental countries of the sacrifice being entirely
accomplished by the god of wood or iron in the pas-
sage. " And Mutinus, on whose extremity brides seat
themselves in order that the god may appear to have re-
ceived the first sacrifice of their modesty" {De Falsa Reli-
gione). Possibly the jealousy of the Roman bridegrooms
put a limit to such complete devotion, though a certain
contact was, no doubt, deemed needful to render the
ceremony complete, assure fecundity, and neutralise spells
and enchantments directed against a happy consummation
of the union. Married women also followed this practice
in order to destroy the charm that rendered them sterile,
but, more hardened than the brides, they carried their
devotion further. «Do not you yourselves lead your
wives to Tutinus, and, to destroy alleged enchantments,
do not you make them bestride the immense and horrible
fascinum ?" {Arnobius^ lib. 4.) A group engraved by
Meursius from the gallery at Florence gives a repre-
sentation of this ceremony. A woman, with her head
covered by a kind of cap, stands with her hands engaged
in supporting her uplifted garments, leaving a part of her
Appendix. 28 r
body exposed. An enormous Phallus rears itself from
the ground as far as the sexual organs of the figure.
These, which are visibly proportioned on a large scale,
seem to be in contact with the upper end of the Phallus.
The custom is, indeed, far from obsolete. "Many a
day," says General Forlong, "have I stood at early dawn
at the door of my tent, pitched in a sacred grove, and
gazed at the little groups of females stealthily emerging
from the adjoining half-sleeping village, each with a little
garland or bunch of sweet flowers, and perhaps costly oil,
wending their way to that temple in the grove or garden
of the god and goddess of creation, and when none were
thought to see, accompanying their earnest prayer for
Pooli-Palam (child-fruit) with a respectful abrasion of a
certain part of their person on Linga-jee and a little appli-
cation of the drippings that are for ever trickling from
the orifice of the Argha" (Forlong, Rivers of Life, i.,
205). So Dr. Inman, speaking of the upright and
circular stone so common in Oriental villages, says, " The
two indicate the male and female, and a medical friend
resident in India has told me that he has seen women
mount upon the lower stone and seat themselves reverently
upon the upright -one, having first adjusted their dress so
as to prevent it interfering with their perfect contact with
the miniature obelise. During the sitting a short prayer
seemed flitting over the worshipper's lips, but the whole
affair was soon over."
" When speaking of the so-called Assyrian grove I stated
that the pine cone offered by priests to the deity repre-
sented by that emblem was typical cf the testis, the
analogue of the mundane e^^. In an ancient gem depicted
by Maflei we notice the peculiar shape of the altar, the
282
Appendix.
triple pillar arising from it, the ass's head and fictile
offerings, the lad offering a pine cone surrounded with
leaves and carrying on his head a basket in which two
phalli are distinctly to be recognised. The deity to whom
the sacrifice is offered is Bacchus, as figured by the people
of Lampsacus. On his shoulder he bears a thyrsus, a
wand or virga, terminating in a pine cone, and having two
ribbons dangling from it. We see, then, that amongst
certain of the ancients, the ass, the pine cone, the basket,
and the thyrsus were associated with Bacchus, or the
solar deity under the male emblem. Out of twenty- seven
gems figured by Raponi, in which the thyrsus occurs, in
all it either indicates Bacchus, or else is associated with
such surrounding circumstances as to suggest an idea of
licentious enjoyment. It is one of the emblems introduced
into a representation of a female, offering sacrifice to the
god of Lampsacus. In two pictures, where the actors are
drunk, the thyrsus has fallen down abattu. In Bacchic
scenes the thyrsus is occasionally associated with the ring,
the emblem of the female ; and in one very significant
scene, wherein Bacchus and Ariadne are seated upon a
lioness, the pine cone and fillet are being caressed by the
female." — (Inman, Ancient Faiths, ii., 490 — 493.)
THE KELIGIOUS RITES OF ANCIEXT EOilE.
General Forlong, in his " Rivers of Life," has dealt at
great length with the essentially phallic basis underlying
the religion of Rome, but hitherto all but ignored by
writers on what is usually styled classic mythology. He
identifies the Palatine Hill as that dedicated from the
earliest times to the male energy, and the Capitoline as
that sacred especially to the female cult, to which he holds
Appendix. 283
the Romans were, as a rule, more addicted. He further
traces the erection of Lignean phallic gods, afterwards
succeeded by Fire and Solar deities, in various parts of
the city. Of the survivals of purely phallic worship
evidence abounds, and also of the fact that women were
generally the more active participants. St. Augustine
says : — " The sexual member of man is consecrated in
the temple of Liber, that of woman in the sanctuaries of
Libera, the same goddess as Venus, and these two divi-
nities are called the father and the mother because they
preside over the act of generation" {De Civitaie Dei, vi.,
9). Liber was a title of Bacchus, in whose honour the
festival of the Liberales was held in March, six days after
the Greeks celebrated their Dionysia, in honour of the
same divinity. The Phallus, styled by the Romans
Mutinus or Tutinus, when isolated from the representa-
tion of a human figure, played a prominent part in these
celebrations. On the authority of Varro, St. Augustine
states that at certain places in Italy this emblem, placed
upon a chariot, was solemnly and with great honour drawn
about the fields, the highways, and finally the towns.
