It is also called the 'handled cross,' or crux ansata. It represents
the male triad and the female unit, under a decent form. There are
few symbols more commonly met with in Egyptian art than this. In
some remarkable sculptures, where the sun's rays are represented as
terminating in hands, the offerings which these bring are many a crux
ansata, emblematic of the truth that a fruitful union is a gift from the
deity.
Figures 44, 45, are ancient designs, in which the male and female
elements are more disguised than is usual. In Fig. 44 the woman is
indicated by the dolphin.
Figures 48, 49, represent the trefoil which was used by the ancient
Hindoos as emblematic of the celestial triad, and adopted by
modern Christians. It will be seen that from one stem arise three
curiously-shaped segments, each of which is supposed to resemble the
male scrotum, "purse," "bag," or "basket.".
Figure 50 is copied from Lajard, Culte de Venus, plate i., fig. 2.
He states that it is from a gem cylinder in the British Museum. It
represents a male and female figure dancing before the mystic palm-tree,
into whose signification we need not enter beyond saying that it is a
symbol of Asher. Opposite to a particular part of the figures is to be
seen a diamond, or oval, and a fleur de lys, or symbolic triad. This
gem is peculiarly valuable, as it illustrates in a graphic manner the
meaning of the emblems in question and how the "lillies of France" had a
pagan origin.
Figures 51 to 60 are varions representations of the union of the four,
the arba, the androgyne, or the linga-yoni.
Figure 61. In modern Christian art this symbol is called vesica piscis,
and is sometimes surrounded with rays. It commonly serves as a sort
of framework in which female saints are placed, who are generally
the representatives of the older Juno, Ceres, Diana, Venus, or other
impersonations of the feminine element in creation. We should not feel
obliged to demonstrate the truth of this assertion if decency permitted
us to reproduce here designs which naughty youths so frequently chalk
upon walls to the disgust of the proper part of the community. We must,
therefore, have resort to a religious book, and in a subsequent figure
demonstrate the meaning of the symbol unequivocally.
Figure 62 represents one of the forms assumed by the sistrum of Isis.
Sometimes the instrument is oval, and occasionally it terminates below
in a horizontal line, instead of in an acute angle. The inquirer can
very readily recognise in the emblem the symbol of the female creator.
If there should be any doubt in his mind, he will be satisfied after
a reference to Maffei's Gemme Antiche Figurate (Rome, 1707), vol. ii.,
plate 61, wherein Diana of the Ephesians is depicted as having a body
of the exact shape of the sistrum figured in Payne Knight's work on the
remains of the worship of Priapus, etc. The bars across the sistrum show
that it denotes a pure virgin (see Ancient Faiths, second edition, Vol.
n., pp. 743-746). On its handle is seen the figure of a cat--a sacred
animal amongst the Egyptians, for the same reason that Isis was
figured sometimes as a cow--viz., for its salacity and its love for its
offspring.
Figures 63 to 66 are all drawn from Assyrian sources.
The central figure, which is probably the biblical "grove," represents
the delta, or female "door." To it the attendant genii offer the pine
cone and basket. The signification of these is explained subsequently. I
was unable at first to quote any authority to demonstrate that the pine
cone was a distinct masculine symbol, but now the reader may be referred
to Maffei, Gemme Antiche Figurate (Rome, 1708), where, in vol. iii., he
will see a Venus Tirsigera.
The goddess in plate 8, is nude, and carries in her hand the tripliform
arrow, emblem of the male triad, whilst in the other she bears a
thyrsus, terminating in a pine or fir cone. Now this cone and stem are
carried in the Bacchic festivities, and can be readily recognised as
virga cum ovo. Sometimes the thyrsus is replaced by ivy leaves, which,
like the fig, are symbolic of the triple creator. Occasionally the
thyrsus was a lance or pike, round which vine leaves and berries were
clustered; Bacchus cum vino being the companion of Venus cum cerere. But
a stronger confirmation of my views may be found in a remarkable
group (see Fig. 124 infra). This is entitled Sacrifizio di Priapo, and
represents a female offering to Priapus. The figure of the god stands
upon a pillar of three stones, and it bears a thyrsus from which depend
two ribbons. The devotee is accompanied by a boy, who carries a pine-
or fir- cone in his hand, and a basket on his head, in which may be
recognised a male effigy. In Figure 64 the position of the advanced hand
of each of the priests nearest to the grove is very suggestive to the
physiologist. It resembles one limb of the Buddhist cross, Fig. 37,
supra. The finger or thumb when thus pointed are figurative of Asher, in
a horizontal position, with Anu or Hea hanging from one end. Figure
65 is explained similarly. It is to be noticed that a door is adopted
amongst modern Hindoos as an emblem of the sacti (see Figs. 152, 153,
infra).
My friend Mr. Newton, who has taken great interest in the subject of
symbolism, regards these "groves" as not being simply emblems of the
yoni, but of the union of that part with the lingam, or mystic palm
tree. As his ideas are extremely ingenious, and his theory perfect, I
have requested him to introduce them at the end of this work.
Figures 67, 68, 69, are fancy sketches intended to represent the "sacred
shields" spoken of in Jewish and other history. The last is drawn from
memory, and represents a Templar's shield. According to the method in
which the shield is viewed, it appears like the os tincae or the navel.
Figures 70, 71, represent the shape of the sistrum of Isis, the fruit of
the fig, and the yoni. When a garment of this shape is made and worn,
it becomes the "pallium" donned alike by the male and female individuals
consecrated to Roman worship.
King, in his Ancient Gnostics, remarks: "The circle of the sun is the
navel, which marks the natural position of the womb--the navel being
considered in the microcosm as corresponding to the sun in the universe,
an idea more fully exemplified in the famous hallucination of the Greek
anchorites touching the mystical 'Light of Tabor,' which was revealed to
the devotee after a fast of many days, all the time staring fixedly upon
the region of the navel, whence at length this light streamed as from a
focus." Pages 158, 154.
Figures 72, 73, represent an ancient Christian bishop, and a modern
nun wearing the emblem of the female sex. In the former, said (in Old
England Pictorially Illustrated, by Knight) to be a drawing of St.
Augustine, the amount of symbolism is great. The "nimbus" and the
tonsure are solar emblems; the pallium, the feminine sign, is studded
with phallic crosses; its lower end is the ancient T the mark of the
masculine triad; the right hand has the forefinger extended, like the
Assyrian priests whilst doing homage to the grove, and within it is the
fruit, tappuach, which is said to have tempted Eve. When a male dons the
pallium in worship, he becomes the representative of the trinity in the
unity, the arba, or mystic four. See Ancient Faiths, second edition,
Vol. n., pp. 915-918.
I take this opportunity to quote here a pregnant page of King's Gnostics
and their Remains, (Bell & Daldy, London, 1864). To this period belongs
a beautiful sard in my collection representing Serapis,... whilst
before him stands Isis, holding in one hand the sistrum, in the other a
wheatsheaf, with the legend... 'Immaculate is our lady Isis,' the very
terms applied afterwards to that personage who succeeded to her form
(the 'Black Virgins,' so highly reverenced in certain French Cathedrals
during the middle ages, proved, when examined critically, basalt figures
of Isis), her symbols, rites, and ceremonies.... Her devotees carried
into the new priesthood the former badges of their profession, the
obligation to celibacy, the tonsure, and the surplice, omitting,
unfortunately, the frequent ablutions prescribed by the ancient creed.
