{"collection":"sex","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/sex/ipi/ipi14.htm","path":"sex/ipi/ipi14.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/sex/ipi/ipi14.htm","text":"1 Histoire Abrege de Differens Cultes, vol. ii.\n2 A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, and its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients. By Richard Payne Knight, Esq. New Edition. To which is added An Essay on the Worship of the Generative Powers during the Middle Ages of Western Europe. Illustrated with 138 Engravings. 4to, London, 1869.\n3 Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. i, p. 320.\n4 The Vanaprastha were Brahminical anchorites, who inhabited the deserts, lived on vegetables, devoted themselves to contemplation, macerated the body, fought with devils and giants (as a natural consequence), and were insensible to heat and cold. They were called later, by the Greeks, Gymnosophists; and although they went perfectly naked, no throb or involuntary movement was ever seen in any part of their bodies. Women who were barren oftentimes came and touched their shrivelled member, hoping thereby to become fruitful. Not the slightest emotion was noticed at such times.\nThe old ascetics would have regarded with contempt the practices of Christian monks, who were indeed children when compared with their Eastern ancestors.--The Monks before Christ, by John Edgar Johnson; and Description of the Character, Manners and Customs of the People of India, by Abbe J. A. Dubois.}\n5 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 219.\n6 Rural Bengal, p. 203.\n7 See Ennemoser's History of Magic (Bohn), vol. ii, p. 33.\n8 Herodotus, Euterpe, \u00a7 104. It was a practice at least 2,400 years before our era, and is even then an ancient custom. Nevertheless it appears to have been found only among nations cognate with the Egyptians and the Phoenicians. The neglect of it by Moses and by the Israelites whom he conducted to the border of the land of Canaan, is a strong presumption against its previous employment by the patriarchs.--Ed.\n9 See Bunsen's God in History, vol.i, p. 299.\n10 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. IV. (Clement of Alexandria), p.27.\n11 The Hebrew word bara, translated \"created,\" has also the sense of \"begotten.\" See Gesenius.\n12 See Fashar, by Dr. Donaldson, 2d edition (1860), p. 45 et seq.\n13 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., pp. 225, 255, 288.\n14 History of Herodotus, vol. i., p. 600.\n15 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv., pp. 412, 413; and King's Gnostics, p. 31. See also Bryant's Ancient Mythology, vol. iv., p. 201. The last named work contains much curious information as to the entension of serpent-worship.\n16 See The Serpent Symbol in America, by E.G. Squier, M.A. (American Archaeological Researches, No. I, 1851), p. 161 et seq.; Palenque, by M. de Waldeck and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1866), p. 48.\n17 Lajard, Memoires de l'Institut Royal de France (Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres), t. xiv., p. 89.\n18 Wood's Natural History of Man, vol. i., p. 185; also Squier's Serpent Symbol, p. 222 et seq.\n19 I have a strong suspicion that, in its primitive shape, the Hebrew legend, as that of the Mexicans, gave the serpent-form to both the father and the mother of the human race.\n20 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 46. Rudra, the Vedic form of Siva, the \"King of Serpents,\" is called the father of the maruts (winds). See infra as to identification of Siva with Saturn.\n21 The idea of circularity appears to be associated with both these names. See Bryant, op. cit., vol. iii., p. 164, and vol. ii., p. 191, as to derivation of \"Typhon.\"\n22 Lajard, loc. cit., p. 182. See also Culte de Mithra, p. 35.\n23 In the Bacchanalia the serpent's head is seen at the open lid of the box. See Dom. Martin's \"Explication,\" etc., pl. II., p. 29.\n24 \"Wise (phronimoi) as serpents, and harmless (or pure) as doves.\"--Matthew x. 16. By serpents the masculine and by doves the feminine attribute are represented.\n25 See Memoires de l'Institut (Academie des Inscriptions), tom. xvii., p. 97.\n26 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. v., p. 65.\n27 Do., p. 243.\n28 Sanchoniathon (translated by Cory), in The Phoenix, p. 197.