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  No. 113,   NO
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SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM 
   PLATE I
TAURIC DIANA 
  SEX  WORSHIP
AND  SYMBOLISM
SANGER BROWN II., M.D.'
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
    BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
 THE GORHAM PRESS
""LiiRARY  / 
                                        /
Copyright,  1916,  1922,  by  Richard G. Badger
All rights reserved
P>S795
ARMED FORCES MECICAL LIBRARY

      WASHINGTON, D. C.
Printed in the United States of America



  The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.




 OCT 14 1922
©C1A686285
"v^"^    w^* 
           TO
        MY WIFE
HELEN WILLISTON BROWN 
 
PREFACE
       THE greater part of the first three  chap-
        ters of this book appeared in the Journal
        of Abnormal Psychology.  This material
is reprinted here by the kind permission of the
Editor of that Journal.  This part of the subject
is chiefly historical and the data here given  is
accessible as indicated by the references through-
out the text, although many of these books are
difficult to secure or are out of print.  For this
historical material I am particularly indebted
to the writings of  Hargrave Jennings, Richard
Payne Knight and Doctor Thomas Inman.  Most
of the reference matter coming under the  general
heading of Nature Worship was obtained  from
comparatively recent sources, such as the publi-
cations  of the  Bureau of American Ethnology,
of the Smithsonian Institute, and certain publi-
cations  of the  American Museum  of Natural
History.    Frazer's  Golden Bough  and other
writings  of J. G. Frazer on Anthropology  furn-
ished much valuable information.  The writings
3 
Preface
of special investigators, among others those of
Spencer,  and  A.  W.  Howitt,  on  Primitive
Australian Tribes, and W. H. R. Rivers on the
Todas have been freely drawn upon.  A number
of other books and references have been  made
use of, as indicated  throughout the text. I have
found  two books by Miss  J.  Harrison,  i.  e.}
Themis and Ancient Art  and Ritual, of  great
value in interpreting primitive ceremonies and
primitive customs in general.
  My main object has been to give the life history
of a primitive motive in the development of the
race, and to emphasize the dynamic significance
of this motive.  Later other motives may be dealt
with in more detail if it is proved that both in
normal  and  abnormal psychology we  may  best
understand the mental development of the indi-
vidual through our knowledge of the development
of the race.
  I wish to take this opportunity to express my
appreciation  of the assistance rendered me by
my wife.
4 
               CONTENTS
chapter                             page
    Introduction.......11
  I  Simple Sex Worship.....13
 II  Symbolism    ...     ....   33
III  Sun Myths, Mysteries and Decadent
       Sex Worship.......69
IV  Interpretations    ......97
    References and Bibliography   .   .  137
    Index    .........143
5 
 
                ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate
   I  TAURIC DIANA ............................................Frontispiece

                                            Facing Page
  II  MEDALS POSSESSED  BY  PAYNE KNIGHT   16
      Fig. 1  Urus in the act of butting against the
             egg of chaos
      Fig. 2  Bacchus  represented as a bull with a
             human face
      Fig. 3  Venus represented as a cow
      Fig. 4  Horns as  the emblem of power
      Fig. 5  Proserpine crowned  with  ears  of corn
             as the Goddess of  Fertility

 III  BRONZE STATUE OF CERES ............................   26

 IV  SYSTRUM WITH VARIOUS  MEDALS ................   36
      Fig. 1  Head of Apollo crowned with laurel and
             obelisk ending in a cross (male symbol)
      Fig. 2  Runic medal  with head surrounded by
             obelisks  or rays and head of Vulcan
      Fig. 3  Goat terminating in tail of fish to show
             generative power  of  water.   Earth
             underneath fertilized by this union and
             above cornucopia result of this fertility
     Fig. 4  Egyptian  Systrum
     Fig. 5  Goddess Hierapolis the thyrsis  of Bac-
             chus in one hand and the globe in the
             other
     Fig. 6  Vulcan's head with fire  tongs similar to
             those in fig. 2
     Fig. 7  An effeminate representation of Apollo
     Fig. 8  Wolf as the symbol  of the sun

  V  INDIAN TEMPLE ......................................................   46
I 
Illustrations
 VI  CELTIC TEMPLE AND GREEK MEDALS ........   56
     Fig. 1  Talisman square on Greek medal
     Fig. 2  Egyptian Talisman
     Fig. 3  Asterisk of the sun in center of square
             on Syracuse medal
     Fig. 4  Celtic Temple  in Zeeland
     Fig. 5  Minerva with an elephant's skin on her
             head
     Fig. 6  Horns as symbol of power
     Fig. 7  Minerva represented in the Indian man-
             ner with  the  elephant skin over her
             helmet
     Fig. 8  Deity represented by an elephant bear-
             ing the  torch (male  symbol) in  his
             trunk and the  cornucopia (female sym-
             bol) in his tail
     Fig. 9  Horns of the bull placed on the head of
             the elephant
     Fig. 10  Jupiter with the moon  on his head and
             the sun in his hand
     Fig. 11  Minerva holding spear

 VII  TEMPLE  DEDICATED  TO   BACCHUS   AT
     PUZZUOLI ....................................................................   66
     Fig. 1  (a) Holy of Holies
             (b) Showing  distance below level  of
                  the ground
             (c) Drains and  conduits  for flooding
                  temple
     Fig. 2  (a) Apartments of priests
             (b) Portico
             (c) Holy of Holies
     Fig. 3  Circular plan of temple

VIII  ORNAMENT FROM PUZZOLI  TEMPLE ............   76

     Fig. 1  Wolf devouring grapes as  destructive
             power  of sun
     Fig. 2  Deity  crowned with laurel wreath
IX  ORNAMENT FROM PUZZOLI TEMPLE ............   86 
Illustrations
  X  EGYPTIAN FIGURES AND ORNAMENTS ........   94
     Fig. 1  Columns like the lotus which Isis holds
     Fig. 2  Isis holding the stem of the lotus sur-
             mounted by the seed vessel in one hand
             and the cross in the  other
     Fig. 3  Horns and ears of cow on head of Venus

 XI  EGYPTIAN FIGURES AND ORNAMENTS ........  106

     Fig. 1  Symbol of sun over bull
     Fig. 2  Lotus flower design
     Fig. 3  Young shoots of lotus just when they
             have burst  seed  vessel
     Fig. 4  Sun over Taurine Bacchus
     Fig. 5  Crowning of  Taurine  Bacchus  with
             wreath of laurel
     Fig. 6  Lotus  seed  vessel used  as a  capital
     Fig. 7  Same seed vessel surrounded by leaves

 XII  THE LOTUS AND MEDALS  OF MELITE ........  116
     Fig. 1  Flower, leaf, and  seed vessel of the lotus
     Fig. 2  Generative spirit  with wings like Jewish
             Cherubim brooding over matter
     Fig. 3  The crab as the  symbol  of  the  produc-
             tive powers of the waters

XIII  BACCHUS  AND MEDALS  OF  CAMARINA
     AND SYRACUSE ........................................................  126
     Fig. 1  Incubation of the vital spirit represented
             by  a serpent wreathed around  an  egg
     Fig. 2  Oriental symbol of sun (disc with wings)
     Fig. 3  Sun fructifying the waters represented
             by  swan
     Fig. 4  Victory mounting chariot  of sun
     Fig. 5  Victory flying before chariot of sun
     Fig. 6  Asterisk in  place of  victory
     Fig. 7  The vine between the creating deity
             (Bacchus)  and  the  destroying deity
             represented  by the tiger

XIV  STATUE OF A BULL IN THE  PAGODA OF
     TANJORE  ....................................................................  134
9 
 
INTRODUCTION
       OUR knowledge of religion receives con-
        tributions from every quarter; even the
        student of mental diseases finds informa-
tion that is of service to the student of religion.
The reverse is equally true: a knowledge of reli-
gion sheds light upon even the science of mental
disorders.
  In this short book, a psychiatrist seeks in the
study  of  one aspect of religious practice—the
worship of procreating power—to gain a clearer
understanding of the forms taken  by certain
kinds of mental diseases.   His theory  is that we
may  expect  diseased  minds to  reproduce, or
return  to  expressions of desire  customary  and
official in societies  of  lower culture.   This is,
as a matter of fact, less a theory than a statement
of  observed  facts; of this, the reader  of these
pages, if familiar with certain mental disorders,
may readily  convince himself.
   But Doctor Brown's intention is not merely,
perhaps not  primarily, to draw the  attention
11 
Introduction
 of the Psychiatrist  to a neglected source of in-
 formation, he aims at something of wider import
 and addresses a wider public.   His purpose is
 no  less than  the tracing of the history of that
 great motive of action, the sex  passion, as it
 appears in religion and the interpretation of its
 significance.   Those  who come to this book with-
 out  the preparation of  the specialist  will find
 it not only  replete  with novel  and surprising
 facts, but will find these facts placed in such a
 relation to each other and to life in general, as to
 illuminate both  religion  and  human nature.
 This important result is made possible  by  the
point of view from which the author writes, the
 point of view of racial development which  has
 proved its  fertility in so many directions.
                        James H. Leuba.
12 
SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM 
 
 SEX  WORSHIP  AND

         SYMBOLISM


               CHAPTER I

           Simple Sex Worship

     PSYCHIATRY, during recent years,  has
      found it to its advantage to turn to re-
      lated sciences and allied branches of study
for the explanation of a number of the peculiar
symptoms of abnormal mental states.   Of these
related studies, none have been of greater value
than  those which  throw  light on  the mental
development of either the individual or the race.
In primitive races we discover a number of in-
herent  motives which are of interest from the
standpoint of mental evolution.  These motives
are expressed  in a very  interesting symbolism.
It is  the duty of the psychiatrist to see to what
extent  these primitive motives operate uncon-
15 
Sea- Worship and Symbolism
 sciously in  abnormal  mental  conditions,  and
 also to learn whether an insight into the sym-
 bolism of mental diseases may be gained, through
 comparison, by study of the symbolism of primi-
 tive races.   In  the following discussion  one
 particular  motive with its  accompanying sym-
 bolism is dealt with.
  A great  many  of  the institutions and usages
 of our present day  civilization originated at a
 very early period in  the history  of  the  race.
 Many of these usages are carried on in modified
 form century after century,  after they have lost
 the meaning  which they originally  possessed; it
 must be  remembered, however,  that in primitive
 races  they  were of importance, and they arose
 because  they served  a useful  end.  From the
study of these remnants of former  days, we are
able to  learn the trends of  thought which acti-
vated and inspired the minds of primitive people.
When we clearly understand these motives,  we
may then judge the extent of their influence on
our present day thought and tendencies.
  It has only been during comparatively recent
times  that  the importance  of  primitive beliefs
1(5 
/£. 2.
F£.3.
Fig. 4.
%■*.
                         PLATE II
        MEDALS POSSESSED BY PAYNE  KNIGHT
Fig.  1  Urus in the act of butting against the egg of chaos.
Fig.  2  Bacchus represented  as a bull with a human  face.
Fig.  3  Venus  represented as a cow.
Fig.  4  Horns  as  the  emblems  of power.
Fig.  5  Proserpine crowned with ears of corn as the Goddess
       of Fertility. 
 
Simple  Sex Worship
and  practices,  from  the  standpoint  of mental
evolution,  has  been  appreciated.   Formerly,
primitive man  was regarded  merely  as a curi-
osity., and not as an individual from whom any-
thing of any value whatever was to be learned.
But  more recent studies have changed all this.
in order to illustrate this matter of the evolu-
tion  and development of the human mind we can
very profitably  quote from Sir J. G.  Frazer:*
"For by comparison with  civilized  man the
savage  represents an arrested  or  rather  a re-
tarded  state of social development, and an ex-
amination of his customs and  beliefs accordingly
supplies the same sort of evidence of the evolu-
tion of  the human mind that  an examination  of
the embryo supplies of the evolution of the human
body.  To put it otherwise, a  savage is to a civi-
lized man as a child is to an adult; and just as a
gradual growth of intelligence in a child cor-
responds to, and  in a sense recapitulates, the
gradual growth of intelligence in the species,  so
a study of  savage society at various stages  of
evolution enables us to  follow approximately,
  * The  Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task.
17 
Se<v  Worship  and Symbolism
though of course not exactly, the road by, which
the ancestors of  the higher races  must  have
travelled  in  their  progress upward  through
barbarism to civilization.  In short, savagery is
the. primitive  condition  of mankind, and if we
would understand what primitive  man  was we
must  know what the savage now is."
  To  properly interpret these beliefs and con-
duct,  certain facts must be kept in mind.  One
is that with primitive races the group stands for
the unit,  and the individual has  little  if any
personality distinct from the group.  This social
state gives rise to what is spoken of as collective
thought,  collective  feeling,  group  action, etc.
Miss  J. Harrison* considers this  conception  a
very important one in primitive religious devel-
opment.   All  that the race  expresses, all that
it believes, is an expression of collective feeling.
As a  result of this group thought, feelings and
beliefs are developed which  are entertained by
every  individual  of  the  community.   These
racial feelings become a part of the race itself;
they are inseparable from it, and  they  find ex-
 * Themis, Introduction Page XI.
18 
Simple  Sex Worship
 pression in the loftiest of sentiments  and the
 most earnest of religious beliefs.
   Our study  is  not primarily concerned  with
 religious  development,  but since early man's
 deepest feelings found  expression in what  later
 became a religion, it is necessary to search for
 racial motives  in primitive  religions.  These
 feelings are in no way comparable to  the con-
 scious religious beliefs of later times, which  were
 worked out in many instances by an ingenious
 priesthood.  The period when group feeling pre-
 dominated far antedated  such civilizations  as
 those of Egypt and later Greece, for  example,
 in  which   very  elaborate   religious   systems
 existed.
   With primitive people these deeper  feelings
 appear to arise unconsciously rather than  con-
 sciously.  Moreover, probably as a  result  of
 collective  thought  and  feeling,  motives  and
 beliefs are developed and elaborated in a  way
 quite beyond  the mental  capacity  of  any one
individual of the community.  Beliefs are formu-
lated which have a grandeur  of conception and
a beauty of expression well worthy of  admira-
19 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
tion.  The beauty and native vigor of some of
the earlier myths are examples of this.   They
live in the tribe  as traditions.  No one person
seems to have  written them; in fact, they are
added  to,  changed  and  improved  until they
represent  the  highest  expression  of  national
feelings.   Gilbert Murray has indicated this in
the Rise of the  Greek Epic.  He emphasizes that
there is found  an expression of racial feelings,
built  up from  many  sources.  Such  Sagas are
not the property of  any one individual.  The
feelings they  express are associated  with the
unconscious of the race, if  such a term  is per-
missible.  Gilbert Murray,* in interpreting this
element in primitive literature states:  "We have
also, I suspect, a strange unanalyzed vibration
below the surface, an undercurrent of desires and
fears, and passions,  long  slumbering  yet eter-
nally familiar, which  have for  thousands  of
years lain near the root of our most intimate
emotions  and been wrought into the fabric  of
our most magical dreams.   How far in the past
ages this stream may reach back I dare not even
  * Hamlet and Orestes.
20 
Simple  Sex Worship
surmise; but it sometimes seems as if the power
of stirring it or moving with it were one of the
last secrets of genius."
  The importance  of the collective or  group
feeling has been emphasized as thereby one sees
how a fundamental  racial motive becomes  an
integral  part of the mental  life of each and
every member of the group.   In  primitive life
every individual contributes something to this
motive and in turn  receives something from it.
It enters into the developing mind and becomes
inseparably associated with it.  In studying the
evolution of these motives one is studying the
evolution of the human mind.
  The motive  which  we  have undertaken to
explain has to do with one of the most  impor-
tant  of  instincts, I e., that  of  reproduction.
The feelings associated with this  instinct were
raised to the dignity of religion, and in this we
have the worship of sex.   This worship is to be
regarded as an unconscious racial expression,
the result of group or collective feeling, the
dynamic significance of which,  from a biological
standpoint, will appear later.
21 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
   Before  proceeding,  it  is desirable to make
reference to some of our sources of information.
There  are plenty of books on the  history of
Egypt, the antiquities of India or on the inter-
pretation  of  Oriental  customs,  which  make
scarcely any reference to the deification of  sex.
We  have  always been  told, for  example, that
Bacchus  was the god of the  harvest and that
the Greek Pan was the god of nature.  We have
not been told that these same gods were  repre-
sentations of the male generative attribute,  and
that they were worshipped as such; yet, anyone
who has access  to the statuettes  or engravings
of these  various deities of antiquity, whether
they be of Egypt, of India or of  China,  cannot
fail to see that they were intended to represent
generative attributes.   On account of  the incom-
pleteness of many books  which describe primi-
tive  races, a number of references  are  given
throughout these pages, and some bibliographical
references are added.