The sacred image still moves in procession as when Juvenal laughed at
it, vi. 530.
Escorted by the tonsured surpliced train. Her proper title, Domina, the
exact translation of Sanscrit Isi, survives with slight change in the
modern Madonna, Mater Domina.
By a singular permutation the flower borne by each, the lotus--ancient
emblem of the sun and fecundity--now re-named the lily, is interpreted
as significant of the opposing quality. The tinkling sistrum... is
replaced by... the bell, taken from Buddhist usages.... The erect oval
symbol of the Female Principle of Nature became the Vesica Piscis, and
the Crux Ansata, testifying the union of the male and female in the most
obvious manner, is transformed into the orb surmounted by the cross, as
an ensign of royalty. Pp. 71, 72.
Figure 74 is a well known Christian emblem, called "a foul anchor." The
anchor, as a symbol, is of great antiquity. It may be seen on an old
Etruscan coin in the British Museum, depicted in Veterum Popvlorum et
Regum Nummi, etc. (London, 1814), plate ii., fig. 1. On the reverse
there is a chariot wheel. The foul anchor represents the crescent moon,
the yoni, ark, navis, or boat; in this is placed the mast, round which
the serpent, the emblem of life in the "verge," entwines itself. The
cross beam completes the mystic four, symbolic alike of the sun and of
androgeneity. The whole is a covert emblem of that union which results
in fecundity. It is said by Christians to be the anchor of the soul,
sure and steadfast. This it certainly cannot be, for a foul anchor will
not hold the ground.
Figures 75 to 79 are Asiatic and Egyptian emblems in use amongst
ourselves, and receive their explanation similarly to preceding ones.
Figure 80 is copied from Godfrey Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii., fig.
27. It is drawn from Montfaucon, vol. ii., pi. cxxxii., fig. 6. In his
text, Higgins refers to two similar groups, one which exists in the
Egyptian temple of Ipsambal in Nubia, and is described by Wilson, On
Buddhists and Jeynes, p. 127, another, found in a cave temple in the
south of India, described by Col. Tod, in his History of Raj-pootanah.
The group is not explained by Montfaucon. It is apparently Greek, and
combines the story of Hercules with the seductiveness of Circe. The
tree and serpent are common emblems, and have even been found in Indian
temples in central America, grouped as in the woodcut.
Figure 81 is copied from Lajard, Culte de Venus, plate xix., fig.
11, The origin of this, which is a silver statuette in that author's
possession, is unknown. The female represents Venus bearing in one hand
an apple; her arm rests upon what seems to be a representative of the
mystic triad (the two additions to the upright stem not being seen in
a front view) round which a dolphin for 'womb' is entwined, from whose
mouth comes the stream of life. The apple plays a strange part in Greek
and Hebrew mythology. The story of "the apple of discord," awarded by
Paris to Venus, seems to indicate that where beauty contends against
majesty and wisdom for the love of youth, it is sure to win the day. We
learn from Arnobius that a certain Nana conceived a son by an apple (Op,
Cit., p. 286), although in another place the prolific fruit is said to
have been a pomegranate. Mythologically, that writer sees no difficulty
in the story, for those who affirm that rocks and hard stones have
brought forth. In the Song of Solomon, apples and the tree that bears
them are often referred to; and we have in Ch. ii. 5 the curious
expression, "Comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." We are
familiar with the account of Eve being tempted by the same fruit.
Critics imagine that as the apple in Palestine is not good eating, the
quince is meant; if so, we know that a leaf of that tree is to be
seen in every amorous picture found in Pompeii, the plant having been
supposed to increase virile power. Others imagine that the citron is
intended, whose shape makes it an emblem of the testis. However this may
be decided, it is tolerably clear, from all the tales and pictures
in which a fruit like the apple figures, that the emblem symbolised
a desire for an intimate union between the sexes. The reader will
doubtless remember how, in Genesis xxx, Leah is represented as
purchasing her husband's company for a night by means of mandrakes, the
result being the birth of Issachar; and in the well-known story of the
Creation we find that the apple gives birth to desire, as shown in the
recognition for the first time of the respective nudity of the
couple, which was followed immediately, or as soon as it was possible
afterwards, by sexual intercourse and the conception of Cain.
Figure 82 is from Lajard (Op. Cit.), plate xivb, fig. 3.
The gem is of unknown origin, but is apparently Babylonish; it
represents the male and female in conjunction: each appears to be
holding the symbol of the triad in much respect, whilst the curious
cross suggests a new reading to an ancient symbol.
I have of late heard it asserted, by a man of considerable learning,
though of a very narrow mind in everything which bears upon religious
subjects, that there is no proof that the sun was commonly regarded as a
male, or the moon as a female; and he based his strange assertion solely
upon the ground that in German and some other languages the sun was
represented by a feminine, and the moon by a masculine noun. The
argument is of no value, for [--Greek--] and other Greek and Latin names
of the yoni, are masculine nouns, and Virga and Mentula, the Roman words
for the Linga, are feminine. In Hindostan, the sun is always represented
as a God; the moon is occasionally a male, and sometimes a female deity.
In ancient Gaulish and Scandinavian figures, the sun was always a male,
and the moon a female. Their identification will be seen in Figure
118--as their conjunction is in the one before us--in the position of
the individuals, and in the fleur-de-lys and oval symbol.
Figure 88 may be found in Fabretti's Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum
(Turin, 1867), plate xxv., fig. 808 f. The coins which bear the figures
are of brass, and were found at Volaterrae. In one the double head is
associated with a dolphin and crescent moon on the reverse, and the
letters Velathri, in Etruscan. A similar inscription exists on the one
containing the club. The club, formed as in Figure 88, occurs frequently
on Etruscan coins. For example, two clubs are joined with four balls on
a Tudertine coin, having on the reverse a hand apparently gauntleted for
fighting, and four balls arranged in a square. On other coins are to
be seen a bee, a trident, a spear head, and other tripliform figures,
associated with three balls in a triangle; sometimes two, and sometimes
one. The double head with two balls is seen on a Telamonian coin, having
on the reverse what appears to be a leg with the foot turned upwards. In
a coin of Populonia the club is associated with a spear and two balls,
whilst on the reverse is a single head. I must notice, too, that on
other coins a hammer and pincers, or tongs, appear, as if the idea was
to show that a maker, fabricator, or heavy hitter was intended to be
symbolised. What that was is further indicated by other coins, on which
a head appears thrusting out the tongue. At Cortona two statuettes of
silver have been found, representing a double-faced individual. A lion's
head for a cap, a collar, and buskins are the sole articles of dress
worn. One face appears to be feminine, and the other masculine, but
neither is bearded. The pectorals and the general form indicate the
male, but the usual marks of sex are absent. On these have been found
Etruscan inscriptions (1) v. cvinti arntias CULPIANSI ALP AN TURCE; (2)
V. CVINTE ARNTIAS SELANSE TEZ alpan TUBCE. Which may be rendered (1)
"V. Quintus of Aruntia, to Culpian pleasing, a gift"; (2) "V. Quintus
of Aruntia to Vulcan pleasing gave a gift," evidently showing that they
were ex voto offerings.
Col. Forbes Leslie's Early Races of Scotland. In plate 49 it is
associated with a serpent, apparently the cobra. The design is spoken
of as "the spectacle ornament," and it is very commonly associated with
another figure closely resembling the letter Z. It is very natural for
the inquirer to associate the twin circles with the sun and earth, or
the sun common amongst the sculptured stones in Scotland. Four varieties
may be seen in plate 48 of sun and moon. On one Scottish monument the
circles represent wheels, and they probably indicate the solar chariot.
