PHALLIC WORSHIP.
Phallic worship, in some form or other, has been practiced by almost
every race under the sun. Indeed, among primitive peoples, those who do
not practice this cult are so few in number that they have, practically,
no weight whatever in a discussion of this subject. Moreover, those
primitive peoples who do not worship the generative principle, either
directly or indirectly, are without any religion whatsoever, and are the
very lowest of all mankind in point of intelligence. I have only to cite
the Tierra del Fuegians, the Bushmen, the Australians, and the Akka or
Ticki-Ticki, the Pygmies of Central Africa, to prove the truthfulness of
this assertion. There are other peoples who would serve as examples, but
it would be a work of supererogation to enumerate them to even the
casual reader.
D'Hancarville, in his magnificent work, has traced the progress of the
worship of the generative principle over the entire world, while Knight,
in his scholarly essay,[36] has brought out its psychological truths in
a manner which cannot be surpassed. It is not my purpose to enter into a
detailed account of this cult; I propose rather to discuss its probable
origin in the beginning, and to give a brief outline of its history, as
it is to be observed among living peoples. I wish to show, also, its
connection with certain religious ceremonies and festivals of Christian
peoples, which had their origin, _ab initio_, in the worship of Priapus.
And, before beginning the discussion of this subject, I beg to remind
the reader that a priest of Priapus regarded his sistrum as being just
as sacred as a Catholic priest now considers any vessel or robe used in
the service of mass, and that the priests of Brahma look on the Lingam
with as much reverence and awe as did the Levites on the Ark of the
Covenant and the Holy of Holies. Phallic worship is a religion, the
oldest _abstract_ religion in existence. Fundamentally the Creator--the
Life Giver--is the phallic worshiper's god. Is he very far wrong in all
that is absolutely essential? "Men think they know because they are sure
they feel, and are firmly convinced because strongly agitated. Hence
proceed that haste and violence with which devout persons of all
religions condemn the rites and doctrines of others, and the furious
zeal and bigotry with which they maintain their own, while, perhaps, if
both were equally understood, both would be found to have the same
meaning, and only to differ in the modes of conveying it."[37]
[36] Knight: _The Worship of Priapus_.
[37] Knight: _The Worship of Priapus_, p. 14.
The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are worshipers of the generative
principle, and, like most religious sects, have evolved some very
curious rites and ceremonies. The ancient temples of Venus or Aphrodite
were filled with _hetarae_, who were necessary adjuncts for the proper
performance of the mysteries of Priapus. These Indians, however, will
not allow women to enter into their sacred ceremonies, but, on the
contrary, emasculate men (by occasioning organic and functional
degeneration of the sexual organs), who serve as hetarae to the chiefs
and shamans or priests.[I] These androgynes are called _mujerados_, a
term which aptly describes their sexual condition.
[I] The Aleutians, according to the testimony of unimpeachable
witnesses, make their neophytes pass through like physical
exercises in preparing them for their duties in celebrating Priapic
Rites.
"In order to cultivate a mujerado, a very powerful man is chosen, and he
is made to masturbate excessively and ride constantly. Gradually such
irritable weakness of the genital organs is engendered that, in riding,
great loss of semen is induced. This condition of irritability passes
into paralytic impotence. Then the testicles and penis atrophy, the hair
of the beard falls out, the voice loses its depth and compass, and
physical strength and energy decrease. Inclinations and disposition
become feminine. The mujerado loses his position in society as a man. He
takes on feminine manners and customs, and associates with women; yet,
for religious reasons, he is held in high honor."[38] The phallic
ceremonies of the Pueblos take place in the spring, when the life
principle is exceedingly active throughout all nature.
[38] Krafft-Ebing: _Psychopathia Sexualis_, p. 201; see also
Hammond: _Impotence in the Male_.
In all probability the "botes" of the Montana Indians and the "burdachs"
of the Washington tribes serve as masculine hetarae to the chiefs and
medicine men, though this has not been definitely determined. Dr. Holder
described a typical "bote" of the Absaroke tribe in the New York Medical
Journal, 1889. This androgyne, in many respects, resembled the mujerados
of the Pueblo Indians, and probably served a like purpose in his tribe.
According to Ross, a Konyaga woman, when she has a good-looking boy,
dresses him in girl's clothes and brings him up as a female. When he
arrives at a suitable age he is sent to wait on the priests of the tribe
and is introduced by them into the sacred mysteries of their cult; in
fact, he becomes a masculine hetara.
When we read of such things we feel pretty much as Herodotus felt when
he saw the naked women of Mendes submitting themselves openly {~GREEK
SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL
LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL
LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} [Transliteration: es epideixin
anthropon] to the embraces of the sacred goat.[J] To the Greek historian
this act was simply horrible ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL
LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} [Transliteration: teras]); and
yet these Egyptians experienced no repugnance whatever. To them it
represented the incarnation of the deity, and was, therefore, a sacred
and holy action, just as masculine hetarism is regarded as a holy
profession among the Konyagas. Phallic hetarism is one of the sacraments
of the Konyaga church, and, as such, it is held in all that reverence
and awe with which the savage devotee endows the mysteries of his
faith.[K]
[J] Herodotus: _Euterpe_, 46.
[K] Masculine hetarism is still in vogue among many primitive
peoples, and is distinctly a religious rite. "The Kanats of New
Caledonia frequently assemble at night in a cabin to give
themselves up to this kind of debauchery.... In the whole of
America, from north to south, similar customs have existed or still
exist." Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 62. The same
author says: "It was also a widely spread custom throughout
Polynesia, and even a special deity presided over it. The Southern
Californians did the same, and the Spanish missionaries, on their
arrival in the country, found men dressed as women and assuming
their part. They were trained to this from youth, and often
publicly married to the chiefs. Nero was evidently a mere
plagiarist. The existence of analogous customs has been proved
against the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of
Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois."
The ancient Hebrews, ancestors of one of the most ancient of the
civilized races of the earth, held it in high honor. Even wise King
Solomon, in the days of his old age, turned from the abstractedly pure
religion of his father "to Astoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and
to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites."[39] He was guilty of
constructing a "high place" for Chemosh, "the abomination of Moab."[40]
Any good modern biblical encyclopedia will tell the reader about
Astoreth and her worship, and what the "high places" and the "groves"
were.
[39] _I Kings_: chap xi, verse 5.