  As will be presently indicated, we have  evi-
dence from a number of sources to show sex was
22 
Simple Sex  Worxliip
at one time frankly and openly worshipped by
the primitive races of mankind.  This worship
has been shown to be so general and so wide-
spread, that it  is to be regarded as part of the
general evolution of the human mind; it seems
to be indigenous with the race, rather than an
isolated or exceptional circumstance.
  The American   Cyclopedia,  under  Phallic
Worship, reads as  follows: "In early ages the
sexual emblems  were adored  as  most  sacred
objects, and in the several polytheistic  systems
the act or principle  of which  the phallus was
the type was  represented by  a deity to whom
it was consecrated: in Egypt by Khem, in India
by Siva, in Assyria by Vul, in primitive Greece
by  Pan, and  later  by Priapus,  in Italy by
Mutinus  or Priapus, among the Teutonic and
Scandinavian  nations by Fricco, and in Spain
by Hortanes. Phallic monuments and sculptured
emblems are found in all parts of the world."
  Kawlinson, in  his  history of Ancient  Egypt,
gives us the  following description of  Khem:
"A full Egyptian idea of Khem can scarcely be
presented  to the modern reader, on account of
23 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
the grossness of the forms under which it was
exhibited.  Some modern Egyptologists endeavor
to excuse or palliate this grossness; but it seems
scarcely  possible that  it should not  have been
accompanied by indelicacy of thought or that it
should have failed to exercise a  corrupting
influence on life and morals.  Khem, no doubt,
represented to the initiated merely the generative
power in nature, or that strange law by  which
living  organisms,  animal  and  vegetable,  are
enabled to  reproduce their like.  But who shall
say in what exact  light he  represented himself
to the vulgar, who  had continually before their
eyes the indecent figures under which the paint-
ers and  sculptors portrayed him?   As impure
ideas and  revolting practices clustered around
the worship of Pan in  Greece and later Rome,
so it is more than probable  that in the worship
of Khem in Egypt were connected  similar ex-
cesses. Besides his  priapic or 'Ithyphallic' form,
Khem's character was marked by the assignment
to him of  the  goat as  his symbol, and by his
ordinary title Ka-mutf, 'The Bull of His Mother,'
i. e., of nature."
24 
Simple Sex  Worship
  This  paragraph  clearly  indicates that  the
sexual organs were worshipped under the form
of Khem by the Egyptians.  The writer, however,
has fallen into a very common error in giving
us to understand that this was a degraded form
of worship; from numerous other sources it is
readily  shown that such is  not the case.
  The following lines, from Ancient Sex Wor-
ship, substantiate the above  remarks, and at the
same time, they show the incompletenees of  the
writings of many antiquarians. In this book we
read: "Phallic emblems abounded at Heliopolis
and  Syria  and  many  other places, even  into
modern times.  The following unfolds marvelous
proof to our point.  A brother physician, writing
to Dr. Inman, says: 'I was in Egypt last winter
(1865-66), and there certainly  are numerous  fig-
ures of gods and kings on the walls of the temple
at Thebes, depicted  with the male genital erect.
The  great temple at Karnac  is,  in  particular,
full of such  figures  and  the  temple of Danclesa,
likewise, although that is of much later date, and
built merely in imitation of  old Egyptian art.'"
The  writer further  states that this shows how
2." 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
completely  English  Egyptologists  have  sup-
pressed a portion of the facts  in  the  histories
which  they have given  to the world.  With all
our  descriptions of  the  wonderful  temple  of
Karnae, it is remarkable that all mention of its
association with sex worship should  be omitted
by many writers.
  A  number of  travellers  in Africa,  even  in
comparatively modern times, have  observed evi-
dences of sex worship among the primitive races
of that continent.  Captain  Burton* speaks  of
this custom with the Dahome tribe.  Small gods
of clay are made in priapic attitudes before which
the natives worship.  The god is often  made  as
if contemplating  its sexual  organs.   Another
traveler, a clergyman,! has described the same
worship in this tribe.  He has observed idols  in
priapic attitudes,  rudely carved in  wood, and
others made  of  clay.  On the lower  Congo the
same worship is described, where both male and
female  figures  with  disproportionate  genital
organs are used for purposes of worship.  Phallic
  * Quoted by H. M. Westropp, Primitive Symbolism.
  t J. W. Wood. The Uncivilized Races.
26 
V-3E
           PLATE III
BRONZE  STATUE  OF  CERES 
 
Simple Sex Worship
symbols and other  offerings are made  to these
simple deities.
  Definite  examples of  the  sexual  act having
religious significance  may  be  cited.   Richard
Payne Knight* quotes a passage from  Captain
Cook's voyages to one of the Southern Pacific
Islands.  The Missionaries of the expedition on
this occasion assembled the members of the party
for religious  ceremonies  in  which the natives
joined.   The primitive  natives observed  the
ceremony  with great respect and then with due
solemnity enacted their form of sacred  worship.
Quite to the astonishment of the white people,
this ceremony consisted of the open performance
of the sexual act by a young Indian man  and
woman.  This was entirely a religious ceremony,
and  was fittingly respected by all  the natives
present.
  Hargrave Jenningsf describes  the same custom
in India.  An Indian woman of  designated caste
and vocation is selected.  Many incantations and

  * The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
  t The Rosicrucians.
27 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
strange rites are gone  through.   A  circle, or
"Vacant Enchanted Place" is rendered pure by
certain rites and sprinkled with  wine.   Then
secret charms are whispered three times in  the
woman's  ear.  The  sexual  act is then consum-
mated, and the whole procedure before the altar
is distinctly a form of sacrifice and  worship.
  Hodder M. Westropp  in Primitive  Symbolism
has indicated the countries in which sex worship
has existed.  He gives  numerous instances  in
ancient Egypt,  Assyria, Greece and  Rome.  In
India, as well as  in China and Japan, it forms
the basis  of early  religions.  This  worship is
described among the early races of Greece, Italy,
Spain, Scandinavia, and  among the Mexicans
and Peruvians of America  as well.   In  Borneo,
Tasmania,  and  Australia phallic emblems have
been found.  Many other  localities  have been
mentioned  by this writer and one seems fairly
justified in concluding that sex worship is regu-
larly  found at  one  time in the development of
primitive races.  We shall  now pass to  another
form  of   this  same  worship,  namely,  sacred
prostitution.
28 
Simple Sex Worship
  There is abundant evidence to show that there
was a time in the centuries before Christ when
prostitution was held as a most sacred vocation.
We learn of this  practice from  many sources.
It appears  that temples in a number of ancient
cities of the East, in Babylonia, Nineveh, Corinth
and throughout India, were erected for the wor-
ship of  certain deities.  This  worship consisted
of the prostitution of women.   The women  were
consecrated to the support of  the temple.  They
were chosen in much the same way as the modern
woman  enters a sacred church order.  The re-
turns from their vocation went to the support of
the deity and the temple.   The children born of
such a union were in no  way  held in disgrace.
but on  the contrary, they  appeared to  have
formed  a separate and  rather superior  class.
We are  told that this practice did not interfere
with a  woman's opportunities for  subsequent
marriage.  In India the practice was very general
at one time.  The women were called the "Women
of the Idol."   Richard Payne Knight speaks of
a thousand sacred prostitutes living in each of
the temples at Eryx  and  Corinth.
29 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  A custom which shows even more clearly that
prostitution was held as a sacred duty to women
was that in Babylonia every woman, of high rank
or low,  must at one time in  her life  prostitute
herself to any stranger who offered money.  In
Ancient Sex  Worship  we read: "There  was a
temple in Babylonia where every female had to
perform once in her life a (to  us) strange act
of religion, namely, prostitution with a stranger.
The name of  it was Bit-Shagatha,  or 'The Tem-
ple,' the 'Place of Union.'"  Moreover we learn
that once a woman  entered the temple for such
a sacred act she could not leave  until it was
performed.
  The above  accounts deal exclusively in  the
sacrifice  made  by women to the  deity of sex.
Men did not escape this sacrifice and it appears
that  some inflicted  upon  themselves an even
worse one.   Frazer*  tells us  of  this worship
which was introduced from Assyria into  Rome
about two hundred years before Christ.  It was
the worship  of Cybele and  Attis.  These deities
were attended  by emasculated  priests and  the
  * Odonis, Attis and Osiris.
30 
Simple Sex Worship
priests in oriental costume paraded Rome in re-
ligious ceremony.
  On one occasion, namely, "the day of blood"
in the  Spring,  the  chief  ceremony  was  held.
This, among other things, consisted in fastening
an effigy  of the god to a pine tree, which was
brought to the temple of the Goddess Cybele. A
most spectacular  dance about  the effigy then
occurred in which the priests slashed  themselves
with knives, the blood being offered as sacrifice.
As the excitement increased the sexual nature of
the  ceremony became evident.  To quote from
Frazer: "For man after man, his veins throbbing
with the music, his eyes fascinated by the sight
of streaming blood, flung his garments from him,
leaped forth with a shout, and seizing one of the
swords which stood ready for the service, cas-
trated himself on the spot.  Then he ran through
the  city holding the bloody parts  in his hands
and threw them into one of the houses which
he passed in his mad career."
  We see that this act directly corresponds with
the  part played  by the  female.  The  female
prostituted herself,  and the  male presented his
31 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
generative powers to the deity.  Both the sacred
prostitutes and emasculated priests were held in
religious veneration.
  The above references are sufficient to show that
a simple  form of sex worship has been quite
generally  found.   It becomes apparent  as we
proceed that the  worship of sex not only plays
a part,  but a very prominent part,  in  the de-
veloping mind of man.   In the frank and open
form of this worship it is quite clear that we are
dealing  with a very simple type of mind.  These
primitive  people  exhibit many  of the qualities
of the child.  They  are  quite  without sex con-
sciousness.  Their motives are at once both sim-
ple and direct, and  they are doubtless sincere.
Much misunderstanding has arisen  by judging
such primitive people  by the standards  of our
present  day civilization.   Sex worship,  while it
held sway, was probably quite as seriously enter-
tained as  many other beliefs; it only became de-
graded during a decadent age,  when civilization
had advanced beyond such simple conceptions of
a deity, but had not evolved a satisfactory sub-
stitute.
32 
SYMBOLISM 
 
CHAPTER II
                  Symbolis?i

       AS civilization advanced, the deification of
        sex was no  longer frank  and open.   It
        came  to be  carried  on  by  means  of
symbolism.  This symbolism  was an effort on
the part of its originators to express the worship
of the generative attributes under  disguise, often
understood only by  the priests or by those ini-
tiated into the religious mysteries.  The myster-
ies so frequently referred to in the  religions  of
antiquity   are  often some expression  of sex
worship.
   Sexual  symbolism  was  very general  at one
time and remains of it are found in  most of the
countries  where any form of  sex worship has
existed. Such remains have been found in Egypt,
Greece,  Italy, India,  China, Japan,  and indeed
in most countries  the early history  of which  is
known to  man.
35 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  One important kind of symbolism  had to do
with the form  of the object  deified.  Thus,  it
appears that certain objects,—particularly up-
right objects-stones, mounds, poles, trees,  etc.,
were  erected,  or used as  found in  nature, as
typifying the male generative organ.  Likewise
certain round oval objects, discs, certain fruits
and certain natural caves,  were worshipped as
representing the female generative organ.  (The
yoni of India.)
  We also find that certain qualities of animal
or vegetable nature were equally venerated, not
because of their form, but because they stood for
some quality desirable in the generation  of man-
kind.  Thus we find that some animals—the bull
because of its  strength  and aggressive  nature,
the snake, perhaps because of its form or of its
tenacity  of  life,—were male  representatives  of
phallic significance.  Likewise the  fish, the dol-
phin,  and a  number of other aquatic  cretures
came  to be female representatives.  This may be
shown over and over again by  reference to the
antique emblems, coins, and engravings of many
nations.
36 
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
jr/g.3.
                              PLATE IV
                 SYSTRUM WITH VARIOUS MEDALS
Fig  1  Head of Apollo crowned with laurel and obelisk ending in a cross
(male symbol).  2  Runic medal with head surrounded by obelisks or rays
and head of Vulcan.  3 Goat terminating in tail of fish to show generative
power of water.  Earth  underneath fertilized by  this union  and above
cornucopia  result  of  this  fertility.  4  Egyptian  Systrum.  5  Goddess
Hierapolis the thyrsis of Bacchus in one hand and the globe in the other.
6  Vulcan's head with fire tongs similar to those in fig. 2.   7  An effemin-
ate representation of Apollo.  8  Wolf  as the symbol of the sun. 
 
