SUN MYTHS, MYSTERIES AND DECADENT SEX WORSHIP
As is generally known, traces of sun worship are found in almost every
country of which we have a record. In Egypt Ra was the supreme sun god
where there was very elaborate worship conducted in his honor. In
Greece, Apollo was attended with similar festivities. In the Norse
mythology, many of the myths deal with the worship of the sun in one
form or another. In England, Stonehenge and the entire system of the
Druids had to do with solar worship. In Central America and Peru,
temples to the sun were of amazing splendor, furnished as they were with
wonderful displays of gold and silver. The North American Indians have
many legends relating to sun worship and sacrifices to the sun, and
China and Japan give numerous instances of the same religion. Sun
worship is so readily shown to be fundamental with primitive races that
we will not discuss it in detail at this time, but rather will give the
conclusions of certain writers who have explained its meaning.
At the present day, the sun is regularly regarded as a male being, the
earth a female. We speak of Mother Earth, etc.; in former times, the
ancients depicted the maternal characteristics of the earth in a much
more material way. Likewise the sun was a male deity, being often the
war god, vigorous and all powerful. We readily see to what an extent the
male sun god was portrayed in mythology as a human being. In many myths,
the god dies during the Winter, reappears in the Spring, is lamented in
the Fall, etc., all in keeping with the changes in the activity of the
sun during the different seasons.
The moon was associated with the female deity of the ancients. Isis is
accompanied by the moon on most coins and emblems. Venus has the same
symbols. Indeed, the star and crescent of our modern times, of the
Turkish flag and elsewhere, are in reality the sun and crescent of
antiquity, male and female symbols in conjunction. Lunar ornaments of
prehistoric times have been found throughout England and Ireland, and
doubtless explain the superstitions about the moon in those countries.
The same prehistoric ornaments are found in Italy. In the legends of the
North American Indians, Moon is Sun's wife.
The full extent of these beliefs is pointed out by Mr. John Newton in
_Assyrian Grove Worship_. Here we see that the ancient Hindus gave a
much more literal relationship between the sun and earth than we are
accustomed to express in modern times. He states, "This representative
of the union of the sexes typifies the divine Sakti, or productive
energy, in union with the pro-creative or generative power as seen
throughout nature. The earth was the primitive pudendum or yoni which
is fecundated by the solar heat, the sun, the primitive linga, to whose
vivifying rays man and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, owe
their being and continued existence."
It is not possible to discuss sun worship at any length without at the
same time discussing phallicism and serpent worship. Hargrave Jennings,
who has made careful study of these worships, points out their general
identity in the following paragraph. He states: "The three most
celebrated emblems carried in the Greek mysteries were the phallus, the
egg, and the serpent; or otherwise the phallus, the yoni or umbilicus,
and the serpent. The first in each case is the emblem of the sun or of
fire, as the male or active generative power. The second denotes the
passive nature or female principle or the emblem of water. The third
symbol indicates the destroyer, the reformer or the renewer, (the uniter
of the two) and thus the preserver or perpetuator eternally renewing
itself. The universality of serpentine worship (or Phallic adoration) is
attested by emblematic sculptures or architecture all the world over."
The author of the _Round Towers of Ireland_ in discussing the symbols of
sun worship, serpent worship and phallicism, found on the same tablet,
practically reiterates these statements. He says: "I have before me the
sameness of design which belonged indifferently to solar worship and to
phallic. I shall, ere long, prove that the same characteristic extends
equally to ophiolatreia; and if they all three be identical, as it thus
necessarily follows, where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting
the sun, phallus and serpent, the constituent symbols of each, embossed
upon the same table and grouped under the same architrave?"
By a number of references, we could readily show the identity of all
these worships. The preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, the
conclusions of those writers who have made such religions their special
study. We shall not exemplify this further, but will now point out the
general relationship of sun worship to the religious festivals and
mythology of the Ancients. This relationship becomes important when it
is appreciated that the sun worship expressed in the mysteries is also a
part of phallicism. On some of these festive occasions the phallus was
carried in the front of the procession and at other times the egg, the
phallus and the serpent were carried in the secret casket.