"At Lavinium the festival of the god Liber lasted a
month, during which all gave themselves up to pleasure,
licentiousness and debauchery. Lascivious ditties and
the freest speech were kept company by like actions. A
magnificent car bearing an enormous Phallus was slowly
drawn to the centre of the forum, where it came to a
halt, and the most respectable matron of the town ad-
vanced and crowned this obscene image with a wreath"
{De Civitate Dei, vii., 21). Some days later was cele-
brated the festival of Venus, also associated at Rome
with the emblem of virility. During this festival the
284 Appendix.
Roman ladies proceeded in state to the Quirinal, where
stood the temple of the Phallus, took possession of this
sacred object, and escorted it in procession to the temple
of Venus Erycina, where they placed it in the bosom of
the goddess. A cornelian gem,* with a representation
of this cerernony upon it, has been engraved in the " Culte
Secret des Dames Romaines." A triumphal chariot bears
a kind of altar, on which rests a colossal Phallus. A
genius hovering above this object holds a crown of flowers
suspended over it. The chariot and genius are under a
square canopy, supported at the four corners by spears,
each borne by a semi-nude woman. The chariot is drawn
by goats and bulls, ridden by winged children, and is pre-
ceded by a group of women blowing trumpets. Further
on, and in front of the car, is an object characteristic of the
female sex, representing the sinus veneris. This emblem,
the proportions of which correspond to those of the
Phallus on the chariot, is upheld by two genii. These
appear to be pointing out to the Phallus the place it is
to occupy. The ceremony accomplished, the Roman
ladies devoutly escorted the Phallus back to its temple.
The mysteries of Bacchus were celebrated at Rome in
the temple of that god and in the sacred wood near the
Tiber, styled Simila, At the outset women alone were
admitted to these ceremonies, which took place in the
daytime. A woman of Campania, named Pacculla
Minia, on being made priestess, entirely changed the
nature of the institution by initiating her two sons, and
decreeing that the mysteries should only be celebrated
by night. Other men were introduced, and with them
* See page 108, " Fig. XXV," A copy of this gem will be
given among our illustrations.
Appendix. 285
frightful disorders. The youths admitted were never
more than twenty years of age. Introduced by the priests
into subterranean vaults, the young initiate was exposed
to their brutality, whilst frightful yells and the din of
drums and cymbals served to drown the outcries their
violence might provoke. .Wine flowing in abundance
stimulated excesses, which the shade of night further
favoured. Age and sex were confounded, all shame was
cast aside, and every species of luxury, even that contrary
to nature, sullied the temple of the divinity. If any of
the young initiates resisted the importunities of the liber-
tine priests and priestesses, and acquitted themselves
negligently in the peculiar duties expected from them, they
were sacrificed by being attached to machines, which sud-
denly plunged them into lower caverns, where they met
their death. The priests accounted for their disappearance
by ascribing it to the action of the god whom they were
alleged to have offended. Shouting and dancing by
men and women, supposed to be moved by divine in-
fluence, formed a leading episode in these ceremonies.
Women with dishevelled hair were seen to plunge lighted
torches, chemically prepared beforehand, into the waters
of the Tiber without extinguishing them. At these mid-
night assemblies poisons were brew^ed, wills forged, per-
juries arranged, and murders planned. The initiates were
of all classes, even the very highest, and their numbers
became so great that they were regarded as a danger to
the State, against which they are said to have plotted.
Consequently the Senate, on the representations of the
Consul Posthumius, abolished these assemblies A.U.C.
564. Juvenal, in his Sixth Satire, has spoken in terms
hardly quotable of the excesses practised at the festival
of the Bona Dea.
2S6 Appendix.