Symbolism
  Another later symbolism,  which was adopted
by certain philosophies, was more obscure but
was none the less of distinct sexual significance.
Fire is made to represent  the male  principle,
and  water,  and  much  connected  with it, the
female. Thus we have Venus, born of the Sea,
and  accompanied by numerous fish representa-
tions.  Fire worship was secondary to the uni-
versally found sun worship.  The sun is every-
where  the male principle, standing for the gen-
erative power in nature.   At  one  time the
symbolism  is broad,  and refers to generative
nature in general.   At another  time  it refers
solely  to the  human generative organs.  Thus,
the Greek God  Hermes, the God of Fecundity
in nature,  is at times represented in unmis-
takable priapic attitudes.
  Still another symbolism  was  often used  in
India.   This was the addition of a number  of
members to the deity, possibly a number of arms
or heads.  This was in order  to express a number
of qualities.  Thus the deity was both generator
and  destroyer, one face showing benevolence and
kindness, the other violence  and rage.  In  many
37 
Sex Worship and SymboUsm
 of the deities both male and female  principles
 were represented in one,—an Androgyne deity—
 which was an ideal frequently attempted.  The
 idea that these grotesque deities were merely the
 expression of eccentricity or caprice on the part
 of  the  originator is  not  to  be entertained.
 Richard  Payne Knight has pointed out that they
 occur  almost  entirely  on  national  coins and
^emblems, and so were the expression of an estab-
 lished  belief.
  We  shall refer first  to the simpler symbols,
 those in  which an object was deified  because of
 its form.
  It is  perhaps  not remarkable that upright
•objects should be selected because of  their form
 as the  simplest expression of phallic ideas.  The
 simple upright for purposes of sex worship is
 universally found.  An upright  conical stone is
 frequently  mentioned.   Many of the stone idols
 or pillars,  the worship  of which was  forbidden
 by the Bible, come under this group.   Likewise,
 the obelisk, found not only in  Egypt,  but in
 modified  forms in many other countries as well,
 embodies the same phallic principle.  The usual
38 
Symbolism
explanation of the obelisk is that it represented
the rays of the sun striking the earth; when we
speak of sun worship later, we shall see that this
substantiates  rather  than  refutes  the  phallic
interpretation.   The mounds of religious signifi-
cance, found in  many countries, were associated
with  sex  worship.  The Chinese  pagodas  are
probably  of phallic  origin.   Indeed,  there is
evidence to show that the spires of our Churches
owe their  existence to  the  uprights or obelisks
outside the Temples of former ages.   A  large
volume has been written by  O'Brien to  show that
the Round Towers of Ireland (upright towers of
prehistoric times)  were erected as phallic  em-
blems.    Higgins,   in   the  Anacalipsis,   has
amassed a great wealth of material with simi-
lar purport, and he shows that such  "temples"
as  that of  Stonehenge and others were  also
phallic.  The stone idols  of Mexico and  Peru,
the ancient pillar stones of Brittany, and in  fact
all similar upright objects, erected for religious
purposes the world over, are placed in this same
category.   We shall presently give a number of
references to show that the May-pole was asso-
39 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
dated with phallic worship and that it originated
at a very remote period.
  We shall now quote from  some of the authors
who have contributed  to our knowledge of  this
form  of  symbolism,  as thereby a clear idea of
their  meaning  may  be set forth.   These inter-
pretations are not generally advanced, and there-
fore we  have added considerable corroborative
evidence  which  we have been able  to obtain from
independent sources.
  In  an  Essay on the Assyrian  "Grove"  and
other Emblems, Mr.  John Newton sums up the
basis  of  this symbolism as  follows: "As  civili-
zation advanced, the gross symbols of  creative
power were cast aside, and  priestly  ingenuity
was taxed to the utmost in inventing a crowd
of less obvious  emblems, which should represent
the ancient ideas in a decorous manner.  The old
belief was retained, but in a mysterious or subli-
mated form.  As symbols of the male, or active
element in creation, the sun, light, fire,  a torch,
the phallus  or  lingam,  an erect serpent, a  tall
straight tree, especially the palm  or fir  or pine,
were  adopted.   Equally useful  for symbolism
40 
Symbolism
were a tall  upright stone  (menhir), a cone, a
pyramid, a thumb or finger pointed straight, a
mask,  a rod, a  trident, a  narrow bottle  or
amphora, a  bow,  an arrow, a lance, a horse, a
bull, a lion, and many other animals conspicuous
for masculine power.  As symbols of the female,
the passive though  fruitful element in creation,
the crescent moon, the earth,  darkness, water,
and its emblem, a triangle with the  apex down-
ward, "the yoni"—the shallow  vessel or cup for
pouring fluid into  (cratera), a ring or oval, a
lozenge,  any narrow  cleft,  either  natural  or
artificial,  an arch  or doorway, were employed.
In the same category of symbols came a boat
or ship, a female date palm bearing fruit, a cow
with her calf by her side, a fish,  fruits having
many  seeds, such as the pomegranate, a shell,
 (concha),  a cavern, a  garden,  a  fountain,  a
bower, a rose, a fig, and other  things of suggestive
form, etc.
   "These  two great  classes  of conventional
symbols were often represented in  conjunction
with  each other, and  thus  symbolized in the
highest degree  the great source of  life, ever
41 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
originating,  ever  renewed  ...  A  similar
emblem is the lingam standing in the center of
the yoni, the adoration  of which is to this day
characteristic  of  the  leading  dogma  of  Hindu
religion.   There is scarcely a temple  in  India
which has not its lingam, and in numerous in-
stances this symbol is the only  form under which
the god Siva is worshipped."
  In Ancient Sex Worship we read, "As the male
genital  organs  were  held  in early times  to
exemplify the actual male creative power, various
natural objects were seized upon to express the
theistic idea and at the same time point to those
points  of the human form.   Hence, a similitude
is recognized in a pillar, a heap of stones, a tree
between  two  rocks, a  club between two  pine
cones, a trident, a thyrsus tied around with two
ribbons with the end pendant, a thumb and two
fingers.   The  caduceus again the conspicuous
part of the sacred Triad Ashur is symbolized by
a  single stone placed upright,—the stump of a
tree, a block, a tower, a spire, minaret, pole, pine,
poplar or pine tree."
   Hargrave Jennings,  the author  of  several
42 
Symbolism
books on some aspects of religions of antiquity,
among them one on phallicism, deals freely with
the  phallic principles  embodied  in these  re-
ligions.  As do many other writers, he identifies
fire Avorship Avith sex Avorship, and the following
short paragraph  shows  his  conception  of  their
interrelationship, as  Avell  as the significance of
the upright of antiquity.   In  the Rosicrucians
he says: "Obelisks, spires, minarets, tall towers,
upright stones, (menhirs), and architectural per-
pendiculars of eAery  description, and, generally
speaking, all  erections  conspicuous  for height
and slimness, were representations of the Sword-
ed  or  of the Pyramidal  Fire.  They  bespoke,
wherever found and in whatever age, the idea of
the  First  Principle  or  the  male  generative
emblem."
  We  might  readily cite  passages  from the
Avritings of a number of other authors but the
above paragraphs suffice to set forth the general
principle of  this symbolism.  As  stated above,
such  interpretations have not been generally
advanced to explain such objects as sacred pillar
stones, obelisks, minarets, etc.  It  is readily seen
43 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 how fully these views  are  substantiated by ob-
 servations from a number of independent sources.
   In a book of Travel* in India we are able from
 an independent source to learn of the symbolism
 of that country. The traveller gives a description
 of the caves of Elephanta, near Bombay.  These
 are enormous caves cut in the side of a mountain,
 for religious purposes to which pilgrimages  are
 made and where the usual festivities are held.
 The worship  of  generative attributes is quite
 apparent.   The  numerous  sculptured   female
 figures,  as remarked by the  traveller,  are  all
 represented  with  greatly exaggerated breasts, a
 symbolism which is frequent throughout oriental
 countries for expressing reproductive attributes.
  In  an  inner chamber is placed  the  symbol
 which is held in particular veneration.   Here is
 found an upright conical stone standing within
a  circular one.  The stone is sprinkled with
 water during  the festival  season.   The wTriter
states that this stone, to the worshippers, repre-
sents the male generative organ, and  the worship
of it is not considered an impropriety.   In this
  * Rousselet, India and Its Native Princes.
44 
Symbolism
instance  we  feel that  the  symbolism  is  very
definite, and  doubtless the stone pillars in the
other temples of India and elsewhere are of the
same significance.
  A clergyman in the Chinese Review of 1876,
under the title Phallic Worship in China, gives
an  account of the phallicism  as he  observed it
at that time.  He states  that the male sexual
organ is symbolized by a simple mound of earth
and is so  worshipped.  Similarly,  the  female
organ  is represented by a  mound  of  different
form  and is worshipped  as  the former.  The
Avriter states  that at times these mounds are built
in conjunction.  He states this worship is similar
to that of Baal of Chaldea, etc., and that prob-
ably all have a common origin. It appears to be
a fundamental part of the Chinese religion and
the symbolism of the Chinese pagoda expresses
the same idea.  He says that Kheen or Shang-te,
the Chinese deities of sex, are also  worshipped
in the form of serpents, of which the dragon of
the Chinese is a modification.   This  furnishes a
concrete  instance in which  the mound of earth
is of  phallic  significance, and substantiates  an
45 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
interpretation of serpent Avorship to which we
shall presently refer.
  Hodder M. Westropp has given us an excellent
account of phallic Avorship  and includes in his
description  the  observations  of  a traveller  in
Japan  at as late periods as  1864  and 1869.
  A temple near the ancient capital of Japan
was visited  by a traveller.   In  this temple the
main  object of  worship  was a  large  upright,
standing alone, and the resemblance to the male
generative organ was so striking as to leave no
doubt as to what is represented.  This  upright
was worshipped especially by women, who left
votive offerings, among them  small phalli, elab-
orately wrought out of w7ood  or  other material.
The traveller remarked that the worship  was
most earnest and sincere.
  The  same traveller observed that in  some of
the public  roads  of Japan  are  small  hedged
recesses where similar pillars are found.  These
large pillars unquestionably represent the male
organ.   The writer has observed priests in pro-
cession carrying similar huge phalli, painted in
color as  well.  This procession called forth no
46 
   PLATE V
INDIAN TEMPLE 
 
Symbolism
particular  comment and so was probably not
unusual.  It is stated  that this is a part of the
ancient "Shinto" religion of Japan and China.
  There are frequent references to certain of the
gods of the Ancients being represented in priapic
attitudes, the phallus  being  the  prominent and
most important attribute.   Thus Hermes,  in
Greece, was placed at cross-roads, with  phallus
prominent.  This was comparable to the phallus
on  Japanese  highways.   In  the  festivals  of
Bacchus high phalli were carried, the male organ
being represented about the size of the rest  of
the body.   The Egyptians carried a gilt phallus,
150  cubits high, at the  festivals of Osiris.  In
Syria, at the entrance of the temple at Hieropolis,
was placed a human figure with a phallus 120
cubits high.  A man mounted this upright twice
a year and  remained seven days, offering prayers,
etc.
  In Peru  in the Temple of the Sun an  upright
pillar has been described covered with gold leaf,
very similar to  those existing  elsewhere and  to
which  has  been  ascribed similar  significance.
  A number of writers have expressed the  belief
47
ARMED FORCES MEOICAL LIBRARY
     WASH'NS TON, D. C. 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
that the May-pole is an emblem of ancient phallic
worship.  We know that May-day festivals are
of the most remote antiquity.  We are indebted
to R. P. Knight for a description of what May-
day was like about four centuries ago in England.
The festival started the evening before.  Men and
women went out into the woods in search of a
tree  and brought it back to the village in the
early morning.  The night was spent in sexual
excesses  comparable  to those of  the  Roman
Bacchanalia. A procession was formed, garlands
were added to the  May-pole, which was set up
in the village square. The Puritans referred to
it as an idol, and they  did not approve of the
festivities.   Until  comparatively recent  years
there was a May-pole in one of the squares of
London, and Samuel Pepys,* writing of his time,
speaks of seeing  May-poles in  the  front yards
of the prominent citizens of Holland.  A festival
much the same as this was held in Ancient Rome
and also in India.  The May-pole properly pierces
a disc and thus conforms with the  lingam-yoni
of India.  We also know that the first  of  May
  * Pepys Diary.
48 
Symbolism
was a favorite time for all nature worship with
the ancients.  For a number of interesting sug-
gestions the reader is referred to R. P. Knight,
Worship  of  Priapus and Hargrave Jennings,
Indian Religions (Page 66).
  Tree  worship  is frequently mentioned in the
religions  of  antiquity.   We are told that the
mystic power of the mistletoe comes from the
fact that it grows on the oak, a once sacred tree.
The pine of the North, the palm and the fig tree
of  the  South, were sacred trees  at one time.
John Newton made a  study of tree worship,
especially the Ancient Grove Worship of Assyria.
He shows that the object of  veneration was  a
male date palm,  which represented the Assyrian
god Baal.  Sex was worshipped under this deity,
and it is shown that the tree of  the Assyrian
grove was  a phallic  symbol.  Palm  Sunday
appears to be a relic of this worship.  In France,
until comparatively recent  times, there was  a
festival, "La Fete  des Pinnes," in which palms
were carried in procession, and with the palms
were  carried  phalli of  bread  which had been
blessed by the priests.
49 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  Richard Payne Knight tells us that Pan  was
worshipped by the Shepherds under the form of
the tall  fir, and Bacchus  "by sticking  up the
rude trunk of a tree."  It  is shown  throughout
these pages that  sexual attributes  were  wor-
shipped under both these deities.  In  reference
to other symbols,  the writer  continues;* "The
spires  and pinnacles  with  which our  churches
are decorated come from these ancient symbols;
and the weather cocks, with which they are  sur-
mounted, though now  only employed to show the
direction of the Avind, were originally emblems
of the sun; for the cock is the natural  herald of
the day, and therefore sacred to the fountain of
light.  In the symbolical writings of the Chinese
the sun is still represented by a cock in the circle;
and a modern Parsee  would suffer death rather
than be guilty  of the crime of killing one.  It
appears on many ancient coins, with some symbol
of the  passive productive power on the reverse;
and in other instances it is united with priapic
and other emblems and devices, signifying other
attributes combined."
  * Symbolic Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
50 
Symbolism
  Dr. Thomas Inman has made a study to show
this phallic symbolism found its way into ancient
art, and even into some designs of modern times.
Thus, many formal designs are studied in which
the upright plays a part; likewise,  the oval  and
the circle receive a  similar explanation.   The
architectural ornaments spoken of as eggs  and
anchors, eggs and  spear  heads,  the so-called
honeysuckle  ornament  of antiquity, and  the
origin of some church  windows and ornaments,
are all  studied by this writer, and his text is
accompanied by  illustrations.  Hargrave Jen-
nings has also traced the  origin of the symbols
of Heraldry, the emblems of Royalty and of some
church  orders with similar explanations.
  We may  add that  the  crux  ansata of  the
Egyptians, the oval standing upon the upright,
or letter Tan, may be shown to be a sex symbol,
the union of the oval with the upright being of
symbolic significance.   The crux ansata is found
in the hand of  most  of  the Egyptian  deities.
It is found in the Assyrian temples  and through-
out the temples of India as well.  Prehistoric
monuments  of  Ireland have the same  design.
51 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
Priests  are portrayed in adoration of the crux
ansata before phallic monuments.  The symbol,
from  which our modern cross is doubtless  de-
rived, originated with the religions of antiquity.
Much additional evidence could readily be given
to illustrate this prehistoric origin. The present
Christian symbol  affords  another example  of
the adoption by a new religion of the symbols
of the old.
  Some reflection  will show that the origin  of
many church customs and symbols, and  indeed
of a great number of obscure customs and usages,
may quite  properly be traced to the religions
and practices of primitive races.  Laf cadio Hearn
has insisted  upon this in  the interpretation  of
the art and customs of the Japanese.   He says,*
"Art  in Japan is so intimately associated with
religion that any  attempt to study  it without
extensive knowledge of the beliefs Avhich it re-
flects were mere waste of time.  By art I  do not
mean painting and sculpture but every kind of
decoration, and most kinds of pictorial repre-
sentation—the image of  a  boy's kite or a girl's
  * Japan, an attempt at Interpretation.
52 
Symbolism
battledore not less than the design upon a lac-
quered  casquet or enameled vase,—the  figure
upon a  workman's trowel  not  less  than the
pattern of the girdle of a princess,—the shape
of the paper doll or wooden rattle bought for a
baby, not less than the forms of those colossal
Ni-O, who guard the gateways of the Buddha's
temples," etc.
  In the above pages, we have given an account
of the views of a number of writers upon certain
forms and symbols, and  at the  same time we
have offered considerable evidence in substantia-
tion from  independent  sources.   These origins,
found associated  especially  in art and religious
usages, have not been generally understood.  Yet
when we reflect upon the fact that many religious
customs  are of great antiquity; that when once
a certain form or  custom becomes established,
it is well nigh ineffaceable,  although  subject to
great change or  disguise throughout the cen-
turies; when  we  reflect upon these conditions,
and realize the fact that sex worship with its
accompanying  symbolism is found throughout
primitive religions, we  may then  more readily
53 
Sex Warship and Symbolism
appreciate the entire significance of the above
interpretations.
  It must, of course, be borne in mind that no
one  now  gives these interpretations to spires,
minarets,   and  to  the  various  monumental
symbols of which  we have been speaking.  We
are  here  dealing  exclusively  with  pre-historic
origins, not  with  present day meanings.   The
antiquity of certain symbols is truly remarkable.
The star and crescent, for example, a  well known
conventionalized symbol, is  found on Assyrian
cylinders,   doubtless  devised   many  centuries
before Christ.
  The full force and meaning of these various
symbols may be very readily grasped by reference
to a number of designs, ancient coins, bas-reliefs,
monuments, etc., which have been reproduced in
plates and drawings by C. W. King,  Thomas
Inman, R. P. Knight and others.  To these we
refer the reader.


  A  number of plant and flower symbols have a
different significance from that which is gener-
54 
Symbolism
ally given to  them.   We are all quite familiar
with the grape vine of Bacchus and the associa-
tion of that deity with grapes.  According to
R.  P.  Knight,  this  too,  symbolizes  a sexual
attribute.  Speaking of Bacchus, he writes, "The
vine was a favorite  symbol of the deity, which
seems to have  been generally employed to signify
the generative or preserving attribute; intoxi-
cating liquors were  stimulative, and therefore
held to be aphrodisiac.  The vase is  often em-
ployed in its stead to express the same idea and
is often  accompanied  by the  same  accessory
symbol."
  We have often  seen in sculptures and paint-
ings, heads of barley  associated  with the God of
the Harvest. This symbol would appear to be self
explanatory; yet we are told  by more than one
writer that it contains another symbolic meaning
as well.  H. M. Westropp, speaking of this says,
"The kites or female organ, as the symbol of the
passive or productive power of nature, generally
occurs  on  ancient Roman  Monuments as the
Concha Veneris, a  fig, barley corn, and the letter
Delta."   We are told that the grain of barley,
55 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
because of its form, was a symbol of the vulva.
  A great many other female symbols might be
mentioned.   The pomegranate is constantly seen
in the  hands of Proserpine.   The  fir-cone  is
carried  by  the Assyrian Baal, and  the fig in
numerous processions has a similar significance.
When we add to these the various forms of tree
worship  described above,  we  see  to what an
extent the products of nature were used as sym-
bols in the worship of sex.
  Among flower  symbols there is one which
recurs constantly throughout the art and myth-
ology of India, Egypt, China, and many  other
Eastern countries.  This is the lotus, of which
the Easter  lily is  the  modern  representative.
The lotus appears in a number of forms in the
records of antiquity.  We have symbolic pictures
of the  lion  carrying the lotus in its mouth,
doubtless a male and female symbol. The deities
of India are depicted standing on  the  lotus, or
are spoken  of  as being  "born of the  Lotus."
"The Chinese,"* says the author of Rites and
Ceremonies,  "worship a Goddess whom they call
  * O'Brien: The Round Towers of Ireland.
56 
Itg.l
I7g-2r
Fig 3.
Jfy-s.
                            PLATE  VI
            CELTIC TEMPLE AND GREEK MEDALS
Fie  1  Talisman  square on  Greek medal.   2  Egyptian talisman.
3  Asterisk  of  the sun  in center  of   square on  Syracuse  medal.
4  clitic Temple in Zeeland.   5  Minerva with an elephant's  skin on
her head.  6  Horns as symbol of power.  7  Minerva represented in
the Indian manner with the elephant skin over her  helmet  8  Deity
represented by  an elephant bearing the  torch  (male symbol) in his
trunk and the cornucopia (female  symbol) in his tail.  9  Horns of the
buU Placed  on the head of the elephant.  10  Jupiter with the moon
on h?s hlad and the sun in his hand.  11  Minerva  holding spear. 
 