[40] _Ibid._, verse 7.
Even the "good kings," such as Asa, Amaziah, _et al._, did not remove
the high places and the groves, for we read that, notwithstanding the
fact that these kings did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
they did not remove the high places. In the case of Amaziah, it is
written:
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like
David, his father; he did according to all things as Joash, his father,
did.
"Howbeit, the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did
sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places."[41] All of the
so-called "wicked kings" were phallic worshipers, and both male and
female hetarism flourished during their reigns. We read of Josiah, a
"good king," "And he broke down the houses of the sodomites
(_kedescheim_) that were by the house of the Lord."[42] Here, in
unmistakable terms (_kedescheim_), the phallic act of the hetara is
specified.
[41] _II Kings_: chap. xiv, verses 3, 4.
[42] _Ibid._, chap. xxiii, verse 7.
Herodotus wrote: "Almost all mankind consort with women in their sacred
temples, except in Greece and Egypt."[43] This is a queer mistake for a
Greek to make, yet this historian is noted for his unreliability, and we
should not feel surprised at this gross error. Concerning the Aphrodite
of Abydos, what she was and what took place in her temples, is a matter
of history. Indeed, this goddess was surnamed _Porne_! In Corinth,
delubral hetarism was openly practiced; also at Bubastis and Naucratis
in Egypt. Royal princesses were pallacides in the temple of Ammon; in
fact, they took pride in the title of _pallakis_![L] "It is known what
excessive debauchery took place in the 'groves' and 'high places' of the
'Great Goddess.' The custom was so deeply rooted that in the grotto of
Bethlehem what was done formerly in the name of Adonis is to-day in the
name of the Virgin Mary by Christian pilgrims; and the Mussulman
_hadjis_ do likewise in the sanctuaries of Mecca!"[44][M]
[43] Herodotus: _Euterpe_, 64.
[L] Strabo, when writing of the Armenians, who were phallic
worshipers, says: "It is the custom of the most illustrious
personages to consecrate their virgin daughters to this goddess
(Anaitis). This in no way prevents them from finding husbands, even
after they have prostituted themselves for a long time in the
temples of Anaitis. No man feels on this account any repugnance to
take them as wives." Strabo: vol. xi., 14; quoted also by
Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 46.
[44] Reclus: _Primitive Folk_, p. 69; Sepp: _Heidenthum u.
Christenthum_.
[M] Brugsch Bey is of this same opinion.
But let us return to primitive peoples, from whose customs and beliefs
we can learn what our own ancestors must have believed before the besom
of civilization swept aside the crudities of savagery.
The Khonds of India are phallic worshipers, and, in the practice of
their religion, Priapus saves many a girl who would be, otherwise,
offered up on the bloody altars of their divinities. The pregnant woman
is sacred, hence, religious prostitution is exceedingly prevalent. But
it frequently happens that some unfortunate creature, who is not
pleasing to the shamans, is seized, tied to the stake and butchered.[45]
As the blood flows down and deluges the ground, "the divine spirit
enters into the priest and inspires him."[46] This sacrifice is of
itself a phallic rite; the blood-offering is supposed to be exceedingly
acceptable to Earth, the mother of all things. Blood is the essence of
the life-giving principle; hence, the essence is returned to the great
Giver, as a propitiatory offering.[N]
[45] Sherwill: _The Rajmahal Hills_.
[46] Reclus: _Primitive Folk_, p. 317.
[N] Among certain peoples the blood and the semen bore a close
relationship; by certain races they were considered analogous. The
Old Testament, the Vedas, the Sagas, and many references of Greek,
Latin, Egyptian, Hindu, and Persian mythology point to this as
being conclusive.
In point of fact, the worship of the generative principle is everywhere
prevalent in India.[O] In the Lingam, or holy altar of the Brahmins, we
see a conjunction of the male and female sexual organs, while religious
prostitution, in the shape of hetarism, crowds the inner courts and
corridors of almost every temple in the land with hierodules and
bayaderes. The Vedas abound in references, either direct or indirect, to
phallic worship. Indeed, according to some authorities, the Hindu Brahma
is the same as the Greek Pan,[P] "who is the creative spirit of the
deity transfused through matter."[47]
[O] Speaking of the ceremony of priestly prelibation as it was
practiced in the Kingdom of Malabar, Forbes writes as follows: "The
ecclesiastic power took precedence of the civil on this particular
point, and the sovereign himself passed under the yoke. Like the
other women, the queen had to submit to the right of prelibation
exercised by the high priest, who had a right to the first three
nights, and who was paid fifty pieces of gold besides for his
trouble." Forbes: _Oriental Memoirs_, vol. i, p. 446; quoted also
by Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 48. De Remusat says
that, in Cambodia, the daughters of poor parents retain their
virginity longer than their richer sisters simply because they have
not the money with which to pay the priest for defloration!
[P] "The people have put the idol named _Coppal_ in a neighboring
house; there she is served by priests and _Devadichi_, or slaves of
the gods. These are prostitute girls, whose employment is to dance
and to ring little bells in cadence while singing infamous songs,
either in the pagoda or in the streets when the idol is carried out
in state," writes Letourneau in _The Evolution of Marriage_,
quoting from _Letters edifiantes_. _Coppal_ was and is a
Brahminical Venus, and her worship is wholly phallic in character.
The ancient Indo-Iranians worshiped a similar deity. The worship of
Coppal, both in ritual and in significance, is identical with that
of the Greek Aphrodite.
[47] Brugsch, Knight, Mueller, _et al._
Hundreds of pages have been written on snake-worship, in which a
wonderful amount of metaphysical lore has been expended. Mr. Herbert
Spencer devotes several pages to the snake, and the reason for its
appearance in the religion of primitive peoples. He ascribes to savages
a psychical acuteness that I am by no means willing to allow them,
inasmuch as he makes them give a psychical causation for their adoption
of the serpent as a deity, such as no ignorant and uncultivated savage
could have possibly evolved. I am inclined to believe that, like all
great students and thinkers, Mr. Spencer has a hobby, and that this
hobby is animism or ancestor-worship. When he gives out, as a reason for
the snake's almost universal appearance in the religions of primitive
peoples, that the latter consider it an animal which has assumed the
returning ghost, double, or soul of an ancestor,[48] I think that he is
very much in error. There are very few primitive folk, comparatively
speaking, who believe in metempsychosis. In all probability, when a
race, like the ancient Egyptians, for instance, had reached a high
degree of civilization, they idealized many of their religious beliefs
and customs; hence, the serpent probably lost its initial and simple
symbolical meaning, and stood for something higher and more ethical
during the reign of the great Pharaohs, and the Golden Age of the Greeks
and Latins. I am positive, however, that the snake's original
significance was wholly phallic in character, and that its adoption as a
symbol was simple and material, as I explain elsewhere in this essay.[Q]
[48] Spencer: _Principles of Sociology_, vol. i, p. 798.