* * * * *
The Ancients expressed their religious beliefs in a dramatic way on a
number of occasions throughout the year. The festivities were held in
the Spring, Autumn, or Winter. These were to commemorate the activities
of the sun, his renewed activity in the Spring calling forth rejoicing
and his decline in the Fall being the cause of sorrow and lamentation.
As well as the festivities, there were the various mysteries, such as
the Eleusinia, the Dionysia and the Bacchanalia. These were conducted by
the priests who moulded religious beliefs and guarded their secrets. The
mysteries were of the utmost importance and the most sacred of
religious conceptions were here dramatized.
Mythology also gave expression to the religious ideas of the time and we
find that the most important myths, dramatically produced at the
religious festivals, were sun myths.
The annual festivities and mysteries will be discussed together because
both were intended to dramatize the same beliefs. Both were under
priestly control and so were national institutions. The festivals were
for the common people but the mysteries were fully understood only to
the initiated.
While no very clear account of the mysteries has been given, a certain
theme seems to run through them all, and this is found in the myths as
well. A drama is enacted, in which the god is lost, is lamented, and is
found or returns amid great rejoicing.[15] This was enacted in Egypt
where the mourning was for Osiris; and in Greece for Adonis, and later
for Bacchus. All these are, of course, sun gods, and the whole
dramatization or myth is in keeping with the activities of the sun.
On these occasions, the main object seems to have been to restore the
lost god, or to insure his reappearance. The women took the leading part
and mourned for Osiris, Adonis or Bacchus. They wandered about the
country at night in the most frenzied fashion, avoided all men and
sought the god. At times, during the winter festival, the quest would be
fruitless. In the Spring, when they indulged themselves in all sorts of
orgies and extravagances, Adonis was found.
An underlying motive appears to have been to enact a drama in which the
deity was supposed to exercise his procreative function by sexual union
with the women. This was an ideal which they wished to express
dramatically. In order to realize this ideal obstacles were introduced
that they might be overcome; in the old myth, Adonis was emasculated
under a pine tree, and in Egypt Osiris was similarly mutilated, his sex
organs being lost. But at the festivals it was portrayed that Adonis was
found, and in the myth, Osiris was restored to Isis in the form of
Horus (the morning sun). In a number of myths, the god is said to have
visited the earth to cohabitate with the women, an occurrence which was
doubtless desired, in order that the deistic attributes might be
continued in the race. Thus, judging from what we have been able to
learn of this subject, the worship expressed in the mysteries revolved
about sexual union, the desire being to dramatize the continued activity
of deistic qualities.
This character of many of the festivals and mysteries is very evident.
In the Eleusinian mysteries the rape of Persephone by Pluto, the winter
god, is portrayed. The mother, Demeter, mourns for her daughter. Her
mourning is dramatically carried out by a large procession, and this
enactment requires several days. Finally Persephone is restored. The
earlier part of the festival was for dramatic interest, and the real
object was the union of Persephone with Bacchus. "The union of
Persephone with Bacchus, _i. e._, with the sun god, whose work is to
promote fruitfulness, is an idea special to the mysteries and means the
union of humanity with the godhead, the consummation aimed at in the
mystic rites. Hence, in all probability the central teaching of the
mysteries was Personal Immortality, analogue of the return of the bloom
to plants in Spring."[16]
The mysteries of Samothrace were probably simpler. Here the phallus was
carried in procession as the emblem of Hermes. In the Dionysian
mysteries which were held in mid-winter, the quest of the women was
unsuccessful and the festival was repeated in the Spring. The Roman
mysteries of Bacchus were of much later development, and consequently
became very debased. Men as well as women eventually came to take part
in the ceremony, and the whole affair degenerated into the grossest of
sexual excesses and perversions.
We have stated what appears to us to have been the underlying motives of
the religious festivals and mysteries; namely, the enactment of a drama
in which the reproductive qualities of the deity were portrayed. The
phallus was carried in procession for this purpose and the women
dramatized the motive as searching for the god. Our account can be
regarded as little more than an outline, but it is sufficient for our
present purposes. It indicates that the mysteries give an expression of
phallic worship, just as do the various monuments of art and religion to
which we have referred. It may also be said that this same worship is
represented in what may be termed early literature, for much of the
early mythology deals with the same subject. The study of origins in
mythology, however, cannot be dealt with adequately at present.