As yet I have only been able to meet with the Z and "spectacle ornament"
once out of Scotland; it is figured on apparently a Gnostic gem (The
Gnostics and their Remains, by C. W. King, London, 1864, plate ii., fig.
5). In that we see in a serpent cartouche two Z figures, each having
the down stroke crossed by a horizontal line, both ends terminating in
a circle; besides them is a six-rayed star, each ray terminating in a
circle, precisely resembling the star in Plate in., Fig. 8, supra. I can
offer no satisfactory explanation of the emblem.
Figures 85, 86, represent a Yorkshire and an Indian stone circle. The
first is copied from Descriptions of Cairns, Cromlechs, Kistvaens, and
other Celtic, Druidical, or Scythian Monuments in the Dekkan, by Col.
Meadows Taylor, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv.
The mound exists at Twizell, Yorkshire, and the centre of the circle
indicates an ancient tomb, very similar to those found by Taylor in the
Dekkan; this contained only one single urn, but many of the Indian
ones contained, besides the skeleton of the great man buried therein,
skeletons of other individuals who had been slaughtered over his tomb,
and buried above the kistvaen containing his bones; in one instance two
bodies and three heads were found in the principal grave, and twenty
other skeletons above and beside it. A perusal of this very interesting
paper will well repay the study bestowed upon it. Figure 86 is copied
from Forbes Leslie's book mentioned above, plate 59. It represents a
modern stone circle in the Dekkan, of very recent construction. The
dots upon the stones represent dabs of red paint, which again represent
blood. The circles are similar to some which have been found in
Palestine, and give evidence of the presence of the same religious ideas
existing in ancient England and Hindostan, as well as in modern India.
The name of the god worshipped in these recent shrines is Vetal, or
Betal. It is worth mentioning, in passing, that there is a celebrated
monolith in Scotland called the Newton Stone, on which are inscribed,
evidently with a graving tool, an inscription in the Ogham, and another
in some ancient Aryan character (see Moore's Ancient Pillar Stones of
Scotland).
Figure 87 indicates the solar wheel, emblem of the chariot of Apollo.
This sign is a very common one upon ancient coins; sometimes the rays or
spokes are four, at others they are more numerous. Occasionally the tire
of the wheel is absent, and amongst the Etruscans the nave is omitted.
The solar cross is very common in Ireland, and amongst the Romanists
generally as a head dress for male saints.
Figure 88 is copied from Hyslop, who gives it on the authority of Col.
Hamilton Smith, who copied it from the original collection made by
the artists of the French Institute of Cairo. It is said to represent
Osiris, but this is doubtful. There is much that is intensely mystical
about the figure. The whip, or flagellum, placed over the tail, and the
head passing through the yoni, the circular spots with their central
dot, the horns with solar disc, and two curiously shaped feathers (?),
the calf reclining upon a plinth, wherein a division into three is
conspicuous, all have a meaning in reference to the mystic four.
I have long had a doubt respecting the symbolic meaning of the scourge.
Some inquirers have asserted that it is simply an emblem of power
or superiority, inasmuch as he who can castigate must be in a higher
position than the one who is punished. But of this view I can find no
proof. On the other hand, any one who is familiar with the effect
upon the male produced by flagellation, and who notices that the
representations of Osiris and the scourge show evidence that the deity
is in the same condition as one who has been subjected to the rod, will
be disposed to believe that the flagellum is an indication or symbol
of the god who gives to man the power to reproduce his like, or who can
restore the faculty after it has faded. It is not for a moment to be
supposed that a deity who was to be worshipped would be depicted as
a task-master, whose hands are more familiar with punishment than
blessing.
Figure 89 is taken from Lajard's Culte de Venus, plate i., fig. 14, and
is an enlarged impression of a gem. A similar figure is to be found in
Payne Knight's work On the Worship of Priapus. In both instances the
female is fringed with male emblems. In the one before us a fish,
apparently a dolphin, is borne in one hand. In the other the woman is
bearded. These are representations of Ashtaroth--the androgyne deity in
which the female predominates.
Fig. 90 represents an ancient Italian form of the Indian Ling Yoni. It
is copied from a part of the Frontispiece of Faber's Dissertation on the
Cabiri, where it is stated that the plate is a copy of a picture of a
nymphoeum found when excavating a foundation for the Barbarini Palace at
Rome. It deserves notice, because the round mound of masonry surmounted
by the short pillars is precisely similar to similar erections found
in Hindostan on the East and America on the West, as well as in varions
parts of Europe. The oval in the pediment and the solitary pillar
have the same meaning as the Caaba and hole--the upright stone and pit
revered at Mecca long before Mahomet's time--the tree serves to identify
the pillar, and vice versa. Apertures were common in ancient sepulchral
monuments, alike in Hindostan and England; one perforated stone is
preserved as a relic in the precincts of an old church in modern Rome.
The aperture is blackish with the grease of many hands, which have been
put therein whilst their owners took a sacred oath. We have already
remarked how ancient Abraham and a modern Arab have sworn by the Linga;
it is therefore by no means remarkable that some of a different form of
faith should swear by the Yoni.
Figure 91 is stated by Higgins, Anacalypm, p. 217, to be a mark on the
breast of an Egyptian mummy in the Museum of University College, London.
It is essentially the same symbol as the crux ansata, and is emblematic
of the male triad and the female unit.
Figure 92 is simply introduced to show that the papal tiara has not
about it anything particularly Christian, a similar head-dress having
been worn by gods or angels in ancient Assyria, where it appeared
crowned by an emblem of "the trinity." We may mention, in passing, that
as the Romanists adopted the mitre and the tiara from "the cursed brood
of Ham," so they adopted the episcopalian crook from the augurs of
Etruria, and the artistic form with which they clothe their angels from
the painters and um-makers of Magna Gracia and Central Italy.
Figure 98 is the Mithraic lion. It may be seen in Hyde's Religion of the
Ancient Persians, second edition, plate i. It may also be seen in vol.
ii., plates 10 and 11, of Maffei's Gemme Antiche Figurate (Rome, 1707).
In plate 10 the Mithraic lion has seven stars above it, around which
are placed respectively, words written in Greek, Etruscan and Phoenician
characters, ZEDCH. TELKAN. TELKON. TELKON. QIDEKH. UNEULK. LNKELLP.,
apparently showing that the emblem was adopted by the Gnostics. It
would be unprofitable to dwell upon the meaning of these letters. After
puzzling over them, I fancy that "Bad spirits, pity us," "Just one, I
call on thee," may be made out by considering the words to be very bad
Greek, and the letters to be much transposed.
Figure 94 is copied by Higgins, Anacalypsis, on the authority of Dubois,
who states, vol. iii., p. 88, that it was found on a stone in a church
in France, where it had been kept religiously for six hundred years.
Dubois regards it as wholly astrological, and as having no reference to
the story told in Genesis. It is unprofitable to speculate on the draped
figures as representatives of Adam and Eve. We have introduced it to
show how such tales are intermingled with Sabeanism.
Figure 95 is a copy of a gem figured by Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p.
156), and represents Harpocrates seated on a lotus, adoring the mundane
representative of the mother of creation. I have not yet met with any
ancient gem or sculpture which seems to identify the yoni so completely
with various goddesses.
Compare this with Figure 138, infra, wherein the Figure 95. emblem is
even more strikingly identified with woman, and with the virgin Mary.