[Q] The appearance of the erect male organ of generation is quite
sufficient to explain why the snake should be chosen as a symbol in
phallic rites.
I am forced to this conclusion by its presence among phallic symbols in
almost every race that practiced or practices a worship of the
generative principles. The Pueblo Indians, whom I have mentioned
elsewhere in this treatise, regard the snake symbol with reverence; the
Moqui Indians have their sacred snake dance, in which they worship the
reptiles, handling the most vicious and poisonous rattlesnakes with
seeming impunity; the Apaches hold that every rattlesnake is an emissary
of the devil;[49] "the Piutes of Nevada have a demon deity in the form
of a serpent still supposed to exist in the waters of Pyramid Lake;"[50]
on the wall of an ancient Aztec ruin at Palenque there is a tablet, on
which there is a cross standing on the head of a serpent, and surmounted
by a bird. "The cross is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and
serpent the rebus of the rain-god, their ruler."[51] The Quiche god,
Hurakan, was called the "Strong Serpent," and the sign of Tlaloc, the
Aztec rain-god, was a golden snake.[R] All of these tribes are or were
worshipers of the generative principles, though, in most of them,
phallic worship has or had lost much of its original significance.[52]
In Yucatan and elsewhere in South and Central America, notably among the
ruins of Chichen Itza, the serpent symbol is frequently in evidence.[53]
The Indians of the Tocantins in Brazil, as well as the Muras, Mundurucus
and Cucamas, are mixed nature and devil worshipers;[S] as a sequence,
certain phallic rites are to be observed in their religious ceremonies.
[49] Bancroft: _Native Races, etc._, p. 135.
[50] _Ibid._
[51] Bancroft (Brinton): _Native Races, etc._, p. 135.
[R] In the celebrated calendar stone of the Aztecs, there have been
found certain hieroglyphics pointing to sun worship, coincidently,
to phallicism.
[52] _Ibid._, p. 134.
[53] Stephens: _Yucatan_.
[S] Consult Frantz Keller: _The Amazon and Madeira Rivers_.
Many of the native tribes of North America perform phallic rites at
puberty. James Owen Dorsey, who has made a study of the Siouan cults,
writes as follows:
"Every male Dakota sixteen years old and upward is a soldier, and is
formally and mysteriously enlisted into the service of the war prophet.
From him he receives the implements of war, carefully constructed after
models furnished from the armory of the gods, painted after a divine
prescription, and charged with a missive virtue--the tonwan--of the
divinities. To obtain these necessary articles the proud applicant is
required for a time to abuse himself and serve him, while he goes
through a series of painful and exhausting performances, which are
necessary on his part to enlist favorable notice of the gods. These
performances consist chiefly of vapor baths, fastings, chants, prayers,
and nightly vigils. The spear and the tomahawk being prepared and
consecrated, the person who is to receive them approaches the wakan man
(priest), and presents a pipe to him. He asks a favor, in substance as
follows: 'Pity thou me, poor and helpless, a _woman_, and confer on me
the ability to perform _manly_ deeds.'"[54] According to Miss Fletcher,
when an Oglala girl arrives at puberty, a great feast is prepared, and
favored guests invited thereto. "A prominent feature in the feast is the
feeding of these privileged persons and the girl in whose honor the
feast is given, with choke cherries, as the choicest rarity to be had in
the winter.... In the ceremony, a few of the cherries are taken in a
spoon and held over the sacred smoke and then fed to the girl."[55] This
is considered one of the most sacred of their feasts.
[54] Dorsey: _Siouan Cults, An. Rep. Bur. Eth._, 1889-90, p. 444.
[55] Fletcher: _Peabody Museum Report_, vol. iii, p. 260.
While discussing the phallic observances of the North American races, I
will introduce the subject of tattooing, though it properly belongs
elsewhere in this treatise.
At puberty, the Hudson Bay Eskimos invariably tattoo their boys and
girls. Lucien M. Turner writing of the latter, says:
"When a girl arrives at puberty she is taken to a secluded locality by
some old woman versed in the art of tattooing, and stripped of her
clothing. A small quantity of half-charred lamp wick of moss is mixed
with oil from the lamp. A needle is used to prick the skin, and the
pasty substance is smeared over the wound. The blood mixes with it, and
in a few days a dark-bluish spot is left. The operation continues four
days. When the girl returns to the tent it is known that she has begun
to menstruate."[56] Both Eastern and Western Inoits celebrate puberty
with certain rites. It is rather difficult, however, to get them to say
much about this matter, so I will not present the evidence, meager as it
is, which has been gleaned from the works of various explorers. One can
readily see that much of it is conjecture, therefore of little
scientific value.
[56] Turner: _An. Rep. Bur. Eth._, 1889-90, p. 208.
Not far from the Place of Gold, the magnificent temple in which the
ancient Peruvians worshiped the Life Giver, was another great edifice,
styled the "House of the Virgins of the Sun." This was the domicile of
the pallacides or hetarae of the Chief Priest, the Inca. "No one but the
Inca and the Coya, or queen, might enter the consecrated precincts....
Woe to the unhappy maiden who was detected in an intrigue! By the stern
laws of the Incas she was buried alive, her lover strangled, and the
town or village to which he belonged was razed to the ground and sowed
with stones as if to efface every memorial of his existence. One is
astonished to find so close a resemblance between the institutions of
the American Indian, the ancient Roman, and the modern Catholic.
