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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism + With an Essay on Baal Worship, On The Assyrian Sacred "Grove," And Other + +Author: Thomas Inman + John Newton + +Release Date: January 3, 2012 [EBook #38485] +Last Updated: November 17, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAGAN AND MODERN SYMBOLISM *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + ANCIENT PAGAN AND MODERN CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM. + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Inman, M.D. + </h2> + <blockquote> + <p> + Consulting Physician To The Royal Infirmary, Liverpool; Late Lecturer + Successively On Botany, Medical Jurisprudence, Materia Medica And + Therapeutics, And The Principles And Practice Of Medicine, Etc.; In The + Liverpool School Of Medicine; Author Of "Foundation For A New Theory And + Practice Of Medicine;" A "Treatise On Myalgia;" "On The Real Nature Of + Inflammation," "Atheroma In Arteries," "The Preservation Of Health," + "The Restoration Of Health," "Ancient Faiths Embodied In Ancient Names," + </p> + </blockquote> + <h4> + Second Edition, <br /><br /> Revised And Enlarged, <br /><br /> + </h4> + <h3> + WITH AN ESSAY ON BAAL WORSHIP, ON THE ASSYRIAN SACRED "GROVE," AND OTHER + ALLIED SYMBOLS. + </h3> + <h4> + By John Newton, M.R.C.S.E., Etc. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="titlepage (64K)" src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/Plate1-Frontispeice.jpg" alt="Frontispiece 009 " + width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The woodcuts in the present volume originally appeared in a large work, in + two thick volumes, entitled Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names. It + has been suggested to me by many, that a collection of these Figures, and + their explanation, are more likely to be generally examined than a very + voluminous book. The one is, as it were, an alphabet; the other, an essay. + The one opens the eyes; the other gives them opportunities to use their + vision. The one teaches to read; the other affords means for practice. As + the larger work endeavours to demonstrate the existence of a state of + things almost unknown to the British public, so it is necessary to furnish + overwhelming proof that the allegations and accusations made against + certain nations of antiquity, and some doctrines of Christianity, are + substantially true. Consequently, the number of witnesses is greater than + is absolutely necessary to prove the point. + </p> + <p> + 12, Rodney Street, Liverpool, + </p> + <p> + July 1869. + </p> + <p> + The demand which has sprung up for this work has induced the Author to + make it more complete than it was originally. But it could not be made + perfect without being expanded into a volume whose size would be + incompatible with cheapness. When every Figure would supply a text for a + long discourse, a close attention is required lest a description should be + developed into a dissertation. + </p> + <p> + In this work, the Author is obliged to confine himself to the explanation + of symbols, and cannot launch out into ancient and modern faiths, except + in so far as they are typified by the use of certain conventional signs. + </p> + <p> + A great many who peruse a book like this for the first time, and find how + strange were the ideas which for some thousands of years permeated the + religious opinions of the civilised world, might naturally consider that + the Author is a mere visionary—one who is possessed of a hobby that + he rides to death. Such a notion is strengthened by finding that there is + scarcely any subject treated of except the one which associates religion, + a matter of the highest aim to man, with ideas of the most intensely + earthly kind. But a thoughtful reader will readily discern that an essay + on Symbolism must be confined to visible emblems. By no fair means can an + author who makes the crucifix his text introduce the subject of the + Confessional, the Eucharist, or Extreme Unction. Nor can one, who knows + that Buddha and Jesus alike inaugurated a faith which was unmarked by + visible symbolism, bring into an interpretation of emblems a comparison + between the preaching of two such distinguished men. In like manner, the + Author is obliged to pass over the difference between Judaism, + Christianity as propounded by the son of Mary, and that which passes + current for Christianity in Rome and most countries of Europe. + </p> + <p> + All these points, and many more, have been somewhat fully discussed in the + Author's larger work, so often referred to in this, and to that he must + refer the curious. The following pages are simply a chapter taken from a + book, complete perhaps in itself, but only as a brick may be perfect, + without giving to an individual any idea of the size, style, or + architecture of the house from which it has been taken. If readers will + regard these pages as a beam in a building, the Author will be content. + </p> + <p> + 8, Vyvyan Terrace, + </p> + <p> + Clifton, Bristol, + </p> + <p> + August, 1874. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX: THE ASSYRIAN "GROVE" AND OTHER EMBLEMS + </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> + <p> + It may, we think, be taken for granted, that nothing is, or has ever been, + adopted into the service of Religion, without a definite purpose. If it be + supposed that a religion is built upon the foundation of a distinct + revelation from the Almighty, as the Hebrew is said to be, there is a full + belief that every emblem, rite, ceremony, dress, symbol, etc., has a + special signification. Many earnest Christians, indeed, see in Judaic + ordinances a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. I have, for example, heard a + pious man assert that "leprosy" was only another word for "sin"; but he + was greatly staggered in this belief when I pointed out to him that if a + person's whole body was affected he was no longer unclean (Lev. xiii. 13), + which seemed on the proposed hypothesis to demonstrate that when a sinner + was as black as hell he was the equal of a saint. According to such an + interpreter, the paschal lamb is a type of Jesus, and consequently all + whom his blood sprinkles are blocks of wood, lintels, and side-posts + (Exod. xii. 22, 28). By the same style of metaphorical reasoning, Jesus + was typified by the "scape-goat," and the proof is clear, for one was + driven away into the wilderness, and the other voluntarily went there—one + to be destroyed, the other to be tempted by the devil! Hence we infer that + there is nothing repugnant to the minds of the pious in an examination + respecting the use of symbols, and into that which is shadowed forth by + them. What has been done for Judaism may be attempted for other forms of + religion. + </p> + <p> + As the Hebrews and Christians believe their religion to be God-given, so + other nations, having a different theology, regard their own peculiar + tenets. Though we may, with that unreasoning prejudice and blind bigotry + which are common to the Briton and the Spaniard, and pre-eminently so to + the mass of Irish and Scotchmen amongst ourselves, and to the Carlists in + the peninsula, disbelieve a heathen pretension to a divine revelation, we + cannot doubt that the symbols, etc., of Paganism have a meaning, and that + it is as lawful to scrutinise the mysteries which they enfold as it is to + speculate upon the Urim and Thummim of the Jews. Yet, even this freedom + has, by some, been denied; for there are a few amongst us who adhere + rigidly to the precept addressed to the followers of Moses, viz., "Take + heed that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations + serve their gods?" (Deut. xii. 30.) The intention of the prohibition thus + enunciated is well marked in the following words, 1 which + indicate that the writer believed that the adoption of heathen gods would + follow inquiry respecting them. It is not now-a-days feared that we may + become Mahometans if we read the Koran, or Buddhists if we study the + Dhammapada; but there are priests who fear that an inquiry into + ecclesiastical matters may make their followers Papists, Protestants, + Wesleyans, Baptists, Unitarians, or some other religion which the + Presbytery object to. The dislike of inquiry ever attends those who + profess a religion which is believed or known to be weak. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * "even so will I do likewise." +</pre> + <p> + The philosopher of the present day, being freed from the shackles once + riveted around him by a dominant hierarchy, may regard the precept in + Deuteronomy in another light. Seeing that the same symbolism is common to + many forms of religion, professed in countries widely apart both as + regards time and space, he thinks that the danger of inquiry into faiths + is not the adoption of foreign, but the relinquishment of present methods + of religious belief. When we see the same ideas promulgated as divine + truth, on the ancient banks of the Ganges, and the modern shores of the + Mediterranean, we are constrained to admit that they have something common + in their source. They may be the result of celestial revelation, or they + may all alike emanate from human ingenuity. As men invent new forms of + religion now, there is a presumption that others may have done so + formerly. As all men are essentially human, so we may believe that their + inventions will be characterised by the virtues and the failings of + humanity. Again, experience tells us that similarity in thought involves + similarity in action. Two sportsmen, seeing a hare run off from between + them, will fire at it so simultaneously that each is unaware that the + other shot. So a resemblance in religious belief will eventuate in the + selection of analogous symbolism. + </p> + <p> + We search into emblems with an intention different from that with which we + inquire into ordinary language. The last tells us of the relationship of + nations upon Earth, the first of the probable connections of mankind with + Heaven. The devout Christian believes that all who venerate the Cross may + hope for a happy eternity, without ever dreaming that the sign of his + faith is as ancient as Homeric Troy, and was used by the Phoenicians + probably before the Jews had any existence as a people; whilst an equally + pious Mahometan regards the Crescent as the passport to the realms of + bliss, without a thought that the symbol was in use long before the + Prophet of Allah was born, and amongst those nations which it was the + Prophet's mission to convert or to destroy. Letters and words mark the + ordinary current of man's thought, whilst religious symbols show the + nature of his aspirations. But all have this in common, viz., that they + may be misunderstood. Many a Brahmin has uttered prayers in a language to + him unintelligible; and many a Christian uses words in his devotions of + which he never seeks to know the meaning. "<i>Om manee pani" "Om manee + padme houm," "Amen" and "Ave Maria purissima</i>" may fairly be placed in + the same category. In like manner, the signification of an emblem may be + unknown. The antiquary finds in Lycian coins, and in Aztec ruins, figures + for which he can frame no meaning; whilst the ordinary church-goer also + sees, in his place of worship, designs of which none can give him a + rational explanation. Again, we find that a language may find professed + interpreters, whose system of exposition is wholly wrong; and the same may + be said of symbols. I have seen, for example, three distinctly different + interpretations given to one Assyrian inscription, and have heard as many + opposite explanations of a particular figure, all of which have been + incorrect. + </p> + <p> + In the interpretation of unknown languages and symbols, the observer + gladly allows that much may be wrong; but this does not prevent him + believing that some may be right. In giving his judgment, he will examine + as closely as he can into the system adopted by each inquirer, the amount + of materials at his disposal, and, generally, the acumen which has been + brought to the task. Perhaps, in an investigation such as we describe, the + most important ingredient is care in collation and comparison. But a + scholar can only collate satisfactorily when he has sufficient means, and + these demand much time and research. The labour requires more time than + ordinary working folk can command, and more patience than those who have + leisure are generally disposed to give. Unquestionably, we have as yet had + few attempts in England to classify and explain ancient and modern + symbols. It is perhaps not strictly true that there has been so much a + laxity in the research, of which we here speak, as a dread of making + public the results of inquiry. Investigators, as a rule, have a respect + for their own prejudices, and dislike to make known to others a knowledge + which has brought pain to their own minds. Like the Brahmin of the story, + they will destroy a fine microscope rather than permit their + co-religionists to know that they drink living creatures in their water, + or eat mites in their fruit. The motto of such people is, "If truth is + disagreeable, cling to error." + </p> + <p> + The following attempts to explain much of ancient and modern symbolism can + only be regarded as tentative. The various devices contained herein seem + to me to support the views which I have been led to form from other + sources, by a careful inquiry into the signification of ancient names, and + the examination of ancient faiths. The figures were originally intended as + corroborative of evidence drawn from numerous ancient and modern writings; + and the idea of collecting them, and, as it were, making them speak for + themselves, has been an after-thought. In the following pages I have + simply reprinted the figures, etc., which appear in <i>Ancient Faiths + embodied in Ancient Names</i> (second edition). I make no attempt to + exhaust the subject. There are hundreds of emblems which find herein no + place; and there are explanations of symbols current to which I make no + reference, for they are simply <i>exoteric</i>. + </p> + <p> + For the benefit of many of my readers, I must explain the meaning of the + last word italicised. In most, if not in all, forms of religion, there are + tenets not generally imparted to the vulgar, and only given to a select + few under the seal of secrecy. A similar reticence exists in common life. + There are secrets kept from children, for example, that are commonly known + to all parents; there are <i>arcana</i>, familiar to doctors, of which + patients have no idea. For example, when a lad innocently asks the family + surgeon, or his parent, where the last new baby came from, he is put off + with a reply, wide of the mark, yet sufficient for him. When I put such a + question to the maids in the kitchen, to which place for a time I was + relegated, the first answer was that the baby came from the parsley bed. + On hearing this, I went into the garden, and, finding the bed had been + unmoved, came back and reproached my informant for falsehood. Another then + took up the word, and said it was the carrot bed which the baby came from. + As a roar of laughter followed this remark, I felt that I was being + cheated, and asked no more questions. Then I could not, now I can, + understand the <i>esoteric</i> sense of the sayings. They had to the + servants two distinct significations. The only one which I could then + comprehend was <i>exoteric</i>; that which was known to my elders was the + <i>esoteric</i> meaning. In what is called "religion" there has been a + similar distinction. We see this, not only in the "mysteries" of Greece + and Rome, but amongst the Jews; Esdras stating the following as a command + from God, "Some things shalt thou publish, and some things shalt thou show + secretly to the wise" (2 Esdras xv. 26). + </p> + <p> + When there exist two distinct explanations, or statements, about the + signification of an emblem, the one "esoteric," true, and known only to + the few, the other "exoteric," incorrect, and known to the many, it is + clear that a time may come when the first may be lost, and the last alone + remain. As an illustration, we can point to the original and correct + pronunciation of the word [—Hebrew—], commonly pronounced + Jehovah. Known only to a select few, it became lost when these died + without imparting it; yet what is considered to be the incorrect method of + pronouncing the word survives until to-day.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * It is supposed by some that Jahveh is the proper + pronunciation of this word, but as the first letter may + represent, ja, ya, or e, and the third u, v, or o, whilst + the second and fourth are the soft h, one may read the word + Jhuh, analogous to the Ju in Jupiter; Jehu, the name of a + king of Israel; Tahu as it is read on Assyrian inscriptions; + Jeho, as in Jehoshaphat; Ehoh, analogous to the Evoe or Ewe + associated with Bacchus; and Jaho, analogous to the J. A. O. + of the Gnostics. The Greek "Fathers" give the word as if + equivalent to yave, yaoh, yeho, and too. +</pre> + <p> + But the question is not how the word may be pronounced, but how it was + expressed in sound when used in religion by the Hebrew and other Semitic + nations, amongst whom it was a sacred secret, or ineffable name, not + lightly to be "taken in vain."——— + </p> + <p> + We may fairly assume that, when two such meanings exist, they are not + identical, and that the one most commonly received is not the correct one. + But when one alone is known to exist, it becomes a question whether + another should be sought. If, it may be asked, the common people are + contented with a fable, believing it true, why seek to enlighten them upon + its hidden meaning? To show the bearing of this subject, let us notice + what has always struck me as remarkable. The second commandment declares + to the Jews, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any + likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth + beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down + thyself to them," etc. (Exod. xx. 4). Yet we find, in Numbers xxi., that + Jehovah ordered Moses to frame a brazen serpent, whose power was so + miraculous that those who only looked at it were cured of the evils + inflicted by thanatoid snakes. + </p> + <p> + Then again, in the temple of the God who is reported to have thus spoken, + and who is also said to have declared that He would dwell in the house + that Solomon made for Him, an ark, or box, was worshipped, and over it + Cherubim were seen. These were likenesses of something, and the first was + worshipped. We find it described as being so sacred that death once + followed a profane touching of it (2 Sam. vi. 6, 7), and no fewer than + 50,070 people were done to death at Bethshemesh because somebody had + ventured to look inside the box, and had tried to search into the mystery + contained therein (1 Sam. vi. 19). It is curious that the Philistines, who + must have touched the box to put their strange offerings beside it (see 1 + Sam. vi. 8), were not particularly bothered. They were "profane"; and + priests only invent stories, which are applicable to the arcana which they + use in worship, to blind the eyes of and give a holy horror to the people + whom they govern. How David worshipped the ark as being the representative + of God we see in 2 Sam. vi. 14, 16, 17, 21. + </p> + <p> + The ark of the covenant was indeed regarded by the Jews much as a saint's + toe-nail, a crucifix, an image of the Virgin, a bit of wood, or a rusty + old nail is by the Roman Catholics. So flagrant an apparent breach of the + second commandment was covered for the common Hebrews by the assertion + that the mysterious box was a token of God's covenant with His people; but + that this statement was "exoteric," we feel sure, when we find a similar + ark existing and used in "the mysteries" of Egypt and Greece, amongst + people who probably never heard of Jews, and could by no chance know what + passed in the Hebrew temple. + </p> + <p> + When become dissatisfied with a statement, which is evidently intended to + be a blind, some individuals naturally endeavour to ascertain what is + behind the curtain. In this they resemble the brave boy, who rushes upon a + sheet and turnip lantern, which has imposed upon his companions and passed + for a ghost. What is a bugbear to the many is often a contemptible reptile + to the few. Yet there are a great number who would rather run from a + phantom night after night than grapple with it once, and would dissuade + others from being bold enough to encounter it. Nevertheless, even the + former rejoice when the cheat is exposed. + </p> + <p> + As when, by some courageous hand, that which has been mistaken by hundreds + for a spectre has been demonstrated to be a crafty man, no one would + endeavour to demonstrate the reality of ghosts by referring to the many + scores of men of all ranks who had been duped by the apparition thus + detected; so, in like manner, when the falsehood of an exoteric story is + exhibited, it is no argument in its favour that the vulgar in thousands + and many a wise man have believed it. Speaking metaphorically, we have + many such ghosts amongst ourselves; phantoms, which pass for powerful + giants, but are in reality perfect shams. Such we may describe by + comparing them to the apocryphal vampires. It is to me a melancholy thing + to contemplate the manner in which mankind have, in every age and nation, + made for themselves bugbears, and then have felt fear at them. We deride + the African, who manufactures a Fetish, and then trembles at its power, + but the learned know perfectly well that men made the devil, whom the + pious fear, just as a negro dreads Mumbo Jumbo. + </p> + <p> + In the fictitious narratives which passed for truth in the dark ages of + Christianity, there were accounts of individuals who died and were buried, + and who, after a brief repose in the tomb, rose again. Some imagined that + the resuscitated being was the identical one who had been interred. Others + believed that some evil spirit had appropriated the body, and restored to + it apparent vitality. Whatever the fiction was, the statement remained + unchallenged, that some dead folk returned to earth, having the same guise + as when they quitted it. We believe that a similar occurrence has taken + place in religion. Heathendom died, and was buried; yet, after a brief + interval, it rose again from its tomb. But, unlike the vampire, its garb + was changed, and it was not recognised. It moved through Christendom in a + seductive dress. If it were a devil, yet its clothing was that of a sheep; + if a wolf, it wore broadcloth. If it ravened, the victims were not pitied. + Heathenism, by which I mean the manners, morals and rites prevalent in + pagan times or countries, like a resuscitated vampire, once bore rule + throughout Christendom, in which term is included all those parts where + Christian baptism is used by all the people, or the vast majority. In most + parts it still reigns supreme. + </p> + <p> + When vampires were discovered by the acumen of any observer, they were, we + are told, ignominiously killed, by a stake being driven through the body; + but experience showed them to have such tenacity of life that they rose + again, and again, notwithstanding renewed impalement, and were not + ultimately laid to rest till wholly burnt. In like manner, the regenerated + Heathendom, which dominates over the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, has + risen again and again, after being transfixed. Still cherished by the + many, it is denounced by the few. Amongst other accusers, I raise my voice + against the Paganism which exists so extensively in ecclesiastical + Christianity, and will do my utmost to expose the imposture. + </p> + <p> + In a vampire story, told in <i>Thalaba</i>, by Southey, the resuscitated + being takes the form of a dearly beloved maiden, and the hero is obliged + to kill her with his own hand. He does so; but, whilst he strikes the form + of the loved one, he feels sure that he slays only a demon. In like + manner, when I endeavour to destroy the current Heathenism, which has + assumed the garb of Christianity, I do not attack real religion. Few would + accuse a workman of malignancy who cleanses from filth the surface of a + noble statue. There may be some who are too nice to touch a nasty subject; + yet even they will rejoice when some one else removes the dirt. Such a + scavenger is much wanted. + </p> + <p> + If I were to assert, as a general proposition, that religion does not + require any symbolism, I should probably win assent from every true Scotch + Presbyterian, every Wesleyan, and every Independent. Yet I should be + opposed by every Papist, and by most Anglican Churchmen. But why? Is it + not because their ecclesiastics have adopted symbolism into their churches + and into their ritual? They have broken the second commandment of Jehovah, + and refuse to see anything wrong in their practice or gross in their + imagery. But they adopt Jehovah rather than Elohim, and break the + commandments, said to be given upon Sinai, in good company. + </p> + <p> + The reader of the following pages will probably feel more interest therein + if he has some clue whereby he may guide himself through their labyrinth. + </p> + <p> + From the earliest known times there seems to have been in every civilised + nation the idea of an unseen power. In the speculations of thoughtful + minds a necessity is recognised for the existence of a Being who made all + things—who is at times beneficent, sending rain and warmth, and who + at others sends storm, plague, famine, and war. After the crude idea has + taken possession of the thoughts, there has been a desire to know + something more of this Creator, and an examination into the works of + Nature has been made with the view to ascertain the will and designs of + the Supreme. In every country this great One has been supposed to inhabit + the heaven above us, and consequently all celestial phenomena have been + noticed carefully. But the mind soon got weary of contemplating about an + essence, and, contenting itself with the belief that there was a Power, + began to investigate the nature of His ministers. These, amongst the + Aryans, were the sun, fire, storm, wind, the sky, the day, night, etc. An + intoxicating drink, too, was regarded as an emanation from the Supreme. + With this form of belief men lived as they had done ere it existed, and in + their relations with each other may be compared to such high class animals + as elephants. Men can live peaceably together without religion, just as do + the bisons, buffaloes, antelopes, and even wolves. The assumption that + some form of faith is absolutely a necessity for man is only founded on + the fancies of some religious fanatics who know little of the world.