\n29 Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. Art., \"Apple-Tree.\"\n30 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., pp. 260, 313.\n31 Horace, 8th Satire. See also Ante-Nicene Library, vol. iv., Clement of Alexandria, p. 41.\n32 See Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 108. This seems to have been the symbolical significaiton of the fig throughout the East from the earliest historical period; as the pomegranate symbolized the full womb.\n33 History of Herodotus, Book i., Appendix, Essay 10, \u00a7 iv.\n34 Tennent's Ceylon, vol. ii., p. 520.\n35 Op. cit., p. 12.\n36 As to the sacred Indian fig-tree, see Ginguiaut's Religions de l'Antiquite, vol. i., p. 149, note.\n37 Faber's Pagan Idolatry, vol. i., p. 422; vol. iii., p. 606.\n38 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 32.\n39 Lajard, Le Culte de Mithra, p. 50.\n40 This superstition is found among peoples--the Kafirs, for instance--who do not appear to possess any trace of planetary worship.\n41 This is evident from the facts mentioned above, notwithstanding the use of this animal as a symbol of wisdom.\n42 In connection with this subject, see St. Jerome, in his letter on Virginity to Eustochia.\n43 Christ and other Masters, vol. i., p. 305.\n44 Lajard, op. cit, pp. 52-60. The destruction of purity in the world by the Serpent Dahaka is stated in the 9th Yacna, v. 27. We have probably here the germ of the fuller legend, which may, however, have been contained in the lost portion of the Zend-Avesta.\n45 The turning of Aaron's rod into a serpent had, no doubt, a reference to the idea of wisdom associated with that animal.\n46 The Fallen Angels, 1857.\n47 See supra.\n48 Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii. p. 264, et seq.; and compare with the Gnostic personification of \"truth\"; for which see King's Gnosticsand their Remains, p. 39.\n49 Lajard, op. cit., p. 96.\n50 Jehovah threatens death, but the Serpent impliedly promises life, the former having relation to the individual, the latter to the race.\n51 Lajard, op. cit., p. 60, note.\n52 Several of the Essenes, who appear to have had some connection with Mithraism, taught this doctrine.\n53 It is well known to biblical critics that this legend formed no part of the earlier Mosaic narrative.\n54 Faber's Pagan Idolatry.\n55 See Dulaure, op. cit., vol. i., as to the primeval Hermes.\n56 Smith's Dictionary of Mythology. Art. \"Hermes.\"\n57 Genesis xxxi. 45 to 53. Jacob called the heap or cairn of stones Galeed, a circle, and the statue Mizpeh, or a pillar.\n58 Linga means a \"sign\" or \"token.\" The truth of the statement in the text would seem to follow, moreover, from the fact, that the figure is sacred only after it has undergone certain ceremonies at the hands of a priest.\n59 Said also to mean a tamarisk tree. It is asserted to have been worshipped in subsequent times.\n60 Genesis xxi. 33.\n61 Even if the statement of this event be an interpolation, the argument in the text is not affected. The statement sufficiently shows what was the form of worship traditionally assigned to Abraham.\n62 \"The deity Uranus devised Baetylia, stones having souls\"--lithous empsuchous).\n63 May it not have been the \"Religious War\" which is recorded as having taken place in the different countries of the archaic period, from India to the remoter West?--Ed.\n64 Rawlinson's Five Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 617; ii., p. 247.\n65 The later Hebrews affected the Persian religion, in which the Sun was the emblem of worship. Abraham evidently had a like preference, being a reputed iconoclast. The lunar religionists employed images in their worship.--Ed.\n66 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book i., chap. viii., \u00a7 2.\n67 The serpent-symbol of the exodus [Numbers xxi.] is called a \"seraph.\"\n68 Moses is set forth as the son-in-law of Jethro or Hobab, the Kenite, a priest; and probably became his disciple. At Horeb he learned, by a sacred vision, or initiation, the sacred name. As the Kenites were scribes or hierophants (I Chronicles ii. 55), it is very probable that they had the knowledge of this name, in common with the Phoenicians, Chaldeans, and the sacerdotal orders of other Asiatic nations.--Ed.\n69 The ark was the depositum of divine or generative power for the preservation of the human race. The dove always accompanies it.