Chastity and purity of life are virtues in woman that would seem to be
of equal estimation with the barbarian and with the civilized--yet the
ultimate destination of the inmates of these religious houses (there
were hundreds of them), was materially different.... Though Virgins of
the Sun, they were the brides of the Inca."[57] The monarch had
thousands of these hetarae in his various palaces. When he wished to
lessen the number in his seraglios, he sent some of them to their own
homes, where they lived ever after respected and revered as holy
beings.[58] The religion of the Peruvians had reached a high degree of
development, and many of the crudities of simple phallic worship had
either been entirely abandoned or so idealized that they had been lost
in the mists of ritual and ceremony. For "the ritual of the Incas
involved a routine of observances as complex and elaborate as ever
distinguished that of any nation, whether pagan or Christian."[59]
[57] Prescott: _Conquest of Peru_, vol. i, p. 110 _et seq._
[58] _Ibid._, p. 112.
[59] _Ibid._, p. 103.
Notwithstanding the fact that the descendants of the Incas have been
under the guardianship of the priests of the Catholic church for
hundreds of years, a close, careful, painstaking, and accurate observer
informs me that he has repeatedly noticed unmistakable phallic rites
interwoven with their Christian ceremonials and beliefs. The same can be
said of a kindred race and a kindred religion. Biart, writing of the
descendants of the Aztecs, says: "In grottoes unexpectedly discovered, I
have frequently found myself in the presence of Mictlanteuctli, at the
foot of which a recent offering of food had been placed."[60] How
exceedingly basic and fundamental the worship of the generative
principle must be in Psychos itself, is indicated by these facts!
[60] Biart: _The Aztecs_, p. 139.
In the very beginnings of history we find that many races of people held
the worship of the generative principle in high honor. Not only has the
knowledge of this fact come to us through the sculptured monuments of
the Egyptians and the tablets, cylinders, etc., of the Chaldeans, but it
has also been set before us by ancient historians. Speaking of the
Chaldeans Herodotus (1,199)[T] says, "Every woman born in the country
must enter once during her lifetime the inclosure of the temple of
Aphrodite, must there sit down and unite herself to a stranger. Many who
are wealthy are too proud to mix with the rest, and repair thither in
closed chariots, followed by a considerable train of slaves. The greater
number seat themselves on the sacred pavement, with a cord twisted about
their heads--and there is always a crowd there, coming and going; the
women being divided by ropes into long lanes, down which strangers pass
to make their choice. A woman who has once taken her place here cannot
return home until a stranger has thrown into her lap a silver coin, and
has led her away with him beyond the limits of the sacred inclosure. As
he throws the money he pronounces these words: 'May the goddess Mylitta
make thee happy!' Now among the Assyrians, Aphrodite" (_the goddess of
love, desire_) "is called Mylitta. The woman follows the first man who
throws her the money, and repels no one. When once she has accompanied
him, and _has thereby satisfied the goddess_, she returns to her home,
and from thenceforth, however large the sum offered to her, she will
yield to no one." Maspero declares that "this custom still existed in
the fifth century before our era, and the Greeks who visited Babylon
about that time found it still in force."[61]
[T] Herodotus: _Clio_; See also Cary's translation of Herodotus,
page 86 _et seq._
[61] Maspero (Sayce): _The Dawn of Civilization_, p. 640.
He also calls attention to the fact that "we meet with a direct
allusion to this same custom in the Bible, in the _Book of Baruch_: The
women, also, with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for
perfume; but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with
him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she was not worthy of herself, nor
her cord broken. Ch. VI, verse 43."
Phallic rites and observances entered very largely into the religion of
the Assyrians, and can be traced back, in some form or other, even to
the religion of the ancient Sumerians, the root-stock from which the
Chaldeans had their origin.
In the third chapter of Hebrew history according to Moses (Genesis III),
we have an unmistakable allusion to phallic worship in the use of the
serpent in the myth of man's temptation and fall. The serpent was an
almost universal symbol of priapic adoration throughout Egypt and
Assyria; it achieved this distinction, in all probability, from its
resemblance to the _instrumentum masculinum generationis_.[U] In a
beautiful bronze plaque, representing Nergal, the Chaldean god of Hades,
the _glans penis_ of the god is distinctly the head of the snake. A
splendid drawing of this plaque by Faucher-Gudin is given in Maspero's
_Dawn of Civilization_.[62] It may be stated here that the uraeus, or
asp, which was so prominently in evidence as one of the principle signs
of Egyptian royalty, was also the symbol of the life-giving principle of
Ra, the sun-god.
[U] The author is fully aware of the fact that writers on phallic
worship ascribe other reasons for the adoption of the snake as one
of the chief symbols of the worship of the generative principle. He
believes, however, that the primitive originators of this cult
were, psychically, too immature to evolve any other than simple and
objective ideas in regard to this subject; hence he considers the
above as the true origin of this symbol. Furthermore, this belief
is strengthened by the appearance of the snake in the myths and
folklore tales of race-preservation in all peoples where the
serpent was a familiar object.
[62] _Op. cit._, p. 691.
Abraham, in all probability, instituted the rite of circumcision in
remembrance of the Chaldean genital worship.[V] This sexual fetichism
was eminently religious in character from its very inception among the
ancient Hebrews; yet Westermarck, in his _History of Human Marriage_,
considers this custom as being of ornamental origin.[63] Now, it is
known beyond question of doubt that the Hebrews and Abyssinians, who
practiced this rite, covered their nakedness, hence, it is folly to
suppose that they ornamented a portion of their bodies which always
remained carefully hidden. Moreover, since it has been in use from very
ancient times "among most of the tribes inhabiting the African West
Coast, among all the Mohammedan peoples, among the Kaffirs, among nearly
all the peoples of Eastern Africa, among the Christian Abyssinians,
Bogos, and Copts, throughout all the various tribes inhabiting
Madagascar, and, in the heart of the Black Continent, among the Monbuttu
and Akka; and since it is practiced very commonly in Australia, in many
islands of Melanesia, in Polynesia, universally, in some parts of
America, in Yucatan, on the Orinoco, and among certain tribes in Rio
Branco in Brazil;"[64] and since most of these people wholly or
partially hide their nakedness, it cannot, necessarily, have had its
origin in the desire for ornamentation. Again, since the rite of
circumcision among these peoples always takes place at puberty, when
_vita sexualis_ begins, and is always accompanied by other rites and
ceremonies of deeply religious significance, it must be a religious
observance and phallic in its nature. Girls, also, at puberty, among
many tribes of Africa, among certain races of the Malayan Archipelago
and South America have an operation performed upon them. "_Sunt autem
gentes, quarum contrarius mos est, ut clitoris et labia minora non
exsecentur, verum extendantur, et saepe longissime extendantur_."[65]
Surely such a peculiar and uncalled-for performance has a deeper
significance than mere ornamentation, and does not warrant the
expression "_atque ista etiam deformatio insigne pulchritudinis
existimatur_."