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Whilst these sheets were passing through the press, there + appeared a work, published anonymously, but reported to be + by one of the most esteemed theologians who ever sat upon an + episcopal bench. It is entitled Supernatural Religion. + London: Longmans, 1874. From it we quote the following, vol. + ii., p. 489:— + + "We gain infinitely more than we lose in abandoning belief + in the reality of Divine Revelation. Whilst we retain pure + and unimpaired the treasure of Christian Morality, we + relinquish nothing but the debasing elements added to it by + human superstition. We are no longer bound to believe a + theology which outrages reason and moral sense. We are freed + from base anthropomorphic views of God and His government of + the universe; and from Jewish Mythology we rise to higher + conceptions of an infinitely wise and beneficent Being, + hidden from our finite minds, it is true, in the + impenetrable glory of Divinity, but whose Laws of wondrous + comprehensiveness and perfection we ever perceive in + operation around us. We are no longer disturbed by visions + of fitful interference with the order of Nature, but we + recognise that the Being who regulates the universe is + without variableness or shadow of turning. It is singular + how little there is in the supposed Revelation of alleged + information, however incredible, regarding that which is + beyond the limits of human thought, but that little is of a + character which reason declares to be the wildest delusion. + Let no man whose belief in the reality of a Divine + Revelation may be destroyed by such an inquiry complain that + he has lost a precious possession, and that nothing is left + but a blank. The Revelation not being a reality, that which + he has lost was but an illusion, and that which is left is + the Truth. If he be content with illusions, he will speedily + be consoled; if he be a lover only of truth, instead of a + blank, he will recognise that the reality before him is full + of great peace. + + "If we know less than we have supposed of man's destiny, we + may at least rejoice that we are no longer compelled to + believe that which is unworthy. The limits of thought once + attained, we may well be unmoved in the assurance that all + that we do know of the regulation of the universe being so + perfect and wise, all that we do not know must be equally + so. Here enters the true and noble Faith—which is the child + of reason. If we have believed a system, the details of + which must at one time or another have shocked the mind of + every intelligent man, and believed it simply because it was + supposed to be revealed, we may equally believe in the + wisdom and goodness of what is not revealed. The mere act of + communication to us is nothing: Faith in the perfect + ordering of all things is independent of Revelation. + + "The argument so often employed by Theologians that Divine + Revelation is necessary for man, and that certain views + contained in that Revelation are required by our moral + consciousness, is purely imaginary, and derived from the + Revelation which it seeks to maintain. The only thing + absolutely necessary for man is Truth and to that, and that + alone, must our moral consciousness adapt itself." +</pre> + <p> + But as there is variety in the workings of the human mind, so there were + differences in the way wherein the religious idea was carried out. Some + regarded the sun and moon, the constellations and the planets, as + ministers of the unseen One, and, reasoning from what was known to what + was unknown, argued thus: "Throughout nature there seems to be a dualism. + In the sky there are a sun and moon; there are also sun and earth, earth + and sea. In every set of animals there are males and females." An inquiry + into the influence of the sun brought out the facts that by themselves its + beams were destructive; they were only beneficent when the earth was moist + with rain. As the rain from heaven, then, caused things on earth to grow, + it was natural that the main source of light and heat should be regarded + as a male, and the earth as a female. As a male, the sun was supposed to + have the emblems of virility, and a spouse whom he impregnated, and who + thereby became fertile. + </p> + <p> + In examining ancient Jewish, Phoenician, and other Shemitic cognomens, I + found that they consisted of a divine name and some attribute of the + deity, and that the last was generally referable equally to the Supreme, + to the Sun, as a god, and to the masculine emblem. If the deity was a + female, the name of her votary contained a reference to the moon and the + beauties or functions of women. The higher ideas of the Creator were held + only by a few, the many adopted a lower and more debased view. In this + manner the sun became a chief god and the moon his partner, and the former + being supposed to be male and the latter female, both became associated + with the ideas which all have of terrestrial animals. Consequently the + solar deity was associated in symbolism with masculine and the moon with + feminine emblems. + </p> + <p> + An inquiry into antiquity, as represented by Babylonians, Assyrians, + Egyptians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, and others, + and into modern faiths still current, as represented in the peninsula of + India, in the Lebanon, and elsewhere, shows that ideas of sex have been + very generally associated with that of creation. God has been described as + a king, or as a queen, or as both united. As monarch, he is supposed to be + man, or woman, or both. As man differs from woman in certain + peculiarities, these very means of distinction have been incorporated into + the worship of god and goddess. Rival sects have been ranged in ancient + times under the symbol of the T and the O as in later times they are under the + cross and the crescent. The worship of God the Father has repeatedly + clashed with that of God the Mother, and the votaries of each respectively + have worn badges characteristic of the sex of their deity. An illustration + of this is to be seen amongst ourselves; one sect of Christians adoring + chiefly the Trinity, another reverencing the Virgin. There is a well-known + picture, indeed, of Mary worshipping her infant; and to the former is + given the title <i>Mater Creatoris</i>, "the mother of the Creator." Our + sexual sections are as well marked as those in ancient Jerusalem, which + swore by Jehovah and Ashtoreth respectively. + </p> + <p> + The idea of sexuality in religion is quite compatible with a ritual and + practice of an elaborate character, and a depth of piety which prefers + starvation to impurity, or, as the Bible has it, to uncleanness. To eat + "with the blood" was amongst the Hebrews a crime worthy of death; to eat + with unwashed hands was a dreadful offence in the eyes of the Pharisees of + Jerusalem; and in the recent famine in Bengal, we have seen that + individuals would rather die of absolute hunger, and allow their children + to perish too, than eat bread or rice which may have been touched by + profane hands, or drink milk that had been expressed by British milkmaids + from cows' udders. Yet these same Hindoos, the very particular sect of the + Brahmins, have amongst themselves a form of worship which to our ideas is + incompatible with real religion. The folks referred to adore the Creator, + and respect their ceremonial law even more deeply, than did the Hebrews + after the time of the Babylonish captivity; but they have a secret cult in + which—and in the most, matter-of-fact way—they pay a very + practical homage to one or other of the parts which is thought by the + worshipper to be a mundane emblem of the Creator. + </p> + <p> + The curious will find in <i>Essays on the Religion of the Hindus</i>, by + H. H. Wilson, in the <i>Dabistan</i>, translated by Shea and Troyer (Allen + and Co., London), 3 vols., 8vo., and in <i>Memoirs of the Anthropological + Society of London</i> (Trübner and Co.), vols. 1 and 2, much information + on the method of conducting the worship referred to. The first named + author thinks it advisable to leave the Brahminic "rubric" for the "Sakti + Sodhana," for the most part under the veil of the original Sanscrit, and I + am not disposed wholly to withdraw it. + </p> + <p> + But Christians are not pure; some of my readers may have seen a work + written by an Italian lady of high birth, who was in early life forced + into a nunnery, and who left it as soon as she had a chance. In her + account she tells us how the women in the monastery were seduced by + reverend Fathers, who were at one time the instruments of vice, at another + the guides to penitence. Their practice was to instruct their victims that + whatever was said or done must be accompanied by a pious sentence. Thus, + "I love you dearly" was a profane expression; but "I desire your company + in the name of Jesus," and "I embrace in you the Holy Virgin," were + orthodox. In like manner, the Hindus have prayers prescribed for their + use, when the parts are to be purified prior to proceeding to extremities, + when they are introduced to each other, in the agitation which follows, + and when the ceremony is completed. Everything is done, as Ritualists + would say, decently and in order; and a pious orgie, sanctified by + prayers, cannot be worse than the penance ordained by some "confessors" to + those faithful damsels whose minds are plastic enough to believe that a + priest is an embodiment of the Holy Ghost, and that they become + assimilated to the Blessed Virgin when they are overshadowed by the power + of the Highest (Luke i. 85). + </p> + <p> + There being, then, in "religion" a strong sensual element, ingenuity has + been exercised to a wonderful extent in the contrivance of designs, nearly + or remotely significant of this idea, or rather union of the conceptions + to which we have referred. Jupiter is a Proteus in form; now a man, now a + bull, now a swan, now an androgyne. Juno, or her equivalent, is sometimes + a woman, occasionally a lioness, and at times a cow. All conceivable + attributes of man and woman were symbolised; and gods were called by the + names of power, love, anger, desire, revenge, fortune, etc. Everything in + creation that resembled in any way the presumed Creator, whether in name, + in character, or in shape, was supposed to represent the deity. Hence a + palm tree was a religious emblem, because it is long, erect, and round; an + oak, for it is hard and firm; a fig-tree, because its leaves resemble the + male triad. The ivy was sacred from a similar cause. A myrtle was also a + type, but of the female, because its leaf is a close representation of the + <i>vesica piscis</i>. Everything, indeed, which in any way resembles the + characteristic organs of man and woman, became symbolic of the one or the + other deity, Jupiter or Juno, Jehovah or Astarte, the Father or the + Virgin. Sometimes, but very rarely, the parts in question were depicted <i>au + naturel</i>, and the means by which creation is effected became the + mundane emblem of the Almighty; and two huge phalli were seen before a + temple, as we now see towers or spires before our churches, and minarets + before mosques. (Lucian, <i>Dea Syria</i>.) + </p> + <p> + Generally, however, it was considered the most correct plan to represent + the organs by some conventional form, understood by the initiated, but not + by the unlearned. Whatever was upright, and longer than broad, became + symbolic of the father; whilst that which was hollow, cavernous, oval, or + circular, symbolised the mother. A sword, spear, arrow, dart, battering + ram, spade, ship's prow, anything indeed intended to pierce into something + else was emblematic of the male; whilst the female was symbolised as a + door, a hole, a sheath, a target, a shield, a field, anything indeed which + was to be entered. The Hebrew names sufficiently indicate the plan upon + which the sexes were distinguished; the one is a <i>zachar</i>, a + perforator or digger, and the other <i>nekebah</i>, a hole or trench, i, + e. male and female. + </p> + <p> + These symbols were not necessarily those of religious belief. They might + indicate war, heroism, prowess, royalty, command, etc., or be nothing more + than they really were. They only symbolised the Creator when they were + adopted into religion. Again, there was a still farther refinement; and + advantage was taken of the fact, that one symbol was tripliform, the other + single; one of one shape, and the other different. Consequently, a + triangle, or three things, arranged so that one should stand above the + two, became emblematic of the Father, whilst an unit symbolised the + Mother. + </p> + <p> + These last three sentences deserve close attention, for some individuals + have, in somewhat of a senseless fashion, objected, that a person who can + see in a tortoise an emblem of the male, and in a horse-shoe an effigy of + the female organ, must be quite too fantastical to deserve notice. But to + me, as to other inquirers, these things are simply what they appear to be + when they are seen in common life. Yet when the former creature occupies a + large space in mythology; when the Hindoo places it as the being upon + which the world stands, and the Greeks represent one Venus as resting upon + a tortoise and another on a goat; and when one knows that in days gone by, + in which people were less refined, the [—Greek—] was displayed + where the horse-shoe is now, and that some curiously mysterious attributes + were assigned to the part in question; we cannot refuse to see the thing + signified in the sign. + </p> + <p> + Again, inasmuch as what we may call the most prominent part of the + tripliform organ was naturally changeable in character, being at one time + soft, small, and pendent, and at another hard, large, and upright, those + animals that resembled it in these respects became symbolical. Two + serpents, therefore, one Indian, and the other Egyptian, both of which are + able to distend their heads and necks, and to raise them up erect, were + emblematic, and each in its respective country typified the father, the + great Creator. In like manner, another portion of the triad was regarded + as similar in shape and size to the common hen's egg. As the celebrated + physiologist, Haller, remarked, "<i>Omne vivum ex ovo</i>" every living + thing comes from an egg; so more ancient biologists recognised that the + dual part of the tripliform organ was as essential to the creation of a + new being as the central pillar. Hence an egg and a serpent became a + characteristic of "the Father," El, Ab, Ach, Baal, Asher, Melech, Adonai, + Jahu, etc. When to this was added a half moon, as in certain Tyrian coins, + the trinity and unity were symbolised, and a faith expressed like the one + held in modern Rome, that the mother of creation is co-equal with the + father; the one seduces by her charms, and the other makes them fructify. + </p> + <p> + To the Englishman, who, as a rule, avoids talking upon the subject which + forms the basis of many an ancient religion, it may seem incredible that + any individual, or set of writers, could have exercised their ingenuity in + finding circumlocutory euphemisms for things which, though natural, are + rarely named. Yet the wonder ceases when we find, in the writings of our + lively neighbours, the French, a host of words intended to describe the + parts referred to, which correspond wholly with the pictorial emblems + adopted by the Greeks and others. + </p> + <p> + As English writers have, as a rule, systematically avoided making any + distinct reference to the sexual ideas embodied in ancient Paganism, so + they have, by their silence, encouraged the formation of a school of + theology which has no solid foundation, except a very animal one. As each + individual finds out this for himself, it becomes a question with him how + far the information shall be imparted to others. So rarely has the + determination to accuse the vampire been taken, that we can point to very + few English books to which to refer our readers. We do not know one such + that is easily accessible; K. Payne Knight's work, and the addition + thereto, having been privately printed, is not often to be found in the + market. To give a list of the foreign works which the author has + consulted, prior to and during the composition of his book on Ancient + Faiths, would be almost equivalent to giving a catalogue of part of his + library. He may, however, indicate the name of one work which is unusually + valuable for reference, viz., <i>Histoire abrégée des Differens Cultes</i>, + par J. A. Dulaure, 2 vols., small 8vo., Paris, 1825. Though out of print, + copies can generally be procured through second-hand booksellers. Another + work, <i>'Récherches sur les Mystères de Paganisme</i>, by St. Croix, is + equally valuable, but it is very difficult to procure a copy. + </p> + <p> + The ancient Jews formed no exception to the general law of reverence for + the male emblem of the Creator; and though we would, from their + pretensions to be the chosen people of God, gladly find them exempt from + what we consider to be impurities, we are constrained to believe that, + even in the worship of Jehovah, more respect was given to the symbol than + we, living in modern times, think that it deserves. In their Scriptures we + read of Noah, whose infirm temper seems to have been on a par with his + weakness for wine, cursing one of his three sons because, whilst drunk, he + had negligently exposed his person, and the young man had thought the + sight an amusing one. Ham had no reverence for the symbol of the Creator, + but Shem and Japhet had, and covered it with a veil as respectfully as if + it had been the ineffable framer of the world (Gen. ix. 21-27). As our + feelings of propriety induce us to think that the father was a far greater + sinner than the son, we rejoice to know that the causeless curse never + fell, and that Ham, in the lands of Canaan, Assyria, and Babylonia, and + subsequently in Carthaginian Spain, were the masters of those Hebrews, + whose main force, in old times, lay in impotent scoldings, such, as + Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Caliban. + </p> + <p> + One of the best proofs of the strong sexual element which existed in the + religion of the Jews is the fact that Elohim, one of the names of the + Creator amongst the Hebrews, is represented, Gen. xvii. 10-14, as making + circumcision a sign of his covenant with the seed of Abraham; and in order + to ascertain whether a man was to be regarded as being in the covenant, + God is supposed to have looked at the state of the virile organ, or—as + the Scripture has it—of the hill of the foreskin. We find, indeed, + that Jehovah was quite as particular, and examined a male quite as closely + as Elohim: for when Moses and Zipporah were on their way from Midian to + Egypt, Exod. iv. 24, Jehovah having looked at the "trinity" of Moses' son, + and having found it as perfect as when the lad was born, sought to slay + him, and would have done so unless the mother had mutilated the organ + according to the sacred pattern. Again, we find in Josh. v. 2, and in the + following verses, that Jehovah insisted upon all the Hebrew males having + their virile member in the covenant condition ere they went to attack the + Canaanites. We cannot suppose that any scribe could dwell so much as + almost every scriptural writer does upon the subject of circumcision, had + not the masculine emblem been held in religious veneration amongst the + Jewish nation. + </p> + <p> + But the David who leaped and danced, obscenely as we should say, before + the ark—an emblem of the female creator—who purchased his wife + from her royal father by mutilating a hundred Philistines, and presenting + the foreskins which he had cut off therefrom "in full tale" to the king (1 + Sam. xviii. 27, 2 Sam. iii. 14), who was once the captain of a monarch who + thought it a shame beyond endurance to be abused, tortured, or slain by + men whose persons were in a natural condition (1 Sam. xxxi. 4), and who + imagined that he, although a stripling, could conquer a giant, because the + one had a sanctified and the other a natural member—is the man whom + we know as the author of Psalms with which Christians still refresh their + minds and comfort their souls. The king who, even in his old age, was + supposed to think so much of women that his courtiers sought a lovely + damsel as a comfort for his dying bed, is believed to have been the author + of the noble nineteenth Psalm, and a number of others full of holy + aspirations. It is clear, then, that sexual ideas on religion are not + incompatible with a desire to be holy. The two were co-existent in + Palestine; they are equally so in Bengal. + </p> + <p> + We next find that Abraham, the cherished man of God, the honoured + patriarch of the Jews, makes his servant lay his hand upon the master's + member, whilst he takes an oath to do his bidding, precisely like a more + modern Palestinian might do; and Jacob does the same with Joseph. See Gen. + xxiv. 8, and xlvii. 29. + </p> + <p> + As it is not generally known that the expression, "under my thigh," is a + euphemism for the words, "upon the symbol of the Creator," I may point to + two or three other passages in which the <i>thigh</i> (translated in the + authorised version <i>loins</i>) is used periphrastically: Genesis xxxv. + 2, xlvi. 26; Exod. i. 5. See Ginsburg, in Kitto's <i>Biblical Cyclopadia</i>, + vol. 8, p. 848, 8. v. Oath. + </p> + <p> + I have on two occasions read, although I failed to make a note of it, that + an Arab, during the Franco-Egyptian war, when accused by General Kleber of + treachery, not only vehemently denied it, but when he saw himself still + distrusted, he uncovered himself before the whole military staff, and + swore upon his trinity that he was guiltless. In the Lebanon, once in each + year, every female considers it her duty to salute with her lips the + reverenced organ of the Old Sheik. + </p> + <p> + Again we learn, from Deut. xxiii. 1, that any unsanctified mutilation of + this part positively entailed expulsion from the congregation of the Lord. + Even a priest of the house of Aaron could not minister, as such, if his + masculinity had been in any way impaired (Lev. xxi. 20); and report says + that, in our Christian times, Popes have to be privately perfect; see also + Deut. xxv. 11, 12. Moreover, the inquirer finds that the Jewish Scriptures + teem with promises of abundant offspring to those who were the favourites + of Jehovah; and Solomon, the most glorious of their monarchs, is described + as if he were a Hercules amongst the daughters of Thespius. Nothing can + indicate the licentiousness of the inhabitants of Jerusalem more clearly + than the writings of Ezekiel.* If, then, in Hebrew law and practice, we + find such a strong infusion of the sexual element, we cannot be surprised + if it should be found elsewhere, and gradually influence Christianity. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * See Ezekiel xxii. 1-30, and compare Jerem. v. 7, 8. +</pre> + <p> + We must next notice the fact, that what we call impurity in religious + tenets does not necessarily involve indecency in practice. The ancient + Romans, in the time of the early kings, seem to have been as proper as + early Christian maidens. It is true that, in the declining days of the + empire, exhibitions that called forth the fierce denunciations of the + fathers of the Church took place; but we find very similar occurrences in + modern Christian capitals. In Spartan days, chastity and honesty were not + virtues, but drunkenness was a vice. In Christian England, drunkenness is + general, and we cannot pride ourselves upon universal honesty and + chastity. It is not the national belief, but the national practice, which + evidences a people's worth. Spain and Ireland, called respectively + "Catholic" and "the land of saints," cannot boast of equality with + "infidel" France and "free-thinking" Prussia. England will be as earnest, + as upright, and as civilised, when she has abandoned the heathen elements + in her religion, as when she hugs them as if necessary to her spiritual + welfare. Attachment to the good parts of religion is wholly distinct from + a close embrace of the bad ones; and we believe he deserves best of his + country who endeavours to remove every possible source of discord. None + can doubt the value of the order, "Do to others as you would wish others + to do to you." If all unite to carry this out, small differences of + opinion may at once be sunk. How worthless are many of the dogmas that + people now fight about, the following pages will show. + </p> + <p> + In our larger work we have endeavoured to show that there may be a deep + sense of religion, a feeling of personal responsibility, so keen as to + influence every act of life, without there being a single symbol used. The + earnest Sakya Muni, or Buddha, never used anything as a sacred emblem; nor + did Jesus, who followed him, and perhaps unconsciously propagated the + Indian's doctrine. When the Apostles were sent out to teach and preach, + they were not told to carry out any form of ark or crucifix. To them the + doctrine of the Trinity was unknown, and not one of them had any + particular reverence for her whom we call the Virgin Mary, who, if she was + '<i>virgo intacta</i>' when Jesus was born, was certainly different when + she bore his brothers. Paul and Peter, though said to be the fathers of + the Roman Church, never used or recommended the faithful to procure for + themselves "a cross" as an aid to memory. The early Christians recognised + each other by their deeds, and never had, like the Jews, to prove that + they were in covenant with God, by putting a mutilated part of their body + into full view. We, with the Society of Friends, prefer primitive to + modern Christianity. + </p> + <p> + In the following pages the author has felt himself obliged to make use of + words which are probably only known to those who are more or less + "scholars." He has to treat of parts of the human body, and acts which + occur habitually in the world, which in modern times are never referred to + in polite society, but which, in the period when the Old Testament was + written, were spoken of as freely as we now talk of our hands and feet. In + those days, everything which was common was spoken of without shame, and + that which occurred throughout creation, and was seen by every one, was as + much the subject of conversation as eating and drinking is now. The + Hebrew-writers were extremely coarse in their diction, and although this + has been softened down by subsequent redactors, much which is in our + modern judgment improper still remains. For example, where we simply + indicate the sex, the Jewish historians used the word which was given to + the symbol by which male and female are known; for example, in Gen. i. 27, + and v. 2, and in a host of other places, the masculine and feminine are + spoken of as <i>zachar</i> and <i>nekebah</i>, which is best translated as + "borers" and "bored." Another equally vulgar way of describing men is to + be found in 1 Kings xiv. 10. But these observations would not serve us + much in symbolism did we not know that they were associated with certain + euphemisms by which when one thing is said another is intended; for an + illustration let us take Isaiah vii. 20, and ask what is meant by the + phrase, "the hair of the feet"? It is certain that the feet are never + hairy, and consequently can never be shaved. Again, when we find in Gen. + xlix. 10, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from + between his feet," and compare this with Deut. xxviii. 57, and 2 Kings + xviii. 27, where the words are, in the original, "the water of their + feet," it is clear that symbolic language is used to express something + which, if put into the vernacular, would be objectionable to ears polite. + Again, in Genesis xxiv. 2 and xlvii. 29, and in Heb. xi. 21, it is well + known to scholars that the word "thigh" and "staff" are euphemisms to + express that part which represents the male. In Deut. xxiii. 1, we have + evidence, as in the last three verses quoted, of the sanctity of the part + referred to, but the language is less refined. Now-a-days our ears are not + attuned to the rough music which pleased our ancestors, and we have to use + veiled language to express certain matters. In the following pages, the + words which I select are drawn from the Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, Shemitic, + or Egyptian. Hea, Ann, and Asher replace the parts referred to in Deut. + xxiii. 