With two exceptions, Figs. 4 and 9,--exhibits Christian emblems of the
trinity or linga, and the unity or yoni, alone or combined; the whole
being copied from Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament (London,
1869).
Fig. 1 is copied from Pugin, plate xvii., and indicates a double union
of the trinity with the unity, here represented as a ring, Vanneau.
* There is an able essay on this subject in No. 267 of the
Edinburgh Review--which almost exhausts the subject--but is
too long for quotation here.
Figs. 2, 8, are from Pagin, plate xiv. In figare 2, the two covered
balls at the base of each limb of the cross are extremely significant,
and if the artist had not mystified the free end, the most obtuse
worshipper must have recognised the symbol. We may add here that in the
two forms of the Maltese cross, the position of the lingam is reversed,
and the egg-shaped bodies, with their cover, are at the free end of each
limb, whilst the natural end of the organ is left unchanged. See figs.
85 and 86. This form of cross is Etruscan. Fig. 8 is essentially the
same as the preceding, and both may be compared with Fig. 4. The balls
in this cross are uncovered, and the free end of each limb of the cross
is but slightly modified.
Fig. 4 is copied in a conventional form from plate xxxv., fig. 4, of Two
Essays on the Worship of Priapus (London, 1865). It is thus described
(page 147): "The object was found at St. Agati di Goti, near
Naples.......It is a crux ansata formed by four phalli, with a circle
of female organs round the centre; and appears by the look to have been
intended for suspension. As this cross is of gold, it had no doubt been
made for some personage of rank, possibly an ecclesiastic." We see here
very distinctly the design of the egg- and sistrum- shaped bodies. When
we have such an unmistakable bi-sexual cross before our eyes, it is
impossible to ignore the signification of Figs. 2 and 8, and Plate xii.,
Figs. 4 and 7.
Figs. 5, 6 are from Pugin, plates xiv. and xv., and represent the
trinity with the unity, the triune god and the virgin united in one.
Fig. 7 represents the central lozenge and one limb of a cross, figured
plate xiv. of Pugin. In this instance the Maltese cross is united with
the symbol of the virgin, being essentially the same as Fig. 9, infra.
It is a modified form of the crux ansata.
Fig. 8 is a compound trinity, being the finial of each limb of an
ornamental cross. Pugin, plate xv.
Fig. 9 is a well-known Egyptian symbol, borne in the hand of almost
every divinity. It is a cross, with one limb made to represent the
female element in creation. The name that it technically bears is crux
ansata, or "the cross with a handle." A reference to Fig. 4 serves to
verify the idea which it involves.
Fig. 10 is from Pugin, plate xxxv. In this figure the cross is made by
the intersection of two ovals, each a vesica piscis, an emblem of the
yoni. Within each limb a symbol of the trinity is seen, each of which is
associated with the central ring.
Fig. 11 is from Pugin, plate xix., and represents the arbor vitae, the
branch, or tree of life, as a triad, with which the ring is united.
It has been said by some critics that the figures above referred to
are mere architectural fancies, which never had pretensions to embody
a mystery; and that any designer would pitch upon such a style of
ornamentation although profoundly ignorant of the doctrine of the
trinity and unity. But this assumption is not borne out by fact;
the ornaments on Buddhist topes have nothing in common with those of
Christian churches; whilst in the ruined temple of the sun at Marttand,
India, the trefoil emblem of the trinity is common. Grecian temples
were profusely ornamented therewith, and so are innumerable Etruscan
sculptures, but they do not represent the trinity and unity. It has been
reserved for Christian art to crowd our churches with the emblems of Bel
and Astarte, Baalim and Ashtoreth, linga and yoni, and to elevate the
phallus to the position of the supreme deity, and assign to him a virgin
as a companion, who can cajole him by her blandishment, weary him
by wailing, or induce him to change his mind by her intercessions.
Christianity certainly requires to be purged of its heathenisms.