The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship: IV. Phallic and Sun Worship
THE Sun was a majestic Deity, revered among many peoples. Volumes would be required to give the history of the Sun God and his worshipers. We here advert to him and speak of a act or two in order to show he has not been neglected, also to indicate his good standing among the other Gods in general, as well as among inhabitants of earth. It is a moot-point whether the worship of sexual appointments as Sovereign Creator and the foundation of the great thought of creation had priority, or whether solar worship had precedence. Looking at the fact that physical development moves in a free advance of the rational and philosophical, that impulse outstrips inquiring thoughtfulness, that phallic religion is purely one of feeling and passion, while solar faith involves more of the mental structure--a slower and later outgrowth of man--would, in the nature of things indicate sex worship to be long anterior to that of the sun. The one is practical and matter-of-fact. The other is inferential and imaginary. Youth would swell the eager votaries in one; maturity and age would cultivate the other: for there are infancy, youth, and maturity, in nations, and society, as well at; in individuals. Without deciding which may be the older, we find them mixed. The phallic or linga-yoni worship and that of the sun were not merely cotemporaneous with each other: they were tenets which mingled together underPHALLIC AND SUN WORSHIP.
this complex faith, sculptured on agate, which is copied by Lajara from the original. in Calvert's Museum at Avignon. It proves the existence of solar and phallic worship at an early period of the world. It is worthy of study. We see the sun and moon in proximity, and the priest in female habiliments--like those of the Catholic and Episcopalian priests of to-day--adoring the male trinity in the form of the triangle near the hand of the hierarch; while on the right side of the sacred chair, or "throne," is the mystic palm-tree of male significance, and on the left and front of the devotee is the never-to-be-forgotten lozenge, unit, or yoni. Altogether they form the great four, the male and female Creators, Preservers, and Regenerators of the world. This is really one of the most comprehensive revelations of ancient faiths, in a small compass, yet brought to light. It deserves more than a passing notice. The male and female counterparts of the human form are viewed as palpable Creators and Regenerators in the most immediate as well as the most continuous sense. The idea that the imperial Sun is the only other all-powerful, omnipresent Creator known to man agrees with modern science. The scientific high priests of to-day, like Mayers and Tyndall, inform us that all
Fig. 24.
Aaron, "the Heavenly On," "the God of Air." Abigal, "the Father of the Circle," i. e., "the Sun." Abram, "the Father is high." Ahasbai, "Jah is shining," "God is blooming." Ammiel, "the Maternal Sun." Amalek, "Mother King," or "Mother Sun."