1; Osiris, Asher, Linga, Mahadeva, Siva, Priapus, Phallus, etc., + represent the Hebrew <i>zachar </i>; whilst Isis, Parvati, Yoni, Sacti, + Astarte, Ishtar, etc., replace the Jewish <i>nekebah</i>. The junction of + these parts is spoken of as Ashtoreth, Baalim, Elohim, the trinity and + unity, the androgyne deity, the arba, or mystic four, and the like. + </p> + <p> + I will only add, that what I refer to has long been known to almost every + scholar except English ones. Of these a few are learned; but for a long + period they have systematically refrained from speaking plainly, and have + written in such a manner as to be guilty not only of <i>suppressio veri</i> + but of <i>suggestio falsi</i>. + </p> + <p> + After reading thus far, I can imagine many a person saying with + astonishment, "Are these things so?" and following up his thoughts by + wondering what style of persons they were, or are, who could introduce + into religion such matters as those of which we have treated. + </p> + <p> + In reply, I can only say that I have nothing extenuated, and set down + nought in malice. But the first clause of the assertion requires + modification, for in this volume there are many things omitted which I + have referred to at length in my larger work. In that I have shown, not + only that religious fornication existed in ancient Babylon, but that there + is reason to believe that it existed also in Palestine. The word [—Hebrew—] + <i>Kadesh</i>, which signifies "pure, bright, young, to be holy, or to be + consecrated," is also the root from which are formed the words <i>Kadeshah</i> + and <i>Kadeshim</i>, which are used in the Hebrew writings, and are + translated in our authorised version "whore" and "sodomite." See Bent, + xxiii. 17. + </p> + <p> + Athanasius tells us something of this as regards the Phoenicians, for he + says, (<i>Oratio Contr. Gent</i>., part i., p. 24.) "Formerly, it is + certain that Phoenician women prostituted themselves before their idols, + offering their bodies to their gods in the place of first fruits, being + persuaded that they pleased the goddess by that means, and made her + propitious to them." + </p> + <p> + Strabo mentions a similar occurrence at Comana, in Pontus, book xiii., c. + iii. p. 86—and notices that an enormous number of women were + consecrated to the use of worshippers in the temple of Venus at Corinth. + </p> + <p> + Such women exist in India, and the priests of certain temples do + everything in their power to select the loveliest of the sex, and to + educate them so highly as to be attractive. + </p> + <p> + The customs which existed in other places seem to have been known in + Jerusalem, as we find in 1 Kings xiv. 24., XV. 12, that <i>Kadeshim</i> + were common in Judea, and in 2 Kings xxiii. 7, we discover that these + "consecrated ones" were located "by the temple," and were associated with + women whose business was "to make hangings for the grove." What these + tissues were and what use was made of them will be seen in Ezekiel xvi. + 16. + </p> + <p> + Even David, when dancing before the ark, shamelessly exposed himself. + Solomon erected two pillars in the porch of his temple, and called them + Jachin and Boaz, and added pomegranate ornaments. We have seen how Abraham + and Jacob ordered their inferiors to swear by putting the hand upon "the + thigh"; and we have read of the atrocities which occurred in Jerusalem in + the time of Ezekiel. Yet the Jews are still spoken of as God's chosen + people, and the Psalmist as a man after God's own heart. + </p> + <p> + But without going so far back, let us inquire into the conduct of the + sensual Turks, and of the general run of the inhabitants of Hindostan. + From everything that I can learn—and I have repeatedly conversed + with those who have known the Turks and Hindoos familiarly—these are + in every position in life as morally good as common Christians are. + </p> + <p> + My readers must not now assert that I am either a partisan or a special + pleader when I say this; they must consider that I am making the + comparison as man by man. I do not, as missionaries do, compare the most + vicious Mahomedan and Brahmin with the most exemplary Christian; nor do I, + on the other hand, compare the best Ottoman and Indian with Christian + criminals; but I take the whole in a mass, and assert that there is as + large a percentage of good folks in India and Turkey as there is in Spain + and France, England or America. + </p> + <p> + The grossest form of worship is compatible with general purity of morals. + The story of Lucretia is told of a Pagan woman, whilst those of Er and + Onan, Tamar and Judah relate to Hebrews. David, who seduced Bathsheba, and + killed her husband, was not execrated by "God's people," nor was he + consequently driven from his throne as Tarquin was by the Romans. + </p> + <p> + In prowess and learning, the Babylonians, with their religious + prostitution, were superior to the "chosen people." Of the wealth and + enterprise of the Phoenicians, Ancient History tells us abundance. + </p> + <p> + There are probably no three cities in ancient or modern times which + contain so many vicious individuals as London, Paris, and New York. Yet + there are none which history tells us of that were more powerful. No + Babylonian army equalled in might or numbers the army of the Northern + United States. Nineveh never wielded armies equal to those of the French + Napoleon and the German William, and Rome never had an empire equal to + that which is headed by London. + </p> + <p> + The existence of personal vice does not ruin a nation in its collective + capacity. Nor does the most sensual form of religion stunt the prosperity + of a people, so long as the latter do not bow their necks to a priesthood. + </p> + <p> + The greatest curse to a nation is not a bad religion, but a form of faith + which prevents manly inquiry. I know of no nation of old that was + priest-ridden which did not fall under the swords of those who did not + care for hierarchs. + </p> + <p> + The greatest danger is to be feared from those ecclesiastics who wink at + vice, and encourage it as a means whereby they can gain power over their + votaries. So long as every man does to other men as he would that they + should do to him, and allows no one to interfere between him and his + Maker, all will go well with the world. + </p> + <p> + Whilst the following sheets were going through the press, my friend Mr. + Newton, who has not only assisted me in a variety of ways, but who has + taken a great deal of interest in the subject of symbolism, gave me to + understand that there were some matters in which he differed very strongly + from me in opinion. One of these was as to the correct interpretation of + the so-called Assyrian grove; another was the signification of one of + Lajard's gems, Plate iv., Fig. 3; and the most conspicuous of our + divergencies was respecting the fundamental, or basic idea, which prompted + the use in religion of those organs of reproduction which have, from time + immemorial, been venerated in Hindostan, and, as far as we can learn, in + Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Jerusalem, + Etruria, Greece, and Rome, as well as in countries called uncivilised. I + feel quite disposed to acquiesce in the opinions which my old friend has + formed respecting the Assyrian grove, but I am not equally ready to assent + to his other opinions. + </p> + <p> + Where two individuals are working earnestly for the elucidation of truth, + there ought, in my opinion, to be not only a tolerance of disagreement, + but an honest effort to submit the subject to a jury of thoughtful + readers. + </p> + <p> + As I should not feel satisfied to allow any other person to express my + opinions in his words, it seemed to me only fair to Mr. Newton to give him + the facility of enunciating his views in his own language. It was + intended, originally, that my friend's observations upon the "grove" + should be followed by a dissertation upon other relics of antiquity—notably + upon that known as Stonehenge—but circumstances have prevented this + design being carried into execution. + </p> + <p> + When two individuals who have much in common go over the same ground, it + is natural, indeed almost necessary, that they should dwell upon identical + topics. Hence it will be found that there are points which are referred to + by us both, although possibly in differing relationship. + </p> + <p> + As my own part of the following remarks were printed long before I saw Mr. + Newton's manuscript, I hope to be pardoned for allowing them to stand. The + bulk of the volume will not be increased to the extent of a full page. + </p> + <p> + If I were to be asked the reason why I differ from Mr. Newton in his + exalted idea about the adoption of certain bodily organs as types, tokens, + or emblems of an unseen and an inscrutable Creator, my answer would be + drawn from the observations made upon every known order of priesthood, + from the most remote antiquity to the present time. No matter what the + creed, whether Ancient or Modern, the main object of its exponents and + supporters is to gain over the minds of the populace. This has never yet + been done, and probably never will be attempted, by educating the mind of + the multitude to think. + </p> + <p> + In Great Britain we find three sets of hierarchs opposed to each other, + and all equally, by every means in their power, prohibit independent + inquiry. + </p> + <p> + A young Romanist convert, as we have recently seen, is discouraged from + persevering in the study of history and logic; a Presbyterian is + persecuted, as far as the law of the land permits, if he should engage in + an honest study of the Bible, of the God which it presents for our + worship, and of the laws that it enforces. A bishop of the Church of + England is visited by the puny and spiteful efforts of some of his nominal + equals if he ventures to treat Jewish writings as other critics study the + tomes of Livy or of Herodotus. + </p> + <p> + One set of men have banded together to elect a god on earth, and endeavour + to coerce their fellow-mortals to believe that a selection by a few old + cardinals can make the one whom they choose to honour "infallible." + </p> + <p> + Another set of men, who profess to eschew the idea of infallibility in a + Pope, assume that they possess the quality themselves, and endeavour to + blot out from the communion of the faithful those who differ from them "on + points which God hath left at large." + </p> + <p> + Surely, when with all our modern learning, thought, and scientific + enquiry, hierarchs still set their faces against an advance in knowledge, + and quell, if possible, every endeavour to search after truth, we are not + far wrong when we assert, that the first priests of barbarism had no + exalted views of such an abstract subject as life, in the higher and + highest senses, if indeed in any sense of the word. + </p> + <p> + Another small point of difference between my friend and me is, whether + there has been at any time a figured representation of a <i>kakodoemon</i>—except + since the beginning of Christianity—and if, by way of stretching a + point, we call Typhon—Satan or the Devil—by this name, as + being opposed to the <i>Agathodoemon</i>, whether we are justified in + providing this evil genius with wings. As far as I can judge from Chaldean + and Assyrian sculptures, wings were given to the lesser deities as our + artists assign them to modern angels. The Babylonian Apollyon, by whatever + name he went, was winged—but so were all the good gods. The + Egyptians seem to have assigned wings only to the favourable divinities. + The Jews had in their mythology a set of fiery flying serpents, but we + must notice that their cherubim and seraphim were all winged, some with no + less than three pairs—much as Hindoo gods have four heads and six, + or any other number of arms. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Newton assumes that the dragon mentioned in Rev. xii. was a winged + creature, but it is clear from the context, especially from verses 14 and + 15, that he had no pinions, for he was unable to follow the woman to whom + two aerial oars had been given. + </p> + <p> + The dragon, as we know it, is, I believe, a mediæval creation; such a + creature is only spoken of in the Bible in the book of Revelation, and the + author of that strange production drew his inspiration on this point from + the Iliad, where a dragon is described as of huge size, coiled like a + snake, of blood-red colour, shot with changeful hues, and having three + heads. Homer, Liddell, and Scott add—used [—Greek—] + indifferently for a serpent. So does the author of Rev. in ch. xx. 2. I + have been unable to discover any gnostic gem with anything like a modern + dragon on it. + </p> + <p> + Holding these views, I cannot entertain the proposition that the winged + creatures in the very remarkable gem already referred to are evil genii. + </p> + <p> + In a question of this kind the mind is perhaps unconsciously biassed by + comparing one antiquarian idea with another. A searcher amongst Etruscan + vases will see not only that the angel of death is winged, but that Cupid, + Eros, or by whatever other name "desire" or love goes, frequently hovers + over the bridal or otherwise voluptuous couch, and attends beauty at her + toilet. The Greeks also gave to Eros a pair of wings, intended, it is + fancied, to represent the flutterings of the heart, produced when lovers + meet or even think of each other. Such a subordinate deity would be in + place amongst so many sexual emblems as Plate iv. Fig. 3 contains, whilst + a <i>koakdoemon</i> would be a "spoil sport," and would make the erected + serpents drop rather than remain in their glory. + </p> + <p> + These matters are apparently of small importance, but when one is studying + the signification of symbolical language, he has to pay as close an + attention, and extend the net of observation over as wide a sea as a + scholar does when endeavouring to decipher some language written in + long-forgotten characters, and some divergence of opinion between + independent observers sharpens the intellect more than it tries the + temper. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM. + </h2> + <h3> + PLATE II. + </h3> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/054.jpg" alt="Plate II 054 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + This is taken from a photograph of a small bronze image in the Mayer + collection of the Free Museum, in Liverpool. The figure stands about nine + inches high, and represents Isis, Horus, and the fish. It is an apt + illustration of an ancient custom, still prevalent amongst certain + Christians, of reverencing a woman, said to be a virgin, giving suck to + her child, and of the association of Isis, Venus, and Mary with the fish. + Friday, for example, is, with the Romanists, both "fish day," and "dies + Veneris." Fish are known to be extraordinarily prolific. There was a + belief that animals, noted for any peculiarity, imparted their virtues to + those who ate them; consequently, tigers' flesh was supposed to give + courage, and snails to give sexual power. The use of fish in connubial + feasts is still common. Those who consider it pious or proper to eat fish + on Venus' day, or Friday, proclaim themselves, unconsciously, adherents to + those heathen ideas which deified parts about which no one now likes to + talk. The fish has in one respect affinity with the mandrake. + </p> + <p> + Since the first publication of this work, a friend has suggested to me + another reason, besides its fertility, for the fish being emblematic of + woman. From his extensive experience as a surgeon, and especially among + the lower order of courtesans, he has repeatedly noticed during the hot + months of the year that the parts which he had to examine have a very + strong odour of fish. My own observations in the same department lead me + to endorse his assertion. Consequently, I think that in warm climates, + where the utmost cleanliness can scarcely keep a female free from odour, + scent, as well as other attributes, has had to do with the selection of + the fish as an emblem of woman. + </p> + <p> + Still further, I have been informed by another friend that in Yorkshire, + and I understand in other counties of England, the <i>double entente</i> + connected with the fish is so marked that it is somewhat difficult to + render it into decent phraseology. It will suffice to say that in the + county mentioned, Lais or Phryne would be spoken of as "a choice bit of + fish," and that a man who bore on his features the stamp which is + imprinted by excessive indulgence, would be said to have indulged too much + in "a fish diet." I do not suppose that in the Yorkshire Ridings the folks + are unusually well acquainted with mythology, yet it is curious to find + amongst their inhabitants a connection between Venus and the Fish, + precisely similar to that which has obtained in the most remote ages and + in far distant climes. + </p> + <p> + It is clear from all these facts that the fish is a symbol not only of + woman, but of the yoni. + </p> + <p> + PLATE II. + </p> + <p> + Is supposed to represent Oannes, Dagon, or some other fish god. It is + copied from Lajard, <i>Sur le Culte de Venus</i>, pl. xxii., 1, la, and is + thus described, "Statuette inédite, de grès houiller ou micacé, d'un brun + verdâtre. Elle porte par devant, sur une bande perpendiculaire, un légende + en caractères Syriaques très anciens (<i>Cabinet de M. Lambert, à Lyon</i>)." + I can find no clue to the signification of the inscription. It would seem + paradoxical to say that there is something in common between the + bull-headed deity and Oannes. It is so, nevertheless. One indicates, <i>par + excellence</i>, physical, and the other sexual, power. That Oannes may, + for the Assyrians, represent a man who played a part with them similar to + that of Penn among the Indians of Pennsylvania, I do not deny; but, when + we find a similar fish-god in Philistia and Hindostan, and know that + Crishna once appeared as a fish, the explanation does not suffice. It is + curious that Jesus of Nazareth should be called "a fish"; but this only + proves that the religion of Christ has been adulterated by Paganism. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 1 and 4 are illustrations of the antelope as a religious emblem + amongst the Assyrians. The first is from Layard's <i>Nineveh</i>, and in + it we see carried in one hand a triply branched lotus; the second, showing + the regard for the spotted antelope, and for "the branch," is from + Bonomi's <i>Nineveh and its Palaces</i>. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 2 illustrates Bacchus, with a mystic branch in one hand, and a cup in + the other; his robe is covered with spots arranged in threes. The branch + is emblematic of the <i>arbor vitæ</i>, or tree of life, and its powers of + sprouting. Such a symbol is, by outsiders, figured on the houses of newly + married couples amongst the Jews of Morocco, and seems to indicate the + desire of friends that the man will show that he is vigorous, and able to + have many sprouts from the tree of life. It will be noticed that on the + fillet round the god's head are arranged many crosses. From Hislop's <i>Two + Babylons</i>, and Smith's <i>Dictionary</i>, p. 208. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 8 and 5 are intended to show the prevalence of the use of spots on + priestly dresses; they are copied from Hislop's <i>Two Babylons</i>, and + Wilkinson, vol. vi., pi. 88, and vol. iv., pp. 841, 858. For an + explanation of the signification of spots, see Plate iv., Fig. 6, infra. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1 represents an Assyrian priest worshipping by presentation of the + thumb, which had a peculiar signification. Sometimes the forefinger is + pointed instead, and in both cases the male is symbolised. It is taken + from a plate illustrating a paper by E. C. Ravenshaw, Esq., in <i>Journal + of Royal Asiatic Society</i>, vol. xvi., p. 114. Amongst the Hebrews, and + probably all the Shemitic tribes, <i>bohen</i>, the thumb, and <i>ezba</i>, + the finger, were euphemisms. They are so in some parts of Europe to the + present day.* The hand thus presented to the grove resembles a part of the + Buddhist cross, and the shank of a key, whose signification is described + in a subsequent page. + </p> + <p> + PLATE III. <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/059.jpg" alt="Plate Iii. 059 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + PLATE IV. <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/062.jpg" alt="Plate Iv. 062 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Fig. 2 is a Buddhist emblem; the two fishes forming the circle represent + the mystic yoni, the sacti of Mahadeva, while the triad above them + represents the mystic trinity, the triune father, Siva, Bel, or Asher, + united with Anu and Hea. From <i>Journal of Royal Asiatic Society</i>, + vol. xviii., p. 892, plate ii. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 3 is a very remarkable production. It originally belonged to Mons. + Lajard, and is described by him in his second <i>Memoire</i>, entitled <i>Recherches + sur le Culte, les Symboles, les Attributs, et les Monumens Figurés de + Vénus</i> (Paris, 1837), in pages 32, <i>et seq</i>., and figured in plate + I., fig. 1. The real age of the gem and its origin are not known, but the + subject leads that author to believe it to be of late Babylonian + workmanship. The stone is a white agate, shaped like a cone, and the + cutting is on its lower face. The shape of this gem indicates its + dedication to Venus. The central figures represent the androgyne deity, + Baalim, Astaroth, Elohim, Jupiter genetrix, or the bearded Venus Mylitta. + On the left side of the cutting we notice an erect serpent, whose rayed + head makes us recognise the solar emblem, and its mundane representative, + <i>mentula arrecta</i>; on a spot opposite to the centre of the male's + body we find a lozenge, symbolic of the yoni, whilst opposite to his feet + is the amphora, whose mystic signification may readily be recognised; it + is meant for Ouranos, or the Sun fructifying Terra, or the earth, by + pouring from himself into her. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * A friend has informed me, for example, that he happened, + whilst at Pesth, to look at a gorgeously dressed and + handsome young woman. To his astonishment she pointed her + thumb precisely in the manner adopted by the Assyrian + priests; this surprised the young man still farther, and + being, as it were, fascinated, he continued to gaze. The + damsel then grasped the thumb by the other hand; thus + indicating her profession. My friend, who was wholly + inexperienced in the ways of the world, only understood what + was meant when he saw my explanation of Fig. 1. +</pre> + <p> + The three stars over the head of the figure, and the inverted triangle on + its head, are representations of the mythological four, equivalent to the + Egyptian symbol of life (figs. 31, 82). Opposite to the female are the + moon, and another serpent, which may be recognised by physiologists as + symbolic of <i>tensio clitoridis</i>. In a part corresponding to the + diamond, on the left side, is a six-rayed wheel, emblematic, apparently, + of the sun. At the female's feet is placed a cup, which is intended to + represent the passive element in creation. As such it is analogous to the + crescent moon, and is associated in the Roman church with the round wafer, + the symbol of the sun; the wafer and cup thus being synonymous with the + sun and moon in conjunction. It will be observed that each serpent in the + plate is apparently attacked by what we suppose is a dragon. There is some + difficulty in understanding the exact idea intended to be conveyed by + these; my own opinion is that they symbolise Satan, the old serpent that + tempted Eve, viz., fierce lust, Eros, Cupid, or desire, which, both in the + male and female, brings about the arrectation which the serpents figure. + It is not to be passed by without notice, that the snake which represents + the male has the tail so curved as to suggest the idea of the second and + third elements of the trinity. Monsieur Lajard takes the dragons to + indicate the bad principle in nature, i. e., darkness, night, Ahriman, + etc. On the pyramidal portion of the gem the four sides are ornamented by + figures—three represent animals remarkable for their salacity, and + the fourth represents Bel and Ishtar in conjunction, in a fashion which + can be more easily imagined than described in the mother tongue. The + learned will find the position assumed in Lucretius, <i>Dê Rerum Naturâ</i>, + book iv., lines 1256, seq. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 4 is also copied from Lajard, plate i., fig. 10. It is the reverse of + a bronze coin of Vespasian, struck in the island of Cyprus, and represents + the conical stone, under whose form Venus was worshipped at Paphos, of + which Tacitus remarks, Hist, ii., c. 8, "the statue bears no resemblance + to the human form, but is round, broad at one end and gradually tapering + at the other, like a goal. The reason of this is not ascertained." It is + remarkable that a male emblem should be said to represent Venus, but the + stone was an aerolite, like that which fell at Ephesus, and was said to + represent Diana. It is clear that when a meteoric stone falls, the chief + priests of the district can say that it is to be taken as a representative + of their divinity. + </p> + <p> + My very ingenious friend, Mr. Newton, suggests that the Venus in question + was androgyne; that the cone is a male emblem, within a door, gateway, or + delta, thus resembling the Assyrian grove. It is certain that the + serpents, the two stars, and the two candelabra, or altars with flame, + favour his idea. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 5 represents the position of the hands assumed by Jewish priests when + they give the benediction to their flock. It will be recognised that each + hand separately indicates the trinity, whilst the junction of the two + indicates the unit. The whole is symbolic of the mystic Arba—the + four, i, e., the trinity and unity. One of my informants told me that, + being a "cohen" or priest, he had often administered the blessing, and, + whilst showing to me this method of benediction, placed his joined hands + so that his nose entered the central aperture. On his doing so, I remarked + "<i>bene nasatus</i>," and the expression did more to convince him of the + probability of my views than anything else. