In India, if there was a desire to express a number of attributes of the deity, another head or face is added or additional arms are added to hold up additional symbols. In Greece, when the desire was to express the androgyne qualities of the deity, a beard was added to the female face, or one half of the statuette represented the male form, the other the female. Such representations do not indicate great ingenuity, however skillfully they may be executed.
SUN WORSHIP AND SUN MYTHS
As is generally known, traces of sun worship are found in almost every country of which we have a record. In Egypt Ra was the supreme sun god where there was very elaborate worship conducted in his honor. In Greece Apollo was attended with similar festivities. In the Norse mythology, many of the myths deal with the worship of the sun in one form or another. In England, Stonehenge and the entire system of the Druids had to do with solar worship. In Central America and Peru, temples to the sun were of amazing splendor, furnished as they were with wonderful displays of gold and silver. The North American Indians have many legends relating to sun worship and sacrifices to the sun, and China and Japan give numerous instances of the same religion. Sun worship is so readily shown to be fundamental with primitive races that we will not discuss it in detail at this time, but rather will give the conclusions of certain writers who have explained its meaning.
At the present day, the sun is regularly regarded as a male being, the earth a female. We speak of Mother Earth, etc.; in former times, the ancients depicted the maternal characteristics of the earth in a much more material way. Likewise the sun was a male deity, being often the war god, vigorous and all powerful. We readily see to what an extent the male sun god was portrayed in mythology as a human being. In many myths, the god dies during the winter, reappears in the Spring, is lamented in the Fall, etc., all in keeping with the changes in the activity of the sun during the different seasons.
The moon was associated with the female deity of the ancients. Isis is accompanied by the moon on most coins and emblems. Venus has the same symbols. Indeed, the star and crescent of our modern times, of the Turkish flag and elsewhere, are in reality the sun and crescent of antiquity, male and female symbols in conjunction. Lunar ornaments of pre-historic times have been found throughout England and Ireland, and doubtless explain the superstitions about the moon in those countries. The same prehistoric ornaments are found in Italy. In the legends of the North American Indians, Moon is Sun's wife.
The full extent of these beliefs is pointed out by Mr. John Newton in "Assyrian Grove Worship." Here we see that the ancient Hindus gave a much more literary relationship between the sun and earth than we are accustomed to express in modern times. He states, "This representative of the union of the sexes typifies the divine Sakti, or productive energy, in union with the pro-creative or generative power as seen throughout nature. The earth was the primitive pudendum or yoni which is fecundated by the solar heat, the sun, the primitive linga, to whose vivifying rays man and animals, plants and the fruits of the earth, owe their being and continued existence."
It is not possible to discuss Sun worship at any length without at the same time discussing phallicism and serpent worship. Hargrave Jennings, who has made careful study of these worships, points out their general identity in the following paragraph. He states: "The three most celebrated emblems carried in the Greek mysteries were the phallus, the egg, and the serpent; or otherwise the phallus, the yoni or umbilicus, and the serpent. The first in each case is the emblem of the sun or of fire, as the male or active generative power. The second denotes the passive nature or female principle or the emblem of water. The third symbol indicates the destroyer, the reformer or the renewer, (the uniter of the two) and thus the preserver or perpetuater eternally renewing itself. The universality of serpentine worship (or Phallic adoration) is attested by emblematic sculptures or architecture all the world over."
The author of the "Round Towers of Ireland" in discussing the symbols of sun worship, serpent worship and phallicism, found on the same tablet, practically reiterates these statements. He says: "I have before me the sameness of design which belonged indifferently to solar worship and to phallic. I shall, ere long, prove that the same characteristic extends equally to ophiolatreia; and if they all three be identical, as it thus necessarily follows, where is the occasion for surprise at our meeting the sun, phallus and serpent, the constitutent symbols of each, embossed upon the same table and grouped under the same architrave?"