General Forlong has also a few general observations
upon the marked Phallo-Fire worship of the Greeks and
Romans, too commonly called * Fire and Ancestor Wor-
ship.' The signs or Nishans of the generating parents —
that is, the Lares and Penates — were placed in the family-
niches close to the holy flame — that " hot air," " holy
spirit," or " breath," the active force of the Hebrew
BRA, and the Egyptian P'ta, the " engenderer of the
heavens and earth," before which ignorant and super-
stitious races prayed and prostrated themselves, just as
they do to-day before very similar symbols. The Greeks
and Romans watched over their fires as closely as do our
Parsees or Zoroastrians. The males of the family had to
see that the holy flame never went out, but in the ab-
sence of the head of the house, and practically at all
times, this sacred duty devolved on the matron of the
house. Every evening the sacred fire was carefully
covered with ashes, so that it might not go out by
oversight, but quietly smoulder on ; and in the morning
the ashes were removed, when it was brightened up and
worshipped. In March, or early spring, it was allowed to
die out, but not before the New Year's Fire had been
kindled from Sol's rays and placed in the Sanctuary. No
unclean object was allowed to come near Agni ; none
durst ever warm themselves near him; nor could any
blameworthy action take place in his presence. He was
only approached for adoration or prayer ; not as Fire,
which he was not, but as sexual flame, or Life
It seems extraordinary to Asiatics, as I have often found
when conversing with them about Roman faiths, and what
Europeans believe in regard to these, that this matter is still
so misunderstood in Europe, where the worship of the Lares
jlppendix. 287
and Penates is usually held to be in some mysterious way
the worship of the dead and the ancestors of the house-
hold. No clear attempt has yet been made to unravel
this subject from the confusion in which it lies, and to set
forth in their true light those gods. The real pith of
the matter is briefly this, that Penates are Lingams, or
male organs; and Lares, Yonis, or female organs. These
symbols often doubtless represented ancestry, but rather
grossly so, before the days of statuary and painting, and
were placed over the family hearth just as we still place
there the pictures or forms of our great dead ones. So in
family niches near the sacred fire we see, as I have often done
in secret nooks of Indian domiciles, small rudely-formed
figures in stone or baked clay, elongated when these were
Penates and represented males, but ovate when Lares, or
the female dead of the tribe or family As the
cremated dead, and those whose bodies bleached on a
foreign shore, had no tombstones, it was necessary-, in
order to have them in remembrance, to place some fitting
symbol or relic of them near the god of the household,
the sacred fire. This was not Phallic worship exactly,
yet Lares and Penates are Phalli. The Lares and Penates
represented the past vital fire or energy of the tribe, as
the patriarch, his stalwart sons and daughters, did that of
the present living fire on the sacred hearth. — (Forlong,
Rivers of Life, i., 387—389.)
SACKED COLOURS — BELLS IN ANCIENT WORSHIP — THE
COCK AS AN EMBLEM.
Dr. Inman notes that there is something mystical about
red as a colour, though the philologist will readily under-
stand why it should be adopted by the followers of
2 88 Appendix.
Mahadevi. Rams' skins dyed red were ordered for the
Jewish tabernacle (Exodus xxv. 5). Scarlet, cedar-wood,
and hyssop were burnt with the red heifer used in the
water of separation (Numbers xix. 6). In the Romish
Church the highest dignitaries wear scarlet and purple.
Red powder is used in Hindu worship, Jaganath is painted
red, and for a priest to throw the powder on a woman's
breast is equivalent to soliciting adultery. Colonel Forbes
Leslie notes that what he styles the " excluded member"
of an Indian stone circle, the situation of which he likens
to that of the Friar's" Heel at Stonehenge, was daubed
with white patches, with a red mark in the centre, and
recalls the vermilion oil and minium used to smear Jove's
statue or symbol at Rome on festal days. " This is still
the practice all over India, showing how closely Greece
and Rome have followed the Indian cult. Especially is
it used for Omphi, or rotund egg-like objects, a protruding
ovate face of a tree or rock ; under such a tree there
would sure to be seen or imagined, and immediately
depicted, an Eva, Chavah, or cleft. The nature of this
besmearing shows the object is dedicated to the deities of
fertility, red oil and water meaning this all over the East,
for obvious reasons I have often availed myself
of a religious feeling by marking lines if running over rocks
or stones or on trees with red-coloured lines or dots, red
being Parvati's hue, fertility, and much as the cultivator
feared to see a theodolite levelled across his f imily soil,
he would never try to efface the red marks unless he
was an educated sceptic, which our schools and chief
cities have not been slow to produce, and which we
thankfully welcome."^(Forlong, Rivers of Life.)
<'Priapus was represented with the head of Pan or
Appendix. 289
the Fauns — that is to say, with goat's horns and cars.
When he had arms — for he was not always found with
them — Priapus held in one hand a scythe, and sometimes
with his left hand grasped, like Osiris, the characteristic
feature of his divinity, which was always colossal, threaten-
ing, and painted red All the figures of Priapus
were not thus coarsely made ; some were wrought with
care, as well as the Termi forming the lower part. That
which the figure bore here was stark naked and painted
red." — (Dulaure, Histoire Abregee de differens Cultes, ii.,
169-170.)
" No Lingam worship can be conducted without the
bell ; in union the Lingam and bell give forth life and
sound, as Siva's priests have confessed to me. Bell
ornamentation is very conspicuous on sacred buildings,
where it is usually said to represent the mammce, and
denote fertility. A copper vase found at Cairo shows
us Isis as the nursing mother, forming, together with her
boy, a ' Column of Life,' inside what we may call * the
Assyrian Tree or Door of Life,' or the Jewish * Grove.'