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 6, modified in one form or another, is the position assumed by the + hand and fingers, when Homan and Anglican bishops or other hierarchs give + benediction to their people. A similar disposition is to be met with in + Indian mythology, when the Creator doubles himself into male and female, + so as to be in a position to originate new beings. Whilst the right hand + in Plate VII. symbolises the male, the left hand represents the mystic + feminine circle. In another plate, which is to be found in Moor's <i>Hindu + Pantheon</i>, there is a similar figure, but draped fully, and in that the + dress worn by the celestial spouse is covered with groups of spots + arranged in triads and groups of four. With regard to the signification of + spots, we may notice that they indicated, either by their shape or by + their name, the emblem of womankind. A story of Indra, the Hindoo god of + the sky, confirms this. He is usually represented as bearing a robe + covered with eyes; but the legend runs that, like David, he became + enamoured of the wife of another man, who was very beautiful and seen by + chance, but her spouse was one whose austere piety made him almost equal + to Brahma. The evil design of Indra was both frustrated and punished. The + woman escaped, but the god became covered with marks that recalled his + offence to mind, for they were pictures of the yoni. These, by the strong + intercession of Brahma with the Rishi, were changed by the latter into + eyes. This story enables us to recognise clearly the hidden symbolism of + the Hindoo and Egyptian eye, the oval representing the female, and the + circle the male lodged therein—i.e., the androgyne creator. + </p> + <p> + PLATE V. <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/067.jpg" alt="Plate V. 067 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Is a copy of a mediæval Virgin and Child, as painted in Della Robbia ware + in the South Kensington Museum, a copy of which, was given to me by my + friend, Mr. Newton, to whose kindness I am indebted for many illustrations + of ancient Christian art. It represents the Virgin and Child precisely as + she used to be represented in Egypt, in India, in Assyria, Babylonia, + Phoenicia, and Etruria; the accident of dress being of no mythological + consequence. In the framework around the group, we recognise the triformed + leaf, emblematic of Asher; the grapes, typical of Dionysus; the wheat + ears, symbolic of Ceres, <i>l'abricot fendu</i>, the mark of womankind, + and the pomegranate <i>rimmon</i>, which characterises the teeming mother. + The living group, moreover, are placed in an archway, <i>delta</i>, or + door, which is symbolic of the female, like the <i>vesica piscis</i>, the + oval or the circle. This door is, moreover, surmounted by what appear to + be snails, whose supposed virtue we have spoken of under Plate i. This + identification of Mary with the Sacti is strong; by-and-by we shall see + that it is as complete as it is possible to be made. + </p> + <p> + PLATE VI. <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/070.jpg" alt="Plate Vi. 070 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Is a copy of figures given in Bryant's <i>Ancient Mythology</i>, plates + xiii., xxviii., third edition, 1807. The first two illustrate the story of + Palemon and Getus, introducing the dolphin. That fish is symbolic of the + female, in consequence of the assonance in Greek between its name and that + of the womb, <i>delphis and delphus</i>. The tree symbolises the <i>arbor + vitæ</i>, the life-giving sprout; and the ark is a symbol of the womb. The + third figure, where a man rests upon a rock and dolphin, and toys with a + mother and child, is equally suggestive. The male is repeatedly + characterised as a rock, hermes, menhir, tolmen, or upright stone, the + female by the dolphin, or fish. The result of the junction of these + elements appears in the child, whom both parents welcome. The fourth + figure represents two emblems of the male creator, a man and trident, and + two of the female, a dolphin and ship. The two last figures represent a + coin of Apamea, representing Noah and the ark, called <i>Cibotus</i>. + Bryant labours to prove that the group commemorates the story told in the + Bible respecting the flood, but there is strong doubt whether the story + was not of Babylonian origin. The city referred to was in Phrygia, and the + coin appears to have been struck by Philip of Macedon. The inscription + round the head is [—Greek inscription—]See <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, + second edition, Vol. ii.., pp. 128, and 885-892. + </p> + <p> + The Supreme Spirit in the act of creation became two-fold; the RIGHT SIDE + WAS MALE, THE LEFT WAS PRAKRITI, SHE IS OF ONE FORM WITH BRAMAH. + </p> + <p> + She is Maya, eternal and imperishable, such as the Spirit, such is the + inherent energy. (The Sacti) as the Faculty burning is inherent in pure. + </p> + <p> + (Bramah Vaivartta Puranu, Professor Wilson.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/073.jpg" alt="073 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + ARDANARI-ISWARA. + </p> + <p> + From an original drawing by Chrisna Swami, Punoit. + </p> + <p> + PLATE VII. + </p> + <p> + Is a copy of an original drawing made by a learned Hindoo pundit for Wm. + Simpson, Esq., of London, whilst he was in India studying its mythology. + It represents Brahma supreme, who in the act of creation made himself + double, i.e. male and female. In the original the central part of the + figure is occupied by the triad and the unit, but far too grossly shown + for reproduction here. They are replaced by the <i>crux ansata</i>. The + reader will notice the triad and the serpent in the male hand, whilst in + the female is to be seen a germinating seed, indicative of the relative + duties of father and mother. The whole stands upon a lotus, the symbol of + androgyneity. The technical word for this incarnation is "Arddha Nari." + </p> + <p> + PLATE VIII. <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/075.jpg" alt="Plate Iii. 075 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Is Devi, the same as Parvati, or Bhavani. It is copied from Moor's <i>Pantheon</i>, + plate xxx. The goddess represents the feminine element in the universe. + Her forehead is marked by one of the symbols of the four creators, the + triad, and the unit. Her dress is covered with symbolic spots, and one + foot peculiarly placed is marked by a circle having a dot in the interior. + The two bear the same signification as the Egyptian eye. I am not able to + define the symbolic import of the articles held in the lower hands. Moor + considers that they represent scrolls of paper, but this I doubt. The + raised hands bear the unopened lotus flower, and the goddess sits upon + another. + </p> + <p> + PLATE IX. <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/078.jpg" alt="Plate Ix. 078 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Consists of six figures, copied from Maurice's <i>Indian Antiquities</i>, + vol. vi., p. 278, and two from Bryant's <i>Mythology</i>, vol. ii., third + edition, pp. 203 and 409. All are symbolic of the idea of the male triad: + a central figure, erect, and rising above the other two. In one an altar + and fire indicate, mystically, the linga; in another, the same is + pourtrayed as a man, as Madaheva always is; in another, there is a tree + stump and serpent, to indicate the same idea. The two appendages of the + linga are variously described; in two instances as serpents, in other two + as tree and <i>concha</i>, and snake and shell. The two last seem to + embody the idea that the right "egg" of the male germinates boys, whilst + the left produces girls; a theory common amongst ancient physiologists. + The figure of the tree encircled by the serpent, and supported by two + stones resembling "tolmen," is very significant. The whole of these + figures seem to point unmistakably to the origin of the very common belief + that the male Creator is triune. In Assyrian theology the central figure + is Bel, Baal, or Asher; the one on the right Ann, that on the left Hea. + See <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, second edition, Vol. i., pp. 88-85. * + </p> + <p> + There are some authors who have treated of tree and serpent worship, and + of its prevalence in ancient times, without having, so far as I can see, + any idea of that which the two things typify. The tree of knowledge, the + tree of life, the serpent that tempted Eve, and still tempts man by his + subtlety, are so many figures of speech which the wise understand, but + which to the vulgar are simply trees and snakes. In a fine old bas-relief + over the door of the Cathedral at Berne, we see an ancient representation + of the last judgment. An angel is dividing the sheep from the goats, and + devils are drawing men and women to perdition, by fixing hooks or pincers + on the portions of the body whence their sins sprang. One fat priest, nude + as our risen bodies must be, is being savagely pulled to hell by the part + symbolised by tree and serpent, whilst she whom he has adored and vainly + sought to disgrace, is rising to take her place amongst the blest. It is + not those of the sex of Eve alone that are inveigled to destruction by the + serpent. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * For those who have not an opportunity of consulting the + work referred to, I may observe that the Assyrian godhead + consisted of four persons, three being male and one female. + The principal god was Asher, the upright one, the equivalent + of the Hindoo Mahadeva, the great holy one, and of the more + modern Priapus. He was associated with Anu, lord of solids + and of the lower world, equivalent to the "testis," or egg + on the right side. Hea was lord of waters, and represented + the left "stone." The three formed the trinity or triad. The + female was named Ishtar or Astarte, and was equivalent to + the female organ, the yoni or vulva—the [Greek] of the + Greeks. The male god in Egypt was Osiris, the female Isis, + and these names are frequently used as being euphemistic, + and preferable to the names which are in vulgar use to + describe the male and female parts. +</pre> + <p> + PLATE X. <a name="linkimage-0010" id="linkimage-0010"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/081.jpg" alt="Plate X. 081 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Contains pagan symbols of the trinity or linga, with or without the unity + or yoni. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1 represents a symbol frequently met with in ancient architecture, + etc. It represents the male and female elements, the pillar and the half + moon. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 2 represents the mystic letters said to have been placed on the + portal of the oracle of Delphi. By some it is proposed to read the two + letters as signifying "he or she is;" by others the letters are taken to + be symbolic of the triad and the unit. If they be, the pillar is a very + unusual form for the yoni. An ingenious friend of mine regards the upright + portion as a "slit," but I cannot wholly agree with him, for in Fig. 1 the + pillar cannot be looked upon as an aperture. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 3 is a Hindoo sectarial mark, copied from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, + and is one out of many indicating the union of the male and female. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 4 is emblematic of the virgin and child. It identifies the two with + the crescent. It is singular that some designers should unite the moon + with the solar symbol, and others with the virgin. We believe that the + first indicate ideas like that associated with Baalim, and Ashtaroth in + the plural, the second that of Astarte or Venus in the singular. Or, as we + may otherwise express it, the married and the immaculate virgin. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 5 is copied from Sharpe's <i>Egyptian Mythology</i>, p. 15. It + represents one of the Egyptian trinities, and is highly symbolic, not only + indicating the triad, here Osiris, Isis, and Nepthys, but its union with + the female element. The central god Osiris is himself triune, as he bears + the horns symbolic of the goddess Athor and the feathers of the god Ra. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 6 is a Hindoo sectarial mark, from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>. The + lozenge indicates the yoni. For this assertion we not only have evidence + in Babylonian gems, copied by Lajard, but in Indian and Etruscan designs. + We find, for example, in vol. v., plate xlv., of <i>Antiquités Etrusques</i>, + etc., par. F. A. David (Paris, 1785), a draped female, wearing on her + breast a half moon and mural crown, holding her hands over the middle spot + of the body, so as to form a "lozenge" with the forefingers and thumbs. + The triad in this figure is very distinct; and we may add that a trinity + expressed by three balls or three circles is to be met with in the + remotest times and in most distant countries. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 are copied from Cabrera's account of an ancient city + discovered near Palenque, in Guatemala, Spanish America (London, 1822). + Although they appear to have a sexual design, yet I doubt whether the + similarity is not accidental. After a close examination of the plates + given by Cabrera, I am inclined to think that nothing of the ling-yoni + element prevailed in the mind of the ancient American sculptors. All the + males are carefully draped in appropriate girdles, although in some a + grotesque or other ornament, such as a human or bestial head, a flower, + etc., is attached to the apron or "fall" of the girdle, resembling the + sporran of the Highlander and the codpiece of mediæval knights and others. + I may, however, mention some very remarkable sculptures copied; one is a + tree, whose trunk is surrounded by a serpent, and whose fruit is shaped + like the <i>vesica piscis</i>; in another is seen a youth wholly + unclothed, save by a cap and gaiters, who kneels before a similar tree, + being threatened before and behind by some fierce animal. This figure is + peculiar, differing from all the rest in having an European rather than an + American head and face. Indeed, the features, etc., remind me of the late + Mr. Cobden, and the cap is such as yachting sailors usually wear. There is + also another remarkable group, consisting apparently of a man and woman + standing before a cross, proportioned like the conventional one in use + amongst Christians. Everything indicates American ideas, and there are + ornaments or designs wholly unlike any that I have seen elsewhere. The man + appears to offer to the cross a grotesque human figure, with a head not + much unlike Punch, with a turned-up nose, and a short pipe shaped like a + fig in his mouth. The body is well formed, but the arms and thighs are + rounded off like "flippers" or "fins." Besting at the top of the cross is + a bird, like a game cock, ornamented by a necklace. The male in this and + the other sculptures is beardless, and that women are depicted, can only + be guessed at by the inferior size of some of the figures. It would be + unprofitable to carry the description farther. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 11, 12 are from vol. i., plates xix. and xxiii. of a remarkably + interesting work, <i>Recherches sur l' origine, l' esprit, et les progrès + des Arts de la Grèce</i>, said to be written by D'Harcanville, published + at London, 1785. The first represents a serpent, coiled so as to symbolise + the male triad, and the crescent, the emblem of the yoni. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 12 accompanies the bull on certain coins, and symbolises the sexual + elements, <i>le baton et l'anneau</i>. They were used, as the horse-shoe + is now, as a charm against bad luck, or vicious demons or fairies. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 13 is, like figure 5, from Sharpe's <i>Egyptian Mythology</i>, p. 14, + and is said to represent Isis, Nepthys, and Osiris; it is one of the many + Mizraite triads. The Christian trinity is of Egyptian origin, and is as + surely a pagan doctrine as the belief in heaven and hell, the existence of + a devil, of archangels, angels, spirits and saints, martyrs and virgins, + intercessors in heaven, gods and demigods, and other forms of faith which + deface the greater part of modern religions. + </p> + <p> + Figure 14 is a symbol frequently seen in Greek churches, but appears to be + of pre-Christian origin.* The cross we have elsewhere described as being a + compound male emblem, whilst the crescent symbolises the female element in + creation. + </p> + <p> + Figure 15 is from D'Harcanville, <i>Op. Cit</i>., vol. i., plate xxiii. It + resembles Figure 11, <i>supra</i>, and enables us by the introduction of + the sun and moon to verify the deduction drawn from the arrangement of the + serpent's coils. If the snake's body, instead of being curved above the 8 + like tail, were straight, it would simply indicate the linga and the sun; + the bend in its neck, however, indicates the yoni and the moon. + </p> + <p> + Figure 16 is copied from plate xvi., fig. 2, of <i>Recueil de Pierres + Antiques Gravés</i>, folio, by J. M. Raponi (Rome, 1786). The gem + represents a sacrifice to Priapus, indicated by the rock, pillar, figure, + and branches given in our plate. A nude male sacrifices a goat; a draped + female holds a kid ready for immolation; a second man, nude, plays the + double pipe, and a second woman, draped, bears a vessel on her head, + probably containing wine for a libation. + </p> + <p> + Figure 17 is from vol. i. <i>Récherches</i>, etc., plate xxii. In this + medal the triad is formed by a man and two coiled serpents on the one side + of the medal, whilst on the reverse are seen a tree, surrounded by a + snake, situated between two rounded stones, with a dog and a conch shell + below. See <i>supra</i>, Plate ix., Fig. 6. + </p> + <p> + PLATE XI. <a name="linkimage-0011" id="linkimage-0011"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/087.jpg" alt="Plate Xi. 087 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + With two exceptions, Figs. 4 and 9,—exhibits Christian emblems of + the trinity or linga, and the unity or yoni, alone or combined; the whole + being copied from Pugin's <i>Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament</i> + (London, 1869). + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1 is copied from Pugin, plate xvii., and indicates a double union of + the trinity with the unity, here represented as a ring, <i>Vanneau</i>. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * There is an able essay on this subject in No. 267 of the + Edinburgh Review—which almost exhausts the subject—but is + too long for quotation here. +</pre> + <p> + Figs. 2, 8, are from Pagin, plate xiv. In figare 2, the two covered balls + at the base of each limb of the cross are extremely significant, and if + the artist had not mystified the free end, the most obtuse worshipper must + have recognised the symbol. We may add here that in the two forms of the + Maltese cross, the position of the lingam is reversed, and the egg-shaped + bodies, with their cover, are at the free end of each limb, whilst the + natural end of the organ is left unchanged. See figs. 85 and 86. This form + of cross is Etruscan. Fig. 8 is essentially the same as the preceding, and + both may be compared with Fig. 4. The balls in this cross are uncovered, + and the free end of each limb of the cross is but slightly modified. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 4 is copied in a conventional form from plate xxxv., fig. 4, of <i>Two + Essays on the Worship of Priapus</i> (London, 1865). It is thus described + (page 147): "The object was found at St. Agati di Goti, near + Naples.......It is a <i>crux ansata</i> formed by four phalli, with a + circle of female organs round the centre; and appears by the look to have + been intended for suspension. As this cross is of gold, it had no doubt + been made for some personage of rank, possibly an ecclesiastic." We see + here very distinctly the design of the egg- and sistrum- shaped bodies. + When we have such an unmistakable bi-sexual cross before our eyes, it is + impossible to ignore the signification of Figs. 2 and 8, and Plate xii., + Figs. 4 and 7. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 5, 6 are from Pugin, plates xiv. and xv., and represent the trinity + with the unity, the triune god and the virgin united in one. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 7 represents the central lozenge and one limb of a cross, figured + plate xiv. of Pugin. In this instance the Maltese cross is united with the + symbol of the virgin, being essentially the same as Fig. 9, <i>infra</i>. + It is a modified form of the <i>crux ansata</i>. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 8 is a compound trinity, being the finial of each limb of an + ornamental cross. Pugin, plate xv. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 9 is a well-known Egyptian symbol, borne in the hand of almost every + divinity. It is a cross, with one limb made to represent the female + element in creation. The name that it technically bears is <i>crux ansata</i>, + or "the cross with a handle." A reference to Fig. 4 serves to verify the + idea which it involves. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 10 is from Pugin, plate xxxv. In this figure the cross is made by the + intersection of two ovals, each a <i>vesica piscis</i>, an emblem of the + yoni. Within each limb a symbol of the trinity is seen, each of which is + associated with the central ring. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 11 is from Pugin, plate xix., and represents the <i>arbor vitæ</i>, + the <i>branch</i>, or tree of life, as a triad, with which the ring is + united. + </p> + <p> + It has been said by some critics that the figures above referred to are + mere architectural fancies, which never had pretensions to embody a + mystery; and that any designer would pitch upon such a style of + ornamentation although profoundly ignorant of the doctrine of the trinity + and unity. But this assumption is not borne out by fact; the ornaments on + Buddhist topes have nothing in common with those of Christian churches; + whilst in the ruined temple of the sun at Marttand, India, the trefoil + emblem of the trinity is common. Grecian temples were profusely ornamented + therewith, and so are innumerable Etruscan sculptures, but they do not + represent the trinity and unity. It has been reserved for Christian art to + crowd our churches with the emblems of Bel and Astarte, Baalim and + Ashtoreth, linga and yoni, and to elevate the phallus to the position of + the supreme deity, and assign to him a virgin as a companion, who can + cajole him by her blandishment, weary him by wailing, or induce him to + change his mind by her intercessions. Christianity certainly requires to + be purged of its heathenisms. + </p> + <p> + PLATE XII. <a name="linkimage-0012" id="linkimage-0012"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/091.jpg" alt="Plate Xii. 091 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Contains both pagan and Christian emblems. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1 is from Pugin, plate xviii., and is a very common finial + representing the trinity. Its shape is too significant to require an + explanation; yet with such emblems our Christian churches abound, that the + Trinity may never be absent from the minds of man or woman! + </p> + <p> + Fig. 2 is from Pugin, plate xxi. It is a combination of ideas concealing + the union patent in Fig. 4, Plate xi., <i>supra</i>. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 3 is from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>. It is an ornament borne by + Devi, and symbolises the union of the triad with the unit. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 4 is from Pugin, plate xxxii. It is a double cross made up of the + male and female emblems. It is a conventionalised form of Fig. 4, Plate + xi., <i>supra</i>. Such eight-rayed figures, made like stars, seem to have + been very ancient, and to have been designed to indicate the junction of + male and female. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 5 is from Pugin, plate xvii., and represents the trinity and the + unity. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 6 is a Buddhist emblem from Birmah, <i>Journal of Royal Asiatic + Society</i>, vol. xviii., p. 392, plate i., fig. 62. It represents the + short sword, <i>le bracquemard</i>, a male symbol. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 7. is from Pagin, plate xvii. See Plate xi., Fig. 3, <i>supra</i>. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are Buddhist (see Fig. 6, supra), and symbolise the + triad. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 are from Pugin, and simply represent the trinity. + </p> + <p> + Figs. 18 and 19 are common Grecian emblems. The first is associated with + Neptune and water, the second with Bacchus. With the one we see dolphins, + emblems of the womb, the name of the two being assonant in Greek; with the + other, the saying, <i>sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus</i>, must be + coupled. + </p> + <p> + PLATE XIII. <a name="linkimage-0013" id="linkimage-0013"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/094.jpg" alt="Plate Xiii. 094 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Consists of varions emblems of the triad and the unit, drawn almost + exclusively from Grecian, Etruscan, Roman, and Indian gems, figures, + coins, or sculptures, Maffei's <i>Gemme Antiche Figurate</i>, Raponi's <i>Recueil</i>, + and Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, being the chief authorities. + </p> + <p> + PLATE XIV. <a name="linkimage-0014" id="linkimage-0014"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/096.jpg" alt="Plate Xiv. 096 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Is a copy of a small Hindoo statuette in the Mayer Collection in the Free + Museum, Liverpool. It probably represents Parvati, the Hindoo virgin, and + her child. The right hand of the figure makes the symbol of the yoni with + the forefinger and thumb, the rest of the fingers typifying the triad. In + the palm and on the navel is a lozenge, emblematic of woman. The child, + perhaps Crishna, equivalent to the Egyptian Horus and the Christian Jesus, + bears in its hand one of the many emblems of the linga, and stands upon a + lotus. The monkey introduced into the group plays the same part as the + cat, cow, lioness, and ape in the Egyptian mythology, being emblematic of + that desire which eventuates in the production of offspring. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 1, the cupola, is well known in modern Europe; it is equally so in + Hindostan, where it is sometimes accompanied by pillars of a peculiar + shape. In one such compound the design is that of a cupola, supported by + closely placed pillars, each of which has a "capital," resembling "the + glans" of physiologists; in the centre there is a door, wherein a nude + female stands, resembling in all respects Figure 61, except in dress and + the presence of the child. This was copied by the late Mr. Sellon, from a + Buddhist Dagopa in the Jumnar Cave, Bombay Presidency, a tracing of his + sketch having been given to me by William Simpson, Esq., London. + </p> + <p> + The same emblem may be found amongst the ancient Italians. Whilst I was + staying in Malta during the carnival time in 1872, I saw in all directions + men and women selling cakes shaped like the yoni shown in Fig. 1. These + sweetmeats had no special name, but they came in and went out with the + carnival. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 2 represents Venus standing on a tortoise, whose symbolic import will + be seen by referring to Fig. 74, <i>infra</i>. It is copied from Lajard, + <i>Sur le Culte de Venus</i>, plate iiia., fig. 5, and is stated by him to + be a drawing of an Etruscan candelabrum, existing in the Royal Museum at + Berlin. In his account of Greece, Pausanias mentions that he saw one + figure of Venus standing on a tortoise, and another upon a ram, but he + declines to give the reason of the conjunction. + </p> + <p> + Is a representation of Siva, taken from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, + plate xiii. Siva is supposed to be the oldest of the Indian deities, and + to have been worshipped by the aborigines of Hindostan, before the Aryans + invaded that country. It is thought that the Vedic religion opposed this + degrading conception at the first, but was powerless to eradicate it. + Though he is yet the most popular of all the gods, Siva is venerated, I + understand, chiefly by the vulgar. Though he personifies the male + principle, there is not anything indecent in pictorial representations of + him. In one of his hands is seen the trident, one of the emblems of the + masculine triad; whilst in another is to be seen an oval sistram-shaped + loop, a symbol of the feminine unit. On his forehead he bears an eye, + symbolic of the Omniscient, the sun, and the union of the sexes. + </p> + <p> + As it has been doubted by some readers, whether I am justified in + regarding the sistrum as a female emblem, I append here a quotation from + Socrates' <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>, Bohn's translation, p. 281, seq. + In Rome, in the early time of Theodosius, "when a woman was detected in + adultery.... they shut her up in a narrow brothel, and obliged her to + prostitute herself in a most disgusting manner; causing little bells to be + rang at the time.... As soon as the emperor was apprised of this indecent + usage, he would by no means tolerate it; but having ordered the <i>Sistra</i> + (for so these places of penal prostitution were denominated) to be pulled + down," &c. One can as easily see why a female emblem should mark a + brothel in Rome as a male symbol did at Pompeii. + </p> + <p> + PLATE XVI. <a name="linkimage-0016" id="linkimage-0016"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/101.jpg" alt="Plate Xvi. 101 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0017" id="linkimage-0017"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/104.jpg" alt="104 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + This Figure represents Assyrian priests offering in the presence of what + is supposed to be Baal—or the representative of the sun god and of + the grove. The first is typified by the eye, with wings and a tail, which + make it symbolic of the male triad and the female unit. The eye, with the + central pupil, is in itself emblematic of the same. The grove represents + mystically <i>le verger de Cypris</i>. On the right stands the king; on + the left are two priests, the foremost clothed with a fish's skin, the + head forming the mitre, thus showing the origin of modern Christian + bishops' peculiar head-dress. Arranged about the figures are, the sun; a + bird, perhaps the sacred dove, whose note, <i>coa</i> or <i>coo</i>, has, + in the Shemitic, some resemblance to an invitation to amorous + gratification; in Latin <i>coi</i>, <i>coite</i>; the oval, symbol of the + yoni; the basket, or bag, emblematic of the scrotum, and apparently the + lotus. The trinity and unity are carried by the second priest. + </p> + <p> + Figure 2 is copied from an ancient copper vase, covered with Egyptian + hieroglyphic characters, found at Cairo, and figured in a book entitled <i>Explication + des divers monument singuliers, qui ont rapport à la religion des plus + anciens peuples</i>, par le R. P. Dom.......