[V] Abraham was a Chaldean, and, in instituting circumcision, was
undoubtedly influenced by the religious beliefs of his people.
Circumcision, however, was, with him, a new and special phallic
rite, and one not in vogue among the Chaldeans. _Vid._ Genesis,
18:10.
[63] Westermarck: _History of Human Marriage_, p. 202 _et seq._
[64] Westermarck: _History of Human Marriage_, p. 201 _et seq._
See, also, Wallace: _Travels on the Amazon_, p. 117 _et seq._
[65] Westermarck: _op. cit. ante._, p. 106.
Tattooing, among certain races, is a phallic rite, and in the Tahitians
the priapic origin of this procedure has been preserved in an
interesting myth. Hinaereeremonoi was the daughter of the god and goddess
Taaroa and Apouvaru. "As she grew up, in order to preserve her chasity,
she was made _pahio_, or kept in a kind of inclosure, and constantly
attended by her mother. Intent on her seduction, her brothers invented
tattooing, and marked each other with the figure called Taomaro. Thus
ornamented, they appeared before their sister, who admired the figures,
and, in order to be tattooed herself, eluding the care of her mother,
broke the inclosure that had been erected for her preservation, was
tattooed, and became, also, the victim to the designs of her brothers.
Tattooing thus originated among the gods, and was first practiced by the
children of Taaroa, their principle deity. _In imitation of their
example, and for the accomplishment of the same purposes it was
practiced among men._"[W][66]
[W] After the ceremony of tattooing had been performed, the
candidates were admitted to a religious society called _Areois_,
which had for its object an "unrestrained and public abandonment to
amorous pleasures." Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 61.
[66] Ellis: _Polynesian Researches_, vol. i, p. 262; quoted, also,
by Westermarck, _op. cit. ante._, p. 179.
With very few exceptions, primitive peoples, wherever found, have given
or still give unmistakable evidence of a knowledge of phallic worship in
some form or other. Many of them still practice it, generally combined
with the religion from which it was evolved, _i. e._, sun worship. The
Ainu of Japan is a notable example of a race whose religion shows the
presence of the elements of both worships. The religion of this
remarkable people, notwithstanding the fact that it has become decidedly
ethical (they having arrived at a knowledge of the good and evil
principles), shows its sun birth.[X] Until very recently the _couvade_
existed in full force and vigor. "As soon as a child was born, the
father had to consider himself very ill, and had, therefore, to stay at
home, wrapped up, by the fire. But the wife, poor creature! had to stir
about as much and as quickly as possible. The idea seems to have been
that _life was passing from the father into his child_."[67]
[X] Herodotus gives an interesting instance of the evolution of
phallic worship from nature worship. See _Clio_, 131.
[67] Batchelor: _The Ainu of Japan_, p. 44.
Among Slavonic races in early times, the worship of the generative
principle was almost universal. This continued, in a measure, even after
the establishment of Christianity, and we find phallic rites
masquerading in the garb of Christian observances as late as the
sixteenth century in parts of Russia and Hungary. Westermarck, in his
chapter on the human rut season in primitive times, says: "Writers of
the sixteenth century speak of the existence of certain festivals in
Russia, at which great license prevailed. According to Pamphil, these
annual gatherings took place, as a rule, at the end of June, the day
before the festival of St. John the Baptist, which in pagan times was
that of a divinity known by the name of Jarilo, corresponding to the
Priapus of the Greeks."[68] If my memory serves me correctly, Wappaeus
says that a like festival was in existence among the Hungarians two
hundred years ago.[69] To this day certain religious sects of Russia and
Hungary are in the habit of holding orgies at which all the ceremonies
of the ancient Liberalia, Floralia, and Saturnalia are duplicated. These
devotees claim that, when they have reached the acme of religious
enthusiasm, the spirit of God directs them, hence their licentious and
lustful acts cannot be immoral.
[68] Westermarck: _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 30.
[69] Wappaeus: _Allgem. Bevoelkerungsstatistik_.
When Great Britain was invaded and conquered by northern savages, the
latter, unquestionably, introduced their own religious beliefs, which
were largely phallic in character. The Teutonic god Frea was the same as
the Latin Priapus; while Friga, from whom our Friday gets its name,
because this day was sacred to her, was the Teutonic Venus. Frea is
called Freyr in old Norse, and in old German, Fro.
Among the Swedes he was worshiped under the name of Fricco, and a statue
of him at Upsala represented him in the characteristic attitude of the
god of procreation. "_Tertius est Fricco, pacem voluptatemque largiens
mortalibus, cujus etiam simulachrum fingunt ingenti priapo._"[70] From
this god a vulgar word for copulation had its origin. This word is in
use to-day among the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, thus proving that
the worship of the generative principle was in vogue among our own
immediate ancestors.
[70] Bremens: _De Situ Daniae_, p. 23; quoted, also, by the author
of _The Worship of the Generative Powers_, p. 126.
Statuettes of Priapus, bronzes representing the sexual organs, and
pottery covered with phallic scenes have been found all over England.
These relics are remembrances of the Roman occupation when the worship
of Priapus prevailed. In the parish of Adel, Yorkshire, was found an
altar erected to Priapus, who seems to be called in this instance
Mentula. At this place were found many other priapic relics, such as
lamps, bracelets, amulets, etc., etc.[71] Several images of the triple
phallus, as well as the single phallus, have been brought to light in
London; also phallic lamps, bracelets, etc.
[71] _The Worship of the Generative Powers_, p. 124.
All over England the Anglo-Saxon Frea, or Friga, has left remembrances
of his or her worship in place-names. Fridaythorpe in Yorkshire, and
Friston (Frea's stone), which occurs in several parts of England, are
examples. "We seem justified in supposing that this and other names
commencing with the syllable Fri or Fry, are so many monuments of the
existence of phallic worship among our Anglo-Saxon forefathers."[72]
There are other words in the English language which point directly to
this ancient religion; for instance, _fascinate_ and _fascination_.