The bell flowers around them are held to be the Ciborium
or Egyptian bean, and to represent bofh a bell and a teat,
whilst the matured bean was thought very like the
male organ Near the furthest western source of
the Tay, amongst the most rugged and lofty scenery of
Perthshire, lies the Scottish 'Pool of Bethesda,' here called
the Holy Pool of Strathfillan, a centre for unknown ages
of healing efficacy, of blessing and superstition. Near to
this pool, site of the old Druidic shrine of Felan, Balan,
or Faolan, did the new faith erect its ancient church of
St. Fillan, and appropriated the old Sivaik bell of conical
shape and phallic handle. Truly, as the Lord Bishop of
u
290 Appendix.
Brechin says in his account of this bell, ' the handle is
the most remarkable part, for there we find twice repeated
the well-known heathen emblem of the phallus.' " —
(Forlong, Rivers of Life, i., 232-233 ; ii., 299-300.)
The passage, "Moreover, because the daughters of
Zion are haughty .... walking and mincing as they
go, and making a tinkling with their feet" (Isaiah iii. 16),
implies that they too wore bells as an ornament. " No
greater reproach can be cast upon a woman than that she
has carried into married life the evidence of precedent
impurity. Those who are familiar .with the Mosaic law
will remember the stress laid upon * the tokens of vir-
ginity,' and the importance which the mother attached to
being able to produce them for her daughter. There is
a belief that what physiologists call ' the hymen' may
be destroyed by such an accident as too long a stride in
walking, running, or stepping over a stile, or by a single
jump. To prevent the possibility of such an occurrence, and
the casualty which it involves, all maidens have their dress
furnished with a light cord or chain about the level of the
knees. This enables them to take short paces, but not
to ' straddle' over anything. To make the fetter as orna-
mental as possible, the ligature is furnished with bells.
This custom is referred to in the sentence above quoted.
The custom also prevailed in ancient Arabia, as is evident
from Mohammed's injunction in the Koran, *Let them
(the women) not make a noise with their feet, that the
ornaments they hide may not be discovered.' When
marriage is consummated there is no occasion for the use
of the jingling chain. 'To bear away the bell,' therefore,
is equivalent to * taking a virgin to wife.' In Pompeii
and Herculaneum, where paintings still tell us of the inner
Appendix. 291
life of Italian and Grecian cities, a vast number of bronzes
and pictures have been found, in \vhich the phallus is
adorned with one or more bells. The intention is clearly
to show that, like Solomon, it had many wives, all of
whom brought with them the tokens of virginity." —
(Inman, Ancient Faiths, i., 53-54.)
" Gall, or Gallus, is a cock and a swan, both emblems of
the Sun and Jove. That there is a bond of union appa-
rently between Gallus and Phallus is often forced upon
our notice, as in the figure given by Payne Knight, where
the body of a man has for its head the figure of a cock,
of which the beak is the phallus, whilst on the pediment
below is written * Soter Kosmou, Saviour of the World,' a
term applied to all gods, but especially those charge .1 with
creative functions. Minerva, who is also called Pallas,
is very often shown with a cock sitting on her helmet,
and her crest denotes her penchant for this salacious
bird I have mentioned the sacrifice of the cock
by Celts ; it was and still is over all Asia the cheap,
common and very venial substitute for man. The princes
of India can afford the Asiva-meda or great horse sacrifice,
and a Syrian Patriarch, a ram ' caught in the thicket,'
and burn it instead of his child, on the mountain altar, to
his mountain Jahveh; but it is more common now to see
the morning announcer of the ' Sun of Righteousness,'
the impetuous king of the village middens, being quietly
conveyed up the mountain pass to die for his Lord, instead
of a ram or child. Many a time have I followed the
sacrificing party up some sacred defile to the summit god,
and watched the pitiful gaze of several poor followers who
saw their favourite and beautiful bird about to be sacri-
ficed, bv having its blood bespattered by cruel, priestly
292 Appendix.
hands over their * Rock of Ages,' the Tsur-00-Salem.
The poor owners had never probably been asked, or if
so in a way which brooked not refusal, if they would
yield up to their deity the cheery announcer of their
uneventful days of labour ; for in general the selection
falls on the finest bird of the village, and the actual
sacrificers are rarely those who lose anything by the
transaction. In this I speak of the customs of rude
Indian tribes ; but such sacrifices were also common to
and performed in much the same way by Phoenicians,
Scyths, Sueves, Jews, Greeks, &c. The horse was also
sacrificed by all peoples at some period of their history ;
but the cock has been the enduring favourite, and cruelly
though he has been treated, wherever a Sabean or phallic
altar has been raised, his pre-eminence has been acknow-
ledged. As an emblem of a world-wide idea he still
divides the right to rule on the temples and spires of
Christian Europe, and on the humbler shrines of many
nations, with the Crescent of Isis and Arabia, and the Tau
or Cross, that ancient "wood of health" {¥or\on^. Rivers
of Life, i., 383 ; ii., 274-5). " The connexion between
the cock, the sun, and the idea of masculinity, has existed
from the earliest known times to the present. The union
of ideas appears to be — i. That the cock proclaims the
sunrise. 1. That the cock is for its size unusually strong,
plucky, and courageous. 3. That it seems to have un-
limited powers amongst the hens." — (Inman, Ancient
Faiths, i., sz^-S2>7)
INDEX.