\n70 The History of Israel (English translation), vol. i., p. 532.\n71 See Sanchoniathon (Cory, op.cit.)\n72 \"But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, wherewith being deceived, they worshipped serpents void of reason, and vile beasts, thou didst send a multitude of irrational beasts upon them for vengeance, that they might know that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be condemned.\"--Wisdom of Solomon, xi. 16.\n73 Much discussion has taken place as to the nature of these animals. For an explanation of the epithet \"fiery,\" see Sanchoniathon, \"Of the Serpent\" (Cory, op. cit.).\n74 Numbers xxi. 8, 9.\n75 \"Having come to the interior of the desert, the people were exposed to the attacks of Burning Serpents, as the original text reads, the bite of which caused great pain; and not a few of the sufferers died, which again produced an immense excitement in the camp. Moses was ordered to ressort to the means of the Phoenician Esculapius, whose symbol, the brass serpent, was erected in the camp, which produced the desired effect.\"--History of the Israelitish Nation, by Isaac M. Wise, p. 102.\n76 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv., p. 435.\n77 Ditto, P. 434.\n78 Egypt, vol. iii., p. 426.\n79 God in History, vol. i., pp. 233-4.\n80 Exodus xxxiv. 22.\n81 Numbers xix. 1-10.\n82 As to the God Seth, see Pleyte, La Religion des Pre-Israelites (1862).\n83 The Sanscrit, Maha vuse, a great sage, seems to be a plausible etymology. Musa as it is pronounced, is the Arabic name; and it may have an affinity with the Muses of Thessaly and the ancient sage Musaeus.--Ed.\n84 According to Pleyte, the Cabalists thought that the soul of Seth had passed into Moses (op. cit., p. 124). It is strange that the name of the Egyptian princess who is said to have brought up Moses is given by Josephus as Thermuthis, this being the name of the sacred asp of Egypt (see supra). We appear, also, to have a reference to the serpent in the name Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, from whom the descent of Moses was traced.\n85 Fragments, Book xxxiv. See, also, in connection with this subject, King's Gnostics, p. 91.\n86 Bunsen's God in History, vol. i., p. 234.\n87 Ewald notices this fact. See op. cit., p. 454. See, also, Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. ii., p. 338.\n88 Egypt, vol. iii., p. 433.\n89 Op. cit., vol. iv., p. 434.\n90 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., p. 208.\n91 Ditto, vol. iii., p. 427.\n92 As Tet becomes Thoth, so Mo-ses becomes in the Hebrew Mo-shesh.\n93 The Brazen Serpent made by Moses, it will be remembered, was the symbol of this divinity; and it was worshipped till the time of King Hezekiah, by whom it was broken in pieces.--Ed.\n94 Op. cit., p. 319.\n95 Op. cit., vol. vi., p. 328.\n96 As to the use of this symbol generally, see Pleyte, op. cit., pp. 109, 157.\n97 On these points, see M. Raoul-Rochette's memoir on the Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules, in the Memoires de l'Intstitut National de France (Academie des Inscriptions), tom. xvii., p. 47 et seq.\n98 Op. cit., vol. i., p. 60; vol. ii., p. 201.\n99 Pleyte, op. cit., p. 172.\n100 Chap. v. 26.\n101 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iv., p. 249.\n102 Egypt, p. 217.\n103 See ditto, pp. 226-99.\n104 It has been suggested that the ram was introduced as an astrological symbol. By the precession of the equinoxes, the sign Aries became the emblem of the Sun, as the genitor of the new year, and so a proper effigy of the Deity. The appearance of the lamb or ram would, of course, create confusion and misapprehension, as well as controversy among those who did not understand astronomy.--Ed.\n105 Rawlinson's History of Herodotus, Book i.; appendix, essay x.\n106 Ditto, ii.; appendix, viii. 23,\n107 Op. cit., p. 89 et seq.\n108 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., pp. 342, 260.\n109 Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i., p. 423.\n110 Op. cit., vol. i., p. 388.\n111 In the temple of Hercules at Tyre were two symbolical steles, one a pillar, and the other an obelisk. See Raoul-Rochette, op. cit., p. 51, where is a reference to a curious tradition preserved by Josephus, connecting Moses with the erection of columns at Heliopolis.\n112 Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iv., p. 299.