These words were derivede directly from the Latin word _fascinum_, which
was one of the names of the male organ of generation. The fascinum was
worn suspended from the necks of women, and was supposed to possess
magical powers; hence, to _fascinate_. Horace makes use of the word in
Priapeia:
[72] _The Worship of the Generative Powers_, p. 127.
"_Placet, Priape? Qui sunt arboris coma
Sotes, sacrum revinct pampino caput,
Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino._"[73]
[73] Horace: _Priap. Carm._, lxxxiv.
That the worship of the fascinum was in vogue during the eighth
century[Y] in Italy and in other countries under the religious
jurisdiction of the Pope, the following from the _Judicia Sacerdotalia
Criminibus_, clearly indicates: "If any one has performed incantation to
the _fascinum_, or any incantation whatever, except one who chaunts the
Creed or the Lord's Prayer, let him do penance on bread and water during
three Lents."[74][Z]
[Y] A well informed Jesuit priest once told me that several laws
had been made about this time forbidding the worship of the female
sexual organ, under the name of _abricot_ or _apricot_. Rabelais
used the word _abricot fendu_ when speaking of the female genital
organs. See his works. Was this term derived from the Biblical
narrative of the genesis of the human race (the apple), or was it
taken from the phallic symbol, the pomegranate? Did Moses get it
from the Assyrians in the first place? I think he did.
[74] Martene and Durand: _Veterum Scriptorum Amplissima Collectio_,
tom. vii, p. 35. _Si quis praecantaverit ad fascinum, vel
qualescumque praecantationes excepto symbolum sanctum aut orationem
dominicam qui cantat et cui cantatur, tres quadrigesimas in pane et
aqua poeniteat._
[Z] As has been pointed out elsewhere in this work, ancient peoples
were essentially symbolical and materialistically symbolical at
that; they were very apt to typify nature, sexually, by some object
or objects which bore a resemblance real or fancied, to the sexual
organs. The red halves of the ripe apricot at the insertion of the
stem, look very much like the external genitalia of the human
female. The significance and importance of the pomegranate in the
mixed religion of the Ancient Hebrews are well brought out in rules
laid down for the ornamentations and embroidery of the robes of the
priests, etc., etc., _Vid. Old Testament_.
During the ninth century the Council of Chalons promulgated a similar
law, and in the twelfth century Buchardus repeats it, thus showing that
the worship of the generative principle was continuous throughout that
time.[75] That the worship of the fascinum was in vogue as late as 1247
is proven by the statutes of the Synod of Mans, which declare that he
who worships the fascinum shall be seriously dealt with.[76]
[75] D. Burchardi: _Decretorum libri_, lib. x, c. 49.
Some of these clerical references are taken from the Worship of
Priapus, but, since this work is exceedingly rare and costly, and
is not apt to come under the notice of the general reader, I have
thought best to give the original authorities.
[76] Martene and Durand: _Veterum Scriptorum Collectio Amplissima_,
tom. vii, col. 1377.
In Scotland, as late as 1268, according to the Chronicles of Lanercroft,
the people were in the habit of rubbing two pieces of wood together
until fire was produced. At the same time an image of the phallus was
elevated, and certain prayers were said to Priapus. This was the famous
"need fire," and was obtained in this way in order that it might have
the power of saving the cattle from the plague. Need fire was produced
in this manner in the Highlands as late as 1356, at which time a cattle
plague ravaged the country side. In Inverkeithing, a Catholic priest
gathered all the young girls of the village and made them dance around a
statue of Priapus. He himself led the dance, carrying a large wooden
image of the phallus, and excited these medieval bacchantes to
licentious movements and actions by his own actions and language.
When called to account by his bishop, he excused his action by stating
that such performances were common in his parish. These phallic
observances occurred in Easter week, March 29-April 15, 1282.[77]
[77] _The Chronicles of Lanercroft._
In Ireland, the female sexual organs seem to have been the symbol of
phallic worship most in use. In the arches over the doorways of
churches, a female figure, with the person fully exposed, was invariably
so placed that the external organs of generation at once caught the eye.
These figures were called _Shela-na-gig_, which in Irish means "Julian
the giddy." Sometimes these images were placed on the walls and used as
caryatides. From this symbol the horseshoe's power to ward off evil and
bring good luck has been evolved. The people in olden times were in the
habit of painting, or sketching with charcoal, drawings of the female
genitalia over the doors of their houses to ward off bad luck. These
drawings were necessarily rude, and probably resembled a horseshoe more
than they did the object for which they were intended. In course of
time, when the symbol had lost its original significance, the horseshoe
entirely took the place of the phallic image.
Herodotus says that Sesostris, king of Egypt, was in the habit of
erecting pillars in the countries conquered by his armies, on which he
had the female genitals engraved in order to show his contempt.[78] I
think that the historian misinterprets the meaning of the pillars; the
Egyptians were phallic worshipers, and these obelisks were, in all
probability, altars to Priapus.
[78] Herodotus: _Euterpe_, 102.
The beneficent influence of this particular phallic symbol has been well
brought out in several classical stories. When Ceres was wandering over
the world in her search after Proserpine, she came to the house of a
peasant woman, Baubo by name. Baubo saw that the goddess was heart-sick
and miserable, so she offered her a drink of cyceon ({~GREEK SMALL
LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER
KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK
SMALL LETTER NU~} [Transliteration: kykeon]). The goddess refused the
refreshing mixture, and continued her lamentations. Fully believing in
the virtue and efficacy of the symbol, Baubo lifted her robe and showed
Ceres her genitals.[AA] The goddess burst into laughter and at once
drank the cyceon.[79] The same superstition appears in a celebrated book
of the sixteenth century, _Le Moyen de Parvenir_. The author of the
"Worship of the Generative Powers" gives the following instructive
extract from this work:
[AA] For an analogous ceremony, see Herodotus, _Euterpe_, 60.
[79] Arnobius: _Adversus Gentes_, _lib._ v, c. 5.