ABRACADABRi, 1 65
Abraxas (oftlic Guostics), 167
Abishag and King David (note), 216
117
Adam (the First Man), 193
Adversary, the, 174
^ons, the, 166
Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, 106
Alchemists, some of the ideas of the,
133
Amulets, 4.3
"Analogy of the Laws of Musical
Temperament to the Natural Dis-
sonance of Creation," 131
Angel of the Lord, in the figurative
struggle with the Patriarch, 37
Angels of the Guostics, 169
"Annotations on the Sacred Writings
of the Hindoos," 177
Apocalypse, 5 8, 209
Apollo and Diana, 71
Apples of Sodom, 140
Aristotelian Method, argues from
particulars to generals, i
Assyrian Worship, 63
Astrology of the Chaldreans, 6
Athorh, 47
Baal-Phegor, or Baal Pheor, 66, 1(0
Babylonian Marriage-Market. Long's
picture, 232
Babylonian Women of every rank
and condition once in their lives
submitted to prostitution as a reli-
gious observance, 46
Bacchanalian Societies, suppressed by
the Romans, 48
Bacchanals and Bacchantes, 97
Bacon, Roger (quoted), 217
Baconian Method, the philosophy of
the schools : argues from particulars
to generals. 2
Balcswara-Linga, 140
Basilideans, Gnostics, 154.
Bellmen, Jacob, the great mystical
Master, 116,146; opposition to, fnd
disregard of, 147, 213
Bells and Jinglos, their meaning at
masquerades, 97
Bells in Ancient Worship, 289
f^fXos or 0/3£Xoc, 75
Best Man at Weddings, his character
and duties, 81
Bethel, 64
Bethels, or mark stones, 1 1 1
Bethyles, or commemorative stones,
no
Bible, misread and misrepresented,
38
Bochart, 6j
Body of Adam (Cabalistic ideas re-
garding the), 68, 240
Bowing Stones, 54
Brahma, worship of, 187
Branttimc, Memoirs of, 198
Brazen Serpent, 65
Bright Essences, 170
British Obelisk on the Thames
Embankment, 40
Bronzi d'Ercolano, 100
Brothers of the Red Cross. 141
Brothers of the " R. C," 116
Brugsch, Boy, 261
Briihm-Atma, 178
Buddhists and the Rosary, 44, 45
Buddhistic Sense, 164
Bull, at Memphis and Heliopolis, 273
Byron, Lord, quoted, loi, 202
Cab, Keb, Kebla, or Caaba, 39
Cabala, the, 189
Cabalists, I2i
Cabalistic Philosophers, 205
Cainites, 176
Carpocrates, the Gnostic, 171, 172
Cathay or China, 157
Catherine, the Empress, and her
amours, 201
Caula Rites (mystic) in HinJoostau,
62
Causes of the Original Dispersion,
6
Celestial Fire, 95
" Celtic Druids," quoted, 254
294
Index.
Ceriuthus, the Gnostic, 167
Cestusof thcB.V.M., 128
Chambers, Robert and William, of
Edinburgh, their faulty illustra-
tion of Hume the philosopher, 3
Cherubim and Seraphim, 68
Chinese Great Dragon, 98
Chivalry, 129
Christian Architecture, the religion of
the upright or central ray, 69
Christian construction, to be correct,
must of course be philosophical
construction, 37
Christian martyrs, 225
Cobra di Capello, 41
Common Sense, 143
Concha Veneris, the emblem of the
female mons, 42
Cornelius Agrippa, 227
Cross and Rose, the, 44, 116
" Crucified Rose"— an Apocalyptic
figure, 141
Cumud-vati or Euphrates. Devatas
and the Lingha or Phallus, 239
Dancing Girls in India, 56
Darkness and Light, 212
David of Israel— dancing before the
Ark, 56
David of Israel— the Shepherd Boy,
125
Dauphin, the, or Delphin, 209
Deluge, more than enough proof of in
the records and traditions of all the
nations, 49
Demiurge, the, 173
Denon, 273
De Quincey, Thomas, his account of
the supposed origin of Freemasonry,
148
Deutas or Angels, 188
Devi, Hindu Goddess, 63
Diana, in the mysticism of the
Gnostics, 169
Distinctions in Mystic Anatomy, 214
Divinites Generatrices chez les
Anciens et les Modernes, 112
Doctrine of Signatures, 272
Donaldson, Dr., 276
Dove of Reconciliation in the Deluge,
the meaning of, 80
Egyptian Platonics, 75
Elephantis, the courtesan, and her
twelve postures, 106
Elias, 136
Enforced prostitution, 123
Enoch, 136
Escapes from the world, 124
Eternal Triplicate, 1 2 1
Fall of Man, 121
Faust, or Dr. Faustus, legend of, 139
Female, 194
Female Beauty, 197