Symbolism
Puzza, and of whom their priests give the fol-
lowing acount;—they  say that  'three nymphs
came down from heaven to wash themselves in
the river, but scarce had they gotten in the water
before the herb lotus appeared on one of their
garments, with its  coral  fruit upon  it.   They
were surprised to think whence it could proceed;
and  the  nymph upon  whose garment  it  was
could not resist the  temptation of indulging her-
self in tasting it.   But by thus  eating some of
it  she became pregnant, and was delivered of a
boy,  whom she brought up, and  then returned
to heaven.  He afterwards became a great man,
a conqueror and legislator, and the nymph was
afterwards  worshipped  under  the  name  of
Puzza.'"   Puzza corresponds  to the  Indian
Buddha.
  In Egyptian architecture the lotus is a funda-
mental form, and indeed it is said to be the main
motive of the architecture of that civilization.
The capitals  of the column are  modelled  after
one form or  other  of this plant.  That of the
Doric column is  the seed vessel  pressed flat.
Earlier capitals are simple copies of the bell or
57 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
seed vessel.  The columns consisted of stalks of
the plant grouped together.  In other cases the
leaves are used as ornaments. These orders were
copied  by the  Greeks,  and subsequently  by
western countries.
  We may ask ourselves, what  is the meaning
of this mystic  lotus which was held in sufficient
veneration to be incorporated in all the temples
of religions, as well as in myths of the deity.
This, too, refers to  the  deification  of sex.
O'Brien, in the Round Towers of Ireland states:
"The lotus was the most  sacred plant of the
Ancients,  and  typified the two principles of the
earth fecundation,—the germ standing for the
lingam; the filaments and  petals for the yoni."
  R. P. Knight states, "We  find it  (the lotus)
employed  in every part of the  Northern  Hemi-
sphere where  symbolical worship does or ever
did prevail.  The sacred  images of the Tartars,
Japanese or Indians, are all placed upon it and
it is still sacred in Tibet and China.   The upper
part of the base  of the lingam also consists of
the flower of it blended with the most distinctive
characteristics of the female sex; in which that
58 
Symbolism
of the male is placed, in order to complete this
mystic symbol of the ancient religion  of  the
Brahmans; who, in their sacred writings, speak
of Brahma sitting upon his lotus throne."
  Alexander  Wilder,*  states that  the term
"Nymphe" and its derivations were used to des-
ignate  young women,  brides,  the  marriage
chamber, the lotus flower, oracular temples and
the labiae  minores  of the human female.
  The lotus then,  which is  found  throughout
antiquity,  in  art as well as in religion,  was a
sexual symbol, representing to the ancients the
combination of male and female sexual  organs.
It is another expression of the sex Avorship of
that period.
  Our present conventional symbols of  art are
very easily traced to ancient symbols of religion.
We  may expect these to be phallic in their
meaning, to just the extent that phallicism was
fundamental in the religions where these symbols
originated.   From  the  designs of  some  of the
ornamental friezes  of  Nineveh,  we find these
principles  illustrated.  On those bas-reliefs  is
  * The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology.
59 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
found the earliest form of art, really the dawn
of art upon early civilization.  Here is the be-
ginning of certain designs which were destined
to be carried to the later civilizations of Greece,
Rome and probably  of  Egypt.  These  friezes
show the pine cone alternating with a modified
form of the lotus; the significance of  which
symbols we have  explained.   There are also
shown animal representations before the sacred
tree or grove,  a phallic  symbol.   From these
forms and others were  designed  a number of
conventional symbols which were used through-
out a much later civilization.  (See Nineveh and
Its Remains.  A Layard.)

   One sees in  the religions of antiquity, espe-
cially those of India, Assyria, Greece and Egypt,
a great  number of sacred animal representations.
The Bull was sacred to Osiris in Egypt, and one
special  animal was attended with all the pomp
of a god.   At one time in Assyria the god Avas
always  associated  with  a sacred  animal,  often
the  goat,  which was supposed to  possess the
qualities  for  which  the god  was  worshipped.
60 
Symbolism
Out of this developed the ideal animal creations,
of which the animal body and the human head
and the winged bulls of Nineveh are examples.
The mystic centaurs and satyrs originated from
this  source.  At  a later time the  whole was
humanized, merely  the horns, ears or hoofs re-
maining as relics of the animal  form.
  We learn that  in these religions  the animal
was not merely worshipped as such.  It was a
certain quality which was deified. The Assyrian
goat attendant upon the deity, Avas in some bas-
reliefs, not only represented in priapic attitudes,
but a female sexual symbol was  so placed as to
signify sexual union.  We shall show later that
certain male and  female symbolic animals were
so placed on coins as to symbolically indicate
sexual union.
  An animal symbol  which has probably been
of universal use is that  of the snake  or serpent.
Serpent Avorship  has  been described  in almost
every country  of  which we  have  records or
legends.  In  Egypt, we  find the serpent on  the
headdress of many  of the gods.   In  Africa  the
snake is still sacred with  many  tribes.   The
61 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
worship  of  the  hooded  snake  was  probably
carried from India to Egypt.   The dragon  on
the flag and porcelain of China is also a serpent
symbol.  In Central America were found enorm-
ous stone serpents carved  in various forms.   In
Scandinavia divine honors were paid to serpents,
and the druids of Britain carried on a similar
worship.
  Serpent  worship has been shown by  many
writers to be a form of sex worship.  It is often
phallic, and we are told by  Hargrave Jennings
that the serpent possibly was added to  the male
and female symbols to represent desire.   Thus,
the Hindu women carried  the  lingam  in pro-
cession between two serpents;  and in  the pro-
cession of Bacchus  the Greeks carried  in a
casket the phallus, the egg, and a serpent.
  The Greeks also had a  composite  or  ideal
figure. Rays were added to the head of a serpent
thereby bringing  it into relation with the sun
god Apollo; or the crest or comb of a cock was
added with similar meaning.
  Many reasons have been offered to explain why
the serpent has been used to represent the male
62 
Symbolism
generative attribute.  Some have called attention
to its tenacity of life; others have spoken of its
supposed mystic power of regeneration by casting
its skin.  Again, it seems probable that the form
is of  symbolic significance.  However this  may
be, we find that this universal serpent worship
of primitive man was a form of phallicism so
prevalent in former times.
  Many other animals may be mentioned.  The
sacred bull, so frequently met with in Egypt,
Assyria and  Greece,  was a form  under which
Bacchus was worshipped.  R.  P. Knight speaks
as follows: "The mystic Bacchus, or generative
power, was represented under this form, not only
upon coins but upon the temples of the Greeks;
sometimes simply  as  a bull; at other times as
a  human face;  and at others entirely human
except the horns and ears."
  We would  probably be in error  to interpret
all these animal symbols  as exclusively phallic
although many were definitely so.   Thus, while
Hermes was a priapic deity, he was also a deity
of the fields and the harvests; so the bull  may
63 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
have been chosen for its strength as well as its
sexual attributes.
  There are many animals which were symbolic
of the female generative  power.   The  cow  is
frequently so employed.  The Hindus have the
image of a cow in nearly every temple, the deity
corresponding to the Grecian  Venus.  In the
temple of Philae in Egypt, Isis is represented
with the horns and ears of a cow joined  to a
beautiful woman.   The cow is  still  sacred  in
many parts of Africa.  The fish symbol was a
very frequent representative of woman, the god-
dess of the Phoenicians being represented by the
head and body of a woman terminating below in
a fish.  The head of Proserpine is frequently
surrounded  by dolphins.   Indeed, the female
principle is regularly shown by some representa-
tive of water; fire and water respectively being
regarded as male and female principles.
  Male and female attributes are often combined
on  coins  for purposes of sexual  symbolism.
R. P. Knight explains these symbols as follows:
"It appears therefore that  the asterisk,  bull,  or
minotaur, in the centre of a square or labyrinth
64 
Symbolism
equally mean the same as the Indian lingam,—
that is the male personification of the productive
attribute blaced in the female,  or heat  acting
upon  humidity.   Sometimes  the bull  is  placed
between  two dolphins,  and  sometimes upon a
dolphin or another fish; and in  other instances
the goat or the ram occupy  the same  position.
Which are all  different modes of expressing
different modifications of the same meaning in
symbolical or  mystical  Avritings.   The  female
personifications  frequently  occupy the  same
place; in which case the male personification is
always  upon the reverse of  the coin, of which
numerous  instances occur in those of Syracuse,
Naples,  Tarentum, and other cities."   By  the
asterisk  above  mentioned the writer refers to a
circle surrounded by rays, a  sun symbol of male
significance.   The  square or labyrinth  is  the
lozenge shaped symbol or yoni  of India.
   The above interpretations throw much light
on the  obscurity  of  the  animal worship of
antiquity.   This explains the partly humanized
types, and the final appearance of a human deity
with only  animal horns remaining, as represent-
65 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
ing the form  under which  the  deity was once
worshipped.   The satyrs,  centaurs, and other
animal forms  are all part of these same repre-
sentations and are similarly explained.

  Our main object in giving the above account
of these various symbols has been to illustrate
the wide prevalence of sex worship among primi-
tive races.  Another end as well has been served;
our study  gives  us  a  certain insight into the
type of mind  which  evolves  symbolism, and so
a few remarks on the use of symbolism as here
illustrated are not inappropriate.
  We feel that while this symbolism may indi-
cate a high degree of mechanical skill in execu-
tion, it does not follow that it expresses either
deep  or  complicated  intellectual   processes.
In fact, we are inclined to regard such symbolism
as  the  indication of a comparatively  simple
intellect. It appears obscure and involved to us,
because we do  not understand the  symbols.
From those which we do understand, the meaning
is graphically  but simply expressed.
  On  coins, bas-reliefs and monuments, we find
66 
                              PLATE  VII

         TEMPLE DEDICATED TO BACCHUS AT PUZZUOLI

Flff. 1  (a)  Holy of Holies.              ,  . ..         ,
        (b)  Showing distance below level of the ground.
        (c)  Drains and conduits for flooding temple.
Fig. 2  (a)  Apartments of priests.
        (b)  Portico.
        (c)  Holy of Holies.
Fig. 3  Circular  of temple. 
 
Symbolism
the majority of these  simple  emblems.  If the
desire is to express the union of male and female
principles, a male symbolic animal  is  simply
placed upon the corresponding female symbol.
Thus, a goat or bull may be placed upon the back
of a dolphin or other fish.   This is  a graphic
presentation but certainly one of a most simple
nature.  Sometimes the male  symbol is  on one
side of the coin and then the female is  always
on the reverse.  Unions are made which do not
occur in  nature, and the representation is not a
subtle one.
  In India, if there was  a desire to express a
number of attributes of the deity, another head
or face is added or additional arms  are added
to hold up additional symbols.  In Greece, when
the desire was to express the androgyne qualities
of the deity, a beard was added to the female
face, or one-half of the statuette represented the
male form,  the other the female.  Such repre-
sentations do not indicate great ingenuity, how-
ever skillfully they may be executed.
67 
 
SUN MYTHS, MYSTERIES AND



  DECADENT SEX WORSHIP 
 
CHAPTER III
    Sun Myths, Mysteries and Decadent
                Sex Worship

       AS is  generally  known,  traces  of  sun
        worship  are  found  in almost every
        country of which we have a record.  In
Egypt Ra was the supreme sun god where there
was very elaborate  worship conducted in his
honor.  In  Greece, Apollo  was attended with
similar festivities.   In the Norse mythology,
many of the myths deal with the worship of the
sun in one form or another.  In England, Stone-
henge and the entire system of the Druids had
to do with solar worship.   In  Central America
and Peru, temples to the  sun  were of amazing
splendor, furnished as they were with wonderful
displays of gold and silver.  The North American
Indians have many legends relating to sun wor-
ship and sacrifices to the sun,  and China and
Japan  give numerous instances of  the same re-
71 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
ligion.  Sun worship is so readily shown to be
fundamental with  primitive races that we will
not discuss it  in detail at this time, but rather
will give the conclusions of certain writers who
have explained its meaning.
  At  the present day,  the sun is regularly re-
garded as a male being, the earth a female.  We
speak of Mother Earth,  etc.; in former times,
the ancients depicted the maternal characteris-
tics of the earth in a much more material way.
Likewise the sun was a male deity, being often
the war  god,  vigorous and all  powerful.   We
readily see to  what an  extent the male sun  god
was portrayed in mythology as a human being.
In many myths, the god dies during the Winter,
reappears in the Spring, is lamented in the Fall,
etc.,  all  in  keeping with  the  changes  in  the
activity of the sun during the different seasons.
  The moon was associated with the female deity
of the ancients. Isis is accompanied by the moon
on most coins and emblems.  Venus has the same
symbols.   Indeed,  the star and crescent  of  our
modern times,  of the Turkish flag and elsewhere,
are in reality the sun and crescent of antiquity,
72 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
male and female symbols in conjunction.  Lunar
ornaments of prehistoric times have been found
throughout England and Ireland, and doubtless
explain the superstitions about the moon in those
countries.  The same prehistoric ornaments are
found in Italy.  In legends of the North Ameri-
can Indians, Moon is Sun's wife.
  The full extent of these  beliefs is pointed out
by Mr. John Newton in Assyrian Grove Worship.
Here we see that the ancient Hindus gave a much
more literal  relationship  between the sun and
earth than we are accustomed  to  express  in
modern times.  He states, "This representative
of the union of the sexes typifies the divine Sakti,
or productive  energy, in  union  with the pro-
creative or generative power as seen throughout
nature.   The earth  was the primitive pudendum
or yoni which  is fecundated  by the solar heat,
the sun,  the primitive linga,  to whose vivifying
rays man and animals,  plants and the fruits of
the  earth,  owe  their  being   and  continued
existence."
  It is not possible to discuss sun  worship  at
any length without at the  same time discussing
73 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
phallicism  and  serpent  worship.   Hargrave
Jennings, who has made careful study of these
worships, points  out their general identity in
the following paragraph.  He states: "The three
most celebrated emblems  carried in the Greek
mysteries were the  phallus,  the egg, and  the
serpent;  or otherwise the phallus,  the  yoni or
umbilicus,  and the serpent.  The  first  in each
case is the  emblem of the sun or of fire, as the
male or  active generative power.   The  second
denotes the passive  nature or female principle
or the emblem of water.  The third  symbol indi-
cates the destroyer, the reformer or  the renewer,
(the uniter of the two) and thus the preserver
or perpetuator eternally  renewing  itself.   The
universality of serpentine worship  (or Phallic
adoration)  is attested by emblematic sculptures
or architecture all the world over."
  The  author of  the Round Towers of Ireland
in discussing the symbols of sun worship, serpent
worship  and  phallicism,  found on  the same
tablet,  practically reiterates these statements.
He says: "I  have before me the  sameness of
design  which belonged  indifferently  to solar
74 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
worship and to phallic.  I shall, ere long, prove
that the same characteristic extends equally to
ophiolatreia; and if they all three be identical,
as  it  thus  necessarily  follows,  where is the
occasion for  surprise  at our meeting  the  sun,
phallus and serpent, the constituent symbols of
each, embossed upon the same table and grouped
under  the same architrave?"
  By a number of references, we could readily
show the identity  of  all these worships.   The
preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, the
conclusions of those writers who have made such
religions  their  special  study.   We shall not
exemplify this further, but will now point out
the general relationship of sun worship to the
religious festivals and mythology of the Ancients.
This relationship becomes important when  it is
appreciated that the sun worship expressed in
the mysteries is also a part of  phallicism.  On
some of these festive occasions the phallus was
carried in the front of the procession and at other
times the egg, the phallus and the serpent were
carried in  the  secret  casket.
75 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  The Ancients expressed their religious beliefs
in a dramatic  way  on a number of occasions
throughout the year.   The festivities were held
in the Spring, Autumn, or Winter.   These were
to commemorate  the activities of the sun, his
renewed  activity  in  the  Spring calling forth
rejoicing and his decline  in the Fall being the
cause of sorrow and lamentation.  As well as the
festivities, there were the various mysteries, such
as  the  Eleusinia,   the   Dionysia  and  the
Bacchanalia.    These  were  conducted  by  the
priests  who   moulded religious  beliefs and
guarded  their secrets.  The  mysteries were of
the utmost importance and the most sacred of
religious conceptions  were here dramatized.
  Mythology also gave expression to the religious
ideas  of the  time and Ave find that the most
important myths, dramatically produced  at the
religious festivals, were sun myths.
  The annual festivities and  mysteries will  be
discussed together because both were intended to
dramatize the same beliefs.   Both were  under
priestly control and so were national institutions.
The festivals were for the common people but the
76 
                         PLATE VIII
          ORNNAMENT FROM PUZZUOLI TEMPLE