By a number of references, we could readily show the identity of all these worships. The preceding paragraphs give, in summary form, the conclusions of those writers who have made such religions their special study. We shall not exemplify this further, but will now point out the general relationship of sun worship to the religious festivals and mythology of the Ancients. This relationship becomes important when it is appreciated that the sun worship expressed in the mysteries is also a part of phallicism. On some of these festive occasions the phallus was carried in the front of the procession and at other times the egg, the phallus and the serpent were carried in the secret casket.
ANCIENT FESTIVALS AND MYSTERIES
The Ancients expressed their religious beliefs in a dramatic way on a number of occasions throughout the year. The festivities were held in the Spring, Autumn, or Winter. These were to commemorate the activities of the sun, his renewed activity in the Spring calling forth rejoicing and his decline in the Fall being the cause of sorrow and lamentation. As well as the festivities, there were the various mysteries, such as the Eleusinia, the Dionysia and the Bacchanalia. These were conducted by the priests who moulded religious beliefs and guarded their secrets. The mysteries were of the utmost importance and the most sacred of religious conceptions were here dramatized.
Mythology also gave expression to the religious ideas of the time and we find that the most important myths, dramatically produced at the religious festivals, were sun myths.
The annual festivities and mysteries will be discussed together because both were intended to dramatize the same beliefs. Both were under priestly control and so were national institutions. The festivals were for the common people but the mysteries were fully understood only to the initiated.
While no very clear account of the mysteries has been given, a certain theme seems to run through them all, and this is found in the myths as well. A drama is enacted, in which the god is lost, is lamented, and is found or returns amid great rejoicing.[3] This was enacted in Egypt where the mourning was for Osiris; and in Greece for Adonis, and later for Bacchus. All these are, of course, sun gods, and the whole dramatization or myth is in keeping with the activities of the sun.
[3] The Enactment and Rebirth.
On these occasions, the main object seems to have been to restore the lost god, or to insure his reappearance. The women took the leading part and mourned for Osiris, Adonis or Bacchus. They wandered about the country at night in the most frenzied fashion, avoided all men and sought the god. At times, during the winter festival, the quest would be fruitless. In the Spring, when they indulged themselves in all sorts of orgies and extravagances, Adonis was found.
The underlying motive appears to have been to enact a drama in which the deity was supposed to exercise his procreative function by sexual union with the women. This was an ideal which they wished to express dramatically. In order to realize this ideal obstacles were introduced that they might be overcome; in the old myth, Adonis was emasculated under a pine tree, and in Egypt Osiris was similarly mutilated, his sex organs being lost. But at the festivals it was portrayed that Adonis was found, and in the myth, Osiris was restored to Isis in the form of Horus (the morning sun). In a number of myths, the god is said to have visited the earth to cohabitate with the women, an occurrence which was doubtless desired, in order that the deistic attributes might be continued in the race. Thus, judging from what we have been able to learn of this subject, the worship expressed in the mysteries revolved about sexual union, the desire being to dramatize the continued activity of deistic qualities.
This character of many of the festivals and mysteries is very evident. In the Eleusinian mysteries the rape of Persephone by Pluto, the winter god, is portrayed. The mother, Demeter, mourns for her daughter. Her mourning is dramatically carried out by a large procession, and this enactment requires several days. Finally Persephone is restored. The earlier part of the festival was for dramatic interest, and the real object was the union of Persephone with Bacchus. "The union of Persephone with Bacchus, i.e., with the sun god, whose work is to promote fruitfulness, is an idea special to the mysteries and means the union of humanity with the godhead, the consummation aimed at in the mystic rites. Hence, in all probability the central teaching of the mysteries was Personal Immortality, analogue of the return of the bloom to plants in Spring."[4]
[4] Dr. Otto Rhyn, Mysteria.
The mysteries of Samothrace were probably simpler. Here the phallus was carried in procession as the emblem of Hermes. In the Dionysian mysteries which were held in mid-winter, the quest of the women was unsuccessful and the festival was repeated in the Spring. The Roman mysteries of Bacchus were of much later development, and consequently became very debased. Men as well as women eventually came to take part in the ceremony, and the whole affair degenerated into the grossest of sexual excesses and perversions.