Figleaf, Barleycorn, or the letter
" Delta" stands as indicative of the
Female influence, 42
Fig-Tree, 269
Fire- Worship. Celestial adoration of
the element, Fire, 5
Fire- Worship. Terrestrial adoration
of the element. Fire, 5
Fish, myths connected with the, 268
Flagellation at the Lupercal at Rome,
52
Flood, Robert, English Dominican (of
York), 14th Century, 149
Flood, Robert, of Bersted, in Kent
(1574), 149
Forlong, Major- General, his book,
" The Rivers of Life : an Account
of the Faiths," referred to, 36
Four Elements, the, 160
Free-Companionship, 119
" Freemasons' Quarterly Review" of
1840, quoted, 5
Friar's Heel at Stonehenge, a Phallic
object, 39
Friday Divinity to Freia, god or
goddess, 40
Gabeiel the Archangel, 123
Gallus (and the myths concerning
this figure), 291
Ganymede, the mythological fable of,
48
Garden of Agony, the, 146
Garden of Eden, the, 219
Garder or Keeper, 128
Garter, the Most Noble Order of the,
206
Gaul, Cisalpine, no
Gauls, and the worship of the Phallus,
III
Gemara Sanhedrim, 64
Genesis xiii. 22 (the signification of
the word — "Heel"), 276
Gladius of the Archangel Michael,
Gnostic Gems, the, 152, 170
„ Left-Hand Side of Nature,
142
Gnostic Rites, 264
Index
295
Gnostics, Classic and MediiKval, by
Rev. C. W. Kiug. Notice of (note),
'49
Gnostics and their Remains, quoted,
26s
Gnostics, account of, 150 ; their
beliefs, 142 ; boldness of their theo-
ries, 153 ; heresies of, 176
Gnostics, Basilideans, 154
„ Marciouitcs, 154
„ Valentinians, 154
Goat, the, 171
God of the Gardens, 102
Gods and Heroes, 89
Golden Calf, the, 261
Good Principle, the, i7S_
Grecian women celebrating the rites
of Bacchus, 45
Greek alphabet, 173
Gregories Works, 4to, Lond., 1S64,
67
Heavenly Man, 236
Hebrew Phallicism, 64
Helena of the Gnostics, 163
Heralds, and the Order of the Garter,
128
HerculanfEum, antiquities of, 43
Hermaphrodite, 191
Hermaic Figures, 87
Hermes- Aphrodite — Venus-Mercury-
192
Hermetical Philosopher?, their ideas
of life and its maintenance, 135
Hermetic Theory, 137
Hesiod, 47
Hezekiah, 65
Hieroglyphics and hieroglyphical
symbolising, 54, 55
Hindu Idols, 177
Holy Grael, 125
Holy Supper, 211
Honeysuckle ornament in architec-
ture, 78
Hope, the only of Man, lies in the
pitying side of his character, 146
Houris, the Mahometan, 84
Hume, David, the realistic philo-
sopher, his ideas as to the nou-
coimexion even of cause and
effect; separating the two, and
denying the uuiversally admitted
absolute sequence between them, 3
Hussars, the name whence, Si
Hussey, 234
Huzza, why a shout should be so
called, 81
ICTHirs, Iithcm, Ii-Iou, 80
Idea of the Magdalen sacred, 122
Illuminated, the, 177
Immortal Redeemer, 116
Imperial Crowns of Germany, Russia,
aud Austria, 208, 209
Imperial Eagle, 208
Indian Phallic Worship, 5G
Indian Religions, the; or Results of
the Mysterious Buddhism (pub-
lished in 1857-8), 38
Inman ("Ancient Faiths embodied in
Ancient Names," quoted), 248
Interchange of dress and charac-
teristics of males and females at
Carnivals and Grand Celebrations —
its meaning (note), 196
Ionic capital, the, 77
Jael, 207
Jewish Pillars, 64
Joan of Arc, 207
Jogi or Zogee, their mcaniug, 60
Judith, 207
Juno, her oracle upon the long-con-
tinued barrenness of the Roman
women, 52
Justice or Pity the foundation of
the world, 145
Justin Martyr, 63
Kabbalah, the, 237
Kadesh, Kedeshah, 279
King Arthur, 205
King Arthur's Court, 129
King of the Romans, 209
Knight of the Swan, 127
Knight, R. P., on the Worship of
Priapus, 267
Knights-Krrant, 118
Knights of the Grael, 12S
Lajaed, 275
Lamech, 68
Lanskoi (the Muscovite), and the
Empress Catherine, 201
Lapis Philosophorum, the, 135
Lapland Idols, 44
Lapps and Finns, 72
Lares and Penates, 262
Light and Darkness, 212
Liugani Gods in Groat Britain, 250
Lingayets, Lingawauts, or Jungamas,
243
Little Children, the true Christian like
as, 145
Living Stones, 54
296
Index.