Those who are familiar with the rude designs too often chalked on
hoardings, will see that learned ancients and boorish moderns represent
certain ideas in precisely similar fashion, and will understand the
mystic meaning of O ---- I have elsewhere called attention to the idea
that a sight of the yoni is a source of health, and a charm against evil
spirits; however grotesque the idea may be, it has existed in all ages,
and in civilised and savage nations alike. A rude image of a woman who
shamelessly exhibits herself has been found over the doors of churches
in Ireland, and at Servatos, in Spain, where she is standing on one side
of the doorway, and an equally conspicuous man on the other. The same
has been found in Mexico, Peru, and in North America. Nor must we forget
how Baubo cured the intense grief of Ceres by exposing herself in a
strange fashion to the distressed goddess. Arnobius, Op. Cit., pp. 249,
250.
As I have already noticed modern notions on the influence produced
by the exhibition of the yoni on those who are suffering, the legend
referred to may be shortly described. The goddess, in the story, was
miserable in consequence of her daughter, Proserpine, having been stolen
away by Pluto. In her agony, snatching two Etna-lighted torches, she
wanders round the earth in search of the lost one, and in due course
visits Eleusis. Baubo receives her hospitably; but nothing that the
hostess does induces the guest to depose her grief for a moment. In
despair the mortal bethinks her of a scheme, shaves off what is called
in Isaiah "the hair of the feet" and then exposes herself to the
goddess. Ceres fixes her eyes upon the denuded spot, is pleased with the
strange form of consolation, consents to take food and is restored to
comfort.
Figure 96 is copied from plate 22, fig. 8, of Lajard's Culte de Venus.
He states that it is an impression of a cornelian cylinder, in the
collection of the late Sir William Ouseley, and is supposed to represent
Oannes, or Bel and two fish gods, the authors of fecundity. It is
thought that Dagon of the Philistines resembled the two figures
supporting the central one.
Figure 97 is a side view of plate 1. The idol represents a female.
Dagon, the fish god, male above, piscine below, was one of the many
symbols of an androgyne creator. In the first of the Avatars of Vishnu,
he is represented as emerging from the mouth of a fish, and being a fish
himself; the legend being that he was to be the saviour of the world in
a deluge which was to follow. See Moor's Hindu Pantheon, and Coleman's
Mythology of the Hindus.
Figure 98 is a fancy sketch of the fleur-de-lys, the lily of France.
It symbolises the male triad, whilst the ring around it represents
the female. The identification of this emblem of the trinity with the
tripliform Mahadeva, and of the ring with his sacti, may be seen in the
next figure.
Figure 99, which we have already given on page 46, is one of great value
to the inquirer into the signification of certain symbols. It has been
reintroduced here to show the identification of the eye, fish, or oval
shape, with the yoni, and of the fleur-de-lys with the lingam, which
is recognised by the respective positions of the emblems in front of
particular parts of the mystic animals, who both, on their part, adore
the symbolic palm tree, with its pistil and stamens. The rayed branches
of the upper part of the tree, and the nearness to it of the crescent
moon, seem to indicate that the palm was a solar as well as a sexual
emblem.
The great similarity of the palm tree to the ancient round towers
in Ireland and elsewhere will naturally strike the observer. He will
perhaps remember also that on certain occasions dancing, feasting, and
debauchery were practised about a round tower in Wicklow, such as were
practised round the English may-pole, the modern substitute of the
mystic palm tree. We have now humanised our practice, but we have not
purified our land of all its veiled symbols.
In some parts, where probably the palm tree does not flourish, the pine
takes its place as an emblem. It was sacred to the mother of the gods,
whose names, Rhoea, Ceres, Cybele, are paraphrastic of the yoni. We
learn from Araobius, Op. Cit., p. 239, that on fixed days that tree was
introduced into the sanctuary of that august personage, being decorated
by fleeces and violets. It does not require any recondite knowledge to
understand the signification of the entrance of the pine into the temple
of the divine mother, nor what the tree when buried in the midst of a
fleece depicts. Those who have heard of the origin of the Spanish Royal
Order of the Golden Fleece know that the word is an enphemism for the
lanugo of the Romans. Parsley round a carrot root is a modern symbol,
and the violet is as good an emblem of the lingam as the modern pistol.
It has long been known that the ancient custom of erecting a may-pole,
surrounding it with wreaths of flowers, and then dancing round it in
wild orgy, was a relic of the ancient custom of reverencing the symbol
of creation, invigorated by the returning spring time, without whose
powers the flocks and herds would fail to increase. It will not fail to
attract the notice of my readers, that a pine cone is constantly being
offered to the sacred "grove" by the priests of Assyria.
Figures 100, 101, represent the Buddhist cross and one of its arms.
The first shows the union of four phalli. The single one being a
conventional form of a well-known organ. This form of cross does not
essentially differ from the Maltese cross. In the latter, Asher stands
perpendicularly to Anu and Hea; in the former it is at right angles to
them. "The pistol" is a well-known name amongst our soldiery, and
four such joined together by the muzzle would form the Buddhist cross.
Compare Figure 37, ante.
Figures 102, 108, 104, indicate the union of the four creators, the
trinity and the unity. Not having at hand any copy of an ancient key,
I have used a modern one; but this makes no essential difference in the
symbol.
Figures 105, 106, are copied from Lajard, Sur le Culte de Venus, plate
ii. They represent ornaments held in the hands of a great female figure,
sculptured in bas relief on a rock at Yazili Kaia, near to Boghaz Keni,
in Anatolia, and described by M. C. Texier in 1834. The goddess is
crowned with a tower, to indicate virginity; in her right hand she holds
a staff, shown in Figure 106; in the other, that given in Figure 105,
she stands upon a lioness, and is attended by an antelope. Figure 105 is
a complicated emblem of the four.
Figures 107, 108, 109, are copied from Moor's Hindu Pantheon, plate
lxxxiii. They represent the lingam and then yoni, which amongst the
Indians are regarded as holy emblems, much in the same way as a crucifix
is esteemed by certain modern Christians.
In worship, ghee, or oil, or water, is poured over the pillar, and
allowed to run off by the spout. Sometimes the pillar is adorned by a
necklace, and is associated with the serpent emblem. In Lucian's account
of Alexander, the false prophet, which we have condensed in Ancient
Faiths, second edition, there is a reference to one of his dupes, who
was a distinguished Roman officer, but so very superstitious, or, as he
would say of himself, so deeply imbued with religion, that at the sight
of a stone he would fall prostrate and adore it for a considerable time,
offering prayers and vows thereto. This may by some be thought quite
as reasonable as the practice once enforced in Christian Rome, which
obliged all persons in the street to kneel in reverence when an ugly
black doll, called "the bambino," or a bit of bread, over which some
cabalistic words had been muttered, was being carried in procession past
them. Arnobins, Op, Cit., p. 81, says, "I worshipped images produced
from the furnace, gods made on anvils and by hammers, the bones of
elephants, paintings, wreaths on aged trees; whenever I espied an
anointed stone, and one bedaubed with olive oil, as if some person
resided in it, I worshipped it, I addressed myself to it, and begged
blessings from a senseless stock." Compare Gen. xxviii. 18, wherein we
find that Jacob set up a stone and anointed it with oil, and called the
place Bethel, and Is. xxvii. 19, xl. 20, xliv. 10-20.