* * * * *
In order to deal fully with this subject it is necessary to discuss
another important phase in the worship of sex. We refer to the
_decadence_ or _degeneracy of this worship_, which occurred after people
had outgrown these simple religious conceptions. The decadence of sex
worship is observed during the early centuries of Christianity and
traces of it are seen throughout the middle ages. In the decadence of
sex worship we are able to observe how an important motive in the race
finds expression in the thoughts and conduct of people after the
underlying promptings which originated it have long since ceased to be
dynamic. This decadent stage of a motive is therefore of considerable
importance; we shall return to its interpretation in the discussion of
analogies of development between motives in the individual and motives
in the race.
In India,[17] with the Hindus, there still exists an elaborate form of
sex worship. The Phallus is carried on festive occasions, it still
occupies the most sacred spot in the sanctuary, dancing girls are
devoted to the service of the temple, and many other customs associated
with phallic rites are carried on much as they were centuries ago in the
Ancient World. It is said that there are thirty million phalli in India
and that a phallus is found in nearly every Hindu household.
Whether phallic worship as now practiced by the Hindus has the same
meaning or value that it had when at its height in ancient civilization
is difficult to say; there are evidences to show that this worship in
India is now carried out somewhat as a matter of form and custom only,
and that its significance is not thoroughly appreciated except possibly
by the few. If this observation is correct, the decadent state of sex
worship which was so prevalent in Western Europe during the early
centuries of Christianity and throughout the middle ages, may be
developing in India as well.
Whatever may be the present condition in India regarding this worship,
we are left in no uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship during
its decadent period in Europe. It is not necessary here to dwell upon
the licentiousness and extravagances of conduct which were manifest at
this time, as a general outline will suffice for present purposes.
We have observed that the mysteries in which phallic principles were
taught eventually became degraded in both Greece and Rome. When these
mysteries originated, they embodied serious religious conceptions,
respected by all; they were the expression of racial feelings, and
however out of accord with present day sentiments they may have been,
they can in no way be considered immoral. This cannot be said of the
mysteries of a subsequent period. Every sort of perversion and practice
was indulged in. They were finally forbidden by the State, but were
carried on secretly for some time longer. With the coming of
Christianity they were very bitterly opposed, and finally as national
institutions, they ceased to exist.
Later we shall indicate in more detail why the worship of sex was
discarded. It may be stated here that as the development of the race
continued these simple conceptions of a deity failed to express all
religious desires; primitive phallic principles lost their dynamic
value, and longings and desires, the result of higher mental
development, found expression in new religious usages.
It has just been stated that the mysteries ceased to exist as national
institutions. This is true, but while they were discarded by the great
mass of the people, certain elements of the race clung to these
primitive beliefs and practices for years. When the mysteries were
officially forbidden they were carried on secretly in a somewhat altered
form. Secret societies were formed, or some of the Eastern Mystic Cults
were made use of in order to carry out their teachings. These secret
societies took over many of the principles of phallicism such as were
taught in the mysteries, and so, side by side with the Christian
religion, the earlier beliefs continued.
The Gnostics[18] are an example of one of these societies. They existed
in early Christian times and the society was probably formed long before
the advent of Christianity. It is difficult to learn a great deal about
the Gnostics, but some of their beliefs are known. Gnostic symbols
consisted for a great part of phallic emblems, it having been shown that
their gems and secret talismans were of phallic significance. The
Gnostics also gave evidences of reverting to a more primitive
civilization in other than religious spheres. In their social
organization they advocated communal marriage, wives being held in
common. This type of social organization is quite general in primitive
tribes. With the Gnostics we see a reversion to a more primitive form of
religious and social life.
* * * * *
The Rosicrucians[19] of the middle ages are rather better known,
although this order also is very obscure. The Rosicrucians as well as
the Gnostics had phallic emblems. They worshipped in a form very similar
to that under which Priapus was worshipped. Moreover, as was the case
with a number of these secret societies, they introduced perverse sexual
practices. They are said not only to have countenanced homosexuality,
but to have made it one of the principles of their belief. At the same
time, they scorned all association with women. Out of this belief they
built up a philosophy in which the fire worship of antiquity played a
part, and with which alchemy was associated.