Logan or Rocking Stoues, 76
Lohengrin (the Champion), ii6
London Asiatic Society, 38
Lotus, the, 185, 269
Love or Wisdom, which is the greatest,
and which (in the mystic, hidden
sense,) is the producer of the
world ? 145
Lucretia, philosophic view of her fate,
117
Magdalen, the, 228-9
Mahadeva (Siva), 239
Mahmoud at Ghizui, 180
Mahommedans, 177
Mahommedan views concerning
women, 221
Maimonides quoted, 66
" Male and Female created he
them," 191
Mandrakes, 270
Man's reason of no use or value in
judging of the things of God, 145
Mai'cionites, 154
Marlowe's Faustus, quotation from
(note), 37
Marriage, 232
Masonry, 59
Master Passion, the, 189
IMaya of the Buddhists, 156
McSweeney, Myles, Venus-Pandenios,
Uza, Uzza, Hussey or Venus (uote),
120
Mecca, the Jerusalem of the Mahom-
medans, 39
" Memoire sur VEgypte," 263
Mexicans, the, worship of, and of the
ancient Chinese, similar, 33
Mixed Nature, 175
Modern Opinion, class opinion, 115
Moloch of Scripture, 179
Mont Sal vegge or Salvaggio, 126
INloor's " Pliudii Pantheon," 246
Mosaic Theosophical Cosmogony, 79
Mosheim quoted, 163
Mount Meru, 184
Mount Moriah, the Meru of India, 67
Mount of Safety, or Salvation, 126
Muntras and Sacred Texts among the
Hindoos, 61
Muscovites, the Golden Heifer animal
symbol of the Isis, or a female
symbol, 53
^lusic, the air of Paradise, 130
Music and Melody, 130
Music of the siiheres, Ilosicruciau
view thereof, 131
Music, its supernatural character and
power, 130
Music and wine in ancient religious
celebrations, 45
Mylitta — among the Babylonians, 46
Mystic Anatomy, 125, 189
Mysteries of Celebration in the Tem-
ples of the Babylonians, 46
Mysteries of Eleusis, 59
Mystical Dragon, the, 140
NAiiES of the days of the week, 53
Natural Selection. (Acting within
matter, exercising choice, must be
the Deity itself. Begs the whole
question), i
Nautches in India, 56
Nelumbo — Lotus or Water Lily, 76
Nezaires or Nazarains (the), 265
N cholas of Antioch, the Gnostic,
i6s
Night, 48
Nirvana, 50-51
Nirwan, or Nirvana — outline of the
real Beliefs of the Buddhists, espe-
cially in relation to the meaning
which they give to their ideas con-
cerning their " Nirwan," or "Nir-
vana," 50, 51
Nutrition — the natural human,
"flamcless fire," 134
Obelisk, or Obelise, derivable from
twoChaldaic tei:ms,signifying "ob,"
magic — and " lis," a ray of the sun,
or of light, 53
Obelisk of Semiramis, 240
Obelisks and Pillars, 241
O'Brien's " Bound Towers of Ireland,"
241
Old China, 157
Old Primaeval World, ruin of the,
189
Ophites, or Sorpentinians, 172
Order of the Garter, 128
Oriental Notions in regard to the
female sex, 223 {et seq.)
Origen, 162
Origin of the Linga, or Phallus,
240
Oriffines SehraiccB, 64
Original Dispersal of Primitive Na-
tions, 5
Orgies of Bacchus, 45
Orphic Hymns, 99
Outraging of Condemned Women, by
their executioners, 86
Indtw.
297
PAHACEtsrs, opinions of, 191
Payne Knight, and the " Cap ol
Liberty," 94
Penzance on Midsummer Eve, 153
Pericles, Priacc of Tyro, 8j
Perpetual Lamps, kept burning in
the inmost recesses of all the
pagodas in India, 41
Personality of the Ruling and Govern-
ing God, 236
Petasus, the, of Mercury, 93
Phallicism. Phallic Structures, 7
Phallic Examples in England. 250
Phallic Idolatry of the Jews, 2S9
Phallic Worship among the G.iuls,
255
Philosophic Fire, the, 135
Philosophic and Kosicrucian View of
the meanings symbolised in the
"Order of the Garter" (note), 128
Physiological Contests— the Pelasgi.
— Adoration of the vulva, 244
Pillar of Jacob, 64
Pity or Justice :— is the foundation of
the World Justice or Pity ? 145
Platonists, the, 156
Pleroma. The Last Light, or Fulness
of Everything, 51
Plutarch, 187
Pomegranate, i68
Porphyrus, 273
Possibility of Miracle in the Mysteries
of God, contended for, 36
Power and Wisdom, 167
Pre-Adamites, 237
Priapic figures, 107, et seq.