á Paris, 1739. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0018" id="linkimage-0018"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/105.jpg" alt="105 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The group of figures represents Isis and Horus in an unusual attitude. + They are enclosed in a framework of the flowers of the Egyptian bean, or + of the lotus. This framework may be compared to the Assyrian "grove," and + another in which the Virgin Mary stands. The bell was of old a symbol of + virginity, for Eastern maidens wore them until marriage (see Isa. iii. + 16). The origin of this custom was the desire that every maiden should + have at her marriage, or sale, that which is spoken of in the Pentateuch + as "the token of virginity." It was supposed that this membrane, + technically called "the <i>hymen</i>" might be broken by too long a stride + in walking or running, or by clambering over a stile or wall. To prevent + such a catastrophe, a light chain or cord was worn, under or over the + dress, at the level of the knees or just above. Its length only permitted + a short step and a mincing gait. Slight bells were used as a sort of + ornament, and when the bearer was walking their tinkling was a sort of + proclamation that the lady who bore them was in the market as a virgin. + After "the flower" had been plucked, the bells were no longer of use. They + were analogous to the virgin snood worn on the head of Scotch maidens. + Isis bears the horns of a cow, because that animal is equally noted for + its propensity to seek the male and its care to preserve the offspring. As + the bull with a human head, so a human being with cow's horns, was made to + represent a deity. The solar orb between the horns, and the serpent round + the body, indicate the union with the male; an incongruous conjunction + with the emblem of the sacred Virgin, nevertheless a very common one. In + some of the coins pictured by E. P. Knight, in <i>Worship of Priapus</i>, + etc., a cow caressing her sucking calf replaces Isis and Horus, just as a + bull on other coins replaces Dionysus. The group is described in full in + <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, second edition, Vol. i., pp. 53, 54. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0019" id="linkimage-0019"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/106.jpg" alt="106 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 3, 4, are taken from Ginsburg's <i>Kabbalah</i>, and illustrate + that in the arrangement of "potencies" two unite, like parents, to form a + third. Sometimes we see also how three such male attributes as splendour, + firmness, and solidity join with beauty to form the mystic <i>arba</i>, + the trinity and unity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0020" id="linkimage-0020"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/107.jpg" alt="107 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 5, 6, are copies from figures found in Carthage and in Scotland, + from Forbes Leslie's Early <i>Races of Scotland</i>, vol. i., plate vi., + p. 46 (London, 1866). This book is one to which the reader's attention + should be directed. The amount of valuable information which it contains + is very large, and it is classified in a philosophical, and, we may add, + attractive manner. The figures represent the <i>arbor vitæ</i>. + </p> + <p> + Figure 7 is from Bonomi, page 292, <i>Nineveh and its Palaces</i> (London, + 1865). It apparently represents the mystic yoni, door, or delta; and it + may be regarded as an earlier form of the framework in Plate iv. It will + be remarked, by those learned in symbols, that the outline of the hands of + the priests who are nearest to the figure is a suggestive one, being + analogous to the figure of a key and its shank, whilst those who stand + behind these officers present the pine cone and bag, symbolic of Ann, Hea, + and their residence. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0021" id="linkimage-0021"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/108.jpg" alt="108 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It is to be noticed, and once for all let us assert our belief, that every + detail in a sculpture relating to religion has a signification; that the + first right hand figure carries a peculiarly shaped staff; and that the + winged symbol above the yoni consists of a male archer in a winged circle, + analagous to the symbolic bow, arrow, and target. The bow was an emblem + amongst the Romans, and <i>arcum tendere</i> was equivalent to <i>arrigere</i>. + In the <i>Golden Ass</i> of Apuleius we find the metaphor used in his + account of his dealings with amorous frolicsome Fotis, "Ubi primam + sagittam sævi cupidinis in ima procordia mea delapsam excepi, arcum, meum + et ipse vigore tetendi." + </p> + <p> + Again, we find in Petronius— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Astra igitur mea mens arcum dum tendit in ilia. + Ex imo ad summum viva sagitta volat. +</pre> + <p> + Figures 8 to 14 are representations of the goddess mother, the virgin and + child, Ishtar or Astarte, Mylitta, Ceres, Rhea, Venus, Sacti, Mary, Yoni, + Juno, Mama Ocello. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 8 is a copy of the deified woman or celestial mother, from Idalium, + in Cyprus. Fig. 9 is from Egypt, and is remarkable for the cow's horns + (for whose signification see Vol. i., p. 54, Ancient Faiths, second + edition), which here replace the lunar crescent, in conjunction with the + sun, the two being symbolic of hermaphroditism, whilst above is a seat or + throne, emblematic of royalty. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0022" id="linkimage-0022"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/109.jpg" alt="109 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The two figures are copied from Rawlinson's <i>Herodotus</i>, vol. ii., p. + 447, in an essay by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, wherein other illustrations of + the celestial virgin are given. Fig. 10 is a copy of plate 59, Moor's + Hindu Pantheon, wherein it is entitled, "Crishna nursed by Devaki, from a + highly finished picture." In the account of Crishna's birth and early + history, as given by Moor (Op. Cit., pp. 197, et seq.), there is as strong + a resemblance to the story of Christ as the picture here described has to + papal paintings of Mary and Jesus. Fig. 11 is an enlarged representation + of Devaki. Fig. 12 is copied from Rawlinson's <i>Ancient Monarchies</i>, + vol. iii., p. 899. Fig. 13 is a figure of the mother and child found in + ancient Etruria at Volaterra; it is depicted in Fabretti's Italian + Glossary, plate xxvi., figure 349. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0023" id="linkimage-0023"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/110.jpg" alt="110 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It is described as a marble statue, now in the Guarnacci Museum. The + letters, which are Etruscan, and read from right to left, may be thus + rendered into the ordinary Latin characters from left to right, MI: GANA: + LARTHIAS ZANL: VELKINEI: ME - SE.; the translation I take to be, "the + votive offering of Larthias (a female) of Zanal, ( = Zancle = Messana in + Sicily), (wife) of Velcinius, in the sixth month." It is uncertain whether + we are to regard the statue as an effigy of the celestial mother and + child, or as the representation of some devout lady who has been spared + during her pregnancy, her parturition, or from some disease affecting + herself and child. Analogy would lead us to infer that the Queen of Heaven + is intended. Figure 14 is copied from Hislop's <i>Two Babylons</i>; it + represents Indranee, the wife of Indra or Indur, and is to be found in + Indur Subba, the south front of the Caves of Ellora, Asiatic Researches, + vol. vi., p. 893. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0024" id="linkimage-0024"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/111.jpg" alt="111 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Indra is equivalent to Jupiter Tonans, and is represented as seated on an + elephant; "the waterspout is the trunk of this elephant, and the iris is + his bow, which it is not auspicious to point out," Moor's <i>Pantheon</i>, + p. 260. He is represented very much as if he were a satyr, Moor's <i>Pantheon</i>, + p. 264; but his wife is always spoken of as personified chastity and + propriety. Indranee is seated on a lioness, which replaces the cow of + Isis, the former resembling the latter in her feminine and maternal + instincts. + </p> + <p> + Figures 15, 16, are copies of Diana of the Ephesians; the first is from + Hislop, who quotes Kitto's <i>Illustrated Commentary</i>, vol. v., p. 250; + the second from Higgins' <i>Anacalypsis</i>, who quotes Montfauçon, plate + 47. I remember to have seen a figure similar to these in the Royal Museum + at Naples. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0025" id="linkimage-0025"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/112.jpg" alt="112 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The tower upon the head represents virginity (see <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, + second edition, Vol. i., p. 144); the position of the hand forms a cross + with the body: the numerous breasts indicate abundance; the black colour + of Figure 16 indicates the ordinary tint of the feminine <i>lanugo</i>, + the almost universal colour of the hair of the Orientals being black about + the yoni as well as on the head; or, as some mythologists imagine, + "Night," who is said to be one of the mothers of creation. (See <i>Ancient + Faiths</i>, second edition, Vol. n., p. 882.) The emblems upon the body + indicate the attributes or symbols of the male and female creators. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0026" id="linkimage-0026"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/113.jpg" alt="113 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 17 is a complicated sign of the yoni, delta, or door of life. It is + copied from Bonomi's <i>Palaces of Nineveh</i>, p. 809. + </p> + <p> + Figure 18 signifies the same thing; the priests adoring it present the + pine cone and basket, symbolic of Ann, Hea, and their residence. Compare + the object of the Assyrian priest's adoration with that adored by a + Christian divine, in a subsequent figure. (See <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, + second edition, Vol. I., p. 88, et seq., and Vol. n., p. 648.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0027" id="linkimage-0027"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/114.jpg" alt="114 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 19 is copied from Lajard (Op. Cit.), plate xxii., fig. 5. It is the + impression of an ancient gem, and represents a man clothed with a fish, + the head being the mitre; priests thus clothed, often bearing in their + hand the mystic bag, are common in Mesopotamian sculptures; two such are + figured on Figs. 63, 64, infra. In almost every instance it will be + recognised that the fish's head is represented as of the same form as the + modern bishop's mitre. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0028" id="linkimage-0028"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/115.jpg" alt="115 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 20 represents two equilateral triangles, infolded so as to make a + six-rayed star, the idea embodied being the androgyne nature of the deity, + the pyramid with its apex upwards signifying the male, that with the apex + downwards the female. The line at the central junction is not always seen, + but the shape of the three parallel bars reappears in Hindoo frontlet + signs in conjunction with a delta or door, shaped like the "grove" in Fig. + 17; thus showing that the lines serve also to indicate the masculine + triad. The two triangles are also understood as representing fire, which + mounts upwards, and water, which flows downwards. Fire again is an emblem + of the sun, and water of the passive or yielding element in nature. Fire + also typifies Eros or Cupid. Hymen is always represented carrying a torch. + It is also symbolic of love; e.g., Southey writes. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But love is indestructible, + Its holy flame for ever burneth; + From heaven it came, + To heaven returneth." +</pre> + <p> + And again, Scott writes— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "It is not phantasy's hot fire + Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly," &c. +</pre> + <p> + Figures 21, 22, are other indications of the same fundamental idea. The + first represents Nebo, the Nahbi, or the navel, characterised by a ring + with a central mound. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0029" id="linkimage-0029"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/116.jpg" alt="116 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The second represents the circular and upright stone so common in Oriental + villages. The two indicate the male and female; and a medical friend + resident in India has told me, that he has seen women mount upon the lower + stone and seat themselves reverently upon the upright one, having first + adjusted their dress so as to prevent it interfering with their perfect + contact with the miniature obelisc. During the sitting, a short prayer + seemed flitting over the worshippers' lips, but the whole affair was soon + over. + </p> + <p> + Whilst upon this subject, it is right to call attention to the fact that + animate as well as inorganic representatives of the Creator have been used + by women with the same definite purpose. The dominant idea is that contact + with the emblem, a mundane representative of the deity, of itself gives a + blessing. Just as many Hindoo females seek a benefaction by placing their + own yoni upon the consecrated linga, so a few regard intercourse with + certain high priests of the Maharajah sect as incarnations of Vishnu, and + pay for the privilege of being spouses of the god. In Egypt, where the + goat was a sacred animal, there were some religious women who sought good + luck by uniting themselves therewith. We have heard of British professors + of religion endeavouring to persuade their penitents to procure purity by + what others would call defilement and disgrace. And the "cord of St. + Francis" replaces the stone "linga." Sometimes with this "cord" the rod is + associated; and those who have read the trial of Father Gerard, for his + seduction of Miss Cadiére under a saintly guise, will know that + Christianity does not always go hand in hand with propriety. + </p> + <p> + With the Hindoo custom compare that which was done by Liber on the grave + of Prosumnus (<i>Arnobius adverma Gentes</i>, translated by Bryce and + Campbell, T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, pp. 252, 258), which is far too + gross to be described here; and as regards the sanctity of a stone whose + top had been anointed with oil, see first sentence of paragraph 89, ibid, + page 81. The whole book will well repay perusal. + </p> + <p> + Figures 28, 24, are discs, circles, aureoles, and wheels, to represent the + sun. Sometimes the emblem of this luminary is associated with rays, as in + Plate iii., Fig. 8, and in another Figure elsewhere. Occasionally, as in + some of the ancient temples in Egypt discovered in 1854, the sun's rays + are represented by lines terminating in hands. Sometimes one or more of + these contain objects as if they were gifts sent by the god; amongst other + objects, the <i>crux ansata</i> is shown conspicuously. In a remarkable + plate in the Transactions of the <i>Royal Society of Literature</i> + (second series, vol. i., p. 140), the sun is identified with the serpent; + its rays terminate in hands, some holding the handled cross or <i>tau</i>, + and before it a queen, apparently, worships. She is offering what seems to + be a lighted tobacco pipe, the bowl being of the same shape as that + commonly used in Turkey; from this a wavy pyramid of flame rises. Behind + her, two female slaves elevate the sistrum; whilst before her, and + apparently between herself and her husband, are two altars occupied by + round cakes and one crescent-shaped emblem. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0030" id="linkimage-0030"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/118.jpg" alt="118 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The aureole was used in ancient days by Babylonian artists or sculptors, + when they wished to represent a being, apparently human, as a god. The + same plan has been adopted by the moderns, who have varied the symbol by + representing it now as a golden disc, now as a terrestrial orb, again as a + rayed sphere. A writer, when describing a god as a man, can say that the + object he sketches is divine; but a painter thinks too much of his art to + put on any of his designs, "this woman is a goddess," or "this creature is + a god"; he therefore adds an aureole round the head of his subject, and + thus converts a very ordinary man, woman, or child into a deity to be + reverenced; modern artists thus proving themselves to be far more skilful + in depicting the Almighty than the carpenters and goldsmiths of the time + of Isaiah (xl. 18, 19, xli. 6, 7, xliv. 9-19), who used no such + contrivance. + </p> + <p> + Figure 24 is another representation of the solar disc, in which it is + marked with a cross. This probably originated in the wheel of a chariot + having four spokes, and the sun being likened to a charioteer. The + chariots of the sun are referred to in 2 Kings xxiii. 11 as idolatrous + emblems. Of these the wheel was symbolic. The identification of this + emblem with the sun is very easy, for it has repeatedly been found in + Mesopotamian gems in conjunction with the moon. In a very remarkable one + figured in Rawlinson's <i>Ancient Monarchies</i>, vol. ii., p. 249, the + cross is contrived as five circles. It is remarkable that in many papal + pictures the wafer and the cup are depicted precisely as the sun and moon + in conjunction. See Pugin's Architectural Glossary, plate iv., fig. 5. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0031" id="linkimage-0031"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/119.jpg" alt="119 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 25, 26, 27, are simply varieties of the solar wheel, intended to + represent the idea of the sun and moon, the mystic triad and unit, the + "arba," or four. In Figure 26, the mural ornament is introduced, that + being symbolic of feminine virginity. For explanation of Figure 27, see + Figures 85, 86. + </p> + <p> + Figure 28 is copied from Lajard, Op. Cit., plate xiv. F. That author + states that he has taken it from a drawing of an Egyptian stèle, made by + M. E. Prisse (<i>Monum. Egypt</i>., plate xxxvii.), and that the original + is in the British Museum. There is an imperfect copy of it in Rawlinson's + <i>Herodotus</i>, vol. ii. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0032" id="linkimage-0032"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/120.jpg" alt="120 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + The original is too indelicate to be represented fully. Isis, the central + figure, is wholly nude, with the exception of her head-dress, and neck and + breast ornaments. In one hand she holds two blades of corn apparently, + whilst in the other she has three lotus flowers, two being egg-shaped, but + the central one fully expanded; with these, which evidently symbolise the + mystic triad, is associated a circle emblematic of the yoni, thus + indicating the fourfold creator. Isis stands upon a lioness; on one side + of her stands a clothed male figure, holding in one hand the <i>crux + ansata</i>, and in the other an upright spear. On the opposite side is a + male figure wholly nude, like the goddess, save his head-dress and collar, + the ends of which are arranged so as to form a cross. His hand points to a + flagellum; behind him is a covert reference to the triad, whilst in front + Osiris offers undisguised homage to Isis. The head-dress of the goddess + appears to be a modified form of the crescent moon inverted. It is not + exclusively Egyptian, as it has been found in conjunction with other + emblems on an Assyrian obelisc of Phallic form. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0033" id="linkimage-0033"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/121.jpg" alt="121 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 29, 30, 31, 32, represent the various triangles and their union, + which have been adopted in worship. Figure 29 is said to represent fire, + which amongst the ancient Persians was depicted as a cone, whilst the + figure inverted represents water. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0034" id="linkimage-0034"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/122.jpg" alt="122 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 33 is an ancient Hindoo emblem, called Sri Iantra. The circle + represents the world, in which the living exist; the triangle pointing + upwards shows the male creator; and the triangle with the apex downwards + the female; distinct, yet united. These have a world within themselves, in + which the male is uppermost. In the central circle the image to be + worshipped is placed. When used, the figure is placed on the ground, with + Brahma to the east, and Laksmi to the west. Then a relic of any saint, or + image of Buddha, like a modern papal crucifix, is added, and the shrine + for worship is complete. It has now been adopted in Christian churches and + Freemasons' lodges. + </p> + <p> + It will be noticed that the male emblem points to the rising sun, and the + female triangle points to the setting sun, when the earth seems to receive + the god into her couch. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0035" id="linkimage-0035"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/123.jpg" alt="123 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 34 is a very ancient Hindoo emblem, whose real signification I am + unable to divine. It is used in calculation; it forms the basis of some + game, and it is a sign of vast import in sacti worship. + </p> + <p> + A coin, bearing this figure upon it, and having a central cavity with the + Etruscan letters SUPEN placed one between each two of the angles, was + found in a fictile urn, at Volaterræ, and is depicted in Fabretti's <i>Italian + Glossary</i>, plate xxvi., fig. 858, bis a. As the coin is round, the + reader will see that these letters may be read as Supen, Upens, Pensu, + Ensup, or Nsupe. A search through Fabretti's <i>Lexicon</i> affords no + clue to any meaning except for the third. There seems, indeed, strong + reason to believe that <i>pensu</i> was the Etruscan form of the Pali <i>panca</i>, + the Sanscrit <i>pânch</i>, the Bengalli <i>pânch</i>, and the Greek <i>penta</i>, + i. e., five. Five, certainly, would be an appropriate word for the + pentangle. It is almost impossible to avoid speculating upon the value of + this fragment of archæological evidence in support of the idea that the + Greeks, Aryans, and Etruscans had something in common; but into the + question it would be unprofitable to enter here. + </p> + <p> + But, although declining to enter upon this wide field of inquiry, I would + notice that whilst searching Fabretti's <i>Glossary</i> my eye fell upon + the figure of an equilateral triangle with the apex upwards, depicted + plate xliii., fig. 2440 ter. The triangle is of brass, and was found in + the territory of the Falisci. It bears a rude representation of the + outlines of the soles of two human feet, in this respect resembling a + Buddhist emblem; and there is on its edge an inscription which may be + rendered thus in Roman letters, KAYI: TERTINEI. POSTIKNU, which probably + signifies "Gavia, the wife of Tertius, offered it." The occurrence of two + Hindoo symbols in ancient Italy is very remarkable. It must, however, be + noticed that similar symbols have been found on ancient sculptured stones + in Ireland and Scotland. There may be no emblematic ideas whatever + conveyed by the design; but when the marks appear on Gnostic gems, they + are supposed to indicate death, i. e., the impressions left by the feet of + the individual as he springs from earth to heaven. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0036" id="linkimage-0036"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/124.jpg" alt="124 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 35, 36, are Maltese crosses. In a large book of Etrurian + antiquities, which came casually under my notice about twenty years ago, + when I was endeavouring to master the language, theology, etc., of the + Etruscans, but whose name, and other particulars of which, I cannot now + remember; I found depicted two crosses, made up of four masculine triads, + each <i>asher</i> being erect, and united to its fellows by the gland, + forming a central diamond, emblem of the yoni. In one instance, the limbs + of the cross were of equal length; in the other, one <i>asher</i> was + three times as long as the others. A somewhat similar cross, but one + united with the circle, was found some time ago near Naples. It is made of + gold, and has apparently been used as an amulet and suspended to the neck. + It is figured in plate 35 of <i>An Essay on the Worship of the Generative + Powers during the Middle Ages</i> (London, privately printed, 1865). It + may be thus described: the centre of the circle is occupied by four oblate + spheres arranged like a square; from the salient curves of each of these + springs a yoni (shaped as in Figure 59), with the point outwards, thus + forming a cross, each ray of which is an egg and fig. At each junction of + the ovoids a yoni is inserted with the apex inwards, whilst from the broad + end arise four ashers, which project beyond the shield, each terminating + in a few golden bead-like drops. The whole is a graphic natural + representation of the intimate union of the male and female, sun and moon, + cross and circle, Ouranos and Ge. The same idea is embodied in Figure 27, + p. 86, but in that the mystery is deeply veiled, in that the long arms of + the cross represent the sun, or male, indicated by the triad; the short + ones, the moon, or the female (see Plate xi. Fig. 4). + </p> + <p> + The Maltese cross, a Phoenician emblem, was discovered cut on a rock in + the island from which it takes its name. Though cruciform, it had nothing + Christian about it; for, like the Etruscan ones referred to above, it + consisted of four lingas united together by the heads, the "eggs" being at + the outside. It was an easy thing for an unscrupulous priesthood to + represent this "invention" of the cross as a miracle, and to make it + presentable to the eyes of the faithful by leaving the outlines of Anu and + Hea incomplete. Sometimes this cross is figured as four triangles meeting + at the points, which has the same meaning, Generally, however, the Church + (as may be seen by a reference to Pugin's <i>Glossary of Ecclesiastical + Ornament</i>) adopts the use of crosses where the inferior members of the + trinity are more or less central, as in our Plate xi., Figs. 2, 8, and as + in the Figures 40, 41, 42, <i>infra</i>. When once a person knows the true + origin of the doctrine of the Trinity—one which is far too improper + to have been adopted by the writers of the New Testament—it is + impossible not to recognise in the signs which are symbolic of it the + thing which is signified. + </p> + <p> + It may readily be supposed that those who have knowledge of the heathenish + origin of many of the cherished doctrines of the so-called Christian + church, cannot remain enthusiastic members of her communion; and it is + equally easy for the enlightened philosopher to understand why such + persons are detested and abused by the ignorant, and charged with being + freethinkers, sceptics, or atheists. Sciolism is ever intolerant, and + theological hatred is generally to be measured by the mental incapacity of + those who indulge in the luxury. But no amount of abuse can reduce the + intrinsic value of facts. Nor will the most fiery persecution demonstrate + that the religion of Christ, as it appears in our churches and cathedrals, + especially if they are papal, is not tainted by a mass of paganism of + disgusting origin. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0037" id="linkimage-0037"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/126.jpg" alt="126 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 37 is copied from the <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, + vol. xviii., p 898, plate 4. It is a Buddhist emblem, and represents the + same idea under different aspects. Each limb of the cross represents the + <i>fascinum</i> at right angles with the body, and presented towards a + barleycorn, one of the symbols of the yoni. Each limb is marked by the + same female emblem, and terminates with the triad triangle; beyond this + again is seen the conjunction of the sun and moon. The whole therefore + represents the mystic curba, the creative four, by some called Thor's + hammer. Copies of a cross similar to this have been recently found by Dr. + Schliemann in a very ancient city, buried under the remains of two others, + which he identifies as the Troy of Homer's Iliad. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0038" id="linkimage-0038"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/127.jpg" alt="127 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 38 to 42 are developments of the triad triangle, or trinity. If + the horizontal limb on the free end of the arm were to be prolonged to + twice its length, the most obtuse would recognise <i>Asher</i>, and the + inferior or lower members of the "triune." + </p> + <p> + Figure 43 is by Egyptologists called the 'symbol of life.' + </p> + <p> + It is also called the 'handled cross,' or <i>crux ansata</i>. 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 <i>crux ansata</i>, + emblematic of the truth that a fruitful union is a gift from the deity. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0039" id="linkimage-0039"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/128.jpg" alt="128 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 + <i>scrotum, "purse," "bag," or "basket</i>.". + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>fleur de lys</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0040" id="linkimage-0040"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/129.jpg" alt="129 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 51 to 60 are varions representations of the union of the four, the + arba, the androgyne, or the linga-yoni. + </p> + <p> + Figure 61. In modern Christian art this symbol is called <i>vesica piscis</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0041" id="linkimage-0041"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/130.jpg" alt="130 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>Gemme Antiche Figurate</i> (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 <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0042" id="linkimage-0042"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/131.jpg" alt="131 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 63 to 66 are all drawn from Assyrian sources. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0043" id="linkimage-0043"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/132.jpg" alt="132 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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, + <i>Gemme Antiche Figurate</i> (Rome, 1708), where, in vol. iii., he will + see a Venus Tirsigera. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>virga cum ovo</i>. + 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 <i>cum + vino</i> being the companion of Venus <i>cum cerere</i>. But a stronger + confirmation of my views may be found in a remarkable group (see Fig. 124 + infra). This is entitled <i>Sacrifizio di Priapo</i>, 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, <i>supra</i>. 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, <i>infra</i>). + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0044" id="linkimage-0044"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/133.jpg" alt="133 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>os tincæ</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + King, in his <i>Ancient Gnostics</i>, 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 dèvotee 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0045" id="linkimage-0045"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/134.jpg" alt="134 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 72, 73, represent an ancient Christian bishop, and a modern nun + wearing the emblem of the female sex. In the former, said (in <i>Old + England Pictorially Illustrated</i>, 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, <i>tappuach</i>, + 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 <i>arba</i>, + or mystic four. See <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, second edition, Vol. n., pp. + 915-918. + </p> + <p> + I take this opportunity to quote here a pregnant page of King's <i>Gnostics + and their Remains</i>, (Bell & Daldy, London, 1864). To this period + belongs a beautiful sard in my collection representing Serapis,... whilst + before him <i>stands</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0046" id="linkimage-0046"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/135.jpg" alt="135 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0047" id="linkimage-0047"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/136.jpg" alt="136 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>Veterum Popvlorum et + Regum Nummi</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + Figures 75 to 79 are Asiatic and Egyptian emblems in use amongst + ourselves, and receive their explanation similarly to preceding ones. + </p> + <p> + Figure 80 is copied from Godfrey Higgins' <i>Anacalypsis</i>, vol. ii., + fig. 27. It is drawn from Montfauçon, 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, <i>On + Buddhists and Jeynes</i>, p. 127, another, found in a cave temple in the + south of India, described by Col. Tod, in his <i>History of Raj-pootanah</i>. + The group is not explained by Montfauçon. 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0048" id="linkimage-0048"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/137.jpg" alt="137 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0049" id="linkimage-0049"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/138.jpg" alt="138 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 81 is copied from Lajard, <i>Culte de Venus</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0050" id="linkimage-0050"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/139.jpg" alt="139 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 82 is from Lajard (Op. Cit.), plate xivb, fig. 3. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>fleur-de-lys</i> and oval symbol. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0051" id="linkimage-0051"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/140.jpg" alt="140 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 88 may be found in Fabretti's <i>Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum</i> + (Turin, 1867), plate xxv., fig. 808 f. The coins which bear the figures + are of brass, and were found at Volaterræ. 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0052" id="linkimage-0052"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/141.jpg" alt="141 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 (<i>The Gnostics + and their Remains</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0053" id="linkimage-0053"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/142.jpg" alt="142 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 85, 86, represent a Yorkshire and an Indian stone circle. The + first is copied from <i>Descriptions of Cairns, Cromlechs, Kistvaens, and + other Celtic, Druidical, or Scythian Monuments in the Dekkan</i>, by Col. + Meadows Taylor, <i>Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy</i>, 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). + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0054" id="linkimage-0054"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/143.jpg" alt="143 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0055" id="linkimage-0055"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/144.jpg" alt="144 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0056" id="linkimage-0056"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/145.jpg" alt="145 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 89 is taken from Lajard's <i>Culte de Venus</i>, plate i., fig. 14, + and is an enlarged impression of a gem. A similar figure is to be found in + Payne Knight's work <i>On the Worship of Priapus</i>. 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. + </p> + <p> + Fig. 90 represents an ancient Italian form of the Indian Ling Yoni. It is + copied from a part of the Frontispiece of Faber's <i>Dissertation on the + Cabiri</i>, 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 <i>vice versa</i>. 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0057" id="linkimage-0057"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/146a.jpg" alt="146 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="146b (16K)" src="images/146b.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>crux ansata</i>, and is + emblematic of the male triad and the female unit. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0058" id="linkimage-0058"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/147.jpg" alt="147 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 98 is the Mithraic lion. It may be seen in Hyde's <i>Religion of + the Ancient Persians</i>, second edition, plate i. It may also be seen in + vol. ii., plates 10 and 11, of Maffei's <i>Gemme Antiche Figurate</i> + (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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0059" id="linkimage-0059"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/148.jpg" alt="148 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 94 is copied by Higgins, <i>Anacalypsis</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0060" id="linkimage-0060"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/149.jpg" alt="149 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 95 is a copy of a gem figured by Layard (<i>Nineveh and Babylon</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + Compare this with Figure 138, <i>infra</i>, 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, <i>Op. Cit</i>., pp. 249, + 250. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0061" id="linkimage-0061"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/150.jpg" alt="150 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 96 is copied from plate 22, fig. 8, of Lajard's <i>Culte de Venus</i>. + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, and + Coleman's <i>Mythology of the Hindus</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0062" id="linkimage-0062"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/151a.jpg" alt="151 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 98 is a fancy sketch of the <i>fleur-de-lys</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="151b (4K)" src="images/151b.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>fleur-de-lys</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0063" id="linkimage-0063"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/152.jpg" alt="152 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, <i>Op. Cit.</i>, 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 <i>lanugo</i> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0064" id="linkimage-0064"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/153.jpg" alt="153 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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, <i>ante</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Figures 105, 106, are copied from Lajard, <i>Sur le Culte de Venus</i>, + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0065" id="linkimage-0065"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="154a (27K)" src="images/154a.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="154b (63K)" src="images/154b.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + Figures 107, 108, 109, are copied from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0066" id="linkimage-0066"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/155.jpg" alt="155 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + In worship, <i>ghee</i>, 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 <i>Ancient + Faiths</i>, 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, <i>Op, + Cit</i>., 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. + </p> + <p> + I copy the following remarks from a paper by Mr. Sellon, in <i>Memoirs of + the London Anthropological Society</i>, 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 <i>mudra</i>, or gesticulation with the fingers, and, reciting + the prescribed <i>mantras</i>, or incantations, they rub themselves + against the emblem, and entreat the deity to make them fruitful mothers of + <i>pulee-pullum</i> (i.e., child fruit). + </p> + <p> + "This is the celebrated Linga puja, during the performance of which the <i>panchaty</i>, + or five lamps, must be lighted, and the <i>gantha</i>, or bell, be + frequently rung to scare away the evil demons. The <i>mala</i>, or rosary + of a hundred and eight round beads, is also used in this puja." + </p> + <p> + See also Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, plate xxii, pp. 68, 69, 70. Again, + in the <i>Dabistan</i>, 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 <i>Maya</i> Sakti.....With them the + power of Mahadeva's wife, who is Bhavani, surpasses that of the husband. + The zealous of this sect worship the <i>Siva Linga</i>, although other + Hindoos also venerate it. <i>Linga</i> 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 <i>bhaga</i>, 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 <i>bhaga</i>. 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. + </p> + <p> + <i>Apropos</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0067" id="linkimage-0067"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/158.jpg" alt="158 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 110, 111, both from Moor, plate lxxxvi., are forms of the <i>argha</i>, + or sacred sacrificial cup, bowl, or basin, which represent the yoni, and + some other things besides. See Moor, <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>, pp. 898, 894. + </p> + <p> + Figure 112. Copied from Rawlinson's <i>Ancient Monarchies</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0068" id="linkimage-0068"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/159.jpg" alt="159 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 118 is copied from Lajard, <i>Sur le Culte de Venus</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + Figure 114 is taken from a mediæval 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 mediæval woodcuts, in which the young + unmarried women in a mixed assemblage were indicated by wearing upon their + foreheads a crescent moon. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0070" id="linkimage-0070"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/160.jpg" alt="160 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 117 is a Buddhist symbol, or rather a copy of Maityna Bodhisatwa, + from the monastery of Gopach, in the valley of Nepaul. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0071" id="linkimage-0071"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/161.jpg" alt="161 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It is taken from Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xviii., p. 894. + The horse-shoe, like the <i>vesica piscis</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + That some Buddhists have mingled sexuality with their ideas of religion, + may be seen in plate ii. of Emil Schlagintweit's <i>Atlas of Buddhism in + Tibet</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0072" id="linkimage-0072"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/162.jpg" alt="162 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Instead of the explanation given in <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0073" id="linkimage-0073"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/163.jpg" alt="163 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 119 is from Lajard, Op. Cit., plate iii., fig. 8. It represents the + sun, moon, and a star, probably Venus. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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., <i>virgo intacta</i>. Next come the male + emblem, the cone, and the female symbol, the lozenge or yoni. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0074" id="linkimage-0074"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/164.jpg" alt="164 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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, <i>la bouche inférieure</i>, + 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 <i>Religious Ceremonies of + all the People in the World</i>, original French edition, plate 71. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0075" id="linkimage-0075"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/165.jpg" alt="165 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 122 is copied from Bryant's <i>Ancient Mythology</i>, 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 CAMIÛN 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + <i>supra</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0076" id="linkimage-0076"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/166.jpg" alt="166 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, second + edition. + </p> + <p> + Figure 124 is copied from Maffei's <i>Gemme Antiche Figurate</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0077" id="linkimage-0077"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/167.jpg" alt="167 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 + <i>la feuille de sage</i>, 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 <i>Epigrams</i>, + 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 <i>le Verger de Cypris</i>. 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0078" id="linkimage-0078"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/168.jpg" alt="168 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 125, 126, 127, are various contrivances for indicating decently + that which it was generally thought religious to conceal, <i>la bequile, + au les instrumens</i>. + </p> + <p> + Figure 128 represents the same subject; the cuts are grouped iso as to + show how the knobbed stick, <i>le bâton</i>, becomes converted either into + a bent rod, <i>la verge</i>, or a priestly crook, <i>le bâton pastoral</i>. + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0079" id="linkimage-0079"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/169.jpg" alt="169 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figures 129, 130, 131, are, like the preceding four, copied from various + antique gems; Fig. 129 represents a steering oar, <i>le timon</i>, and is + usually held in the hand of good fortune, or as moderns would say "Saint + Luck," or <i>bonnes fortunes</i>; Fig. 180 is emblematic of Cupid, or + Saint Desire; it is synonymous with <i>le dard, or la pique</i>; Fig. 131 + is a form less common in gems; it represents the hammer, <i>le marteau qui + frappe l'enclume et forge les enfans</i>. 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 <i>le + timon</i>, and for her motto the proverb, "Fortune favours the bold." we + readily understand the <i>double entente</i>. 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0080" id="linkimage-0080"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/170.jpg" alt="170 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 "<i>vesica + piscis," la fente, or la porte de la vie</i>. There are also two new + moons, emblems of Venus, or <i>la nature</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0081" id="linkimage-0081"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/171.jpg" alt="171 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 133 is copied from Moor's <i>Hindu, Pantheon</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0082" id="linkimage-0082"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/172.jpg" alt="172 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 184 is taken from plate xxiv., fig. 1, of Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>. + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0083" id="linkimage-0083"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/173.jpg" alt="173 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 135 is a common Egyptian emblem, said to signify eternity, but in + truth it has another meaning. The serpent and the ring indicate <i>l' + andouille and l' anneau</i>. The tail of the animal, which the mouth + appears to swallow, is <i>la queue dans la bouche</i>. The symbol + resembles the <i>crux ansata</i> 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 <i>Gemme</i>, + vol. iii., page 1, plate viii. + </p> + <p> + Figure 136 is the <i>vesica piscis</i>, or fish's bladder; the emblem of + woman and of the virgin, as may be seen in the two following woodcuts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0084" id="linkimage-0084"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/174.jpg" alt="174 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>la nature</i>; 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 (<i>la pique</i>) down upon the earth (<i>la terré</i>), + or the virgin. This being received, fertility follows. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0085" id="linkimage-0085"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/175.jpg" alt="175 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>vesica piscis</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>Essays on the Religion of the Hindoos</i>, Trübner 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." + </p> + <p> + "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 <i>will or purpose to + create</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + "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." + </p> + <p> + "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 <i>mantras</i> which consist + of various unmeaning monosyllabic combinations of letters of great + imaginary efficacy." + </p> + <p> + "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 <i>Sri Chakra or Purnabhisheka</i>, + the Ring or Full Initiation." + </p> + <p> + In a note apparently by the editor, Dr. Rost, a full account is given in + Sanscrit of the <i>Sakti Sodhana</i>, as they are prescribed in the <i>Devi + Rahasya</i>, a section of the <i>Rudra Yâmala</i>, so as to prove to his + readers that the <i>Sri Chakra</i> is performed under a religious + prescription. + </p> + <p> + 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.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * 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. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0086" id="linkimage-0086"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/178.jpg" alt="178 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It is natural that such a religion should be popular, especially amongst + the young of both sexes. + </p> + <p> + Figures 139 to 158 are copied from Moor's <i>Hindu Pantheon</i>; 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 "<i>la nature" A priori</i>, it appears absurd to + suppose that the eye could ever have been symbolical of anything but + sight; but the mythos of Indra, given in <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, second + edition, Vol. n., p. 649, and p. 7 <i>supra</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0087" id="linkimage-0087"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/179.jpg" alt="179 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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 <i>Worship of Priapus</i>. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0088" id="linkimage-0088"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/180.jpg" alt="180 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0089" id="linkimage-0089"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/181.jpg" alt="181 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Figure 159 represents the various forms symbolic of Juno, Isis, Parvati, + Ishtar, Mary, or woman, or the virgin. + </p> + <p> + Figures 160, 161, 162, are copied from Audsley's <i>Christian Symbolism</i> + (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). + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0090" id="linkimage-0090"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/182.jpg" alt="182 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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 <i>glans penis</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0091" id="linkimage-0091"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/183.jpg" height="82" width="91" alt="183 " /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It has been stated on page 19 <i>supra</i>, 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0092" id="linkimage-0092"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/184.jpg" alt="184 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + Figure 166 is from an old papal book lent to me by Mr. Newton, <i>Missale + Romanum</i>, illustrated by a monk (Venice, 1509). It represents a + confessor of the Roman church, who wears the <i>crux ansata</i>, the + Egyptian symbol of life, the emblem of the four creators, in the place of + the usual <i>pallium</i>. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0093" id="linkimage-0093"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/185a.jpg" alt="185 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img alt="185b (61K)" src="images/185b.jpg" width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + Figure 168 represents two Egyptian deities in worship before an emblem of + the male, which closely resembles an Irish round tower. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0094" id="linkimage-0094"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/186.jpg" alt="186 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 169 represents the modern <i>pallium</i> 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. + </p> + <p> + Figure 170 is a copy of an ancient <i>pallium</i>, worn by papal + ecclesiastics three or four centuries ago.. It is the old Egyptian symbol + described above. Its common name is <i>crux ansata</i>, or the cross with + a handle. + </p> + <p> + 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. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0095" id="linkimage-0095"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/187.jpg" alt="187 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Figure 172 represents the <i>chamble</i> worn by papal hierarchs. It is + copied from Pugin's <i>Glossary</i>, etc. Its form is that of the <i>vesica + piscis</i>, 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! + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0096" id="linkimage-0096"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/188.jpg" alt="188 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX: THE ASSYRIAN "GROVE" AND OTHER EMBLEMS + </h2> + <h3> + By John Newton, M.R.C.S. + </h3> + <p> + The study of sacred symbols is as yet in its infancy. It has hitherto been + almost ignored by sacerdotal historians; and thus a rich mine of knowledge + on the most interesting of all subjects—the history of the Religious + Idea in man—remains comparatively unexplored. The topic has a + two-fold interest, for it equally applies to the present and the past. As + nothing on earth is more conservative than religion, we have still a world + of symbolism existing amongst us which is far older than our sects and + books, our creeds and articles, a relic of a forgotten, pre-historic past. + Untold ages before writing was invented, it is believed that men attempted + to express their ideas in visible forms. Yet how can a savage, who is + unable to count his fingers up to five, and has no idea of abstract + number, apart from things, whose habits and thoughts are of the earth, + earthy, form a conception of the high and holy One who inhabiteth + eternity? Even under the highest forms of ancient civilisation, abundant + proofs exist that the imagination of men, brooding over the idea of the + Unseen and the Infinite, were bounded by the things which were presented + in their daily experience, and which most moved their passions, hopes and + fears. Through these, then, they attempted to embody such religious ideas + as they felt. They could not teach others without visible symbols to + assist their conceptions; and emblems were rather crutches for the halting + than wings to help the healthy to soar. Mankind in all ages has clung to + the visible and tangible. The people care little for the abstract and + unseen. The Israelites preferred a calf of gold to the invisible Jehovah; + and sensuous forms of worship still fascinate the multitude. + </p> + <p> + Whilst studying a collection of symbols, gathered from many climes and + ages, such as this volume presents, I feel sure that every intelligent + student will have asked himself more than once—Is there not some key + which unlocks these enigmas, some grand idea which runs through them all, + connecting them like a string of beads? I believe that there is, and that + it is not far to seek. What do men desire and long for most? <i>Life</i>. + "Skin for skin; all that a man hath will he give for his life," is a + saying as true now as in the days of Job. "Give me back my youth, and I + will give you all I possess," was said by the aged Voltaire to his + physician. And our poet laureate has sung, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Tis Life, whereof our nerves are scant, + O life, not death, for which we pant; + More life, and fuller, that I want. +</pre> + <p> + But we must add, as necessarily contained in the idea of Life in its + highest sense, <i>those things which make Life desirable</i>. + </p> + <p> + This fulness of life has been the <i>summum bonum</i>, the highest good, + which mankind has sighed for in every age and clime. For this the + alchemists toiled, not to advance chemistry, but to discover the Elixir of + Life and the Philosopher's Stone. But what nature refused to science, the + gods, it was believed, would surely give to the pious! and the glorious + prize referred to has been promised by every religion. "I am come that + they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Life + is the reward which has been promised under every system, including that + of the founder of Christianity. A Tree of Life stood in the midst of that + Paradise which is described in the book of Genesis; and when the first + human couple disobeyed their Maker's command, they were punished by being + cut off from the perennial fount of vitality, lest they should eat its + fruit and thus live for ever; and in a second Paradise, which is promised + to the blessed by the author of the book of Revelation, a tree of life + shall stand once more "for the healing of the nations." To the good man is + promised, in the Hebrew Scriptures, long life, prosperity, and a numerous + offspring. "Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."* Ps. ciii. 5. + </p> + <p> + In the wondrous theology of Ancient Egypt, which at length is open to us, + the "Ritual of the Dead" celebrates the mystical reconstruction of the + body of the deceased, whose parts are to be reunited, as those of Osiris + were by Isis; the trials are recorded through which the deceased passes, + and by which all remaining stains of corruption are wiped away; and the + record ends when the defunct is born again glorious, like that Sun which + typified the Egyptian resurrection.** + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * St. Paul points oat (Eph. vi. 2) that to only one of the + ten commandments is a promise added. And what is the + promise? "That thy days may be long." (Exod. xx. 12.) See + also Psalm cxxxiii. 3, "the blessing, even life for + evermore." + + ** Apuleius, who had been initiated into the mysteries of + Isis, informs us that long life was the reward promised to + her votaries. (Metam. cap. xi.) +</pre> + <p> + In the ancient mythology of India, it is recounted that of old the gods in + council united together to procure, by one supreme effort, the Amrita cup + of immortality, which, after the success of their scheme, they partake of + with their worshippers. Even for the Buddhist, his cold, atheistical creed + promises a Nirvana, an escape from the horrors of metempsychosis, a haven + of eternal calm, where "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor + crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are + passed away;" "there the weary be at rest." Rev. xxi. 4, Job iii. 17. + </p> + <p> + This idea of tranquillity is in striking contrast to the heaven promised + by the religion of the north of Europe, which was the one most congenial + to a people whose delight was in conquest and battle. Those who had led a + life of heroism, or perished bravely in fight, ascended to Valhalla; and + the eternal manhood which awaited them there was to be passed in scenes + that were rapture to the imagination of a Dane or a Saxon. Every day in + that abode of bliss was to be spent in furious conflict, in the struggle + of armies and the cleaving of shields; but at evening the conflict was to + cease; every wound to be suddenly healed. Then the contending warriors + were to sit down to a banquet, where, attended by lovely maidens, they + could feast on the exhaustless flesh of the boar Sæhrimnir, and drink huge + draughts of mead from the skulls of those enemies who had not attained to + the glories of Valhalla. + </p> + <p> + The paradise promised to the faithful by Mahomet is full of sensuous + delights. The Arabian prophet dwells with rapture on its gardens and + palaces, its rivers and bowers. Seventy-two houris, or black-eyed girls, + rejoicing in beauty and ever-blooming youth, will be created for the use + of the meanest believer; a moment of pleasure will be prolonged to a + thousand years, and his powers will be increased a hundred-fold to render + him worthy of his felicity. + </p> + <p> + Thus we see that in all these great historical faiths the prize held out + to the true believer has this in common, viz., <i>Life, overflowing, + ever-renewed, with the addition of those things which make life desirable + for men</i>; whether they are sensuous pleasures, or those which, under + the loftier ideal of Christianity, are summed up in <i>Life, both temporal + and eternal, in the light of God</i>. + </p> + <p> + Such being the case, we might anticipate that the symbols of every + religion would reproduce, in some shape or other, the ideal which is + common to all. The earliest and rudest faiths were content with gross and + simple emblems of life. In the later and more refined forms of worship, + the ruder types were highly conventionalised, and replaced by a more + intricate and less obvious symbolism. + </p> + <p> + We proceed now to investigate the more primitive emblems. The origin of + life is, even to us, with all our lights, as great a mystery as it was to + the ancients. To the primitive races of mankind the formation of a new + being appeared to be a constant miracle, and men very naturally used as + tokens of life, and even worshipped, those objects or organs by which the + miracle appeared to be wrought. Thus, the glorious sun, that "god of this + world," the source of life and light to our earth, was early adored, and + an effigy thereof used as a symbol. Mankind watched with rapture its rays + gain strength daily in the Spring, until the golden glories of Midsummer + had arrived, when the earth was bathed during the longest days in his + beams, which ripened the fruits that his returning course had started into + life. When the sun once more began its course downwards to the Winter + solstice, his votaries sorrowed, for he seemed to sicken and grow paler at + the advent of December, when his rays scarcely reached the earth, and all + nature, benumbed and cold, sunk into a death-like sleep. Hence feasts and + fasts were instituted to mark the commencement of the various phases of + the solar year, which have continued from the earliest known period, under + various names, to our own times. + </p> + <p> + The daily disappearance and the subsequent rise of the sun, appeared to + many of the ancients as a true resurrection; thus, while the east came to + be regarded as the source of light and warmth, happiness and glory, the + west was associated with darkness and chill, decay and death. This led to + the common custom of burying the dead so as to face the east when they + rose again, and of building temples and shrines with an opening towards + the east. To effect this, Vitruvius, two thousand years ago, gave precise + rules, which are still followed by Christian architects. + </p> + <p> + Sun-worship was spread all over the ancient world. It mingled with other + faiths and assumed many forms.* Of the elements, fire was naturally chosen + as its earthly symbol. A sacred fire, at first miraculously kindled, and + subsequently kept up by the sedulous care of priests or priestesses, + formed an important part of the religions of Judea, Babylonia, Persia, + Greece and Rome, and the superstition lingers amongst us still. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * We may point out that, according to all the Gospels, + Christ expired towards sunset, and the sun became eclipsed + as he was dying. He rose again exactly at daybreak. +</pre> + <p> + So late as the advent of the Reformation, a sacred fire was kept ever + burning on a shrine at Kildare, in Ireland, and attended by virgins of + high rank, called "<i>inghean au dagha</i>," or daughters of fire. Every + year is the ceremony repeated at Jerusalem of the miraculous kindling of + the Holy Fire at the reputed sepulchre, and men and women crowd to light + tapers at the sacred flame, which they pass through with a naked body. + Indeed, solar myths form no unimportant part of ancient mythology. Thus + the death of nature in the winter time, through the withdrawal of the sun, + was supposed to be caused by the mourning of the earth-goddess over the + sickness and disappearance into the realms of darkness of her husband and + mate, the sun. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fox Talbot has lately given the translation of an Egyptian poem, more + than three thousand years old, and having for its subject the descent of + Ishtar into Hades. To this region of darkness and death the goddess goes + in search of her beloved Osiris, or Tammuz. This Ishtar is identical with + the Assyrian female in the celestial quartette, the later Phoenician + Astarte, "The Queen of Heaven with crescent horns," the moon-goddess, also + with the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus; and the Egyptian legend + reappears in the west as the mourning of Venus for the loss of Adonis. + </p> + <p> + Again, the fable of Ceres mourning the death of her daughter Proserpine is + another sun-myth. The Roman Ceres was the Greek [—————], + Mother Earth, who through the winter time wanders inconsolable. + Persephone, her daughter, is the vegetable world, whose seeds or roots lie + concealed underground in the darkness of winter. These, when Spring comes + with its brightness, bud forth and dwell in the realms of light during a + part of the year, and provide ample nourishment for men and animals with + their fruits. The sun, being the active fructifying cause in nature, was + generally regarded as male. Thus, in the Jewish scriptures, he is compared + to "a bridegroom coming out of his chamber" (Ps. xix. 5), i.e., as a man + full of generative, procreative vigour. The moon and the earth, being + receptive were naturally regarded as female. + </p> + <p> + At the vernal equinox, the ancients celebrated the bridal of the sun and + the earth. Yet, inasmuch as the orbs of heaven and the face of nature + remain the same from year to year, and perpetually renew light and life, + themselves remaining fresh in vigour and unharmed by age, the ancients + conceived the bride and mate of the sun-god as continuing ever virgin. + Again, as the ancient month was always reckoned by the interval between + one new moon and the next,—an interval which also marks a certain + recurring event in women, that ceases at once on the occurrence of + pregnancy,—the lunar crescent became a symbol of virginity, and as + such adorns the brow of the Greek Artemis and Roman Diana. This was used + as a talisman at a very remote period, and was fixed over the doors of the + early lake-dwellers in Switzerland, like the horse-shoe is to modern + side-posts. With the sun and moon were often associated the five visible + planets, forming a sacred seven,—a figure which is continually + cropping up in religious emblems. + </p> + <p> + So much for the great cosmic symbols of Life. But the primitive races of + mankind found others nearer home, and still more suggestive—the + generative parts in the two sexes, by the union of which all animated + life, and mankind, the most interesting of all to human beings, appeared + to be created. This reverence for, or worship of, the organs of + generation, has been traced to a very early period in the history of the + human race. In a bone-cave recently excavated near Venice, and beneath its + ten feet of stalagmite, were found bones of animals, flint implements, a + bone needle, and a phallus in baked clay. And if we turn to those savage + tribes who still reproduce for us the prehistoric past, this form of + religious symbolism meets as everywhere. In Dahomey, beyond the Ashantees, + it is, according to Captain Barton, most uncomfortably prominent. In every + street of their settlements are priapic figures. The "Tree of Life" is + anointed with palm oil, which drips into a pot or shard placed below it, + and the would-be mother of children prays before the image that the great + god Legba would make her fertile. + </p> + <p> + Burton tells us that he peeped into an Egba temple or lodge, and found it + a building with three courts, of which the innermost was a sort of holy of + holies. Its doors had carvings on them of a leopard, a fish, a serpent, + and a land tortoise. The first two of these are female symbols, the two + latter emblems of the male. There were also two rude figures representing + their god Obatala, the deity of life, who is worshipped under two forms, a + male and a female. Opposite to these was the male symbol or phallus, + conjoined <i>in coitu</i> with the female emblem. Du Chaillu met with some + tribes in Africa who adore the female only. His guide, he informs us, + carried a hideous little image of wood with him, and at every meal he + would take the little fetish out of his pocket, and pour a libation over + its <i>feet</i> before he would drink himself. + </p> + <p> + We know that a similar superstition prevailed in Ireland long after the + advent of Christianity. There a female, pointing to her symbol, was placed + over the portal of many a church as a protector from evil spirits; and the + elaborate though rude manner in which these figures were sculptured shows + that they were considered as objects of great importance. It was the + universal practice among the Arabs of Northern Africa to stick up over the + door of their house or tent the genital parts of a cow, mare, or female + camel, as a talisman to avert the influence of the evil eye. The figure of + this organ being less definite than that of the male, it has assumed in + symbolism very various forms. The commonest substitution for the part + itself has been a horse-shoe, which is to this day fastened over many of + the doors of stables and shippons in the country, and was formerly + supposed to protect the cattle from witchcraft. From a lively story by + Beroalde de Verville, we learn that in France a sight of the female organ + was believed, as late as the sixteenth century, to be a powerful charm in + curing any disease in, and for prolonging the life of, the fortunate + beholder. + </p> + <p> + As civilisation advanced, the gross symbols of creative power were cast + aside, and priestly ingenuity was taxed to the utmost in inventing a crowd + of less obvious emblems, which should represent the ancient ideas in a + decorous manner. The old belief was retained, but in a mysterious or + sublimated form. As symbols of the male, or active element in creation, + the sun, light, fire, a torch, the phallus or linga, an erect serpent, a + tall straight tree, especially the palm and the fir or pine, were adopted. + Equally useful for symbolism were a tall upright stone (menhir), a cone, a + pyramid, a thumb or finger pointed straight, a mast, a rod, a trident, a + narrow bottle or amphora, a bow, an arrow, a lance, a horse, a bull, a + lion, and many other animals conspicuous for masculine power. As symbols + of the female, the passive though fruitful element in creation, the + crescent moon, the earth, darkness, water, and its emblem a triangle with + the apex downwards, "the yoni," a shallow vessel or cup for pouring fluid + into (<i>cratera</i>), a ring or oval, a lozenge, any narrow cleft, either + natural or artificial, an arch or doorway, were employed. In the same + category of symbols came a ship or boat, the female date-palm bearing + fruit, a cow with her calf by her side, the fish, fruits having many + seeds, such as the pomegranate, a shell (<i>concha</i>), a cavern, a + garden, a fountain, a bower, a rose, a fig, and other things of suggestive + form, etc. + </p> + <p> + These two great classes of conventional symbols were often represented <i>in + conjunction with</i> each other, and thus symbolised in the highest degree + the great source of life, ever originating, ever renewed. The Egyptian + temple at Denderah has lately been explored by M. Mariette. In a niche of + the Holy of Holies he discovered the sacred secret. This was simply a + golden sistrum (see <i>ante</i>, pp. 44 and 70), an emblem formed by + uniting the female oval O with the male sacred Tau T; and thus identical + in meaning with the coarse emblem seen by Captain Burton in the African + idol temple. A similar emblem is the linga standing in the centre of a + yoni, the adoration of which is to this day characteristic of the leading + dogma of Hindu religion. There is scarcely a temple in India which has not + its lingam; and in numerous instances this symbol is the only form under + which the great god Siva is worshipped. (See <i>ante</i>, pp. 72, 78.) + </p> + <p> + The linga is generally a tall, polished, cylindrical, black stone, + apparently inserted into another stone formed like an elongated saucer, + though in reality the whole is sculptured out of one block of basalt. The + outline of the frame, which reminds us of a Jew's harp (the conventional + form of the female member), is termed <i>argha or yoni</i>. The former, or + round perpendicular stone, the type of the virile organ, is the <i>linga</i>. + The entire symbol, to which the name <i>lingyoni</i> is given, is also + occasionally called <i>lingam</i>. This representative of the union of the + sexes typifies the divine <i>sacti</i>, or productive energy, in union + with the procreative, generative power seen throughout nature. The earth + was the primitive <i>pudendum, or yoni</i>, which is fecundated by the + solar heat, the sun, the primitive <i>linga</i>, to whose vivifying rays + man and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, owe their being and + continued existence. These "lingas" vary in size from the tiny amulets + worn about the neck, to the great monoliths of the temples. Thus the + lingam is an emblem of the Creator, the fountain of all life, who is + represented in Hindu mythology as uniting in Himself the two sexes. + </p> + <p> + Another symbol, the <i>caduceus</i>, older than Greek and Roman art, in + which it is associated with Esculapius and Hermes, the gods of health and + fertility, has precisely the same signification as the sistrum and the + lingam. This is made clear enough in the following extract from a letter + by Dr. C. E. Balfour, published in Fergusson's <i>Tree and Serpent Worship</i>, + 1878. "I have only once seen living snakes in the form of the Esculapian + rod. It was at Ahmednuggar, in 1841, on a clear moonlight night. They + dropped into the garden from the thatched roof of my house, <i>and stood + erect</i>." + </p> + <p> + "They were all cobras, and <i>no one could have seen them without at once + recognising that they were in congress</i>. Natives of India consider that + it is most fortunate to witness serpents so engaged, and believe that if a + person can throw a cloth at the pair so as to touch them with it, the + material becomes a representative form of Lakshmi,* of the highest virtue, + and is preserved as such." The serpent, which casts its skin and seems to + renew its youth every year, has been used from remotest times as a living + symbol of generative energy, and of immortality; indeed, in the most + ancient Eastern languages, the name for the serpent also signifies life.** + It has been usually worshipped as the <i>Agathodoemon</i>, the god of good + fortune, life, and health; though in the Hebrew scriptures, and elsewhere, + we meet with a good and a bad serpent—Oriental dualism. The <i>Kakodoemon</i>, + however, is usually represented as winged—the Dragon, as in the + following example. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The consort, or life-giving energy of Vishnu. + + ** As in French, the name for the male organ and for life is + the same in sound, though not in spelling or gender. +</pre> + <p> + In the remarkable Babylonian seal, Plate iv., Fig. 8, the deity is + represented as uniting in himself the male and the female. On each side is + a serpent, as the emblem of the life flowing from the Creator; that on the + male side, having round his head the solar glory, is compared to the + sun-god, as the active principle in creation; that on the female side, + over whose head is the lunar crescent, to the moon- and earth- goddess, + the passive principle in creation. Both are attacked by a winged dragon, + the kakodoemon, or the evil principle. This is according to the ancient + Chaldean doctrine of two creations of living beings, the one good and the + other malign. The Chinese still think that an eclipse is caused by the + efforts of a furious dragon to destroy the sun and moon; and Apollo, the + sun-god, destroying the serpent Python, has reappeared on our coin as St. + George killing the dragon. Even Apollyon appears in old paintings with + huge wings, like those of a bat. + </p> + <p> + Having thus explained what appears to be the key to a wide range of + religious symbolism, and shown its application in many cases, we shall + further apply it to unlock the famous object of Assyrian worship. Soon + after the discoveries of Botta and Layard were published, it was + conjectured that this strange object, so continually represented as being + adored, might be the <i>asherah</i> of the Hebrew scriptures, translated + "grove" in the English version. How far the view was correct we shall now + proceed to examine. + </p> + <p> + The religion of the East at a very remote period appears to have been the + worship of one God, under several names. The most primitive was <i>El, Il, + or Al</i>, = the strong, the mighty one; or its plural <i>Elohim</i>, as + expressing His many powers and manifestations. Another name was <i>Baal or + Bel</i>,—the lord, which also had a plural form, <i>Baalim</i>. The + first word is continually used in the Hebrew scriptures, and applied both + to the true God and the gods of the nations. Baal is only once thus + applied, Hosea ii. 16; yet Balaam, inspired by God, prophesies from the + high places of Baal. This name, though so appropriate to the Almighty, + became abhorrent to the Jews when it was so frequently associated with + idolatry, and a new cognomen, or "the Supreme," was adopted by them, viz., + Jehovah, = the Eternal, the Ever-Living One, the Creator; see Exod. iii. + 14. "Baal" was the supreme god of all the great Syro-Phoenician nations, + with the insignificant exception of the Jews; and when the latter migrated + into Canaan they were surrounded on all sides by his worshippers. Towns, + temples, men, including even a son of Saul, of David and of Jonathan, + viz., Eshbaal, Meribbaal, and Beelida, were called after him. As the + sun-god, Baal-Hammon, Song of Sol. viii. 11; 2 Kings xxiii. 5; he was + worshipped on high places, Num. xxii. 41; and an image of the sun appeared + over his altars, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4. As the generative and productive + power, he was worshipped under the form of the phallus, Baal-Peor; and + youths and maidens, even of high birth, prostituted themselves in his + honour or service; Num. xxv.; 2 Kings xxiii. 7. As the creator, he was + represented to be of either or of both sexes; and Arnobius tells us that + his worshippers invoked him thus: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hear us, Baal! whether thou be a god or a goddess." +</pre> + <p> + Though he is of the masculine gender in the Hebrew, the lord, yet Baal is + called [———], = the lady, in the Septuagint; Hos. ii. 8; + Zeph. i. 4; and in the New Testament, Romans xi. 4. At the licentious + worship of this androgyne, or two-sexed god, the men on certain occasions + wore female garments, whilst the women appeared in male attire, + brandishing weapons. Each of this god's names had a female counterpart; + and the feminine form of <i>Baal was Beltis, Ishtar, and Ashtarte</i>. As + he was the sun-god, she was the moon-goddess. Now, whilst the masculine + name (as Bël or Bâl, Baal, Baalim,) appears nearly one hundred times in + the Hebrew Old Testament, the feminine equivalent is only found three + times in the singular Ashtoreth, and six times in the plural Ashtaroth; + always in association with Baal-worship. Knowing, as we do, the immense + diffusion of her worship amongst the Babylonians, Assyrians, and + Phoenicians, this appears strange. There is a word of the feminine gender + occurring in the Hebrew twenty-four times, viz., Asherah or <i>Asharah</i>; + plural, <i>Asharth</i> translated in the Septuagint and Latin vulgate, a + tree, or "grove," in which they have been followed by most modern + versions, including the English. This supplies the void, for <i>Asharah</i> + may be regarded as another name for the goddess <i>Ashtoreth</i>, as is + plainly seen by the following passages: "They forsook Jehovah and served + Baal and Ashtoreth;" Judges ii. 18; whilst in the following chapter we + read, "They forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baalim and the + Asharoth;" iii. 7. What, then, was the <i>Asharah</i>? It was of wood, and + of large size; the Jews were ordered to cut it down; Exod. xxxiv. 