FiK  1  Wolf devouring grapes as destructive  power of sun.
Fig!  2  Deity crowned with laurel wreath. 
 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
mysteries  were fully understood  only  to the
initiated.
  While no very clear account of the mysteries
has  been given, a certain theme  seems  to run
through them all, and this is found in the myths
as well.  A drama is enacted, in which the god
is lost, is lamented, and is found or returns  amid
great rejoicing.*  This was enacted in Egypt
where the mourning was  for  Osiris;  and in
Greece for Adonis, and later for Bacchus.   All
these are,  of course, sun gods, and  the whole
dramatization or myth is in  keeping with the
activities of the sun.
  On these occasions, the main  object seems to
have  been  to restore the lost  god,  or to insure
his reappearance.  The women took the leading
part and mourned for Osiris, Adonis or Bacchus.
They wandered about the country at night in the
most  frenzied  fashion, avoided all  men  and
sought the god.  At times, during the  winter
festival, the  quest would be fruitless.  In the
Spring,  when they  indulged themselves  in all
  * The Enactment of a  Rebirth.
77 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
sorts of  orgies and  extravagances, Adonis was
found.
  An underlying motive appears  to  have been
to enact a drama in which the deity was supposed
to exercise  his procreative function  by sexual
union with the women.  This was an ideal which
they wished to express dramatically.   In order
to realize this ideal obstacles  were introduced
that they might be overcome; in the old myth,
Adonis was emasculated under a pine tree, and
in Egypt Osiris was  similarly mutilated, his sex
organs being lost.  But at the festivals it was
portrayed that Adonis was  found, and in the
myth, Osiris was  restored to Isis in the form of
Horus (the morning sun).   In a number of myths
the god  is  said  to  have  visited  the earth to
cohabitate with the women, an occurrence which
was  doubtless desired, in order that the deistic
attributes might be continued in the race.  Thus,
judging from  what  we have been  able to learn
of this  subject, the worship expressed  in the
mysteries revolved about sexual union, the desire
being to  dramatize  the continued activity of
deistic qualities.
78 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
  This character of many of the festivals and
mysteries is  very evident.   In the Eleusinian
mysteries the rape of Persephone by Pluto, the
winter god, is portrayed.  The mother, Demeter,
mourns  for  her daughter.  Her mourning  is
dramatically carried out by  a  large procession,
and   this  enactment   requires  several   days.
Finally Persephone is restored.   The earlier part
of the festival was for dramatic interest, and the
real  object  was the union of  Persephone with
Bacchus.   "The  union  of  Persephone  with
Bacchus,  i. e., Avith the sun god, whose work  is
to promote fruitfulness, is an idea special to the
mysteries and means the union of humanity with
the godhead, the consummation aimed at in the
mystic  rites.  Hence,  in all   probability the
central teaching  of the mysteries was Personal
Immortality, analogue of the  return of the bloom
to plants in  Spring."*
  The mysteries  of  Samothrace were probably
simpler.   Here the phallus was carried  in pro-
cession  as  the emblem  of  Hermes.   In the
Dionysian mysteries  Avhich  were held in mid-
  * Dr. Otto Rhyn, Mysteria.
79 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 winter, the quest of the women was unsuccessful
 and the festival was repeated in the Spring. The
 Roman mysteries of Bacchus were of much later
 development,  and  consequently  became  very
 debased.  Men as well as women eventually came
 to  take part in the  ceremony,  and the  whole
 affair  degenerated into the grossest of sexual
 excesses and perversions.
  We  have  stated  what appears to  us  to have
 been the underlying motives of the religious festi-
 vals and mysteries; namely, the  enactment of a
 drama in which the reproductive qualities of the
 deity were portrayed.  The phallus was carried
 in procession for this purpose and  the women
 dramatized the motive as searching for the god.
 Our account can be regarded as little more than
 an  outline, but it  is  sufficient for our  present
 purposes.  It indicates that the mysteries give
 an impression of phallic worship, just as do the
 various monuments of art and  religion to which
 we have referred.   It may also be said that this
same worship  is represented in  what may be
termed early literature, for much of the  early
mythology deals with the  same subject.   The
80 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
 study of origins in mythology, however, cannot
 be dealt with adequately at present.

   In order to deal fully with this subject it is
 necessary to discuss another important phase in
 the worship of sex.  We refer to the decadence
 or degeneracy of this worship, which occurred
 after people had  outgrown these simple religious
 conceptions.  The decadence of sex worship is
 observed during the early centuries  of  Christ-
 ianity and traces of it are seen  throughout the
 middle ages.   In the decadence  of sex worship
 we are able to observe how an important motive
 in the race finds expression in the thoughts and
 conduct of people after  the underlying prompt-
 ings which originated it have long since ceased
 to be dynamic.  This decadent stage of a motive
 is therefore of considerable importance; we shall
 return to its interpretation in the discussion of
 analogies of development between motives in the
 individual  and motives in  the race.
   In  India,* with the Hindus, there still exists
an elaborate form of sex worship.  The Phallus
  * J.  B. Pratt, India and Its  Faiths.
81 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
is carried on festive occasions,  it still occupies
the most sacred spot in the  sanctuary, dancing
girls are devoted  to the service of the temple,
and many other customs associated with phallic
rites are carried on much as  they were centuries
ago in the Ancient World.  It is said that there
are thirty  million phalli in India and that a
phallus is found in nearly every Hindu house-
hold.
  Whether phallic Avorship as now practiced by
the Hindus has the same meaning or value that
it had when at its height in  ancient civilization
is difficult to say; there are evidences to show
that this worship in India  is  now carried out
somewhat as a matter of form and custom only,
and  that its  significance   is   not thoroughly
appreciated  except possibly by the few.  If this
observation  is correct,  the decadent state of sex
worship  which  was so prevalent  in  Western
Europe during the early centuries of Christianity
and throughout the middle ages,  may be devel-
oping in India as  well.
  Whatever  may  be the present  condition  in
India regarding this worship, Ave are  left in no
82 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship
during its decadent period in Europe.  It is not
necessary here to dAvell  upon the licentiousness
and extravagances of conduct which were mani-
fest at this time,  as a general outline will suffice
for present purposes.
  We have observed that the mysteries in which
phallic principles were taught eventually became
degraded in both  Greece  and Rome.  When these
mysteries originated, they embodied  serious re-
ligious conceptions, respected by all;  they were
the expression of  racial feelings, and however out
of accord with present day sentiments they may
have been,  they  can in no  way  be  considered
immoral.  This cannot be said of the mysteries
of a subsequent period.  Every sort of perversion
and practice was  indulged in. They were finally
forbidden by  the State, but  were carried on
secretly for some time longer.  With the coming
of Christianity they were very bitterly opposed,
and finally as national institutions, they ceased
to exist.
  Later we shall  indicate in more detail why the
worship of sex was discarded.  It  may be stated
83 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
here that as the development of the race  con-
tinued these simple conceptions of a deity failed
to express all religious desires; primitive phallic
principles lost their dynamic value, and longings
and desires, the result of higher mental develop-
ment, found expression in new religious  usages.
  It has  just  been  stated  that  the mysteries
ceased to exist as national institutions.  This
is true, but while they were discarded  by the
great mass of the people, certain elements of the
race clung to these primitive beliefs and practices
for years.   When the mysteries  were officially
forbidden they were carried on secretly in a some-
what altered form.  Secret societies were formed,
or some of the Eastern Mystic Cults were made
use of in  order to carry out  their  teachings.
These  secret societies  took  over many  of the
principles of phallicism such as were taught in
the mysteries,  and  so,  side by  side with the
Christian  religion, the earlier beliefs continued.
  The  Gnostics* are an  example of one of these
societies.  They existed in early Christian times
and the society was probably formed long before
  * R. P. Knight,  the Worship of  Priapus.
84 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
 the advent of Christianity.  It is difficult to learn
 a great deal about the Gnostics, but some of their
 beliefs are known.  Gnostic  symbols consisted
 for a great part of phallic emblems, it having
 been shown that their gems and secret talismans
 were of phallic significance.   The Gnostics also
 gave evidences of reverting to a more primitive
 civilization in other than religious spheres.  In
 their  social organization  they  advocated com-
 munal marriage, wives being held in common.
 This  type of social organization is quite general
 in  primitive tribes.  With the Gnostics we see
 a reversion to a more primitive form of religious
 and social life.


  The  Rosicrucians* of  the  middle ages are
 rather better known, although this order also is
 very obscure.  The  Rosicrucians as well as the
 Gnostics had phallic emblems.  They worshipped
 in  a  form very similar to that  under which
 Priapus was worshipped.  Moreover, as was the
case with a number of these secret societies, they
  * Hargrave Jennings: The Rosicrucians.
85 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 introduced perverse sexual practices.  They are
 said  not only to have countenanced homosexu-
 ality, but to have made it one of the principles
 of their belief.  At the same time, they scorned
 all association with women.   Out of this belief
 they  built up a  philosophy in which the  fire
 worship of antiquity  played  a part,  and with
 Avhich alchemy was associated.
  In  the practice of homosexuality* and  in  the
 development of a philosophy in which  women
 played no part, are seen sentiments quite similar
 to those Avhich existed in the later days of Greece.
 At this  time in Greece, patriarchy had driven out
 the last vestiges of matriarchy, female deities had
 lost their  followers to a great extent, and the
 devotion was paid to male gods and heroes.  This
 change  seems to have produced a certain con-
 tempt for women.   A number of  writers have
 pointed out this reaction, and so probably  in the
 philosophy  of  the Rosicrucians and  in their
 practices, are seen  an expression of  these same

  * J. A.  Symonds, A Problem in Greek Ethics.  Morris J.
Karpas, Socrates in the Light of Modern Psychopathology.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology.  1915.
86 
             PLATE IX
ORNAMENT FROM PUZZUOLI TEMPLE 
 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
sentiments.   Similar sentiments were expressed
by other secret organizations and in some philos-
ophies of a latter period.  In this respect, there-
fore, the Rosicrucians were probably reverting
to beliefs and feelings of an earlier date.
  The Knights Templar  were  another secret
society of the middle ages of a somewhat later
time.  The same can be said of them as of the
former societies.  They carried on the old phallic
and mystic rites in modified form, and set up
their beliefs in opposition to Christianity. When
the Knights Templar were  initiated they were
made  to deny Christ and the Virgin Mary, to
spit on the cross, etc.  They also were  charged
with homosexuality, and with them as with the
Rosicrucians  and the Gnostics, homosexuality
was a part  of their teachings.   They  likewise
advocated communal marriage.   At their secret
meetings  and  initiations  many  vices  existed;
idols  were  worshipped,  phallic  features were
introduced, and the  entire ceremony was similar
to the mysteries of antiquity.
  Should  there  be  any doubt regarding  the
association of these secret societies of the middle
87 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 ages  with the mysteries  of  the Ancients, this
 doubt is at once dispelled when we read of the
 practices of a  remarkable  secret  organization
 described as the "Witches' Sabbath."  Any one
 who has read a description of the Ancient Mys-
 teries and of the initiation ceremonies of primi-
 tive tribes cannot but see in the Witches' Sabbath
 a remarkable similarity to the earlier mysteries.
 R, P. Knight* has given us a description of the
 Witches'  Sabbath and he quotes freely  from a
 French writert who has given full details.  We
 shall use such parts of these  descriptions as are
 necessary to illustrate these practices during the
 middle  ages.
  The Witches' Sabbath  is  described by  these
 writers as it existed during the latter part of the
 fourteenth century.  It was held on four occa-
 sions  during the year, being a festival  corres-
 ponding to the  Priapiea and  Bacchanalia of
 former  days.  Women played the leading part
just as  in the Bacchanalia.   There were minor
and major festivals corresponding to the lesser
  * Worship of Priapus.
  t Pierre  de  Lancre, Tableau   de  l'Inconstance  des
Mauvais Anges et Demons.
88 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
and greater Eleusinia.  Pilgrimages were made
at this time,  which "resembled a  fair of mer-
chants mingled  together,  furious in transports,
arriving  from  all  parts—a  meeting  and  a
mingling of a hundred thousand subjects, sudden
and transitory, novel, it is true, but of a frightful
novelty which offends the eye and sickens you."
  A symbolic representation of Satan presided
at the festivals, and he assumed a  number of
disguises, in all of which we recognize Priapus
in degenerated  form.   He very often appeared
in the disguise  of a goat;  in  fact the meeting
place is called "Goat's Heath."
  The association of the goat with priapic cere-
monies has already been mentioned.  At times
the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite loca-
tion for Hermes, as stated elsewhere.
  Satan assumed a number of forms on  these
occasions other than that of the bearded goat.
He was at times a serpent, or again an ox of
brass.  He was also represented as  the trunk
of a  tree, sometimes as the  oak.   Priapus  is
readily recognized in all these  various disguises.
  On  these festive  occasions  we see remnants
89 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
of the fire worship of primitive tribes.  Satan
often carried fire in some form or other and the
rite  of  purification  by fire, a  residual of  the
earlier need-fire rites, was enacted.   Particular
significance  was  attached to  the  generative
organs,  and it  is needless  to say that all kinds
of sexual excesses ensued.  Satan was held to
be the father and protector of all.  Some of the
women referred to the Witches' Sabbath as an
earthly paradise and they  said that the festival
had all the features of a wedding celebration.
  A  number of absurd dances and  other  bur-
lesques were introduced.  In these one sees the
burlesques and dances of  the earlier mysteries
and  of the still more primitive initiation cere-
monies of tribes in various countries.  The dance
was often held  around a stone,—the significance
of which  has already been explained.
  If in  the above account of these mystic cere-
monies in the middle ages a detailed enumeration
of all forms  of sexual depravities has  not been
given, it is not because they did not exist.  Our
main object has been to show that sex worship
as practiced during the middle ages,  was an ex-
90 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
pression of the decadence of a racial motive.  No
odium Avas formerly connected  with this motive,
but when an attempt was made  to associate these
primitive feelings and beliefs with a civilization
Avhich had outgrown such conceptions, many  un-
desirable features were in evidence.
  Should further proof of the association of  the
Gnostics, the Rosicrucians, the Templars, etc.,
with the ancient priapic rites be necessary, this
proof is found in numerous talismans, amulets,
sculpture on earthen  and glassware, which were
associated  with these societies.  These amulets
are all plainly phallic in design; R. P. Knight
shows a number of vases, lamps, etc., on which
phallic symbols are found.  These articles were
probably used at the secret rites.
  Moreover,  Ave find  that  many  of  these small
phalli were worn  for personal decoration; and
here Ave come to a still lower  decadence in  sex
worship,—the period  of superstition.  A phallus
was worn as a  charm, somewhat as a  fetish to
ward off disease.   Such charms  were supposed
to bring good luck and prosperity to the owner
and they  were  used particularly  as a  charm
91 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
aaginst barreness in women.  A sign which could
be made by the hand, the phallic hand, was used
as a protection against the evil eye.  Ancient
representations of Priapus have been found with
the hand in this attitude.   As further evidence
to show the total degeneracy of these beliefs, it
may be said that the phallic hand was adopted as
a symbol of prostitution.
  In this Ave see the worship of sex degenerated
to its  lowest form,  i.  e., a superstition to be
followed by the lower  classes and the ignorant.
The phallus which once had been attended with
all ceremony had become a mere charm.
  The  conclusions which R. P. Knight reaches
in relation to these decadent beliefs are worthy
of remark.  He states:* "We have thus seen in
how many  various  forms  the  old  phallic, or
priapic worship presented itself in the middle
ages, and how pertinaciously  it held its ground
through  all  the changes  and  development of
society, until at length we  find all  the circum-
stances of the ancient  priapic orgies, as well as
the mediaeval additions combined in that great
  * Worship of Priapus.
92 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
and extensive superstition,—witchcraft.  At all
times the initiated were believed to have obtained
thereby powers which  were  not possessed by the
uninitiated, and they only were supposed to know
about the form  of invocation of the deities who
were  the objects of this worship, which  deities
the Christian teachers  invariably transformed
into devils.  The vows which people of antiquity
addressed to Priapus, those of the middle ages
addressed to Satan.  The Witches' Sabbath was
simply  the last form  which the Priapeia and
Libernalia assumed in Western Europe,  and in
its various decadences all the incidents of those
great and licentious orgies  of the Romans were
reproduced."  It is little wonder that the perse-
cution of witches by the Christians long survived
the middle  ages.
   Hargrave  Jennings* has referred to  phallic
principles  in a  number  of the early  chivalric
societies of England.   He states that the Knights
of the Round Table of King Arthur had  phallic
emblems and other features similar to those of
  * The  Rosicrucians.
93 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 the  Rosicrucians.   The  same  author submits
 considerable evidence to indicate that the Order
 of the Garter is of much greater antiquity than
 is generally believed and that phallic principles
 were associated with it,  A similar  contention
 was made regarding the symbolism  associated
 with the Holy Grail, a  sacred vessel apparently
 connected with primitive rites at a time far ante-
 dating  Christianity.  Associated  with the old
 Churches in  Ireland similar phallic emblems
 have been found, as well as in  Europe.   These
 emblems were used as charms by the primitive
 people.
  We stated above that the early  deities of primi-
 tive  tribes were regarded as demons during the
 Christian period.   In  Teutonic beliefs phallic
deities were developed quite comparable to those
of Greece and Rome.   These Teutonic  deities
came to be  regarded as hobgoblins during the
middle ages.   They were supposed to be found
in lonely places and in  forests,  and  to emerge
at times in order to indulge in all sorts of sexual
excesses, much as the  fauns and  satyrs of an-
94 
Fig.
Fig.
                       PLATE  X
        EGYPTIAN FIGURES AND ORNAMENTS
1  Columns like the lotus which Isis holds.
2  Isis holding the stem of the lotus surmounted by the seed-vessel
Fig.  3
in one hand  and the cross  in the other.
Horns and ears of cow  on  head of Venus. 
 