I copy the following remarks from a paper by Mr. Sellon, in Memoirs of
the London Anthropological Society, for 1868-4. Speaking of Hindostan,
he remarks, "As every village has its temple so every temple has its
Lingam, and these parochial Lingams are usually from two to three feet
in height, and rather broad at the base. Here the village girls, who are
anxious for lovers or husbands, repair early in the morning. They make
a lustration by sprinkling the god with water brought from the Ganges;
they deck the Linga with garlands of the sweet-smelling bilwa flower;
they perform the mudra, or gesticulation with the fingers, and, reciting
the prescribed mantras, or incantations, they rub themselves against
the emblem, and entreat the deity to make them fruitful mothers of
pulee-pullum (i.e., child fruit).
"This is the celebrated Linga puja, during the performance of which the
panchaty, or five lamps, must be lighted, and the gantha, or bell, be
frequently rung to scare away the evil demons. The mala, or rosary of a
hundred and eight round beads, is also used in this puja."
See also Moor's Hindu Pantheon, plate xxii, pp. 68, 69, 70. Again, in
the Dabistan, a work written in the Persian language, by a travelled
Mahometan, about a. d. 1660, and translated by David Shea, for the
Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland (8 vols., 8vo.,
Allen and Co., Leadenhall Street, London), we read, vol. ii., pp.
148-160, "The belief of the Saktian is that Siva, that is, Mahadeva, who
with little exception is the highest of deities and the greatest of the
spirits, has a spouse whom they call Maya Sakti.....With them the power
of Mahadeva's wife, who is Bhavani, surpasses that of the husband. The
zealous of this sect worship the Siva Linga, although other Hindoos also
venerate it. Linga is called the virile organ, and they say, on
behalf of this worship, that as men and all living beings derive their
existence from it, adoration is duly bestowed upon it. As the linga of
Mahadeva, so do they venerate the bhaga, that is, the female organ.
A man very familiar with them gave the information that, according to
their belief, the high altar, or principal place in a mosque of the
Mussulmans, is an emblem of the bhaga. Another man among them said that
as the just-named place emblems the bhaga, the minar or turret of the
mosque represents the linga." The author then goes on to describe the
practices of the sect, which may be summed up in the words--the most
absolute freedom of love.
Apropos of the Mahometan minaret and Christian church towers and spires,
I may mention that Lucian describes the magnificent temple of the Syrian
goddess as having two vast phalli before its main entrance, and how at
certain seasons men ascended to their summit, and remained there some
days, so as to utter from thence the prayers of the faithful.
Figures 110, 111, both from Moor, plate lxxxvi., are forms of the argha,
or sacred sacrificial cup, bowl, or basin, which represent the yoni, and
some other things besides. See Moor, Hindu Pantheon, pp. 898, 894.
Figure 112. Copied from Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies, vol. i., p. 176,
symbolises Ishtar, the Assyrian representative of Devi, Parvati,
Isis, Astarte, Venus, and Mary. The virgin and child are to be found
everywhere, even in ancient Mexico.
Figure 118 is copied from Lajard, Sur le Culte de Venus, plate xix.,
fig. 6, and represents the male and female as the sun and moon, thus
identifying the symbolic sex of those luminaries. The legend in the
Pehlevi characters has not been interpreted.
Figure 114 is taken from a mediaeval woodcut, lent to me by my friend,
Mr. John Newton, to whom I am indebted for the sight of, and the
privilege to copy, many other figures. In it the virgin Mary is seen
as the Queen of Heaven, nursing her infant, and identified with the
crescent moon, the emblem of virginity. Being before the sun, she almost
eclipses its light. Than this, nothing could more completely identify
the Christian mother and child with Isis and Horus, Ishtar, Venus, Juno,
and a host of other pagan goddesses, who have been called 'Queen of
Heaven,' 'Queen of the Universe' 'Mother of God,' 'Spouse of God,' the
'Celestial Virgin,' the 'Heavenly Peace Maker,' etc.
Figures 115, 116, are common devices in papal churches and pagan
symbolism. They are intended to indicate the sun and moon in
conjunction, the union of the triad with the unit. I may notice, in
passing, that Mr. Newton has showed to me some mediaeval woodcuts, in
which the young unmarried women in a mixed assemblage were indicated by
wearing upon their foreheads a crescent moon.
Figure 117 is a Buddhist symbol, or rather a copy of Maityna Bodhisatwa,
from the monastery of Gopach, in the valley of Nepaul.
It is taken from Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xviii., p. 894.
The horse-shoe, like the vesica piscis of the Roman church, indicates
the yoni; the last, taken from some cow, mare, or donkey, being used in
eastern parts where we now use their shoes, to keep off the evil eye.
It is remarkable that some nations should use the female organ, or an
effigy thereof, as a charm against ill luck, whilst others adopt the
male symbol. In Ireland, as we have previously remarked, a female
shamelessly exhibiting herself, and called Shelah-na-gig, was to be seen
in stone over the door of certain churches, within the last century.
From the resemblance in the shape of the horse-shoe to the "grove" of
the Assyrian worshippers, and from the man standing within it as the
symbolic pine tree stands in the Mesopotamian, "Asherah," I think we may
fairly conclude that the Indian, like the Shemitic emblem, typifies the
union of the sexes--the androgyne creator.
That some Buddhists have mingled sexuality with their ideas of religion,
may be seen in plate ii. of Emil Schlagintweit's Atlas of Buddhism in
Tibet, wherein Vajarsattva, "The God above all," is represented as a
male and female conjoined. Rays, as of the sun, pass from the group;
and all are enclosed in an ornate oval, or horse-shoe, like that in this
figure. Few, however, but the initiated would recognise the nature of
the group at first sight.
I may also notice, in passing, that the goddess Doljang (a.d. 617-98)
has the stigmata in her hands and feet, like those assigned to Jesus of
Nazareth and Francis of Assisi.
Figure 118 is a copy of the medal issued to pilgrims at the shrine of
the virgin at Loretto. It was lent to me by Mr. Newton, but the engraver
has omitted to make the face of the mother and child black, as the most
ancient and renowned ones usually are.
Instead of the explanation given in Ancient Faiths, Vol. ii., p. 262,
of the adoption of a black skin for Mary and her son, D'Harcanville
suggests that it represents night, the period during which the feminine
creator is most propitious or attentive to her duties. It is unnecessary
to contest the point, for almost every symbol has more interpretations
given to it than one. I have sought in vain for even a plausible reason
for the blackness of sacred virgins and children, in certain papal
shrines, which is compatible with decency and Christianity. It is clear
that the matter will not bear the light.
Figure 119 is from Lajard, Op. Cit., plate iii., fig. 8. It represents
the sun, moon, and a star, probably Venus.
The legend is in Phoenician, and may be read LNBRB. Levy, in Siegel und
Gemmen, Breslau, 1869, reads the legend [------], LKBRBO, but does not
attempt to explain it.
Figure 120 is also from Lajard, plate i., fig. 8. It represents an act
of worship before the symbols of the male and female creators, arranged
in three pairs. Above are the heavenly symbols of the sun and moon.
Below are the male palm tree, and the barred [------], identical in
meaning with the sistrum, i. e., virgo intacta. Next come the male
emblem, the cone, and the female symbol, the lozenge or yoni.
Figure 121 represents also a worshipper before the barred female symbol,
surmounted by the seven-rayed star, emblem of the male potency, and
of the sun or the heavens. It will be noticed--and the matter is
significant--that the hand which is raised in adoration is exactly
opposite the conjunction of the two. Compare this with Fig. 95, where
the female alone is the object of reverence.