_Hermes. On nomme ainsi ceux qui n'ont point vu le con de leur femme ou
de leur garce. Le pauvre valet de chez nous n'etoit donc pas coquebin;
il eut beau le voir._
_Varro. Quand?_
_Hermes. Attendez, etant en fiancailles, il vouloit prendre le cas de sa
fiancee; elle ne le vouloit pas: il faisoit le malade, et elle lui
demandoit: "Qu'y a-t-il, mon ami?" "Helas, ma mie, je suis si malade,
que je n'en puis plus; je mourrai si je ne vois ton cas." "Vraiment
voire?" dit-elle. "Helas! oui, si je l'avois vu, je guerirois." Elle ne
lui voulut point montrer; a la fin, ils furent maries. Il advint, trois
ou quatre mois apres, qu'il fut fort malade; et il envoya sa femme au
medicin pour porter de son eau. En allant, elle s'avisa de ce qu'il lui
avoit dit en fiancailles. Elle retourna vitement, et se vint mettre sur
le lit; puis, levant cotte et chemise lui presenta son cela en belle
vue, et lui disoit: "Jean, regarde le con, et te gueris._"[80]
[80] _The Worship of the Generative Powers_, p. 135.
Sir William Hamilton writes to Richard Payne Knight from Naples in the
year 1781, as follows:
"Having last year made a curious discovery, that in a province of this
kingdom, not fifty miles from its capital, a sort of devotion is still
paid to Priapus, the obscene divinity of the ancients (though under
another denomination), I have thought it a circumstance worth recording;
particularly as it offers a fresh proof of the similitude of the Popish
and Pagan religion, so well observed by Dr. Middleton in his celebrated
Letter from Rome; therefore I mean to deposit the authentic proofs of
this assertion in the British Museum when a proper opportunity shall
offer." Sir William goes on to relate how he found many phallic amulets,
charms, etc., in the possession of the people, and then describes the
votive offerings laid upon the altar at a feast given in honor of Saints
Cosmus and Damianus, in a church called by their names. The offerings
were waxen images of the phallus. "The vows are chiefly presented by the
female sex," continues he, "and they are seldom such as represent legs,
arms, etc., but most commonly the male parts of generation. A person who
was at this fete in the year 1780, told me that he heard a woman say, at
the time she presented a vow, '_Santo Cosimo benedetto, cosi lo
voglio._'"[81]
[81] Knight: _The Worship of Priapus_, pp. 3-6,7.
This church was in Isernia, a little village about fifty miles from
Naples, and away from the direct line of travel, hence its inhabitants
saw little of the world, and therefore kept to their old customs longer
than their more favored neighbors. Thus it happened that, even in the
latter half of the eighteenth century, Priapus had his votaries almost
within the shadow of the Vatican! These phallic rites were finally
abolished by episcopal command.
One of the most common amulets or charms against _jettitura_, or the
"evil eye," the _bete noire_ of every Italian, is a little coral hand.
The middle finger of this hand is extended, thus representing the penis,
while the other fingers are closed on the palm, thus representing the
testicles. In ancient times, when a man extended his hand, closed in
this manner, it was a gesture of insult and anger; to-day this gesture
is only made in derision and contempt. The hand closed in this way, or,
rather, with the thumb projecting between the first and second fingers
(another very common phallic symbol or sign), was called a "fig"; hence,
the old expression of contempt and indifference, "a fico for you, sir,"
now modernized into "I don't care a fig."[AB]
[AB] A modification of this is seen in the derisive gesture of the
street Arab who closes all of his fingers, except the middle one,
on his palm. The middle finger he holds stiffly erect and the hand
is then extended towards the object of his contempt. This gesture,
once performed as a deeply religious rite, has now become the
contemptuous sign of a boy of the street!
France, as well as Italy, had her phallic charms and her phallic saints.
Priapus was a god to the ancients--to the people of the Middle Ages he
was a saint. According to M. Dulaure, in the south of France, Provence,
Languedoc, and the Lyonnais, he was worshiped under the name of St.
Foutin. This name is derived from that of the first bishop of Lyons,
Fotinus, to whom the people had transferred (as they have done to many
other sainted individuals) the distinguishing characteristics of a god;
in this instance, Priapus. At Lyons there was an immense wooden
phallus, and the women were in the habit of scraping this image, and
then steeping the wood-dust in water, which they drank as a remedy
against barrenness. Sometimes they gave it to the men in order to
stimulate sexuality or sensuality. At Varailles, in Provence, waxen
images of the male and female sexual organs were offered to St. Foutin,
and, since these images were suspended from the ceiling and moved by
every vagrant current of air, the effect was sometimes very astonishing.
"_Temoin Saint Foutin de Varailles en Provence, auquel sont dediees les
parties honteuses de l'un et de l' autre sexe, formees en cire; le
plancher de la chapelle en est fort garni, et, quand le vent les fait
entrebattre, cela debauche un peu les devotions a l'honneur de ce
Saint._"[82]
[82] L'Estoile: _Confession de Sancy_, pp. 383, 391.
This worship at Varailles was identical with that of Isernia; the
votive offerings were waxen images or models of the genital organs,
while the saints differed only in name, not in character. At Embrun the
worship of St. Foutin was a little different. The women at this last
mentioned place poured wine on the phallus; this wine was collected in a
bucket, and, when it became sour, it was used as a medicine for
barrenness.
When Embrun was besieged and taken by the Protestants in 1585, this
phallus was found among the other sacred relics, and its head "was red
with the wine which had been poured upon it."[83] In the church of St.
Eutropius, at Orange, a large phallus covered with leather was seized
and burnt by the Protestants in 1562. Dulaure says that the sexual
organs were objects of worship at Porighy, Viviers, Vendre in the
Bourbonnais, Cives, Auxerre, Puy-en-Velay, and at hundreds of other
places. Some of these phalli were recreated as fast as they were worn
away by zealous devotees. They were so arranged in the walls of the
churches that, "as the phallic end in front became shortened (by
scrapings), a blow from a mallet from behind thrust it forward, so that
it was restored to its original length."[84]
[83] _The Worship of Priapus_, p. 141.
[84] _Ibid._
In the public square of Batavia there was formerly kept a bronze cannon
which had been captured from the natives. The touch-hole of this piece
of ordnance was made in the shape of a phallic hand or "fig," which I
have described elsewhere. The barren Malay women were in the habit of
seating themselves on this hand in order that they might become
pregnant.[AC] An analogous custom was prevalent in France and elsewhere
in Europe during the Middle Ages. This habit led to sexual abuses, and
was finally condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities. Indeed, the
Church inflicted severe penances on the women who were guilty of using
phalli: "_Mulier qualique molimine aut se ipsam aut cum altera fornicans
tres annos poeniteat, unum ex his pane et aqua. Cum sanctimoniali per
machinam fornicans, annos septem poeniteat, duos ex his in pane et
aqua._"[85] We see by this that nuns were more severely punished than
were other women.