Mysteries and Decadent Worship
tiquity.  The  English had  a similar hobgoblin
in Robin Goodfellow.   This fictitious  character
is represented in priapic  attitudes in a number
of illustrations of old English ballads.   He was
doubtless Priapus of antiquity transformed into
a goblin.
   Why should  superstitions of this  kind live
century after century?  Frazer* has  given  us
the answer: "Superstitions survive because while
they shock the views of the enlightened members
of the community, they are still in harmony with
the thoughts and feelings of others, who, though
they are drilled by their betters into an appear-
ance of civilization, remain barbarians or savages
at heart ... I have been led into making these
remarks by the wish  to explain why it is that
superstitions  of all sorts,  political,  moral and
religious, survive among  people who  have the
opportunity of  knowing  better.  The  reason is
that the better ideas, which are constantly form-
ing in the upper  stratum have  not filtered
through from the highest to the lowest minds.
  * The Scope of Social Anthropology; Psyche's Task.
95 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
Such  a filtration is generally slow, and by the
time the new emotions have penetrated to the
bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are
often  obsolete and superseded by others at the
top."
96 
INTERPRETATIONS 
 
CHAPTER  IV
               INTERPRETATIONS

       HAVING followed  the  worship  of sex
        through its various phases,  it is now
        desirable to offer such interpretations
of its meaning as the facts appear to warrant.
What  was  the significance of this elaborate
ritual; why did it develop, and how is it to be
interpreted  from  a biological standpoint  in
mental evolution.   The history of the  develop-
ment of  this  ritual  may  be of  considerable
interest in itself but we wish now to consider the
subject from the  biological  rather than the
historical standpoint.  It remains to be shown
what ends these beliefs  serve  in  the evolution
of the primitive mind, or at  least what they
represent, and what vestiges of them remain in
our thoughts and feelings of today.  Only from
this  standpoint  can  the   study  of primitive
motives be of value  to the Psychologist and the
Psychiatrist,
99 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
   In order to answer the above questions, it is
desirable to refer to a still more primitive form
of religious belief, since our understanding of
this earlier religion offers a  key to the under-
standing of sex worship.  We refer to the various
forms of nature  worship  found  in  primitive
tribes.  These nature rites consist of rain making
ceremonies,  sun  dances, and numerous  other
procedures which  are carried out  by primitive
people because of their  supposed service  in in-
creasing the products of the earth.  Fortunately
these rites are quite clearly understood.  It  has
been shown by  many  investigators that they are
enacted to  increase the food supply.  They  are
actuated by the desire on the part of primitive
people to meet nutritive demands.
  Now this knowledge enables us to understand
phallic ceremonies. A very distinct parallelism
is seen between the  nature worship  rites and
phallic rites.   We feel that it is not difficult to
show that while the earlier rites were in accord
with nutritive demands, phallic ceremonies were
an expression of the desire for human reproduc-
tion.  We shall now digress somewhat in  order
100 
Interpretations
to discuss nature rites in some detail, as thereby
the phallic rites are very readily explained.
  Among many of the Indian tribes of North
America, the tribes of Central Africa, the primi-
tive races of Australia, the lower hill  tribes of
India, and others,  we find religious ceremonies
all of which are carried out in much the same
way and with the same object in view.   We are
all familiar with the rain making ceremonies of
the North American Indians; we find  frequent
reference in literature to  the various Spring
festivals of  the Egyptians  at  which  grain is
grown, etc.,  and in which vegetative nature is
deified. A great many of the nations of antiquity
had similar rites to increase the produce of the
earth.
   When the meaning of this general  type of
ceremony is  understood, it is found that it has
the  same  significance throughout.   As stated
above, these  ceremonies are enacted to increase
the  food  supply,  either directly  or indirectly.
If it is a dry  and arid locality, as is  the case
with our Western Indians, a rain making rite is
performed.   This  is  a  religious  procedure in
101 
Sew Worship and Symbolism
 which various processes  of  magic are utilized.
 This explains the importance of the thunder god
 as  a deity,  so clearly illustrated  by Miss J.
 Harrison.  The thunder rites are to increase the
 rain fall, and the magic  in  such procedures is
 imitative; that is, a sound similar to thunder is
 produced, as primitive man  believes thunder to
 cause the rainfall since it often precedes it.  Miss
 Harrison* has given a picture of an early thunder
 god of the Chinese,—a deity surrounded by many
 objects,  which  he  strikes  to  cause  thunder.
 Rattles made of gourds are  used for the  same
 purpose with some tribes; or down, etc., may be
 used in imitation of clouds,  and water spurted
 about to represent rain.  In many instances a
 secret ceremonial object is used,—a bull roarer
 in the rain making ceremonies.  This is an object
 which, when whirled about,  makes a sound in
imitation of  thunder.  It  represents a sort of
thunder deity and so is associated with rainfall.
It is held very sacred, being carefully guarded
from view and kept  under custody by the head
men  of the tribe.
  * Themis.
102 
Interpretations
  In a primitive civilization engaged in pastoral
pursuits Avhere the herd is the important source
of food supply the ceremony centers about the
dairy and the herd.  In Southern India, among
the Toda tribes,* where the buffalo herd is sacred,
this is quite apparent.  Certain buffaloes are
attended by  the priests only, special dairies are
sacred, and the entire religious development has
to  do with  the  sanctity of milk.   The dairy
utensils are sacred, and one special  vessel, the
one Avhich contains the fermenting material,  is
held in particular veneration.  This vessel is kept
in  a  special  part of  the dairy, its  location
corresponding to  the sanctuary of a temple.   If
by chance the ferment does not act properly, it
is  manufactured again by  an  elaborate  rite.
Here  we see that the  religious rites  have to  do
with  the food supply  and fitting sacred cere-
monials are performed.
   When the food supply depends upon animal
 food a direct analogy  in the ceremonies is seen.
 Some Siberian tribesf  perform a rite to increase
   * W. H. R.  Rivers, The  Todas.
   t Miss J. Harrison: Ancient Art and Ritual.
103 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 the  supply of  bear  meat.  A young bear  is
 captured, suckled by a woman, and assumes the
 aspects of a sacred animal.  It is finally slain
 in a ritual  way, and the entire performance  is
 for the purpose  of increasing the supply of bear
 meat.
  A few references  may be given to indicate the
 views of those who  have made special studies of
 these ceremonies. G. A. Dorsey* speaking of the
 Hopi tribe of the Southwest, states: "When the
 Hopi are not at work they are worshipping in the
 Kivas.   The underlying element of this worship
 is to be  found  in the  environment.  Mother
 nature does not deal kindly with man in the
 desert.   Look where you will, across the drifting
 sands of the plains, and the cry of man and
 beast is 'Water!' And so, to the gods of the rain
 clouds  does the  Hopi address his  prayer.  His
instruments of worship are so fashioned that his
magic may surpass  the magic of these gods, and
compel them to loosen their stores, full to over-
flowing.  Take any  one of  the great Hopi cere-
monies, analyze  the paraphernalia worn by the
  * Indians of the Southwest.
104 
Interpretations
men, dissect the various components of the altar
or sand  paintings, examine the offerings made
to the Spring and those placed upon the shrines,
and in everything and everywhere we see prayers
for rain."
  Dr. Clark  Wissler,*  in speaking of  primitive
ceremonies,  states:  "One  striking  feature  of
primitive ceremonies is the elaboration of ritu-
alistic procedure relating  to  the  food supply.
Particularly in  aboriginal America  we  have
many curious and often highly complex rituals
associated with  the cultivation of  maize and
tobacco.  These often impress  the  student  of
social phenomena as extremely unusual but still
highly suggestive facts, chiefly because the asso-
ciation seems  to be between  things  which are
wholly  unrelated.  Thus, among the Pawnee  we
find an elaborate ritual in which a few ears of
maize  are raised almost to the status of  gods.
At a certain  fixed time of the autumn the official
priest of this ritual proceeds with great ceremony
to the fields  and selects a few  ears, according to

  * The  Functions  of  Primitive Ritualistic Ceremonies.
Popular Science Monthly, August 15, 1915.
105 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
definite standards.  These are  further  conse-
crated and  carefully  guarded  throughout the
winter.   At planting  time the  women present
themselves ceremoniously to receive the seed, the
necessary planting instructions, etc.  Thus,  it
appears that during the whole year recital, there
is a definite ritual in functions  associated with
maize culture."
  The primitive tribes of  Australia afford  an
excellent example of this type of ceremony, and
fortunately these tribes have been very carefully
studied.  At the puberty initiations of the young
men, one of the main ceremonies is a yam cere-
mony,* i.  e., a procedure to ensure a bountiful
supply of the  yams.  A special  type of yam  is
secured, and cooked with much  ceremony under
fixed rules, much care and secrecy being observed
throughout.  After the cooking  ceremony is fin-
ished, the yams are cut up and divided among the
various members of the tribe.  The ceremony  is
supposed to increase the supply of yams.  Miss
  * Spencer, Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of
Australia.
106 
»0
Mi
                             PLATE XI

             EGYPTIAN FIGURES  AND ORNAMENTS

Fig.  1  Symbol of sun over bull.
Fig.  2  Lotus flower design.         ,.,,_.         *    „„i
Fig.  3  Young shoots of lotus just when they  have burst seed vessel.
Fig.  4  Sun over Taurine Bacchus.
Fig.  5  Crowning of Taurine Bacchus with wreath of laurel.
Fig.  6  Lotus seed vessel used as a capital.
Fig.  7  Same  seed vessel surrounded by leaves of another plant. 
 
Interpretations
J. Harrison* in interpreting  Australian cere-
monies  states: "The primitive  Australian takes
care that magic shall not be wanting, a magic
of the most  instructive kind.  As soon  as the
season of fertility approaches he begins his rites
with the avowed object of making and multiply-
ing the plants, and chiefly the animals, by which
he lives; he paints the figure of the emu  on the
sand with vermillion drawn from his own blood;
he puts on emu feathers and gazes about him in
stupid fashion, like an  emu bird; he makes a
structure of  boughs  like  the chrysalis of  a
Witchetty grub—his favorite food, and drags his
body  through it  in  pantomime,  gliding and
shuffling to promote its birth. Here, difficult and
intricate though the ceremonies are, and  uncer-
tain in  meaning as many  of  the details must
always probably remain, the main emotional gist
is clear.   It is not that the Australian wonders
at and  admires the  miracle of his Spring, the
bursting of the  flowers and the  singing  of the
birds; it is not that his heart goes out in gratitude
to All-Father who is the Giver of all good things;
  * Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 64.
107 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
it is that, obedient to the push of life within him
his  impulse is towards food.  He must eat that
he and his tribe may grow and multiply.  It is
this, his will to live, that he utters and repre-
sents."
  In a monograph* of the Shinto religion of the
Japanese, R, Hitchcock states that the leading
function of the female  deity  is to increase  the
food supply.   She  is given  the name of  the
Goddess  of Food, or the Producer  of Trees and
the Parent of  Grasses.   She is  spoken of  as
Abundant-Food-Lady, and seems to be a personi-
fication of the earth.
  A further description of these rites  is unne-
cessary,  as wherever found they are all of  the
same general type.  They have  been  described
in North America, in Central Africa, in Japan,
in Siberia, in India and they probably exist in
many  other  localities.   The  above references
indicate  that  they  were  primitive man's  ex-
pression  of his desire for food, this fundamental
motive finding expression in an elaborate ritual.
  Now since in the above rites, where the increase
  * Shinto, or the  Mythology of the Japanese.
108 
Interpretations
of the food supply is the main motive, the entire
development and symbolism centers  about arti-
cles  of  food, and since in  the  phallic rites  an
entirely analagous development and symbolism
centers  about the generative organs, it is only
reasonable to infer that the phallic rites have to
do with the desire for children.   In this we have
the  meaning of  sex worship.   It is  primitive
man's expression of his desire for the  perpetua-
tion of the race and so it represents a biological
necessity, the earlier motive being for the preser-
vation of  the individual.
  Fortunately  the conclusions  which the above
arguments Avould appear to warrant are borne
out by the statements  of those Avho have studied
these matters in great detail.  Miss J. Harrison,*
who also quotes Dr.  Frazer, states: "The two
great interests of  primitive man are  food and
children.   As Dr. Frazer has well said,  if man
the  individual  is to live he must have food; if
his race is to persist he must have children, 'to
live  and to cause to live, to eat food and to beget
children,  these were the primary wants of man
  * Ancient Art and Ritual.
109 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 in the past, and they will be the primary wants of
 men  in the future so long as the world lasts.'
 Other things may be added to enrich and beautify
 human life, but, unless these wants are first satis-
 fied, humanity itself must cease to exist.   These
 two things, therefore, food and  children, were
 what man chiefly sought  to secure by the per-
 formance of magical rites for the regulation of
 the seasons. They are the very foundation stones
 of that ritual  from which art,  if we are right,
 took its rise."
  There  is a very  striking parallelism between
 these two rites.    It  would  be  interesting  to
 trace out these analogies  step by step, but we
 shall refer to them only in a general  way.
  The outward form  of  the  two rites is very
 similar.  In both a religious ceremony is enacted.
 In the development of this ceremony a system,
 in which a priesthood forms a prominent part,
 is developed in both instances.  The  element of
 mystery  runs  through both procedures and,  as
 Steven D. Peet* has stated, the nature worship

  * Secret Societies and Ancient Mysteries:  International
Congress of Anthropology, 1893.
110 
Interpretations
 ceremony of the North American Indians bears
 a remarkable resemblance to the mysteries of the
 Eleusis and of the Bacchanalia.
   In both the nature rites and  the phallic rites,
 a sacred  ceremonial object develops, and about
 this object  a very elaborate symbolism evolves.
 Just as in the most primitive form of sex worship
 we saw that the deity consisted of a rude repre-
 sentation of the  generative organs, so in nature
 worship we find  that the ceremonial object is at
 first a rude representative of the  deified animal
 or plant.  This sacred symbol is eventually con-
 ventionalized.   We have observed this  in  sex
 worship, as explained by Inman,  Payne Knight
 and others.   In the same way in nature worship,
 ceremonial objects are conventionalized.  Spencer
 has  shown this  in the case of the Australians,
 the ceremonial objects eventually coming to bear
 a remote resemblance only to the original animal
 or plant  representation.   A. L.  Kroeber* has
 observed the same development in the  Arapaho
 Indians.   The buffalo symbol for example, (a
  * Symbolism of the Arapaho Indians: American Museum
of Natural History.
Ill 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
very important one in this tribe since the buffalo
is the chief food) has become highly convention-
alized, and  is finally represented by a formal
rectangular  design.   This design now means the
earth, and it is also used as a life symbol.
  Again, just as we saw how in sex worship the
religious symbol came to  be expressed through-
out decorative art, and in fact eventually became
a leading motive, so it has been shown that in the
nature Avorship of the Indians this same evolution
takes place.   A.  L. Kroeber and Clark  Wissler,
among others, have shown that the decorative art
on the moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc.,
of the Indians, all representing a highly conven-
tionalized symbol, expresses  religious  motives
throughout,  This symbolism can be interpreted
only by an  understanding of  religious  motives.
The analogy of this symbolic development to that
associated with sex worship is at once apparent.
  Finally, just  as  in sex worship the motive
came to dominate  most  of  the practices and
usages of civil life, so it can  be shown that in
tribes practicing nature worship, the religious
motive has a very powerful influence.   The per-
112 
Interpretations
formance of rites to increase the food supply are
among the most important of primitive man's
duties.   Any  man  who  enters into these rites
listlessly is not respected, and the leaders of the
rite are the head men of the tribe.  In Australia,
one of the main functions of each Totem group
is to increase the supply of its own Totem animal
or plant  by  magic ceremony.
  In  summing up, therefore,  the analogies be-
tween sex  worship  and  nature  worship,  the
following features may be reviewed: the outward
form  is the  same, i. e., that of a religious cere-
monial rite  in  which  a  sacred  object is  the
representation  of the  deity.   The symbolism
associated with this object develops in the same
way  in both instances.  In the course of time
this  symbolism  becomes  conventionalized, and
eventually  it  finds its  way into' primitive art.
It then becomes the leading motive in  primitive
art and finally the religious motive is  forgotten
and the aesthetic motive alone remains.  Were
further proof necessary,  these analogies alone
would be sufficient to enable  us to  understand
the meaning of sex worship.
113 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  The ritual associated with the worship of sex
then, arose in  response to  emotions which are
grouped  around  the instinct  of reproduction.
These feelings are so primitive and  at the same
time so fundamental, that it is  difficult for us
to realize that early man should dignify them by
religious ritual.  They stand out as expressions
of a biological demand.  As stated above, sex
worship was not a conscious expression  on the
part of certain individuals, but  it was  the un-
conscious expression of longings and desires on
the part of the race.  It represents a phase in
man's mental evolution, a process of mental de-
velopment,   Its dynamic value, from a biological
standpoint, is  at  once  apparent.  In order to
survive man must reproduce his kind, and the
emotions associated  with  reproductive instincts
must be of adequate dynamic value.