Lajard and others state that homage, such as is here depicted, is
actually paid in some parts of Palestine and India to the living symbol;
the worshipper on bended knees offering to it, la bouche inferieure,
with or without a silent prayer, his food before he eats it. A
corresponding homage is paid by female devotees to the masculine emblem
of any very peculiarly holy fakir, one of whose peculiarities is, that
no amount of excitement stimulates the organ into what may be called
creative energy. It has long been a problem how such a state of apathy
is brought about, but modern observation has proved that it is by the
habitual use of weights. Such homage is depicted in Picart's Religious
Ceremonies of all the People in the World, original French edition,
plate 71.
Figure 122 is copied from Bryant's Ancient Mythology, third edition,
vol. iii., p. 193. That author states that he copied it from Spanheim,
but gives no other reference. It is apparently from a Greek medal, and
has the word CAMIUN as an inscription. It is said to represent Juno,
Sami, or Selenitis, with the sacred peplum. The figure is remarkable
for showing the identity of the moon, the lozenge, and the female. It
is doubtful whether the attitude of the goddess is intended to represent
the cross.
As in religious Symbolism every detail has a signification, we naturally
speculate upon the meaning of the beads which fringe the lower part of
the diamond-shaped garment. We have noticed in a previous article that
the Linga when worshipped was sometimes adorned with beads, which were
the fruit of a tree sacred to Mahadeva; in the original of fig. 4, plate
xi. supra, the four arms of the cross have a series of beads depending
from them. On a very ancient coin of Citium, a rosary of beads, with a
cross, has been found arranged round a horse-shoe form; and beads
are common ornaments on Hindoo Divinities. They may only be used for
decoration and without religious signification; if they have the last, I
have not been able to discover it.
Figure 128 is a composition taken from Bryant, vol. iv., p. 286. The
rock, the water, the crescent moon as an ark, and the dove hovering
over it, are all symbolical; but though the author of it is right in his
grouping, it is clear that he is not aware of its full signification.
The reader will readily gather their true meaning from our articles upon
the Ark and Water, and from our remarks upon the Dove in Ancient Faiths,
second edition.
Figure 124 is copied from Maffei's Gemme Antiche Figurate, vol. 8, plate
xl. In the original, the figure upon the pillar is very conspicuously
phallic, and the whole composition indicates what was associated with
the worship of Priapus.
This so-called god was regarded much in the same light as 'St. Cosmo and
St. Damian were at Iseraia, and St. Foutin in Christian France. And it
is not at all surprising that a church, which has deified or made saints
of a spear and cloak, under the names Longinus and Amphibolus, should
also adopt the "god of the gardens," and consecrate him as an object for
Christian worship, and give him an appropriate name and emblem. But the
patron saint of Lampsacus was not really a deity, only a sort of saint,
whose business it was to attend to certain parts. The idea of guardian
angels was once common, see Matt, xviii. 10, where we read, that each
child has a guardian in heaven, who looks after his infantile charge. As
the pagan Hymen and Lucina attended upon weddings and parturitions,
so the Christian Cosmo and Damian attended to spouses, and assisted in
making them fruitful. To the last two were offered, by sterile wives,
wax effigies of the part left out from the nude figure in our plate.
To the heathen saint, we see a female votary offer quince leaves,
equivalent to la feuille de sage, egg-shaped bread, apparently a cake;
also an ass's head; whilst her attendant offers a pine cone. This
amongst the Greeks was sacred to Cybele, as it was in Assyria to Astarte
or Ishtar, the name given there to 'the mother of all saints.' The
basket contains apples and phalli, which may have been made of pastry.
See Martial's Epigrams, b. xiv. 69. This gem is valuable, inasmuch as it
assists us to understand the signification of the pine cone offered to
the 'grove,' the equivalent of le Verger de Cypris. The pillar and its
base are curiously significant, and demonstrate how completely an artist
can appear innocent, whilst to the initiated he unveils a mystery.
Figures 125, 126, 127, are various contrivances for indicating decently
that which it was generally thought religious to conceal, la bequile, au
les instrumens.
Figure 128 represents the same subject; the cuts are grouped iso as to
show how the knobbed stick, le baton, becomes converted either into a
bent rod, la verge, or a priestly crook, le baton pastoral. There is
no doubt that the episcopal crozier is a presentable effigy of a very
private and once highly venerated portion of the human frame, which was
used in long by-gone days by Etruscan augurs, when they mapped out
the sky, prior to noticing the flight of birds. Perhaps we ought to be
grateful to Popery for having consecrated to Christ what was so long
used in that which divines call the service of the devil.
Figures 129, 130, 131, are, like the preceding four, copied from various
antique gems; Fig. 129 represents a steering oar, le timon, and is
usually held in the hand of good fortune, or as moderns would say "Saint
Luck," or bonnes fortunes; Fig. 180 is emblematic of Cupid, or Saint
Desire; it is synonymous with le dard, or la pique; Fig. 131 is a form
less common in gems; it represents the hammer, le marteau qui frappe
l'enclume et forge les enfans. The ancients had as many pictorial
euphemisms as ourselves, and when these are understood they enable us
to comprehend many a legend otherwise dim; e. g., when Fortuna, or luck,
always depicted as a woman, has for her characteristic le timon, and for
her motto the proverb, "Fortune favours the bold." we readily understand
the double entente. The steering oar indicates power, knowledge, skill,
and bravery in him who wields it; without such a guide, few boats would
attain a prosperous haven.
Figure 132 is copied from plate xxix. of Pugin's Glossary of
Ecclesiastical Ornament (Lond., 1868). The plate represents "a pattern
for diapering," and is, I presume, thoroughly orthodox. It consists of
the double triangle, see Figures 20, 80, 81, 82, pp. 82, 88, the emblems
of Siva and Parvati, the male and female; of Rimmon the pomegranate, the
emblem of the womb, which is seen to be full of seed through the "vesica
piscis," la fente, or la porte de la vie. There are also two new
moons, emblems of Venus, or la nature, introduced. The crown above the
pomegranate represents the triad, and the number four; whilst in the
original the group which we copy is surrounded by various forms of the
triad, all of which are as characteristic of man as Rimmon is of woman.
There are also circles enclosing the triad, analogous to other symbols
common in Hindostan.
Figure 133 is copied from Moor's Hindu, Pantheon, pi. ix., fig. 8. It
represents Bhavhani, Maia, Devi, Lakshmi, or Kamala, one of the many
forms given to female nature. She bears in one hand the lotus, emblem of
self-fructification,--in other similar figures an effigy of the phallus
is placed,--whilst in the other she holds her infant Krishna, Crishna,
or Vishnu. Such groups are as common in India as in Italy, in pagan
temples as in Christian churches. The idea of the mother and child is
pictured in every ancient country of whose art any remains exist.
Figure 184 is taken from plate xxiv., fig. 1, of Moor's Hindu Pantheon.
It represents a subject often depicted by the Hindoos and the Greeks,
viz., androgynism, the union of the male and female creators. The
technical word is Arddha-Nari. The male on the right side bears the
emblems of Siva or Mahadeva, the female on the left those of Parvati or
Sacti. The bull and lioness are emblematic of the masculine and feminine
powers. The mark on the temple indicates the union of the two; an
aureole is seen around the head, as in modern pictures of saints. In
this drawing the Ganges rises from the male, the idea being that the
stream from Mahadeva is as copious and fertilising as that mighty river.