Priapic ornaments, 43
Priapus, in the ancient processions,
43
Prince of Wales, 209
Princess of Brabant (Elsa), 127
Proserpine, 92
Prytanaa of the Greek cities, the
points where the sacred fires were
burned in the Temples, 41
Puranas, the, 180
QUABTEELT Review (Foreign),
quoted, 58
Rationaxe of Generation, 278
Raven of Doom in the Deluge,
meaning of, 80
Real Nature of the Sin of Adam, 5
Rebellion to Nature, 119
Religion alone lies in the emotions of
the heart, 145
Religious Rites of Ancient Rome,
282, 283, 2S4, 283
Rovehition quoted, 165
" Rivers of Life" 249, 263
Rosary. An emblem of the Phccni-
cians, 44, 45
Rose, the, 141
„ the. Queen of the Garden, 1 16
Rose, Intelligences, ic6
„ Mystic, 116
Rosicrucian Cross and Itose, 44
" R. C." Brothers of the, iji
'•R. C." meaning of the Obelisk,
70
" R. C' Mystic Anatomy, 73
" R. C." profundities concerning the
female bodily outlines, 195
" R. C." Profundities, 133
Round Towers of Ireland, described,
247
Sacked Colours, 287
Sacredness of Virginity, 218
Sacrifice of Virginity, 280
Sacti, or Power, 183
Sacteyas, 57
Sacti, the Worship of, 57
Saetinism and Gnosticism, 59
Saint George and the Dragon, 110
Saint George (.Saint Michael on earth),
138
Saint John, the Divine, 136
Saint Michael, the Archangel, 138,
208
Salt and Fire (note), 12 1
Sangreiil, the puzzle of commen-
tJitors, 129
Sanguine Cross, the, 138
Saturn, and the colour purple, 96
Saviour of the World, necessity of
tlie. 14s
Scandinavian Goddess, Isa or Disa,
4>
Second Great Luminary. Tlie Moon,
190
Sell >n, Edward (quoted 1, 180
Sensible Existence, 164
Sensitive, or Sympathising; Side of
Human Nature, 14S
Seven AugeU, the, 174
Sexual Meanings of the Myth indi-
cated in Stoneheuge, 39
Shakespeare, 220
Sibyls of Etruria, I48
Sign, and the thing signified, X48
Similarity of the Religious Systcun of
India^nnd Egypt, 90-91
298
Index,
Simon of Cyrene aud his supposed
assumption of the semblance of
Jesus Christ at the Crucifixion,
170
Simon |Magus, the supposed founder
of Western Gnosticism, 58, 162
Siva (the Indian), 179
Skyline of the classic, or rather of the
ancient Temples, universally hori-
zontal, 69
Sohar, the, 237
Solomon, King of Israel, 208
Somnath in Guzerat, 242
Sons of God, 1 1 6
Special Revelation, necessarily wrapt
up in mysteries, 36
Spintriae, debauches de Tibere dans
rile de Capree, 113
Spintrise of Tiberius, 48
Stars, influence of the, 190
Stonehenge, Phallic in its design and
purpose, 38
Stonehenge, (" Rivers of Life")
254. 2SS
Stukeley's Itinerary, 70
„ Abury — its original name
The Snake's Head, 41
Sublime Brothers, the, 137
Supreme Eegality, 208
Symbol of the Serpent, 274
Symbol Worship, 266
Talisman, Standard, or object of ado-
*^ ration, the "Crucified Kose," 141
Talismans, Gnostic, 171
Tau or T (attached to a circle, uni-
versal in the hands of the innumer-
able Egyptian deities, as repre-
sented upon their monuments), 43
Ten Signs, 203
Terminals, or Mercuries, no
Thebes, ruins of, 77
Tiberius, Emperor of Rome, loj
Tomb of the Redeemer, 113
Transcendental ideas of the Eosicru-
cians, 115
Transfigured, the, 136
Triangle, 267
Trimurti, the, 178
True Method of Arguing. The argu-
ment from the circumference to the
centre, or from outwards to within
(the reverse of the ordinary pro-
cess), 2
Truth, different to every man, infinite,
and infinite in its plausibilities, as
it is diff'erent to every man accord-
ing to his receptions, 2
Turkish distinctions in executions of
males and females, 224
Twelve Signs, the, 203
Twelve Postures, the, 105
Typho and Setho, ^j
Tyrian purple (not purple), 96
UzA ; — Venus-Hussey, 8i
Vaxentinian Gnostics, 154
Van Helmont, opinions of, 192
Vapours of the Earth, 170
"Veneres et Priapi," 102
Venus Cypris, or Aphrodite, 42
Vestal Virgins, 83
Virginity, its holiness, 122
Virginity, sacredness of, 81
Virgin-Mother, the, 227
Virgin and Virginity, 215
Visible World, the (did it spring
fi'om feeling, or was it con-
structed ?), 1 44
Wat Tyleb and the scene in Smith-
field, 93
Weathercock, sacred to Gallus, or
the Magic "Look-Out," 72
Wilford, On Mount Caucasus, 249 ;
Dissertation on Semiramis, 240 ;
On Egypt and the Nile (Asiatic
Researches), 245
Woman's Secretiveness, 199
Women of the Idol. The Temples
of the Hindus, 47
Wonders of Ellora, by John B.
Seely, Captain B.N.I. (1S25), 38
Zodiac, the Postdiluvian, 203
YoHK Stbeet, Covb^t Gabdek,
Lo.vDOX, September, 1884.
r. i^ctiVuaj>'s ^DuliUcatioiis.
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