  It has been stated that sex worship, as prac-
ticed during the  primitive state  of  civilization,
was  a  healthy  phase in racial evolution.   In a
higher  degree  of  civilization,  however,   the
reversion to  this motive was a regression, and
114 
Interpretations
decadent sex worship as it existed  during the
middle ages was an attempt by certain unhealthy
elements in the race to revert to the primitive.
In decadent sex worship we are dealing with an
instance of faulty mental adaptation in a way
in which we had not been accustomed to consider
it.  It is a case of faulty adaptation in the race,
or at least in certain elements of it, rather than
in the individual.  These general analogies are
noteworthy from the standpoints of mental evo-
lution and abnormal psychology.
  In order to show how sex worship as practiced
by a later civilization was  the expression of an
unhealthy tendency, we must digress  sufficiently
to show the setting in which decadent sex worship
existed.  It is necessary to  give a chronological
outline  indicating how primitive beliefs  suc-
ceeded each other as a result of man's progressive
development.
  The earlier beliefs were an expression of nature
worship.  This as  we have shown, was  mostly
associated with the question of food supply.  It
has been shown that during this period of primi-
tive  man's existence group thinking predomi-
115 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
nated, and man thought of himself as part of the
group rather  than as an individual.   At  this
time, therefore, the idea of the deity which  was
evolved  was  not  that of an individual  god.
Generally speaking, it was the "vegetation spirit"
existing  throughout nature which was deified.
This was the general  period of earth worship,—
the forces  of  nature  associated with the earth
being man's main interest.  The  earth at  this
time was highest in primitive man's regard.
  During the  time of earth worship, the social
organization  of the  tribe was such  that  the
mother was the dominating influence  in  social
structure.   Descent  was  matrilinear,  and  a
society known as matriarchy  existed,  as  con-
trasted to the later patriarchy.  The mother  was
the leading figure  in social as well as in family
life.  At this period a certain  degree of sexual
promiscuity existed; the mother of the child  was
known but the father was not and so the descent
was in the female line.  With earth  worship,
then,  there was  mother worship, and the term
"Mother  Earth"  had a very real significance.
  With the social state of matriarchy, the mother
116 
                            PLATE XII
             THE LOTUS AND  MEDALS OF MELITA

Fig. 1  Flower,  leaf, and seed vessel of the  lotus.
Fig. 2  Generative spirit with wings like  Jewish Cherubim brooding
        over  matter.
Fig. 3  The crab as the symbol of the productive powers of the waters. 
 
Interpretations
 cults developed.  These mother cults evolved the
 numerous  female deities of antiquity,  Themis,
 Demeter, Cybele, and many others being the ex-
 pression of mother worship.   These deities were
 generally associated with the wild elements of
 nature,—with  the wind,  and the hills  and the
 forests.
   Associated with the mother  religion in a way
 which at first  does not appear to be very clear
 arose the phallic cults.  It should be here stated
 that the mother religion was not the religion of
 the mother alone, but  also that of the mother
 and child.   The child was the adolescent,—a
 youth about to be initiated  at the  public  cere-
 mony, at which  he  was  often circumcised and
 after which he was able to take up the reproduc-
 tive functions of the male.  Miss J. Harrison has
 shown that Dionysus was  the embodiment of this
 conception.   Here the youth  was necessary only
 to the extent that he could become a father.  It
was his generative attribute which was sanctified,
rather than that he was  a male being existing
as an individual.  For this reason, the deification
of the phallic principle,  i.  e., the generative
117 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
attribute, preceded the deification of the male as
an individual.  At least this is  the  impression
one gains of this development.  In any case, we
note that the phallic ceremonies were associated
with the mother  religion.  The period in Avhich
both existed was mostly prehistoric.
  We see the  beginning of the evolution of the
male god in the phallic cults.  This was eventu-
ally followed by the patriarchal system and here
we  are on  more familiar ground.   Patriarchy
succeeded matriarchy,  but whether as a  gradual
evolution or  otherwise  is  not  clear.    Some
writers speak of bitter conflicts in Persia, India,
Greece and  elsewhere.   In any case the  religion
of the father  replaced  that  of the mother; the
social  system  changed  and the father took his
place at the head of  the family.  During this
period we are told*  that man shifted his  belief
from the earth to the sky, the sun was found to
be the  source  of energy and the  worship was
transferred  to  the Heavens.   Just as formerly
the female deity was  identified with the  earth,
so the male deity was identified with the sun,
  * Miss J. Harrison, Themis, Introduction.
118 
Interpretations
Zeus and Apollo being two examples of the latter
type from a great many.
  We are now approaching a well known historic
period.   The religion of the father and the son
had replaced that of the mother and child.  The
age of hero Avorship has commenced and this hero
was  often  identified with the  sun.   For  this
reason,  the fact that a myth  is in the form of
a sun myth does not argue against its being the
expression of  a  very deep religious motive.  As
has  been stated,  earlier motives  are carried
forward, and  so while  sun  worship is a some-
what later development than the phallic beliefs,
it is quite natural than many phallic ideas should
find  expression at  this subsequent period.
  We have now reached a time when sex Avorship
became  decadent, for Christianity followed  sun
worship and hero worship; and this brings us to
the present day. The religion of father and son
remains, and  much  of  the form of the earlier
worship has been retained in the modern.
  The above outline of the changes and evolution
of early religions is most schematic.  It enables
us, however, to see that sex worship was entirely
119 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
out of place during the middle ages, in a civiliza-
tion which had long before discarded matriarchy.
The questions of the food supply, and of children,
were no longer so immediately pressing, and the
faith in magical performances had been shaken.
Man had  emerged from  the group as  a definite
personality, and  the  development of a new re-
ligion which expressed other feelings and desires
had  taken place.  What we wish to emphasize at
present is,  then,  that  sex  worship as it  was
carried on during the  middle  ages was  a dis-
tinctly unnatural tendency in the race.
  At this  time opportunity may be  taken to
reconcile  different interpretations which  some
writers have  given  regarding  early  religious
motives.  Considerable variation and some  con-
tradiction may be  observed in  the  writings of
different authors  in  describing a religious  de-
velopment of much the same period.  One writer
may describe the features of nature worship and
quite ignore the presence of sex worship.  Others
may describe  only  phallic  rites.   These  dis-
crepancies may be understood when the order in
which the various beliefs developed is recognized.
120 
Interpretations
Nature worship developed first, but much of its
symbolism was carried into the  phallic cere-
monies.  Thus we see the phallus associated with
the pine cone and  other  elements  of vegetative
life.   Some of these elements, the pine cone for
example,  finally came to have a phallic signifi-
cance, but at an  earlier period they  probably
represented the vegetation spirit.   In fact, re-
productive attributes  of  both  nature and  man
were often worshipped at the same ceremony.
  While Ave should not as a rule expect to find
phallic rites associated with the earlier forms
of nature worship, since sex worship developed
at a somewhat later period, still in this connec-
tion we  cannot be too dogmatic;  the  primitive
Australians appear to be at the stage of mental
development when simple  nature worship pre-
dominated, yet, from Mutter Erde* we learn that
with  the Australians  a ceremony consisting of
the throwing of a spear into  the earth was of
phallic significance.   This co-existence of these
tAvo related motives is not unnatural since they
  * A. Dieterich: Mutter Erde.
121 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
both equally represent fundamental biological
demands on the part of the race.
  We may now return to  the interpretation of
decadent  sex  worship.  When  we  understand
the setting in AA'hich sex worship was practiced
in the middle ages we are better able to appreci-
ate its significance. As stated above, it was the
attempt by certain elements of the race to return
to more primitive motives, and to derive satis-
faction  from beliefs which had long been out-
grown by advancing civilization.  This  clinging
to an early type of reaction, or the return to more
primitive  feelings, must be regarded as an un-
healthy tendency.  Moreover, at this time, the
motive itself was no  longer expressed in the
natural and healthy way of primitive times.  Sex
worship  during  the  middle ages  became de-
praved; excesses and  perversions appeared  and
the entire development, as it existed at that time,
was biologically undesirable.
  It also  appeared that at certain times  in the
mental evolution of the race a degree of develop-
ment is reached from  which no further  progress
is made.   At least, we are aware  of  such an
122 
Interpretations
  instance in  the  case  of  a very primitive  com-
  munity in Southern Italy.  A writer, Norman
  Douglas,* in 1914 found the existence of a phallic
  cult in Calabria.  The women  sanctified a crack
  of one of the walls of the temple, their attitude
  toward it corresponding to the yoni worship of
  India.  Near by was an ancient stone pillar held
  in great veneration, which was the representative
 of the phallus.
   It is observed  that  in  this small community
 some remnants of phallic  belief of a very primi-
 tive type have been retained for centuries.  The
 religious  development, an index of mental  de-
 velopment,  has become "set" as it were and no
 further progress is  possible. It is  not entirely
 for want of opportunity that  this  locality has
 not taken  up  higher  religious beliefs.    The
 Catholic  Church  has introduced its teachings,
 but the people  have represented  the images of
 the Saints,  of the Virgin  Mary, and of Christ
 somewhat after the fashion of toy dolls.  These
are used as fetishes  to  ward off disease and  no
higher conceptions are grasped.  Ideas regarding
  * Norman Douglas: Old Calabria.
123 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
 after life  and immortality  are  disregarded in
 favor of the immediate need of protection against
 supposed evil  influences.   With these people,
 therefore, motives are utilized which satisfy only
 the most fundamental and immediate desires.

  We  have now followed a definite motive in
 mental development through  its rise, its elabora-
 tion and its decadence.  We therefore have its
 life history in the race before us; we have been
 enabled by analogies  of other motives and by
 utilizing the conclusions  of  various writers, to
 understand its meaning and to give its interpre-
 tation.  It remains to be seen what general con-
 clusions regarding either  racial  or  individual
 development in this sphere may be drawn.
  It appears that when an important motive of
 this  sort develops in the race, it embodies the
 expression  of fundamental  desires.    Since it
 carries with it a strong and  ever present desire
 in this way, it is strikingly dynamic in nature.
 It dominates all social organization,  and  with
primitive people it dominates much of the con-
duct of the individual.  When such  a motive is
124 
Interpretations
seriously  entertained  it is pragmatic, i.  e., it
serves a useful end, or at least the conceptions
which it embodies are entertained because they
are thought to be of the highest value to the race.
  As mental development continues, these more
fundamental and primitive motives cease  to be
all  absorbing.   Eventually,  the  subject of  the
food supply becomes less pressing.  Races con-
tinue to increase and  multiply with or without
the performance of sacred rites and man begins
to question the utility of his imitative magic.
Higher desires force themselves  into conscious-
ness, and earlier motives are no longer outwardly
expressed; the form of the early motives  is re-
tained,  however: usages, symbols and practices
which have long ceased to be dynamic and whose
meaning is entirely forgotten  are still observed;
so we see evidences of primitive racial motives
cropping up in all sorts of ways in later civiliza-
tion.
  But to say that  the earlier motives are no
longer outwardly expressed is not to infer that
they do not exist.   Fundamental as they are in
our  mental development,  they enter  into  our
125 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
general personality and  become a part of our
makeup.   How is  the  motive expressed in sex
worship a part of our motives and feelings  of
today?  Superficially it does not appear  to  be
present, but a little reflection shows  that it is
there.  It has become so much a part of us that
we scarcely  recognize its presence, the instinct
to reproduce being common to everyone.  Every
woman feels this to be her duty,—her religious
duty  if the  dictum of  the  Church  is  to  be
followed:
  "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and
the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows
are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children
of the youth.  Happy  is the man  that has his
quiver full of them;  they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the
gate."  Psalm 127.
  During earlier times barrenness was regarded
as a  curse,  and many charms were  in use  to
counteract this calamity.  A sentence from a
letter of Julia Ward Howe to her young  sister
about to be married,  affords an apt reference  to
this sense of duty: "Marriage, like death, is a
126 
Fig J.
                              PLATE XIII
      BACCHUS AND MEDALS OF CAMARINA AND SYRACUSE
Fig. 1  Incubation of the vital spirit represented by a serpent wreathed
        around an egg.
Fig. 2  Oriental  symbol of sun  (disc with wings)
Fig. 3  Sun fructifying  the  waters represented by swan.
Fig. 4  Victory mounting chariot  of sun.
Fig. 5  Victory flying before chariot of sun.
Fig. 6  Asterisk  in place of victory.
Fig. 7  The vine between the creating deity (Bacchus) and the  destroying
        deity represented by the tiger. 
« 
Interpretations
debt we owe to nature,  and though it costs us
something  to  pay it, yet we are more  content
and  better established in peace  when we have
paid it."  The feeling associated with the com-
mand "to increase and multiply" is so  much a
part of our innermost thoughts and feelings that
further references to it are unnecessary.
  To what extent may Ave utilize the evolution of
this  motive in the race, in understanding certain
phases of  mental development associated with
reproductive  instincts  in  the individual?  In
interpreting the racial history7 of this motive we
have seen that it  is dynamic; it develops in re-
sponse to biological demands. It is a very ele-
mentary and primitive desire to be raised to the
dignity of a religion, but none the less it is a very
essential one.   We have seen that  Avhen this
motive is replaced by higher ones, a return to it
bespoke faulty mental adaptations on  the part
of those who did so.   Analogies between  the
individual and the race in this  sphere  exist in
a general way, and their presence is significant.
  Analogies in the sphere in  the normal mental
development of the individual may be considered
127 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
first.   In dealing with the developing thoughts
of childhood, we shall refer to one  particular
tendency, i. e., that of day dreaming.  We know
that a certain amount of the day dreaming of
the child has to do with the feelings and emotions
associated  with the questions of reproduction,
considered in its broadest sense; i. e., including
fictitious lovers, marriages, children,  etc.   Now
probably  with  the child,  the  day  dreaming
associated  with these feelings is  of  biological
significance,  just as the rituals associated with
similar feeelings are of value  to the race.   The
little girl  who is the mother of  her  doll, who
plays at housekeeeping, who fictitiously assumes
the responsibilities of married life and what not,
—the  child  by  developing  this  feature  of her
existence in fancy is probably preparing herself
for reality.  The little boy  who becomes a hero
in his own fancy, marries  a  princess, and who
overcomes  all sorts  of difficulties; or the small
boy who in his play enters into all the activities
of adult life,—probably this child, by entertain-
ing  the  thoughts of  his future  life, prepares
himself to some extent  for future life.   These
128 
Interpretations
fundamental motives,  therefore, Avhich arise in
response  to biological  demands,  are the  ex-
pression of  desires, both in the case of the indi-
vidual and  of the race, and they act not only
harmlessly but probably beneficially at a certain
stage of mental  evolution.
  Again, we have shoAvn how  in  the  race rem-
nants  of early  primitive  motives  continue to
appear in various ways long after their outward
dynamic  value  has  been  lost  and  Avhen  their
meaning is no longer understood.  Is this not
true of the individual?  Do Ave not all recognize
in the moods and mental attributes  and even in
some of the actions of  the adult, remnants of
feelings and forces Avhich were dynamic in child-
hood?  These feelings exist although they are
not consciously  appreciated. The actual experi-
ences are forgotten but the moods and emotions
remain.  This is analagous  to the influence which
primitive racial thoughts, beliefs and usages have
on  present day civilization.   The  meaning of
these usages and symbols  is forgotten in many
cases but the outward  form still exists.
  In  the individual, a motive of this  kind does
129 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
not become a religion or a ritual as in the case
with the race,  but it nevertheless  is  forcefully
expressed in that it excites an absorbing interest
and  forces  itself strongly into consciousness,
during the phase of its dynamic  development.
As  stated above,  just  as  in  the early mental
evolution of the race, we find that the question
of reproduction comes prominently to the  fore,
so with the  individual we find that at the ado-
lescent period of life the sexual instinct is very
fully elaborated.  Just as with the race repro-
duction is necessary for the continuation of the
race, so with the individual, elaboration of sexual
instinct is necessary in order that  adult sexual
responsibilities may be assumed.  This consists
of much more than  mere physical  development.
In a complex state of civilization many adjust-
ments  in the sphere of sexual indulgence and
continence and marriage have to be made.   This
phase of the individual's life is a very  important
one. It is the rule for proper reactions to occur
at this time, in  which case  the  reproductive
instincts assume their  proper place  in mental
life.  But  if satisfactory adjustments do not
130 
Interpretations
 occur the consequences may be serious.  In the
 healthy mental evolution of the individual, there-
 fore, just as in the normal mental evolution of
 the  race,  we see that motives arise, assume a
 dynamic character, play their part in the develop-
 ing  mind, and leave lasting impressions.   They
 serve  a  useful  purpose during  one phase of
 mental evolution.  We have seen  that they may
 be harmful  in the race if  utilized at a  later
 period.  Let us see to what extent this is true of
 the individual.

