The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship: I. Origin of the Cross
FAR back in the twilight of the pictured history of the past, the cross is found on the borders of the river Nile. A horizontal piece of wood fastened to an upright beam indicated the hight of the water in flood. This formed a cross, the Nileometer. If the stream failed to rise a certain hight in its proper season, no crops and no bread was the result. From famine on the one hand to plenty on the other, the cross came to be worshiped as a symbol of life and regeneration, or feared. as an image. of decay and death. This is one, so called, origin of the Cross. The cross was a symbol of life and regeneration in India long before this usage on the Nile, and for another reason. The most learned antiquarians agree in holding it unquestionable that Egypt was colonized from India, and crosses migrated with the inhabitants. "Proofs in adequate confirmation of this point
The cross bespeaks evolution in religion. It is the product of time, and the relic of the revered past. It begins with one thing and ends with another. In seeking for the origin of the cross it becomes necessary to direct attention in some degree to the forms of faith among mankind with whom the cross is found. Retrogressive inquiry enables the religio-philosophical student to follow the subject back, if not to its source, to the proximate neighborhood of its source. Like every item of ecclesiastical ornament, and every badge of devotion, the cross is the embodiment of a symbol. That symbol represents a fact, or facts, of both structure and office. The facts were generation and regeneration. Long before the mind matures the generative structure matures. The cerebellum attains its natural size at three years of age, the cerebrum at seven years, if we accept the measurements as announced by Sir William Hamilton. Throughout the realm of animal life there is no physical impulse so overbearing as the generative, unless we except that for food. Food gives satisfaction. Rest to tired nature gives pleasure. To the power of reproduction is appended the acme of physical bliss. How natural, then, that this last-named impulse should, early in human development, take the lead, give direction and consequence to religious fancies, and lead its votaries captive to a willing bondage,--as it did in India, Egypt, among the The attributes of this presiding Deity were characteristic of his office. Her was strong, powerful, erect, high, firm, bright, upright, happy, large, splendid, noble, mighty, hard, able. Corresponding to the same idea, he was often, indeed nearly always, associated in pictured relics with animals which denoted the above qualities. These were the bull, elephant, ass, goat, ram, and lion, which were typical of strength and salacious vigor. When a large and strong man appeared, he at once resembled the prevalent idea of God, and was most naturally called the man of God, or the God-man; also large, strong animals were noted as the bulls of God, the rams of God. The meaning of a large number of Bible names verifies this view. From Dr. Inman's Vocabulary of Bible Names I set out to copy those the signification of which related to "divine," sexual, generative, or creative power; such as Alah, "the strong one"; Ariel, "the strong Jah is El"; Amasai, "Jah is firm"; Asher "the male" or "the upright organ"; Elijah, "El is Jah"; Eliab, "the strong father"; Elisha, "El is upright"; Ara, "the strong one," "the hero"; Aram, "high," or, "to be uncovered"; Baalshalisha, "my Lord the trinity," or, "my God is three"; Ben-zohett, "son of firmness"; Camon, "the erect On"; Cainan, "he stands upright"; but after copying over one hundred names with their meaning--some of which related to feminine qualities--I found I had advanced only to the letter E of the alphabet, and gave up the undertaking for these limited pages. We must look at this curious subject as we find it. Quaint though most of it is, we hope to treat it with all THE Phallus and Linga, or Lingham, Stood for the image of the male organ; and the Yoni, or Unit, for the female organ. PRIVY member (membrum virile) signifies, "he breaks through, or passes into." This word survives in German pfahl, and pole in English. Phallus is supposed to be of Phœnician origin, the Greek word pallo, or phallo, "to brandish preparatory to throwing a missile," is so near in assonance and meaning to phallus that one is quite likely to be parent of the other. In Sanskrit it can be traced to phal, "to burst," "to produce," Phallic emblems abounded at Heliopolis in Syria, and many other places,
David, more heartless than Saul, doubled the quantity and brought two hundred of the vulgar trophies. Also Isaiah (xxxix, 7) intimidates the people, and says, "Thy sons that shall issue from the . . . shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." The Apache Indians of California and Arizona delight in perpetrating the same barbarous mutilations upon captives and the slain. Dr. Ginsingburg, in "Kitto's Cyclopædia," says: "Another primitive custom which obtained in the patriarchal age was, that the one who took the oath put his hand under the thigh of the adjurer (Gen. xxiv, 2, and xlvii, 29). This practice evidently arose from the fact that the genital member, which is meant by the euphemic expression, thigh, was regarded as the most sacred part of the body, being the symbol of union in the tenderest relation of matrimonial life, and the seat whence all issue proceeds, and the perpetuity so much coveted by the ancients. Compare Gen. xlvi, 26; Exod, i, 5; Judg. viii, 30. Hence the creative organ became the symbol of the Creator and the object of worship among all nations of antiquity. It is for this reason that God claimed it as a sign of the