In the practice of homosexuality[20] and in the development of a
philosophy in which women played no part, are seen sentiments quite
similar to those which existed in the later days of Greece. At this time
in Greece, patriarchy had driven out the last vestiges of matriarchy,
female deities had lost their followers to a great extent, and the
devotion was paid to male gods and heroes. This change seems to have
produced a certain contempt for women. A number of writers have pointed
out this reaction, and so probably in the philosophy of the Rosicrucians
and in their practices, are seen an expression of these same sentiments.
Similar sentiments were expressed by other secret organizations and in
some philosophies of a latter period. In this respect, therefore, the
Rosicrucians were probably reverting to beliefs and feelings of an
earlier date.
The Knights Templar were another secret society of the middle ages of a
somewhat later time. The same can be said of them as of the former
societies. They carried on the old phallic and mystic rites in modified
form, and set up their beliefs in opposition to Christianity. When the
Knights Templar were initiated they were made to deny Christ and the
Virgin Mary, to spit on the cross, etc. They also were charged with
homosexuality, and with them as with the Rosicrucians and the Gnostics,
homosexuality was a part of their teachings. They likewise advocated
communal marriage. At their secret meetings and initiations many vices
existed; idols were worshipped, phallic features were introduced, and
the entire ceremony was similar to the mysteries of antiquity.
Should there be any doubt regarding the association of these secret
societies of the middle ages with the mysteries of the Ancients, this
doubt is at once dispelled when we read of the practices of a remarkable
secret organization described as the "Witches' Sabbath." Any one who
has read a description of the Ancient Mysteries and of the initiation
ceremonies of primitive tribes cannot but see in the Witches' Sabbath a
remarkable similarity to the earlier mysteries. R. P. Knight[21] has
given us a description of the Witches' Sabbath and he quotes freely from
a French writer[22] who has given full details. We shall use such parts
of these descriptions as are necessary to illustrate these practices
during the middle ages.
The Witches' Sabbath is described by these writers as it existed during
the latter part of the fourteenth century. It was held on four occasions
during the year, being a festival corresponding to the Priapiea and
Bacchanalia of former days. Women played the leading part just as in the
Bacchanalia. There were minor and major festivals corresponding to the
lesser and greater Eleusinia. Pilgrimages were made at this time, which
"resembled a fair of merchants mingled together, furious in transports,
arriving from all parts--a meeting and a mingling of a hundred thousand
subjects, sudden and transitory, novel, it is true, but of a frightful
novelty which offends the eye and sickens you."
A symbolic representation of Satan presided at the festivals, and he
assumed a number of disguises, in all of which we recognize Priapus in
degenerated form. He very often appeared in the disguise of a goat; in
fact the meeting place is called "Goat's Heath."
The association of the goat with priapic ceremonies has already been
mentioned. At times the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite location
for Hermes, as stated elsewhere.
Satan assumed a number of forms on these occasions other than that of
the bearded goat. He was at times a serpent, or again an ox of brass. He
was also represented as the trunk of a tree, sometimes as the oak.
Priapus is readily recognized in all these various disguises.
On these festive occasions we see remnants of the fire worship of
primitive tribes. Satan often carried fire in some form or other and
the rite of purification by fire, a residual of the earlier need-fire
rites, was enacted. Particular significance was attached to the
generative organs, and it is needless to say that all kinds of sexual
excesses ensued. Satan was held to be the father and protector of all.
Some of the women referred to the Witches' Sabbath as an earthly
paradise and they said that the festival had all the features of a
wedding celebration.
A number of absurd dances and other burlesques were introduced. In these
one sees the burlesques and dances of the earlier mysteries and of the
still more primitive initiation ceremonies of tribes in various
countries. The dance was often held around a stone,--the significance of
which has already been explained.
If in the above account of these mystic ceremonies in the middle ages a
detailed enumeration of all forms of sexual depravities has not been
given, it is not because they did not exist. Our main object has been to
show that sex worship as practiced during the middle ages, was an
expression of the decadence of a racial motive. No odium was formerly
connected with this motive, but when an attempt was made to associate
these primitive feelings and beliefs with a civilization which had
outgrown such conceptions, many undesirable features were in evidence.