\n113 Rawlinson's Herodotus, Book i.; appendix, essay x.\n114 Rawlinson, op. cit., Book i.; appendix, essay x.\n115 Mau, the name of the Egyptian God of Truth, certainly signifies \"light\" but probably only in a figurative sense.\n116 The importance ascribed to the mechanical arts may, perhaps, lead us to look for the formal origin of this character in the \"wedge,\" which was the chief mechanical power the ancients possessed.\n117 Faber, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 20.\n118 Bryant, in his Ancient Mythology, has brought together a great mass of materials bearing on this question. The facts, however, are capable of quite a different interpretation from that which he has given to them.\n119 Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 339.\n120 Compare this with the figuurative description of the garden of delights of \"The Song of Songs.\"\n121 The Hebrew term GN, or garden, appears to be closely related to the Greek word gune, or woman. Indeed, in the ancient languages the former is used as a metaphor for the latter. See Inman's Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names, vol. i., p. 52; vol. ii., p. 553.\n122 Egypt, vol. iv., p. 257.\n123 Egypt, p. 209.\n124 This notion furnishes an easy explanation, founded on the human sacrifices to the Phoenician deity, of the curious verse in Genesis as to the avengging of Lamekh. Lamekh here referred to was not father of Noah. Compare Genesis iv. 18-24, with v. 25-29.\n125 Op. cit., vol. i., pp. 266-7.\n126 For explanation of this myth, see Bunsen's Egypt, vol. iii., p. 437.\n127 Ditto, p. 413.\n128 Want of space prevents me from tracing the developments which the primeval goddess of fecundity underwent; but to the idea embodied in her may be traced nearly all the female deities of antiquity.\n129 Faber, op. cit., vol. ii., p 246.\n130 Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 307.\n131 The story of Jonah, the xxx, dove or symbol of femininity, going to Joppa, a seaport where Dag-on the fish-god was worshipped, and having entered a ship is swallowed by a Ceto or great fish, betrays a suspicious relationship to the same cultus. The fish was revered at Joppa as the dove was at Nineveh. Was there an esoteric meaning?--Ed.\n132 Faber's op. cit., and Bryant's Ancient Mythology, ii., pp. 317 et seq.\n133 On this question, see the Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii., p. 265; also \"Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus,\" in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. (1832), 216 et seq.\n134 This question is fully considered by Dr. Muir, in his Sanskrit Texts, part iv., p. 54 et seq.\n135 Ditto, pp. 161, 343.\n136 Rural Bengal, pp. 152, 187 et. seq. This association of the mountain and the river is found also in the Persian Khordah-Avesta. See (5) Abun-Yasht, v. 1-3.\n137 See Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 70; also Sherring's Benares, pp. 75, 89. Here the serpent is evidently symbolical of life. In the Mahabharata, Mahadeva is described as having \"a girdle of serpents, ear-rings of serpents, a sacrificial cord of serpents, and an outer garment of serpent's skin.\" (Dr. Muir, op. cit., part iv., p. 160.)\n138 Op. cit., p. 70.\n139 Ditto, p. 62.\n140 Mr. Sellon, in the Memoirs of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. ii., p. 273.\n141 It should not be forgotten that the Vedic religion was not that of all the Aryan tribes of India. (See Muir, op. cit., part ii., p. 377, 368-383) ; and it is by no means improbable that some of them retained a more primitive faith, Buddhism or Rudraism; i.e., Sivaism. See also Baldwin's Prehistoric Nations.\n142 Op. cit., p. 62. To come to a proper conclusion on this important point, it is necessary to consider the real position occupied by Gautama in relation to Brahminism. Burnouf says that he differed from his adversaries only in the definition he gives of Salvation (du salut). (Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, p. 155.)\n143 Fergusson, op. cit., pp. 67, 222, 223.\n144 See Guigniaut, op. cit., vol. i., p. 293, 160 note.\n145 Schlagenweit, Buddhism in Thibet, p. 120.\n146 These are figured in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xviii.\n147 Higgin's Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 332 et seq. See also p. 342 et seq.