We can compass some idea of the esteem in which people in former times cherished the male or phallic emblems of creative power when we note the sway that power exercised over them. If these organs were lost or disabled, the unfortunate one was unfitted to meet in the congregation of the Lord, and disqualified to minister in With a people enslaved to such groveling tenets, it was an easy and natural step from the actual to the symbolical; from the crude, and, perhaps, to some, offensive, to the improved, the pictured, the adorned, the less offensive; from the plain and self-evident, to the mixed, disguised and mystified; from the unclothed privy member to the letter T, or the cross; for these became the phallic analogues. The linga is the symbol of the male organ and Creator in Hindostan. It is always represented standing in the yoni, as in Figs. 4 and 23. Obelisks, pillars of any shape, stumps, trees denuded of boughs, upright stones, are some of the means by which the male element was symbolized. Siva is represented as a stone standing alone. To know exactly who is who, and what is what, it will be necessary to explain the Triad, or Trinity, its origin and its changes or metamorphoses: then the tria juncta in uno--the three in one--can be recognized in the cross more readily than most people see the "three persons in one God." The triad generally belongs to the male, although the female Divinities were sometimes of triple constitution. If we turn to the analysis of the subject according to Rawason, we find that the first and How about the gland on the left side, the third divinity of the triad? Rawlinson states, as best he could determine, this was named Hea or Hoa, and he considers this Deity corresponds to Neptune. Neptune was the presiding Deity of the great deep, "Ruler of the Abyss," and "King of Rivers." He also regulates aqueducts, and waters generally. There is a correspondence between this Deity and Bacchus. As Darwin and his coadjutors teach, mankind, in common with all animal life, originally sprung from the sea, so physiology teaches that each individual bas origin in a pond of water. The fruit of man is both solid and fluid. It was natural to imagine that the two male appendages had a distinct duty: that one formed the infant, the other the water in which it lived; that one generated the male and the other the female offspring; 1 and the inference was then drawn that water must be feminine, the emblem of the passive powers of creation. The use of water would then become the emblem of it new birth--"born of water;" and it would represent the phenomenon which occurs when the being first emerges into day. The night, which favors connubial intercourse, and the dark interior of the womb, in which for many months, the new creature is gradually formed, are represented by the "darkness brooding." It was night when the world was formed out of chaos; likewise it was thought
This much for Asher seemed necessary to explain the origin of the Trinity. So we find the male privy member and the adjacent twin testes made the Triad, and constructed into the pictured formula thus: A IN all ages and all localities of the world, people conferred names which imply some one or more characteristics of person, feature, faith, place, or event. Among defectively educated people, and those of rough manners, we find "Long John," "Broad Bottom," "Squinting Dick"; and names for helpless children, "Makepeace," "Faithful," "Freelove" and "Praise God Barebones." In this matter the people of antiquity appear to have set the example. The Greeks had "Theodore," "the gift of God"; "Theophilus," "the friend of God." The analysis of the following vocabulary of Bible names throws a flood of light on the subject in hand. It unvails an interesting question, the nudity of which, for the most part, has been clothed with the vesture of words. Ahumai (I Chron. iv, 2), "ach is mi," or "semen"; Baal-Shalisha (2 Kings iv, 42), "my Lord the trinity," "my Lord is three," "the triple male genitals." Ankura, "a sprout, or intumescence," "an erection." Aram, "high," "to swell up," "to be uncovered or naked." Aras, "to erect," "to build," "a nuptial bed." Asahel, "to create," "to beget," "El-created." Baal-Peor (Num. xxv, 3), "the maiden's hymen opener," "my Lord the opener." Baal-Perazim, "Baal of the fissure." Baal-Tamar, "Baal the palm tree," "my Lord who is or causes to be erect." Benoni, "son of Anu," or "son of my On," "son of my God." Ben-zoheth, "son of firmness," "to set up," "an erection," "a cippus." Beren, "the womb," "the round belly," "the female organs." Boladan, "my Lord of pleasure and delight." Buli, "the vulva," "the belly," Cainan, "he stands upright," "Hermes." Camon, "the erect On." Chesil, "the loins or flanks." Loins is an euphemism for the male genitals. Cyrus, "the bended bow," "the abdomen of a pregnant woman." Dimon, "river, place"; "the semen, or viscous discharge of On." Dodai, "loving, amatory." Eliasaph, "El the fascinator." Elisha, "El is," "the erect El." Elkana, "El the erect One," "the tall reed," "El burning with desire." Elkoshi, "El the hard One." En-am, "the eye or fountain of the mother." En-an, "the eye of On, or Anu." Epaphroditus, "Love was my parent," "given by Venus." Epher, "a calf," "a faun," "to join," "be strong." Esau, "to make, to press, to dig, to build up, to squeeze immodestly," "the hairy El." Eshek (1 Chron. viii, 39), "he presses, squeezes, penetrates into." Eshton, "the power of woman." Ether, "fullness," a God in the second Assyrian triad, his colleagues being the Sun and Moon. His name may be read as Eva, Iva, Air, Aer, Aur, Er, Ar, also Vul. Ethnan, "a harlot's fee," "begotton by harlotry." Eve, Chavah, havah, or hauah, "to breathe," "to blow," "eagerness," "lust"; "a cleft, fissure, or gap really, a fissure." (Concha). Evi, "desire." Ezem, "to fit firmly to one another," "hard." Gaal, "the proud or erect Al." Galah, "To be," or "to be naked," as in gala days. Gath, "A wine press," also "a slit, pit, hole, well," or the euphemism for the vulva. Gilboa, "the sun is Baal." Gilgal, "a wheel," a "circle, "the sun's heap of stones," "a phallus"; see Fig. 2.