[AC] According to Abel de Remusat (_Nouv. Mel. Asiatiques_, p.
116), the custom of _tchin-than_, or religious defloration, was
formerly in use in Cambodia and Malabar. This custom seems to be
analogous to the _jus primae noctis_, as practiced by many tribes,
where the woman, on her bridal night, has to yield herself up to
the male marriage guests--_jus primae noctis_, as thus practiced,
must not be confounded with the seignorial right, the right of the
lord, or ruler. The former right is regarded in the light of a
_quasi_ religious observance, while the latter is not. The former
was in vogue in ancient times in the Balearic Isles and among the
ancient Peruvians; recently among several aboriginal tribes of
India, in Burmah, in Cashmere, in Madagascar, in Arabia, and in New
Zealand. Vid. Teulon: _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 69.
[85] Martene et Durand: _Coll. Antiq. Can. Paenit._, iv, 52.
This use of the phallus is mentioned in the Bible, where it is bitterly
condemned by one of the prophets: "Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels
of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to
thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them."[86]
Finally, it was the custom of the young girls of France during the
Middle Ages (like the maidens of certain savage races), who were on the
eve of marriage, to offer up to St. Foutin their last maiden robes. From
the evidence here adduced, we see that phallic worship existed in some
parts of Europe as late as the latter half of the eighteenth century,
and that it was almost universal during the Middle Ages. According to
Becan,[87] Golnitz,[88] and other historians, there were several other
phallic saints besides St. Foutin who were worshiped in Belgium, Spain,
Germany and other European countries; but, since their adoration was
similar to that of St. Foutin, I do not think it necessary to give a
description of it here. It has been shown conclusively that worship of
the generative principle was in vogue among the Latins, the Greeks, the
ancient Germans, the Saxons, the Danes, the Gauls, the Iberians, the
Picts, the Celts and the Britons. It has been demonstrated, also, that
vestiges of phallic worship existed in England, France, Italy, Spain and
Germany during the Middle Ages. As late as the latter part of the
eighteenth century wax images of the phallus were used as votive
offerings in the town of Isernia, not many miles from Naples; the
beribboned Maypole of our Mayday festival is but the flower decked
phallus of the Roman matrons; charms against _jettitura_, "the evil
eye," little coral hands with the middle finger extended (in ancient
days one of the most common symbols of Priapus) can still be purchased
in the streets of Rome.[AD] "This worship" (that of Priapus) "which was
but part of that of the generative powers, appears to have been the most
ancient of the superstitions of the human race, and has prevailed more
or less among all known peoples before the introduction of Christianity;
and, singularly enough, _so deeply it seems to have been implanted in
human nature_ that even the promulgation of the gospel did not abolish
it, for it continued to exist, accepted and often encouraged by the
medieval clergy."[89]
[86] _Ezekiel_: chap, xiv[i], v. 17.
[i] Transcriber's Note - This has been corrected in handwriting to
'xvi'.
[87] Becan: _Origines Antwerpianae, lib_. i, pp. 26, 101.
[88] Golnitz: _Itinerarium Belgico-Gallicum_, p. 52.
[AD] The phallic hand in some form or other is frequently found in
the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The so-called _maison d'
joie_ found in one of the streets of Pompeii is considered by some
authorities to have been a minor temple to Venus where priapic
rites were celebrated. The stone phallus at the entrance as well as
the erotic frescoes on the wall, point to this as being true.
[89] Knight: _op. cit. ante._, p. 117.
So very ancient was the inception of the worship of the generative
principle that we have some reason for believing that even the
cave-dwellers practiced this cult. It was stated in the _Moniteur_,
January, 1865, that "in the province of Venice, in Italy, excavations in
a bone-cave have brought to light, beneath ten feet of stalagmite, bones
of animals, mostly post-tertiary, of the usual description found in such
places, flint implements, with a needle of bone having an eye and point,
and a plate of argillaceous compound, on which was scratched a rude
drawing of the phallus."[90] Thus we see that, possibly, from the time
of the cave-dwellers to almost the beginning of the nineteenth century,
phallic worship existed in Southern Europe! From the Sagas, folklore
tales, and myths of the Norse we have every reason for believing that it
existed for almost as great a length of time in Northern Europe. That in
Western Europe, before and during the Middle Ages, it flourished in a
variety of forms, we have unimpeachable testimony.
[90] _The Worship of the Generative Powers_, footnote p. 117.
In this brief outline of phallic worship I have endeavored to show that
the worship of the generative principle has been universal; that it is
still practiced by primitive peoples, and that vestiges of it lingered
among certain civilized peoples until, comparatively speaking, a recent
time. In order to show what a height of idealization and abstraction it
had reached at a time when Greece stood at the head of the civilized
world, I will close this part of my essay with the following quotation
from Knight's strong, erudite, and exhaustive treatise: "The ancient
theologists ... finding that they could conceive no idea of infinity,
were content to revere the Infinite Being in the most general and
efficient exertion of his power--attraction; whose agency is perceptible
through all matter, and to which all motion may, perhaps, be ultimately
traced. His agency being supposed to extend through the whole material
world, and to produce all the various revolutions by which its system is
sustained, his attributes were, of course, extremely numerous and
varied. These were expressed by various titles and epithets in the
mystic hymns and litanies, which the artists endeavored to represent by
various forms and characters of men and animals. The great
characteristic attribute was represented by the organ of generation in
that state of tension and rigidity which is necessary to the due
performance of its functions. Many small images of this kind have been
found among the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, attached to bracelets,
which the chaste and pious matrons of antiquity wore round their necks
and arms. In these the organ of generation appears alone, or accompanied
by the wings of incubation, in order to show that the wearer devoted
herself wholly and solely to procreation, the great end for which she
was ordained. So expressive a symbol, being constantly in view, must
keep her attention fixed on its natural object, and continually remind
her of the gratitude she owed the Creator for having taken her into his
service, made her partaker of his most valuable blessings, and employed
her as the passive instrument in the exertion of his most beneficial
power. The female organs of generation were revered as symbols of the
generative power of nature or matter, as the male's were of the
generative powers of God."[91]
[91] Knight: _The Worship of Priapus_, p. 27, _et seq._