The metaphor here depicted is common in the East, and is precisely the
same as that quoted in Num. xxiv. 7, and also from some lost Hebrew
book in John vii. 38. It will be noticed, that the Hindoos express
androgyneity quite as conspicuously, but generally much less
indelicately, than the Grecian artists.
Figure 135 is a common Egyptian emblem, said to signify eternity, but
in truth it has another meaning. The serpent and the ring indicate l'
andouille and l' anneau. The tail of the animal, which the mouth appears
to swallow, is la queue dans la bouche. The symbol resembles the crux
ansata in its signification, and imports that life upon the earth
is rendered perpetual by means of the union of the sexes. A ring, or
circle, is one of the symbols of Venus, who carries indifferently this,
or the triad emblem of the male. See Maffei's Gemme, vol. iii., page 1,
plate viii.
Figure 136 is the vesica piscis, or fish's bladder; the emblem of woman
and of the virgin, as may be seen in the two following woodcuts.
Figures 137, 138, are copied from an ancient Rosary of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, printed at Venice, 1524, with a license from the
Inquisition; the book being lent to me by my friend, Mr. Newton.
The first represents the same part as the Assyrian "grove." It may
appropriately be called the Holy Yoni. The book in question contains
numerous figures, all resembling closely the Mesopotamian emblem of
Ishtar. The presence of the woman therein identifies the two as symbolic
of Isis, or la nature; and a man bowing down in adoration thereof shows
the same idea as is depicted in Assyrian sculptures, where males offer
to the goddess symbols of themselves. Compare Figs. 68, 64, 65, 66, pp.
48 seq.
If I had been able to search through the once celebrated Alexandrian
library, it is doubtful whether I could have found any pictorial
representation more illustrative of the relationship of certain symbolic
forms to each other than is Figure 138. A circle of angelic heads,
forming a sort of sun, having luminous rays outside, and a dove, the
emblem of Venus, dart a spear (la pique) down upon the earth (la terre),
or the virgin. This being received, fertility follows.
In Grecian story, Ouranos and Ge, or heaven and earth, were the parents
of creation; and Jupiter came from heaven to impregnate Alcmena. The
same mythos prevailed throughout all civilised nations. Christianity
adopted the idea, merely altering the names of the respective parents,
and attributed the regeneration of the world to "holy breath" and Mary.
Every individual, indeed, extraordinarily conspicuous for wisdom, power,
goodness, etc., is said to have been begotten on a woman by a celestial
father. Within the vesica piscis, artists usually represent the virgin
herself, with or without the child; in the figure before us the child
takes her place. It is difficult to believe that the ecclesiastics who
sanctioned the publication of such a print could have been as ignorant
as modern ritualists. It is equally difficult to believe that the
latter, if they knew the real meaning of the symbols commonly used by
the Roman church, would adopt them.
The last two figures, symbolic of adoration before divine sexual
emblems, afford me the opportunity to give a description of a similar
worship existent in Hindostan at the present time. My authority is H.
H. Wilson, in Essays on the Religion of the Hindoos, Truebner and Co.,
London. "The worshippers," he remarks, vol. i., p. 240, "of the Sakti,
the power or energy of the divine nature in action, are exceedingly
numerous amongst all classes of Hindoos--about three-fourths are of this
sect, while only a fifth are Vaishnavas and a sixteenth Saivas. This
active energy is personified, and the form with which it is invested
depends upon the bias of the individuals. The most favourite form is
that of Parvati, Bhavani, or Durga, the wife of Siva, or Mahadeva."
"The worship of the female principle, as distinct from the divinity,
appears to have originated in the literal interpretation of the
metaphorical language of the Vedas, in which the will or purpose to
create the universe is represented as originating from the creator, and
consistent with him as his bride." "The Samaveda for example, says, the
creator felt not delight being alone; he wished another, and caused
his own self to fall in twain, and thus became husband and wife. He
approached her, and thus were human beings produced." A sentiment
or statement which we may notice in passing is very similar to that
propounded in Genesis, ch. i. 27, and v. 1, 2, respecting Elohim--viz.,
that he created man and woman in his own image, i.e., as male and
female, bisexual but united--an androgyne.
"This female principle goes by innumerable cognomens, inasmuch as every
goddess, every nymph, and all women are identified with it. She--the
principle personified--is the mother of all, as Mahadeva, the male
principle, is the father of all."
"The homage rendered to the Sakti may be done before an image of any
goddess--Prakriti, Lakshmi, Bhavani, Durga, Maya, Parvati, or Devi--just
in the same way as Romanists may pray to a local Mary, or any other.
But in accordance with the weakness of human nature, there are many who
consider it right to pay their devotions to the thing itself rather than
to an abstraction. In this form of worship six elements are required,
flesh, fish, wine, women, gesticulations and mantras which consist
of various unmeaning monosyllabic combinations of letters of great
imaginary efficacy."
"The ceremonies are mostly gone through in a mixed society, the Sakti
being personified by a naked female, to whom meat and wine are
offered and then distributed amongst the company. These eat and drink
alternately with gesticulations and mantras--and when the religious part
of the business is over, the males and females rush together and
indulge in a wild orgy. This ceremony is entitled the Sri Chakra or
Purnabhisheka, the Ring or Full Initiation."
In a note apparently by the editor, Dr. Rost, a full account is given
in Sanscrit of the Sakti Sodhana, as they are prescribed in the Devi
Rahasya, a section of the Rudra Yamala, so as to prove to his readers
that the Sri Chakra is performed under a religious prescription.
We learn that the woman should be an actress, dancing girl, a courtesan,
washerwoman, barber's wife, flower-girl, milk-maid, or a female devotee.
The ceremony is to take place at midnight with eight, nine, or eleven
couples. At first there are sundry mantras said, then the female is
disrobed, but richly ornamented, and is placed on the left of a circle
(Chakra) described for the purpose, and after sundry gesticulations,
mantras, and formulas she is purified by being sprinkled over with wine.
If a novice, the girl has the radical mantra whispered thrice in her
ear. Feasting then follows, lest Venus should languish in the absence of
Ceres and Bacchus, and now, when the veins are full of rich blood, the
actors are urged to do what desire dictates, but never to be so carried
away by their zeal as to neglect the holy mantras appropriate to every
act and to every stage thereof.*
* The above quotations from Wilson's work are selections
from his and his Editor's account. In the original the
observations extend over eighteen pages, and are too long to
be given in their entirety: the parts omitted are of no
consequence.
It is natural that such a religion should be popular, especially amongst
the young of both sexes.
Figures 139 to 158 are copied from Moor's Hindu Pantheon; they are
sectarial marks in India, and are usually traced on the forehead. Many
resemble what are known as "mason's marks," i. e., designs found on
tooled stones, in various ancient edifices, like our own, "trade marks."
They are introduced here to illustrate the various designs employed to
indicate the union of the "trinity" with the "unity," and the numerous
forms representative of "la nature" A priori, it appears absurd to
suppose that the eye could ever have been symbolical of anything but
sight; but the mythos of Indra, given in Ancient Faiths, second edition,
Vol. n., p. 649, and p. 7 supra, proves that it has another and a hidden
meaning. These figures are alike emblematic of the "trinity," "the
virgin," and the "four." Figure 154 is from Pugin, plate v., figure 3.
It is the outline of a pectoral ornament worn by some Roman ecclesiastic
in Italy, a. d. 1400; it represents the Egyptian crux ansata under
another form, the T signifying the triad.