Should further proof of the association of the Gnostics, the
Rosicrucians, the Templars, etc., with the ancient priapic rites be
necessary, this proof is found in numerous talismans, amulets, sculpture
on earthen and glassware, which were associated with these societies.
These amulets are all plainly phallic in design; R. P. Knight shows a
number of vases, lamps, etc., on which phallic symbols are found. These
articles were probably used at the secret rites.
Moreover, we find that many of these small phalli were worn for personal
decoration; and here we come to a still lower decadence in sex
worship,--the period of superstition. A phallus was worn as a charm,
somewhat as a fetish to ward off disease. Such charms were supposed to
bring good luck and prosperity to the owner and they were used
particularly as a charm against barrenness in women. A sign which could
be made by the hand, the phallic hand, was used as a protection against
the evil eye. Ancient representations of Priapus have been found with
the hand in this attitude. As further evidence to show the total
degeneracy of these beliefs, it may be said that the phallic hand was
adopted as a symbol of prostitution.
In this we see the worship of sex degenerated to its lowest form, _i. e._,
a superstition to be followed by the lower classes and the ignorant. The
phallus which once had been attended with all ceremony had become a mere
charm.
The conclusions which R. P. Knight reaches in relation to these decadent
beliefs are worthy of remark. He states:[23] "We have thus seen in how
many various forms the old phallic, or priapic worship presented itself
in the middle ages, and how pertinaciously it held its ground through
all the changes and development of society, until at length we find all
the circumstances of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as the
mediaeval additions combined in that great and extensive
superstition,--witchcraft. At all times the initiated were believed to
have obtained thereby powers which were not possessed by the
uninitiated, and they only were supposed to know about the form of
invocation of the deities who were the objects of this worship, which
deities the Christian teachers invariably transformed into devils. The
vows which people of antiquity addressed to Priapus, those of the middle
ages addressed to Satan. The Witches' Sabbath was simply the last form
which the Priapeia and Libernalia assumed in Western Europe, and in its
various decadences all the incidents of those great and licentious
orgies of the Romans were reproduced." It is little wonder that the
persecution of witches by the Christians long survived the middle ages.
Hargrave Jennings[24] has referred to phallic principles in a number of
the early chivalric societies of England. He states that the Knights of
the Round Table of King Arthur had phallic emblems and other features
similar to those of the Rosicrucians. The same author submits
considerable evidence to indicate that the Order of the Garter is of
much greater antiquity than is generally believed and that phallic
principles were associated with it. A similar contention was made
regarding the symbolism associated with the Holy Grail, a sacred vessel
apparently connected with primitive rites at a time far antedating
Christianity. Associated with the old Churches in Ireland similar
phallic emblems have been found, as well as in Europe. These emblems
were used as charms by the primitive people.
We stated above that the early deities of primitive tribes were regarded
as demons during the Christian period. In Teutonic beliefs phallic
deities were developed quite comparable to those of Greece and Rome.
These Teutonic deities came to be regarded as hobgoblins during the
middle ages. They were supposed to be found in lonely places and in
forests, and to emerge at times in order to indulge in all sorts of
sexual excesses, much as the fauns and satyrs of antiquity. The English
had a similar hobgoblin in Robin Goodfellow. This fictitious character
is represented in priapic attitudes in a number of illustrations of old
English ballads. He was doubtless Priapus of antiquity transformed into
a goblin.
Why should superstitions of this kind live century after century?
Frazer[25] has given us the answer: "Superstitions survive because while
they shock the views of the enlightened members of the community, they
are still in harmony with the thoughts and feelings of others, who,
though they are drilled by their betters into an appearance of
civilization, remain barbarians or savages at heart ... I have been led
into making these remarks by the wish to explain why it is that
superstitions of all sorts, political, moral and religious, survive
among people who have the opportunity of knowing better. The reason is
that the better ideas, which are constantly forming in the upper stratum
have not filtered through from the highest to the lowest minds. Such a
filtration is generally slow, and by the time the new emotions have
penetrated to the bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are often
obsolete and superseded by others at the top."