\n148 Op. cit., vol. iii., p. 1 et seq., 25.\n149 Mr. Hunter points out a conection between Sivaism and Buddhism. Op. cit., p. 194.\n150 See Mr. Fergusson, op. cit., p. 70. The serpent is connected with Vishnuism as a symbol of wisdom rather than of life.\n151 Op. cit., p. 71.\n152 Hence Siva, as Sambhu, is the patron deity of the Brahmanic order; and the most intellectual Hindus of the present day are to be found among his followers. (See Wilson, op. cit., p. 171. Sherring's Sacred City of the Hindus, p. 146 et seq.)\n153 The bull of Siva has reference to strength and speed rather than to fecundity; while the Rig-Veda refers to Vishnu as the framer of the womb, although elsewhere he is described as the fecundator. (See Muir, op. cit., part iv., pp. 244, 292, also pp. 64, 83.\n154 This question has been considered by Burnouf, op. cit., p. 547 et seq. But see also Hodgson's Buddhism in Nepaul, and Paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 18 (1860), p. 395 et seq.\n155 See Sherring, op. cit., p. 89.\n156 Schlagenweit, op. cit., p. 181.\n157 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. vii., p. 566.\n158 As to the identity of Siva and Saturn, see Guigniaut, op. cit., vol. i., p. 167 note. Kivan, a name of Saturn, is really the same word as Siva.\n159 Sherring, op. cit., p. 305 et seq.\n160 It should be noted that many of the so-called \"circles\" are in reality elliptical.\n161 On this subject, see Higgin's Anacalypsis, vol. i, p. 315 et seq.\n162 We must look to the esoteric teaching of Mithraism for the origin and explanation of much of primitive Christian dogma.\n163 The serpent elevated in the Wilderness is said to be typical of Christ. (John iii. 14, 15). A Gnostic sect taught that Christ was Seth.\n164 Didron's Christian Iconography (Bohn), pp. 272, 286.\n165 It is a curious fact that Buddhist deities are often represented in the Vessica and with the nimbus. (See Hodgson's figures, plates v. and vi. in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 18.)\n166 Didron, pp. 27, 231.\n167 Didron, p. 29.\n168 History of Magic (Bohn), vol. i., p. 253 et seq.\n169 The \"Black Virgins\" of the French cathedrals prove, when examined critically, to be basalt figures of the goddess Isis. The Virgin Mary succeeded to her form, titles, symbols, rites, and ceremonies. Thus the devotees of Isis carried into the new priesthood the former badges of their profession, the obligation to celibacy, the tonsure, and the surplice. The sacred image still moves in procession as when Juvenal laughed at it--vi. 530--\"grege linigero circumdatus et grege calvo\"-- escorted by the tonsured, surpliced train. Her proper title, Domina, the exact translation of the Sanscrit Isi, survives, with a slight change in the Madonna. By a singular permutation, the flower borne by each, the lotus, ancient emblem of fecundity, now renamed the lily, is interpreted as significant of the opposite quality. The tinkling sistrum, a sound so well pleasing to the Egyptian goddess, is replaced by that most hideous of noises, the clattering bell. The latter instrument, however, came directly from the Buddhist usages, where it forms as essential an element as of yore in early Celtic Christianity, when the holy bell was the actual type of the Godhead to the new converts. The bell in its present form was unknown to the ancients; its normal shape is Indian, and the first real bell-founders were the Buddhist Chinese. Again, relic-worship seems from the third century to have been virtually the present form of Christianity in the East. A fragment of the bone of a Buddha is indispensable in the founding of a temple of that faith.\nIt is astonishing how much of the Egyptian and the second-hand Indian symbolism passed over into the usages of the following times. The high cap and hooked staff of the god became the bishop's mitre and crosier; the term nun is purely Egyptian, and bore its present meaning; the erect oval, symbol of the Female Principle of Nature, became the Vesica Piscis, and a frame for divine things; the Crux Ansata, testifying the union of the Male and Female Principle in the most obvious manner, and denoting fecundity and abundance, is transformed, by a simple inversion, into the Orb surmounted by the Cross, and the ensign of royalty. (Gnostics and their by C. W. King, pp. 71, 72.)","title":"Influence of the Phallic Idea: Footnotes","type":"page"}