Figures 155, 156, are different forms of the sistrum, one of the emblems
of Isis. In the latter, the triple bars have one signification, which
will readily suggest itself to those who know the meaning of the triad.
In the former, the emblem of the trinity, which we have been obliged to
conventionalise, is shown in a distinct manner. The cross bars indicate
that Isis is a virgin. The cat at the top of the instrument indicates
"desire," Cupid, or Eros. Fig. 155 is copied from plate ix., R. P.
Knight's Worship of Priapus.
Figure 157 represents the cup and wafer, to be found in the hands of
many effigies of papal bishops; they are alike symbolic of the sun and
moon, and of the elements in the Eucharist. See Pugin, plate iv., figs.
5, 6, represents a temple in a conventional form; whilst below, Ceres
appears seated within a horse-shoe shaped ornament.
This, amongst other symbols, tends to show what we have so frequently
before observed, that the female in creation is characterised by a great
variety of designs, of which the succeeding woodcuts give us additional
evidence.
Figure 159 represents the various forms symbolic of Juno, Isis, Parvati,
Ishtar, Mary, or woman, or the virgin.
Figures 160, 161, 162, are copied from Audsley's Christian Symbolism
(London, 1868). They are ornaments worn by the Virgin Mary, and
represent her as the crescent moon, conjoined with the cross (in
Fig. 160), with the collar of Isis (in Fig. 161), and with the double
triangle (in Fig. 162).
Figure 163 represents a tortoise. When one sees a resemblance between
this creature's head and neck and the linga, one can understand why both
in India and in Greece the animal should be regarded as sacred to the
goddess personifying the female creator, and why in Hindoo myths it is
said to support the world.
In the British Museum there are three Assyrian obeliscs, all of which
represent, in the most conspicuous way, the phallus, one of which has
been apparently circumcised. The body is occupied with an inscription
recording the sale of land, and also a figure of the reigning king,
whilst upon the part known as the glans penis are a number of symbols,
which are intended apparently to designate the generative powers in
creation. The male is indicated by a serpent, a spear head, a hare, a
tiara, a cock, and a tortoise. The female appears under precisely the
same form as is seen on the head of the Egyptian Isis, Fig. 28. The
tortoise is to this day a masculine emblem in Japan. See Figs. 174, 175.
But there is no necessity for the animal itself always to be depicted,
inasmuch as I have discovered that both in Assyrian and Greek art the
tortoise is pourtrayed under the figure which resembles somewhat the
markings upon the segments into which the shell is divided. In symbolism
it is a very common thing for a part to stand for the whole; thus an egg
is made to do duty for the triad; and a man is sometimes represented by
a spade. A woman is in like manner represented by a comb, or a mirror;
and a golden fleece typifies in the first place the "grove," which it
overshadows, and the female who possesses both.
It has been stated on page 19 supra, that Pausanias mentions having seen
at some place in Greece one figure of Venus standing on a tortoise, and
another upon a ram, but he leaves to the ingenious to discover why the
association takes place.
It was this intimation which led me to identify the tortoise as a male
symbol. Any person who has ever watched this creature in repose, and
seen the action of the head and neck when the quadruped is excited, will
recognise why the animal is dear to the goddess of amorous delight, and
that which it may remind her of. In like manner, those who are familiar
with the ram will know that it is remarkable for persistent and
excessive vigour. Like the cat, whose salacity caused it to be honoured
in Egypt, the ram was in that country also sacred, as the bull was in
Assyria and Hindostan.
In fact, everything which in shape, habits, or sound could remind
mankind of the creators and of the first part of creation was regarded
with reverence. Thus tall stones or natural pinnacles of rock, the palm,
pine, and oak trees, the fig tree and the ivy, with their tripliform
leaves, the mandrake, with its strange human form, the thumb and finger,
symbolised Bel, Baal, Asher, or Mahadeva. In like manner a hole in the
ground, a crevice in a rock, a deep cave, the myrtle from the shape of
its leaf, the fish from its scent, the dolphin and the mullet from their
names, the dove from its note, and any umbrageous retreat surrounded
with thick bushes, were symbolic of woman.
So also the sword and sheath, the arrow and target, the spear and
shield, the plough and furrow, the spade and trench, the pillar by a
well, the thumb thrust between the two fore-fingers or grasped by the
hand, and a host of other things were typical of the union which brings
about the formation of a new being.
I cannot help regarding the sexual element as the key which opens almost
every lock of symbolism, and however much we may dislike the idea that
modern religionists have adopted emblems of an obscene worship,
we cannot deny the fact that it is so, and we may hope that with a
knowledge of their impurity we shall cease to have a faith based upon a
trinity and virgin--a lingam and a yoni. Some may cling still to such a
doctrine, but to me it is simply horrible--blasphemous and heathenish.
Figures 164, 165, represent a pagan and Christian cross and trinity. The
first is copied from B. P. Knight (plate x., fig. 1), and represents a
figure found on an ancient coin of Apollonia. The second may be seen in
any of our churches to-day.
Figure 166 is from an old papal book lent to me by Mr. Newton, Missale
Romanum, illustrated by a monk (Venice, 1509). It represents a confessor
of the Roman church, who wears the crux ansata, the Egyptian symbol
of life, the emblem of the four creators, in the place of the usual
pallium.
It is remarkable that a Christian church should have adopted so many
pagan symbols as Rome has done. Figure 167 is copied from a small
bronze figure in the Mayer collection in the Free Museum, Liverpool.
It represents the feminine creator holding a well marked lingam in her
hand, and is this emblematic of the four, or the trinity and the virgin.
Figure 168 represents two Egyptian deities in worship before an emblem
of the male, which closely resembles an Irish round tower.
Figure 169 represents the modern pallium worn by Roman priests. It
represents the ancient sistrum of Isis, and the yoni of the Hindoos. It
is symbolic of the celestial virgin, and the unit in the creative
four. When donned by a Christian priest, he resembles the pagan male
worshippers, who wore a female dress when they ministered before the
altar or shrine of a goddess. Possibly the Hebrew ephod was of this form
and nature.
Figure 170 is a copy of an ancient pallium, worn by papal ecclesiastics
three or four centuries ago.. It is the old Egyptian symbol described
above. Its common name is crux ansata, or the cross with a handle.
Figure 171 is the albe worn by Roman and other ecclesiastics when
officiating at mass, etc. It is simply a copy of the chemise ordinarily
worn by women as an under garment.
Figure 172 represents the chamble worn by papal hierarchs. It is copied
from Pugin's Glossary, etc. Its form is that of the vesica piscis, one
of the most common emblems of the yoni. It is adorned by the triad. When
worn by the priest, he forms the male element, and with the chasuble
completes the sacred four. When worshipping the ancient goddesses, whom
Mary has displaced, the officiating ministers clothed themselves in
feminine attire. Hence the use of the chemise, etc. Even the tonsured
head, adopted from the priests of the Egyptian Isis, represents "l'
anneau;" so that on head, shoulders, breast and body, we may see on
Christian priests the relics of the worship of Venus, and the adoration
of woman! How horrible all this would sound if, instead of using veiled
language, we had employed vulgar words. The idea of a man adorning
himself, when ministering before God and the people, with the effigies
of those parts which nature as well as civilisation teaches us to
conceal, would be simply disgusting, but when all is said to be
mysterious and connected with hidden signification, almost everybody
tolerates and many eulogise or admire it!