Giloh, "the revealer," "to be or make naked," "to uncover," "to disclose." Ginath, "the virgins," "the goddesses." Ginnethon, "the power of the virgins." Gomorrah, "a fissure, a cleft." Habakkuk, "embrace of love." Hai, Assyrian ai, "female power of the Sun." Hamor, "the swelling up one," or "the red one," to be dark red," "sudden in rising," also "an ass"--which is notorious for salacity. "My beloved is white and ruddy" (Sol. Songs, v, 10). Hashupa, "uncovering," "nakedness." Hephzibah, "pure delight," "my delight in her." Jaaz, "he is hard, firm, stiff," "he rules," "decides." Jabal, "he rejoices," "he flows out," "he is strong." Jabok, "running, or flowing forth." Jabash, "a stout, fat one." Jachin, "he strengthens," "to be hot with desire," "to have intercourse." Boaz has the same phallic meaning. Jahdo, "he unites." Jahaz, "Jah shines," "to be fair," "to be proud," "he is firm." Jahdial, "El makes glad." THE triad is parent to the idea of Trinity. It is met with in the most distant countries, and is traced to Phoenicia, Egypt, on the west, and Japan on the east, of our hemisphere, and to India. Constituting, as the triad and yoni did, the ever-dominant thought, and actuated by the narrow realm of an absorbing self-personality, they formed the basis and spirit of religious observance. They were referred to openly and broadly, or more generally and in later times by a mark, a metaphor, a motion, or a sign. For this sign the letter T became typical, and still later the figure of the cross became that sign. "It is most remarkable," says Payne Knight, that "the letter T and the cross, symbols of symbols, are made to represent the male procreative powers, which are emblems of generation and regeneration." Reverse the position of the triple deities Asher, Anu, Hea and we have the figure of the, ancient "tau" ✝ Of the Christians, Greeks, and ancient, Hebrews--not of the modern Hebrews. It is one of the oldest conventional forms of the cross. It is also met with in Gallic, Oscan, Arcadian, Etruscan, original Egyptian, Phœnician, Ethiopic and Pelasgian. The Ethiopic form of the "tau" is this ✝ the exact prototype and image of the cross; or, rather, to state the fact in order of merit and position in time, the cross is made in the exact image of the Ethopic "tau." The fig-leaf, having three lobes to it, became a symbol of the triad. As the male genital organs were We must not omit to mention other phallic emblems, such as the bull, the ram, the goat, the serpent, the torch, fire, a knobbed stick, the crozier: and still further personified, as Bacchus, Priapus, Dionysius, Hercules, Hermes, Mahadeva, Siva, Osiris, Jupiter, Molech, Baal, Asher, and others. If Ezekiel is to be credited, the triad T, as Asher, Anu, and Hea, was made of gold and silver, and was in his day not symbolically used, but actually employed; for he bluntly says "whoredom was committed with the images of men," or, as the marginal note has it, images of "a male" (Ezek. xvi, 17). It was with this god-mark--a cross This is not all of the cross. In ancient days it had a natural counterpart little suspected by moderns. This essential opposite was denominated the Yoni. 16:1 Somewhat recent information on this point teaches that sex is governed by the health and maturity of the ovum. Female offspring will follow when conception occurs at the earliest period of the maturing ovum, and mile offspring at the concluding period of heat.ORIGIN OF THE CROSS.
EMBLEMS.
PHALLUS.
even into modern times. The following unfolds marvelous proof to our point. A brother physician, writing to Dr. Inman, says: "I was in Egypt last winter (1865-66), and there certainly are numerous figures of Gods and kings, on the walls of the temple at Thebes, depicted with the male genital erect. The great temple at Karnak is, in particular, full of such figures, and the temple of Danclesa likewise, though that is of much later date, and built merely in imitation of old Egyptian art. The same inspiring bass-reliefs are pointed out by Ezek. xxiii, 14. I remember one scene of a king (Rameses II.) returning in triumph with captives, many of whom are undergoing the operation of castration, and in the corner of the picture are numerous heaps of the
Fig. 1.TRIAD.
S
H
E
R
ANU HEAVOCABULARY.
Fig. 2.MARKS AND SIGNS OF THE TRIAD.
portrays a triad found on a medal of Apollo. The triple points at the summit are in multiple of the Trinity, as they but repeat the same idea the structure would express without them. Baal-Shalisha is a name which seems designed to perpetuate the triad, since it signifies "my Lord the Trinity," or "my God is three."
Fig. 3.
Footnotes