18, + etc.; and Gideon offered a bullock as a burnt sacrifice with the wood of + the Asherah. Occasionally it was of stone. It was carved or graven as an + image; 2 Kings xxi. 7. It often stood close to the altar of Baal; Judges + vi. 25 and 80; 1 Kings xvi. 82, 88; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 8. Usually on high + places and under shady trees; 1 Kings xiv. 28; Jer. xvii. 2; but one was + erected in the temple of Jehovah by Manasseh; 2 Kings xxi. 7. It had + priests; 1 Kings xviii. 19; and its worship was as popular as that of + Baal; for whilst the priests of "the Baal" were four hundred and fifty, + those of "the Asherah" were four hundred, who ate at the table of Queen + Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon. It was sometimes surrounded + with hangings, and was worshipped by both sexes with licentious rites; 2 + Kings xxiii. 7; Ezek. xvi. 16. As Baal was associated with sun-worship, so + was the Asherah with that of the moon; 2 Kings xxi. 8; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4. + </p> + <p> + Besides these Asheroth, female emblems of Baal, there were Asherim, male + emblems of Baal, "symbolising his generative power" (Furst, Hebrew + Lexicon), which are mentioned sixteen times in the Hebrew scriptures. It + is only found in the plural, and must have been a multiple representation + of the singular, Asher, which means "to be firm, strong, straight, + prosperous, happy," * and cognate with the Phoenician (Osir), "husband," + "lord," an epithet of Baal. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The lupanars at Pompeii were distinguished by a sign over + the street door, representing the erect phallus, painted or + carved, and having the words underneath, "Hie habitat + félicitas." +</pre> + <p> + Doubtless this was also identical with the Egyptian Osiris, = the sun, = + the phallus. He was said to have suffered death like the sun; and Plutarch + tells us that Isis, unable to discover all the remains of her husband, + consecrated the phallus as his representative. Thus "the Asharim" were + male symbols used in Baal-worship, and sometimes consisted of multiple + phalli, of which the branch carried by an Assyrian priest, in Plate iii. + Fig. 4, is a conventional form. They were then counterparts of the "<i>multimammia</i>" + of Greek and Roman worship.* This is confirmed by a curious passage, 1 + Kings xv. 13 (repeated 2 Chron. xv. 16). We learn (xiv. 28) that the Jews, + under Rehoboam, son of Solomon, having lapsed into idolatry, had "built + them high places, images, and Asharim ("groves," A. V.) on every high + hill, and under every green tree; and that there were also consecrated + ones ("sodomites," A. V.) in the land." But Asa, his brother, on + succeeding to the throne, swept away all these things, and (xv. 18) + deposed the queen mother, Maachah, because she had made a <i>miphletzeth</i> + to an Asherah ("an idol in a grove," A. V.) <i>miphletzeth</i>, is + rendered by the Vulgate "simulacrum Priapi." The word is derived from <i>palatz</i>, + "to be broken," "terrified," or the cognate, <i>phalash, palash</i>, "to + break or go through," "to open up a way;" a word or root found in the + Hebrew, Phoenician, Syriac, and Ethiopie. Doubtless the Greek [———] + <i>phallus</i>, was hence derived, since it has no independent meaning in + Greek; and Herodotus and Diodorus expressly assert that the chief gods of + Greece and their mysteries, especially the Dionysiac or Bacchic revels, in + which the <i>phallus</i> was carried in procession, were derived from the + east. Compare also the Latin <i>pales</i>, English <i>pale, pole</i>, = + May<i>pole</i>. A similar word, with a corresponding meaning, exists in + the Sanscrit. Thus, then, according to the Hebrew scriptures, there were + two chief symbols used in the worship of Baal, one male, the other female. + </p> + <p> + See Figs. 15, 16. + </p> + <p> + We can now look upon the very symbols themselves, which were so used—perhaps + the most remarkable in existence. It is well known that the Chaldeans, + from whom all other nations derived their religion, astronomy, and + science, gave the name of Bel or Baal to their chief god. In the most + ancient inscription yet deciphered, written in the Babylonian and Arcadian + languages, a king rules by "the favour of Bel." Another name for Baal is + Assur, or Asher, from whom Assyria is named. In the cuneiform inscriptions + of Sennacherib, the great king of Assyria, Nineveh is called "the city of + Bel," and "the city beloved by Ishtar." In another inscription he says of + the king of Egypt:—"the terror of Ashur and Ishtar overcame him and + he fled." Assurbanipal thus commences his annals "The great warrior, the + delight of Assur and Ishtar, the royal offspring am I." In a cuneiform + inscription of Nebobelzitri, we read:—"Nineveh the city, the delight + of Ishtar, wife of Bel." Again, "Beltis, the consort of Bel." "Assur and + Beltis, the gods of Assyria." Thus we see that Baal and Bel were identical + with Assur, and Ashur. Doubtless, then, "<i>Asherah</i>" is the last name + with the feminine termination (as Ish = man, Ishah=woman), and is + identical with Ishtar, Ashteroth, Astarte and Beltis. The Septuagint has + rendered "Asherah" by "Astarte," in 2 Chron. xv. 16, and the Vulgate by + "Astaroth," in Judges iii. 7. Herodotus described (b.c. 450) the great + temple of Belus at Babylon, and its seven stages dedicated to the sun, + moon, and planets, on the top of which was the shrine. This contained no + statue, but there was a golden couch, upon which a chosen female lay, and + was nightly visited by the god. Now, therefore, that the palaces of the + Assyrian kings, and their "chambers of imagery," have been by great good + fortune laid open to us, we might expect to discover the long-lost + symbolism of Baal-worship. And so we have. + </p> + <p> + To commence with the simplest. The (Ashcrim) is seen as the mystic + palm-tree, the tree of life, Fig. 99; the phallic pillar putting forth + branches like flames, Fig. 65; and the tree with seven phalloid branches, + so common on Assyrian and Babylonian seals, Plate xvii., Fig. 4. See also + the remarkable Syrian medals, Plate xvii., Fig. 2, on which is represented + Baal as the sun-god, holding the bow, and surrounded by phalli. + </p> + <p> + Or, least conventional of all, the simple phallus, of which there are two + remarkable specimens in the British Museum. Each of these is about two and + a half feet high, and once guarded the bounds of an estate. Among the + Greeks and Romans, boundaries were also marked by a phallic statue of + Hermes, the god of fertility. These Assyrian emblems have doubtless often + been honoured with rural sacrifice. Themselves the most expressive symbol + of life, they are also covered with its conventional emblems. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0098" id="linkimage-0098"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/207.jpg" alt="207 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + A back view of one is given, Figure 174. The body is mainly occupied with + a full length portrait of the great king. For as the Assyrians represented + the Deity, the source of all life, by the phallus, so the monarch was the + god of this lower world, the incarnation of God on earth. He was the + source of life to the empire, and as such was addressed—"O king, + live for ever" (Dan. v. 10). He, like the gods, never dies. "<i>Le Roi est + mort; Vive le Roi</i>" The ensigns of royalty were also those of the + creator-god. Accordingly, his garments and crown are embroidered with that + sacred emblem, the Asherah. He bears the strung-bow and arrows, emblems of + virile power, borne afterwards by the sun-god Apollo, and the western son + of Venus. An erect serpent occupies the other side, and ends with forky + tongue near the orifice. The <i>glans</i> is covered with symbols. On the + summit is a triad of sun emblems; beneath are three altars, over two of + which are the glans-shaped caps, covered with bulls' horns, always worn by + the Assyrian guardian angels, and intense emblems of the male potency. For + in ancient symbolism, <i>a part of a symbol stands for the whole</i>; as + here, the horns represent the bull, and the glans the phallus. Above the + third altar is a tortoise, whose protruded head and neck reminded the + initiated of the phallus; and the altars are covered with a pattern drawn + from the tortoise scales. We have, besides, a vase with a rod inserted, + emblem of sexual union, and a cock, with wings and plumage ruffled, + running after a hen in amorous heat. The glans only of the other is + copied. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0099" id="linkimage-0099"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/208.jpg" alt="208 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Fig. 175. At the top are the sun-symbols, as before. Beneath is the + horse-shoe-like head-dress of Isis, and there are two altars marked with + the tortoise-emblem in front. Over both rises the erect serpent, and upon + one lies the head of an arrow or a dart, both male symbols. The <i>miphletzeth</i> + which Queen Maachah placed in or near the Asherah, probably resembled + these Assyrian phalli, or the Asherim. + </p> + <p> + And now we come to the Asherah, a much more complex and difficult symbol + than any other which we have named. This object has long puzzled + antiquarians, and though it is continually recurring in the sculptures + from Nineveh, it has not yet been fully explained. In Fig. 176 we see it + worshipped by human figures, with eagles' heads and wings, who present to + it the pine-cone, = the testis, and the basket, =the scrotum (?), intense + emblems of the male creator. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0100" id="linkimage-0100"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/209.jpg" alt="209 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Fig. 177 it is adored by the king and his son or successor, with their + attendant genii. The kings present towards it a well-known symbol of life + and good fortune, the fist with the forefinger extended, or "the phallic + hand." Here, then, we have evidently the Asherah, or Ashtaroth-symbol, the + female Baal, the life-producer, "the door" whence life issues to the + world. As such the goddess is here symbolised as an arched door-way. In + the Phonician alphabet, the fourth letter, <i>daleth</i>, = a door, has + the shape of a tent-door, as on the Moabite stone, A, and also in the + Greek [———] But another form, perhaps as ancient, is D, + which, when placed in its proper position, would be [—], the very + form of the Asherah.* In the plural, this word stands for the <i>labia + pudendi</i>, [————], "because it shut not up the + <i>doors</i> of the womb," Job iii. 10.** We infer from Numbers xxv. 6-8, + that in the rites of Baal-peor, the <i>Kadeshoth</i>, or women devoted to + the god, offered themselves to his worshippers each in a peculiar bower or + small arched tent, called a <i>qubbah</i>. The part also through which + Phinehas drove his spear (see Num. xxv. 8), the woman's vulva, is also + called <i>qobbah</i>, the one word being derived from the other, according + to Onkelos, Aquila, and others. Qubbah means, according to Fürst, Heb. + Lex., "something hollow and arched, an arched tent, like the Arabic El. + Kubba, whence the Spanish <i>Al-cova</i>, and our <i>Alcove</i>." In the + Latin also, the word <i>fornix</i>, a vault, an arch, meant a brothel, and + from it was derived <i>fornicatio</i>. Qubbah is translated by the LXX., + kaminos, "an oven or arched furnace" (Liddell and Scott); but it meant + also the female parts. See Herodotus v. 92 (7). Thus, then, the Alcove was + itself a symbol of woman, as though a place of entrance and emergence, and + whence new life issues to the world. And when the male worshipper of Baal + entered to the <i>kadeshah</i>, the living embodiment of the goddess, the + analogy to the Asherah became complete, as we shall now show. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * The first letter, Aleph, = an ox, is, even on the Moabite + stone, written thus, and has become the modern A. In the + earlier hieroglyph it must have been thus V. The Egyptian + hieroglyph for ten is Compare the Greek [—] and Latin + Decem. + + ** The first of the Orphic Hymns is addressed to the goddess + Artemisias (Prothnraia) or the Door-keeper, who presided + over childbirths, like the Roman Diana Lucina. +</pre> + <p> + The central object in the Assyrian "grove" is a male date-palm, which was + well known as an emblem of Baal, the sun, the phallus, and life. This + remarkable tree, <i>Tamar</i> in Phoenician and Hebrew, the <i>phoenix</i> + in Greek, was formerly abundant in Palestine and the neighbouring regions. + The word <i>Phoenicia</i> (Acts xi. 19, xv. 8) is derived from <i>phoinix</i>, + as the country of palms; like the "<i>Idumeo palmo</i>" of Virgil. + Palmyra, the city of the sun, was called in the Hebrew <i>Tamar</i> (1 + Kings ix. 18). In Vespasian's famous coin, "<i>Judoa capta</i>," Judoa is + represented as a female sitting under a palm-tree. The tree can at once be + identified by its tall, straight, branchless stem, of equal thickness + throughout, crowned at the top with a cluster of long, curved, + feather-like branches, and by its singularly wrinkled bark. All these + characteristics are readily recognised in the highly conventional forms of + the religious emblem, even in the ornament on the king's robe, fig. 174. + The date-palm is dioecious, the female trees, which are sometimes used as + emblems, being always distinguished by the clusters of date fruit. "Thy + stature is like to a palm-tree, thy breasts to clusters" (Cant. vii. 7). + "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree" (Ps. xcii. 12), fruitful + and ever green. "They are upright as the palm-tree, but speak not" (Jer. + x. 8-5). The prophet is evidently describing the making of an Asherah. + There was a Canaanite city called Baal-Tamar, = Baal, the palm-tree, + designated so, it is probable, from the worship of Baal there "under the + form of a priapus-column," says Fürst, Heb. Lex. The real form was + doubtless an "Asherim," a modified palm-tree, as we have already shown. + Palm-branches have been used in all ages as emblems of life, peace, and + victory. They were strewn before Christ. Palm-Sunday, the feast of palms, + is still kept. Even within the present century, on this festival, in many + towns of France, women and children carried in procession at the end of + their palm-branches a phallus made of bread, which they called, + undisguisedly, "la pine," whence the festival was called "La Fête des + Pinnes." The "pine" having been blest by the priest, the women carefully + preserved it during the following year as an amulet. (Dulaure, <i>Hist, + des differens Cultes.</i>) + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0101" id="linkimage-0101"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/213.jpg" alt="213 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Again, the Greek name for the palm-tree, <i>phoenix</i>, was also the name + of that mythical Egyptian bird, sacred to Osiris, and a symbol of the + resurrection. With some early Christian writers, Christ was "the Phoenix." + The date-palm is figured as a tree of life on an Egyptian sepulchral + tablet, older than the Exodus, now preserved in the museum at Berlin. Two + arms issue from the top of the tree; one of which presents a tray of dates + to the deceased, whilst the other gives him water, "the water of life." + The tree of life is represented by a date-palm on some of the earliest + Christian mosaics at Rome. Something very like the Assyrian Asherah, or + sacred emblem, was sculptured on the great doors of Solomon's temple, by + Hiram, the Tyrian (1 Kings vii. 18-21). We read "he carved upon them + carvings of cherubims and palm-trees and open flowers, and spread gold + upon the cherubims and palm-trees" (1 Kings vi. 82-35). He also erected + two phallic pillars in front of the Temple, Jachin and Boaz, = It stands—In + strength. No wonder Solomon fell to worship Astarte, Chemosh, and Milcom. + </p> + <p> + Although to our modern ideas the mystical tree, symbol of life and + immortality, seems out of place in Judaism, yet no sooner did the Jews + possess a national coinage under the Maccabees than the palm-tree + reappears, <i>always with seven branches</i> (like the golden candlestick, + Ex. xxv.), as on the shekel represented Plate xvii., Fig. 4. The Assyrian + tree has <i>always</i> the same number, and the tufts of foliage + (symbolising the entire female tree) which deck the margins of the mystic + D—apt emblems of fertility—have also invariably seven + branches. This may remind us of the seven visible spheres that move around + our earth "in mystic dance," and of Balak's offering, upon seven altars, + seven bulls and seven rams (Num. xxiii. 1; Rev. ii. 1) The mystic door is + also barred, like the Egyptian sistrum carried by the priestesses of Isis, + to represent the inviolable purity and eternal perfection which were + associated with the idea of divinity. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, took + the place in Christendom of "the great goddess," the dogmas which + propounded her immaculate conception and perpetual virginity followed as a + matter of course. + </p> + <p> + Thus, then, we explain the greatest symbol in Eastern worship,—it is + the "Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden," which has remained so long + a mystery. To Dr. Inman belongs the distinguished merit of having first + broken ground in the right direction. In his <i>Ancient Faiths</i>, vol. + 1, 1868, he identified the Assyrian "Asherah" with the female "door of + life," and pointed out its analogy to the barred sistrum. We have seen + that it is really much more complex, being precisely analogous in meaning + to the famous <i>crux ansata</i> (Fig. 170), the central mystery of + Egyptian worship; to the lingam or lingyoni of India (Fig. 109), the great + emblem of Siva-worship; and to the caduceus of Greece and Rome. As + represented on the Assyrian sculptures, it is always substantially the + same. Probably this stereotyped form was the result of a gradual + refinement upon some rude primitive type, perhaps as coarse as that seen + by Captain Burton in the African idol-temple. + </p> + <p> + To exhibit all the strange developments and modifications which this idea + has assumed in the religious symbolism of Eastern and Western nations + would require a large volume. But the subject is so rich in varied + interest that we cannot conclude without taking a glance at it. First, the + simple O, barred, is reproduced with a contraction towards the base, as in + the Indian "yoni," and the Egyptian sistrum, used in the worship of Isis. + Second, within the O was represented the goddess herself, as revealed + within her own symbol. This is illustrated in Plate xvii., Fig. 5, where + Demeter or Ceres is thus depicted, with her cornucopia, from a bronze coin + of Damascus. Thirdly, but much more commonly, the goddess holds in her + hands emblems of the male potency in creation, and thus completes the + symbol. As in the coin figured Plate xvii., Fig. 8, the goddess, standing + within the O, the portico of her temple, holds in her right hand the + cross, that most ancient emblem of the male and of life. In the beautiful + Greek coin of Sidon next figured, the goddess—evidently Astarte, the + moon-goddess, the Queen of Heaven—stands on a ship, the mystic Argha + or Ark, holding in one hand a crozier, in the other the cross. (Plate + xvii., Fig. 7.) + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0102" id="linkimage-0102"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/217.jpg" alt="217 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + Under Christianity, the Virgin Mary, who, as Queen of Heaven, stands on + the crescent moon, is pictured beneath the mystic doorway, with (the God + as) a male child in her arms. See Plate xviii., copied from the woodcut + title to the <i>Psalter of the Blessed Virgin</i>, printed at Czenna, in + old Prussia, 1492. Like Isis, she is the mother and yet the spouse of God, + "clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet" (Rev. xii. 1). + The upper half of the picture is very like the Assyrian scenes. On either + side is a king, Frederick III. and his son the Emperor Maximilian, at + their devotions. The alcove is of roses, an emblem of virginity. The + famous Mediæval "Romaunt de la Rose" turns upon this. Among the many + titles given to "the Virgin" in Mediæval times, we find <i>Santa Maria + della Rosa</i>, that flower being consecrated to her. Hence it is often + represented in her hand. Dante writes + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Here is the Rose, + Wherein the Word Divine was made incarnate." +</pre> + <p> + In Plate xviii., the Virgin goddess is seated with the God-child in a + bower, exactly the shape of the Assyrian, composed of fruits highly + significant of sex, as has already been explained. In some Hindoo + pictures, the child is naked, having the member erect, and also making the + phallic hand, with the right forefinger erected. (Plate xiv., Fig. 14.) + </p> + <p> + In other conventional forms we have male symbols only within the female O. + This is a very numerous class. In the Fig. 3, Plate xvii., we see the + fir-tree or pine take the place of the palm-tree, and in Fig. 6, Plate + xvii., the cone. On this remarkable medal of Cyprus is a representation of + the temple of Venus at Paphos, famous even in the days of Homer. (Odyss. + viii. 862.) The worship of that divinity is said to have been imported + into Cyprus from the East. The goddess united both sexes in her own + person, and was served by castrated priests. We see here, within the + innermost sanctum of the temple, a cone as emblem of the male; and the + meaning is further pointed by the sun-emblem above, inserted within the + crescent moon. + </p> + <p> + Let us next examine how the cone came to be used as a masculine emblem. If + we turn to Figs. 174 and 175, it will be seen that the "glans" was + particularly honoured as the head of the phallus; it was also the part + dedicated to God by effusion of blood in the rite of circumcision. This + "acorn" is conical or dome-shaped, and thus—a part being taken for + the whole—the cone or pyramid was used as a conventional symbol of + the male creator. Placed on a stem it is frequently represented as + worshipped on Assyrian bas reliefs. See Fig. 177. It was also a symbol of + fire, the sun, and life; as such it formed a fitting monument for the + Egyptian kings. Our word pyramid is from the Greek <i>puramis</i>, itself + derived from pur, Jire, and puros, wheat, because pyramid-shaped cakes of + wheat and honey were used in the Bacchic Fig. 177. rites. It played an + important part in sun-worship. The emperor Heliogabalus (who, as his name + implies, had been a priest of Baal, the sun-god, in Syria,) established + the Syrian worship at Rome. He himself drove the golden chariot of the + sun, drawn by six white horses, through the streets of Rome to a splendid + new temple on the Palatine mount, the god being represented by a conical + black stone, said to have fallen from heaven; and which the emperor + removed from a temple of the sun, at Emesa, in Syria. At a subsequent + period, an image of the moon-goddess, or Astarte, was brought by his + orders from a celebrated fane at Carthage to Rome, and there solemnly + married with licentious rites to the sun-god, amidst general rejoicing.* + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * In Astrology, the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus was + considered the most fortunate of all; such as kings and + princes should be born under. +</pre> + <p> + A curious parallel to these mystic nuptials of the Assyrian god and + goddess may be found in some of the religious ceremonies of the modern + Hindoos. Fergusson tells us that "the most extraordinary buildings + connected with Hindu temples are the vast pillared colonnades or + choultries. By far their most important application is when used as + nuptial halls, in which the mystic union of a male and female divinity is + celebrated once a year." + </p> + <p> + Again, in Indian mythology, the pyramid plays an important part. It + belongs to Siva, = the sun, = fire, = the phallus, = life. By one complex + symbol, very common on ancient Hindoo monuments in China and Thibet, the + universe was thus represented. Notice the upward gradation. Earth + water + = this globe. The creator-god, whose emblem, flame, mounts upwards, is the + author and representative of all life upon it; he is the connecting link, + united by the crescent moon with heaven. The arrow- or spear- head + inserted within the crescent is an earth emblem of Siva; like the lingam + it typified the divine source of life, and also the doctrine that perfect + wisdom was to be found only in the combination of the male and female + principles in nature. It decorates the roofs of the Buddhist monasteries + in Thibet, and like the sacred lotus flower and the linga, both of which + became emblems of Buddha, was derived from older faiths. Other + interpretations may suggest themselves. This will enable us to understand + the remarkable sculptures of the second or third century, from the + Amravati Tope, Plate xix., which present so many points in common with the + religious symbols of the Chaldeans. In Fig. 2 we see a congregation of + males and females, the sexes being separated, worshipping a linga, or + stone conical pillar, on the front of which is sculptured the sacred tree, + with branches like flames; three symbols of life in one. It rises from a + throne, on the seat of which are placed the two emblems of earth and + water. In the other figure, the sacred tree takes the place of the linga, + rising above the throne, as if from the trisul or trident, male emblems of + Siva. Winged figures, Garudas, attend it above, floating over the heads of + the worshippers. An intrusion of the newer faith is also to be recognised, + as the feet of Buddha are sculptured before the throne. + </p> + <p> + In the mysteries of Mithra, the symbols in Fig. 178 were also employed. + They represented the elements to which the soul ought to be successively + united in passing through the new birth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0105" id="linkimage-0105"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/221.jpg" alt="221 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + We will add but two more emblems, culled from medieval heraldry, Figs. 179 + and 180, in both of which the Asherah, the "grove" of Baal-worship, will + be at once recognised; the arrow and the cross, symbols of the male + creator, taking the place of the mystic palm-tree. + </p> + <p> + In all these, from the rudest to the most complex, we are thus able to + trace a common idea, viz., a feeling after God, as the Life and Light of + the Universe, and an attempt to express a common hope in visible forms. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0106" id="linkimage-0106"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/222.jpg" alt="222 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian +Symbolism, by Thomas Inman and John Newton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAGAN AND MODERN SYMBOLISM *** + +***** This file should be named 38485-h.htm or 38485-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/8/38485/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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