We have stated what appears to us to have been the underlying motives of the religious festivals and mysteries; namely, the enactment of a drama in which the reproductive qualities of the deity were portrayed. The phallus was carried in procession for this purpose and the women dramatized the motive as searching for the god. Our account can be regarded as little more than an outline, but it is sufficient for our present purposes. It indicates that the mysteries give an expression of phallic worship, just as do the various monuments of art and religion to which we have referred. It may also be said that this same worship is represented in what may be termed early literature, for much of the early mythology deals with the same subject. The study of origins in mythology, however, cannot be dealt with adequately in our present communication.
CONCLUSION
We have now traced the worship of sex, as recorded by the monuments of antiquity, through its various phases. In its simplest form, the generative organs are worshipped without disguise; the sexual act also forms a part of religious ceremonies. Later, a rude symbolism develops. As the race becomes more advanced, this becomes more elaborate, until finally a considerable degree of ingenuity and skill are evidenced. The worship of sex is not only expressed in religious usages, but comes to dominate early art as well; it is also expressed in mythology, and so we find the same symbolical and allegorical expressions in early literature. In fact, the deepest thoughts of primitive races, as expressed in their religion, eventually dominate most of the customs and usages of every day life.
We may appropriately ask, why did primitive people deify the sexual organs? This question may be answered when we understand the religious ceremonies of primitive tribes. The earliest objects worshipped were those which were of known benefit to man. The Aborigines of Australia have very elaborate ceremonies which superficially seem meaningless but when understood have a very definite meaning. This aim is to ensure some certain product of the earth. If it is a Yam[5] ceremony, an elaborate procedure is carried out which is supposed to make yams grow. There is a secret ceremonial object which is a symbol of the yam and which bears to it more or less resemblance. Other ceremonies are carried out for similar purposes. The meaning of all these semi-religious performances, as clearly shown by Spencer Baldwin, is to ensure the benfits which nature gives. This, in brief, explains nature worship, and were it our object at present, it would be most interesting to show the peculiar resemblance of these ceremonies to those carried on in sex worship.
[5] A kind of sweet potato.
As the early races advanced in knowledge, they came to know that the perpetuation of the race depended upon generative attributes. For this reason human generative attributes were deified and appropriate ceremonies were held, just as in the case of nature worship. These are not "lewd practices," as they are not infrequently called. It is indeed regrettable that the subject of sex worship has been disregarded by many historians, as thereby erroneous impressions are given. The facts of nature worship have always been much better understood and its importance has been realized; those of sex worship have been less carefully recorded.
The literature and philosophy which we are accustomed to associate with Greek thought are of a later date. Once such abstract reasoning is possible, sex worship is no longer seriously entertained. The symbolism remains, but is, associated now, not so much with religion as with art. Likewise in India, the early Buddhism, which was sex worship, has changed to the present day Buddhistic Philosophy, the symbols alone remaining.
From all this we are inclined to believe that in sex worship we are dealing with important motives in the development of the race. We make no presence of having exhausted the subject in this communication. The decadence of this religion, as observed in the early Christian period, and in fact well through the middle ages, forms a very interesting history. It is not our purpose, however, to deal with it at present. Likewise, it should be understood that the motives which we have been discussing are not necessarily the earliest manifested in racial development; we have a record of a time in the history of man when the worship of sex had not yet made its appearance but this period also is not a part of our present topic.
The influence of early racial motives upon present day civilization is a topic of great interest. Its importance is, in fact, the main object of studies of this kind. However, we wish our account to be mainly an historical one, and so will not at present make reference to a number of applications which arise. We have also refrained from making use of the modern writings on matters of sex, as we thereby avoid criticism to the effect that our findings have been drawn from biased sources. We feel that while the reader may disagree in certain details as here set forth, the universal appearance of sex worship at a certain stage of racial development is scarcely to be denied. The writers whom we have cited are all of a former generation, and they were searching for origins in religion, not in sexual life; inadvertently they found the latter, in fact could not avoid it, and so their conclusions are all the more valuable to us.