   Psychiatrists during recent years have come
 to believe that in  certain mental states we see
 a reversion to a more primitive type of reaction,
 —a  tendency to  utilize earlier adaptations, the
 reactions of infancy and childhood in  meeting
 situations which  arise  in adult  life.   If this
 assumption is correct it is seen that a reversion
 to something more  primitive is an undesirable
 reaction in the individual as  well as in the race.
 Here too we find that the emotions  and  feelings
associated with the reproductive instinct may be
inadequately developed.  It has been  shown above
131 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
that the day dreams of  the  child are probably
beneficial rather than  harmful.   Is  this  day
dreaming beneficial to the adult?  We know from
our experience that it is  not, and in its relation
to the reproductive  sphere  this is particularly
true.  The adult who substitutes the realities of
life  by elaborate  day dreams  is  approaching
dangerous ground.   The young woman  who in
adult life is constantly dreaming of an ideal but
fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from un-
healthy sources; and the young man who ecstat-
ically becomes a hero or a racial benefactor is
equally  at  fault.   In  instances  where  such
thoughts are believed in and acted upon as we
observe again and again in mental disorders, a
serious condition of  the mind has arisen.  When
an attempt is made  to gain satisfaction in these
immature ways at a later stage of development,
or when there is a failure to develop at a certain
point, the reaction  is harmful in  both the indi-
vidual and in the race.
  It is during the  adolescent period that these
failures of adaptation generally occur.   At this
time, the Avhole development in the reproductive
132 
Interpretations
sphere, particularly in the mental characteristics
associated with the sexual instinct, considered in
its broadest sense, does not take place.  There
may be much rumination  about this topic, but
the responsibilities of adult sexual life, of mar-
riage, of child bearing  with the female, are not
adequately  met.  Fancies are substituted  for
reality, and while, as stated above, young women
may dream of ideal lovers, they at the same time
are shy and unnatural in  their attitude toward
the opposite sex.  Young men, instead of taking
their place  in the life  of  the adult community,
realize  adult  ambitions only  by elaborate day
dreams.   In  abnormal mental  states, we  see
young men in  their fancies  become important
personages, religious benefactors and  national
heroes.   They  may  shun  all association with
women but at the same time maintain that they
have a cultural mission to populate the earth.
We  see here  how the feelings associated with
reproductive instincts have been faulty or inade-
quate.  This return to  something more  primitive
is an unhealthy  atavistic tendency and makes
for both racial  and individual inferiority.
133 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  A word may be said regarding symbolism of
the race as applied to  the individual.  We have
stated that symbolism is a primitive and  rudi-
mentary way of expressing thought.   It would
seem  logical therefore  that if in some abnormal
mental states there is a return to more  primitive
reactions, we may find a tendency to symbolize.
This  tendency  is  frequently observed and the
symbolism is often very elaborate.  A knowledge
of  the  interpretation  of racial symbolism is
doubtless of value in the case of the individual.
When men's thoughts deal with the same subject
and when they tend to  symbolize, they'are likely
to express themselves  in  much the same  way
symbolically.    If  in  abnormal  mental  states
thoughts are entertained which have to do  with
the motives we have been discussing, it is reason-
able to suppose that the racial and individual
symbolism will  show certain analogies.
  Again, in the pages  of recent psychiatry, we
learn  that in  abnormal mental  states there is a
reversion not only to  the primitive motives of
childhood, but also to  the primitive motives of
the race.  Just to what  extent this  tendency
134 
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                    PLATE  XIV

STATUE OF A BULL IN THE PAGODA OF TANJORE 
 
Interpretations
exists remains for studies of the future to show.
Certainly, striking  instances may be cited; for
example, let  us quote from  a recent study in
psychiatry:*  "One  such  patient  with  a  very
complicated delusional system states that he is
the  father  of Adam, that he has  lived in his
present  human  body thirty-five years,  but  in
other bodies thirty million years,  and that during
this time he  has occupied six million different
bodies.  He has been the great men in the history
in the development of the human race; he himself
created  the human  race.  It  took him three
hundred million years to  perfect the first fully
developed  human being;  he  is  both male and
female and identifies  all the different parts  of
the Universe with his own body; heaven, hell and
purgatory are located in his limbs, the stars art*
pieces of his body which had been torn apart by
torture and persecution  in various ages of past
history;  he is  the  father and  creator  of  the
various races  and elements of the human organi-
zation, etc."  Any  one  avIio  has done even a
  * Jelliffe and  White, Diseases of the Nervous  System,
page  689.
135 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
cursory reading  in  mythology  cannot but  be
struck by the similarity in form as well as in
thought between  this production and  what we
find in myths.

  The general analogies which we have  indicated
are such as one  would have  reason to expect.
The history of  both  the healthy and unhealthy
evolution  of  the  race  is in many respects the
history of the individual; in order to understand
these  analogies  it is necessary  to understand the
mental development  of primitive man. Recent
studies have given us much valuable information
in this direction.  In primitive usages we find
the expression  of early man's deepest longings
and desires, and so a dynamic interpretation of
such  motives is possible.  It remains for the
psychiatrist to learn  to what extent the findings
of special investigators of primitive races may
be utilized in explaining mental evolution, and
also the development of abnormal mental states.
This study is a comparatively recent one but it
already  gives  indications  of offering ample
rewards.
136 
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
   REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Brand,  John:   Observations  on   Popular
Antiquities.
  Bryant:  System of Mythology.
  Cox, Rev. G. W.:  The Mythology of the Aryan
Nations.
  DeGubertnatis, Angelo: Zoological Mythology.
  Deiterich, A.:  Mutter Erde.
  Dixon, Roland B.: The Northern Maidu.
  Dorsey,  George A.:  Traditions of the Caddo,
(Carnegie Institute.) Indians of the South West.
  Frazer,  J.   G.:   Adonis,  Attis and  Osiris;
Balder, the Beautiful; Psyche's Task.
  Goodrich, V. K.:  Ainu Family  Life and Reli-
gion, Popular  Science Monthly, November,  1888.
  Grosse:   The Beginnings of Art,
  Harrison, Miss Jane: Ancient Art and Ritual;
Themis.
  Hearn,  Lafcadio:   Japan; an Attempt  at
Interpretation.
  Herodotus:  (Rawlinson's Trans.)
139 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  Higgins,  Godfrey:   The Anacalypsis; Celtic
Druids.
  Hitchcock, Romyn:  Shinto or the Mythology
of the Japanese, (Smithsonian Institute.)
  Howitt, A. W.:  The Native Tribes of South
East Australia.
  Jennings, Hargrave:  The Rosicrucians; The
Indian Religions.
  Jevons, F.  B.:   The  Idea  of God in Early
Religions.
  Judson:  Myths and Legends of the Mississippi
Valley and the Great Lakes.
  Karpas, Morris J.:  Socrates in the  light of
Modern Psychopathology. (Journal of Abnormal
Psychology. 1915.)
  King, C. W.: The Gnostics and their Remains;
Hand-book of Engraved Gems.
  Knight, R. P.:  The Symbolical Language of
Ancient Art and Mythology; Two Essays on the
Worship  of Priapus.
  Kroeber, Alfred L.: Symbolism of the Arapaho
Indians.  The  Arapaho,  (Bulletin  of the Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History.)
  Langdon, S.: Tammuz and Ishtar.
140 
References and Bibliography
  Layard, A.:  Babylon and Nineveh; Nineveh
and its Remains.
  Leuba, James H.:   A Psychological Study of
Religion.
  Monsen,  Frederick:  Festivals of the Hopi.
(The Craftsman, June, 1907.)
  Murray,  Gilbert:   Hamlet and Orestes:  The
Rise of the Greek Epic.
  Newton,  John:   Assyrian Grove Worship.
  O'Brien,  Henry:  The Round Towers of Ireland.
  Peet, Stephen D.: Secret Societies and Sacred
Mysteries.
  Perrot and Chipiez: History of Art in Phrygia,
Lidia, Caria and Lycia; History of Art in Persia.
  Prescott:  Conquest of Peru.
  Pratt, J. B.:  India and  Its Faiths.
  Rawlinson, G.:  History  of  Ancient  Egypt;
Ancient Monarchies.
  Reclus, Elie: Primitive Folk.
  Rivers, W. H. R.:  The Todas.
  Rhyn, Dr. Otto:  Mysteria.
  Roscoe, John: The Northern Bantu.
  Rocco, Sha:  Ancient Sex Worship.
  Rousselet, Louis: India and Its Native Princes.
141 
Sex Worship and Symbolism
  Spencer, B.:   Native Tribes of the Northern
Territory of Australia.
  Solas, W. J.:  Ancient Hunters.
  Starcke, C. V.:  The Primitive Family.
  Stevens,  J.:   Central America, Chiapez  and
Yucatan.
  Symonds, J. A.:  A Problem in Greek Ethics.
  Wissler, Clark:  Symbolism in the Decorative
Art of the Sioux.
  Westropp, Hodder M.: Primitive Symbolism.
  Wood, Rev. J. G.:  The Uncivilized Races.
  Wood-Martin: Pagan Ireland.
142 
INDEX 
 
INDEX
Adaptations, faulty,  131-
  132.
Adjustment, of individual,
  130.
Adonis, sun god,  JJ.
American Cyclopedia, 23.
American   Museum   of
  Natural History, 7.
Anacalipsis, 39.
Analogies   between   the
  Individual   and   the
  Race, 127.
Ancient Grove  Worship
  of Assyria, 49> 73-
Ancient Sex Worship,  25,
  30, 42.
Androgyne deity, 38, 67.
Arapaho  Indians, in.

 Bacchus, representative of
   male  generative  attri-
  bute, 22.
 Bacchanalia,  76, 80,  88,
   in.
 Bear, sacred animal, 104.
 Bull, phallic  significance
   of, 63.
 Bull roarer, nature of, 102.
Bureau  of Amer. Eth., 7.

Caves of  Elephanta, 44.
Ceremonial  objects, con-
  ventionalization of, III.
Chinese Review, 45.
Collective or  group feel-
  ing,  importance of, 21.
Collective thought  of the
  race,  relation  to  reli-
  gious development, 17.
Crux Ansata, 51.

Dairy, sacredness of, 103.
Dances, at Witches' Sab-
  bath, 90.
Decadent  Sex  Worship,
  81, 83, 93, 115; inter-
  pretation of,  122.
Deity, female, function of
  in Japan, 108.
Deities, Teutonic, 94.
Dietrich, A., 121.
Dionysia, 76, 80.
Dionysus, 117.
 Dorsey, G. A., 104.
 Douglas,  N.,  123.
 Dragon,  relation  to ser-
   pent, 45.
145 
Index
Earth, Worship,  116.
Egg, 51, 62, 75.
Eleusenia, 76, 79, 89, no.
Emasculation, a  form  of
  worship, 30.
Essay   on  the  Assyrian
  "Grove," 40.

Female deities, 117.
Festivals to increase food
  supply, 101.
Fire, male principle,  37.
Fire  Worship,   37,  90;
  identified with sex wor-
  ship,  43.
Fish,  phallic  significance,
  36.
Frazer, 7,  17, 30, 31, 95,
  109.

Gnostics, early secret so-
  ciety,  84;  phallic amu-
  lets  of,  91; reversions
  of, 85.
Goat, priapic animal, 89;
  Symbol of Khem, 25.
Golden Bough, 7.   (See
  Frazer.)
Group Thought, 116.

Harrison,  J.,  8,  18,  102,
  103,  107, 109, 117, 118.
Hearn, L., 52.
Heraldry, origin of sym-
  bols, 51.
Hermes,  phallic nature of,
  37-
Higgins,  39.
Hitchcock, R., 108.
Holy  Grail,  Symbolism
  of, 94.
Homosexuality,  in Greek
  life,  86;  practice   of
  Rosicrucians,  85.
Hopi Indians, 104.
Howe, J. W., 126.
Howitt, A. W., 8.

Initiative  magic,  106.
India  and  its  Native
  Princes, 44.
India and its Faiths, 81.
Indian Religions, 49.
Indians of the Southwest,
  104.
Infantile reactions, 131.
Initiation ceremony,  117.
Inman, T., 7, 51, 54.
Interpretations    of   Sex
  Worship, 99.


Japan, an attempt at In-
  terpretation, 52.
Jennings, H., 7, 27, 42, 49,
  51, 62,  74, 93.
146 
Index
Karnac, 26.
Karpas, M. J.,  86.
Khem, description of, 24.
King, C. W.,  54.
Knight, R.  P.,  7, 27, 29,
  38, 48, 49, 50, 54, 58, 63,
  64, 84,  88, 91, 92.
Knights   of   the  Round
  Table, 93.
Knights  Templar, phallic
  amulets of, 91; practices
  of, 87.
Kroebler, A. L., in, 112.

Layard, A., 60.
Lingam with  yoni, 41.
Lost god, the, yy.
Lotus, significance of, 56-
  58.

Male  date  palm, signifi-
  cance of, 49.
Matriarchy, 116.
May-pole, associated with
  phallic  worship, 39, 48.
Moon, associated  with fe-
  male deity, 72.
Mother Earth, 72, 116.
Mother religion, 117, 118.
Mutter Erde, 121.
Murray, G., 20.
Mysteries,  teaching  of,
  79, 80.
Nature  Worship,  7,  100,
  no, 112.
Newton, J., 40, 49, 73.
Nineveh and Its Remains,
  60.
North American  Indians
  and sun  worship, 71;
  nature  worship,   101,
  in, 112.

Obelisk,  phallic interpre-
  tation, 38.
O'Brien, 39, 56, 58.
Obscure Sex Symbolism,
  37-
Order of the Garter, 94.
Osiris, yy.

Pan,  significance of, 22.
Patriarchy,  116, 118.
Pepys, S., 48.
Peet, O. S., no.
Persephone, 79.
Phallic  hand,  symbol  of
  prostitution,  92.
Phallic  rites, motive for,
  109.
Phallic   symbols,  26;  in
  art, 51.
Phallic Worship in China,
  45-
Phallic   Worship,  nature
  of, 23, 101.
147 
Index
Phallus, as a charm, 91,
  94; as a decoration, 91.
Plant and Flower Symbols
  54-
Pomegranate, as a female
  symbol, 56.
Pratt, J. B., 81.
Priapiea, 88.
Priapus, disguises of, 89.
Primitive  motives,   con-
  tinuance of, 129; rever-
  sion to, 134.
Primitive Symbolism, 28.
Problem in Greek Ethics,
  86.
Psyche's Task, 95.
Puberity Initiations,  106,
  117.

Qualities  of   animal  and
  vegetable nature vener-
  ated, 40.

Racial  feelings,  expres-
  sion of, in  religion, 19.
Racial Motives, in primi-
  tive religions, 19; dyna-
  mic value of, 125.
Rain making rite,  100.
Rawlinson, 23.
Reproduction, motive of,
  21.
Rhyn, O., 79.
Rise  of  the Greek  Epic,
  20.
Ritual,  motive  for,  107;
  related to food supply,
  105, 106.
Rivers, W.  H. R., 6, 103.
Robin Goodfellow, 95.
Rosicrucians,  43, 93.
Rosicrucians,  phallic am-
  ulets  of,  91; practices
  of, 85, 86, 93.
Round Towers of Ireland,
  39> 74-
Rousselet, 44.


Sacred Animals, 60-65.
Sacred  prostitution,  evi-
  dences of, 29.
Satan, at Witches' Sab-
  bath, 89.
Secret Societies for  de-
  cadent sex worship, 84.
Serpent  Worship, 61, 62,
  74, 75-
Sex Worship:
    An  unconscious  ra-
  cial expression, 21; bio-
  logical  significance  of,
  99;  as basis of  early
  religions,  28; In Africa
  in  Modern  times,  26;
148 
Index
  decadence of in Middle
  Ages,   90;   primitive
  form, 111; influence in
  present  thought,  126;
  part of evolution of the
  human  mind,  23;  in
  symbolism, 35; where it
  existed as basis of early
  religions,  28.
Sex Worship and  Nature
  Worship,  analogies  of,
  113; relation of,  121.
Sexual  act,  as part  of
  worship, 27-28.
Shinto,  or the mythology
  of the Japanese,  108.
Smithsonian Inst.,  7.
Snake, phallic significance

  of' 36'      ,    •  ,    ,
Socrates  in  the  light  of
  Modern  Psychopathol-
  ogy, 86.
Spencer, 8.
Star and crescent, 54.
Stonehenge,  significance
  of, 39, 7i-
Sun Myth,  119.
Sun Worship, 37, 71, 74,
  75-   .    r            ,
Symbolic   Language   of
  Ancient Art and Myth-
  ology, 50, 59.
Symbolism,  racial, in the
  individual, 134.
Symonds, J. A., 86.

Themis, 8, 102, 118.
Thunder god,  102.
Thunder rites, 102.
Todas, the,  6,  103.
Totem,  112.
Tree  Worship, 49.

Upright  objects as phalli,
  38.

Vegetation  spirit,  116.

Water,   female principle,
  37-
Weathercock,  emblem of
  the sun,  50.
Westropp, H.  M., 28, 46,
  55-
Wilder,  A., 59.
Witchcraft, 93.
Witches' Sabbath, nature
  of, 90, 92.
Wissler, C, 105, 112.
 Worship of Priapus, 49,
  84, 88, 92.

 Yam ceremony, 106.
149 
 
 
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