• • •

from: Sex Worship: An Exposition of the Phallic Origin of Religion, Clifford Howard, Fifth Edition, Chicago Medical Book Company, 1909. [reprint (and related reprints) available from: The Book Tree, P.O. Box 724, Escondido, CA 92033].

"for a wife was a mere chattel, to be fought for or purchased; and, when finally possessed, the token of her subjugation was a ring (the badge of servitude), which was placed upon one of her fingers." [16].

"It is apparent to every one who has had an opportunity of studying the subject, that all religions have had a common origin, and that however much they may differ in their teachings and their institutions, they but represent different methods of worshiping one and the same object. Brahma, Jehovah, God, Allah and hundreds of others, are simply different names for the same deity, as viewed from different standpoints; and this deity, this universal object of adoration, is the supreme creative power." [32-33].

"we find that the fundamental religious beliefs of the world have remained unchanged from time immemorial, however diversified and contradictory have been their superincumbent theologies, and that beneath the outward and ceremonial differences of the various faiths of mankind, throughout all the world and throughout all the ages of human history, there are to be found the same legends and the same beliefs; all pointing to a common origin, to a universal foundation—the worship of nature in its great mystery of life; the worship of the supreme creative power." [42-43].

• • •

from: The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races An Interpretation by Sanger Brown II., M.D., Assistant Physician, Bloomingdale Hospital, With an Introduction by James H. Leuba; Boston: Richard G. Badger, Toronto: The Copp Clark Co., c1916.

'During the time of earth worship, the social organization of the tribe was such that the mother was the dominating influence in social structure. Descent was matrilinear, and a society known as matriarchy existed, as contrasted to the later patriarchy. The mother was the leading figure in social as well as in family life. At this period a certain degree of sexual promiscuity existed; the mother of the child was known but the father was not and so the descent was in the female line. With earth worship, then, there was mother worship, and the term "Mother Earth" had a very real significance.' [114].

PAGE 756

"Patriarchy succeeded matriarchy, but whether as a gradual evolution or otherwise is not clear. Some writers speak of bitter conflicts in Persia, India, Greece and elsewhere. In any case the religion of the father replaced that of the mother; the social system changed and the father took his place at the head of the family. During this period we are told* that man shifted his belief from the earth to the sky, the sun was found to be the source of energy and worship was transferred to the Heavens. Just as formerly the female deity was identified with the earth, so the male deity was identified with the sun, Zeus and Apollo being two examples of the latter type from a great many.

We are now approaching a well known historic period. The religion of the father and the son had replaced that of the mother and child. The age of hero worship had commenced and THIS HERO WAS OFTEN IDENTIFIED WITH THE SUN. For this reason, the fact that a myth is in the form of a sun myth does not argue against its being the expression of a very deep religious motive. As has been stated, earlier motives are carried forward, and so while sun worship is a somewhat later development than the phallic beliefs, it is quite natural that many phallic ideas should find expression at this subsequent period.

We have now reached a time when sex worship became decadent, for CHRISTIANITY FOLLOWED SUN WORSHIP AND HERO WORSHIP; and this brings us to the present day. The religion of father and son remains, and much of the form of the earlier worship has been retained in the modern." [116-118].

"One writer may describe the features of nature worship and quite ignore the presence of sex worship. Others may describe only phallic rites. These discrepancies may be understood when the order in which the various beliefs developed is recognized. Nature worship developed first, but much of its symbolism was carried into the phallic ceremonies. Thus we see the phallus associated with the pine cone and other elements of vegetative life. Some of these elements, the pine cone for example, finally came to have a phallic significance, but at an earlier period they probably represented the vegetation spirit. In fact, reproductive attributes of both nature and man were often worshipped at the same ceremony." [119].

PAGE 757

'....we see evidences of PRIMITIVE RACIAL MOTIVES cropping up in all sorts of ways in later civilization.

But to say that the earlier motives are no longer outwardly expressed is not to infer that they do not exist. Fundamental as they are in our mental development, they enter into our general personality and become a part of our makeup. How is the motive expressed in sex worship a part of our motives and feelings of today? Superficially it does not appear to be present, but a little reflexion shows that it is there. It has become so much a part of us that we scarcely recognize its presence, THE INSTINCT TO REPRODUCE BEING COMMON TO EVERYONE. Every woman feels this to be her duty,—her religious duty if the dictum of the Church is to be followed:

"Lo, children are an heritage of the lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127.

During earlier times barrenness was regarded as a curse, and many charms were in use to counteract this calamity. A sentence from a letter of Julia Ward Howe to her young sister about to be married, affords an apt reference to this sense of duty: "Marriage, like death, is a debt we owe to nature, and though it costs us something to pay it, yet we are more content and better established in peace when we have paid it." THE FEELING ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMMAND "TO INCREASE AND MULTIPLY" IS SO MUCH A PART OF OUR INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS that further references to it are unnecessary.' [124-125].

PAGE 758

• • •

from: Sex in Religion An Historical Survey, G. Simpson Marr, Allen & Unwin, 1936.

'Another work devoted to a particular aspect of the activity of sex is The Natural Philosophy of Love, by Remy De Gourmont [1858 - 1915], translated into English by Ezra Pound, the well-known American writer. This remarkable work of research is a careful inquiry into the subject of sex in relation to man and the lower animals. There passes before our eyes many quaint and curious customs amongst obscure tribes and the biological basis of the sexual instinct is laid bare. It is obviously of importance to understand this foundation before we build thereon. "WE ARE ANIMALS," writes DeGourmont, "we live on animals and animals live on us. We are predatory and we are the living prey of the predatory, and when we follow the love-act, it is truly, in the idiom of theologians, more bestiarum. Love is profoundly animal; therein is its beauty." One interesting suggestion emerges in the course of this discussion by Remy De Gourmont. It is that the quality of thought itself is partly at least conditioned by sexual health, for the brain is conceived not as a separated and desiccated organ but as the very fluid of life itself.' [201].

'If religion has its fundamental basis in reverence for life, as Miss Goldsmith [Elizabeth E. Goldsmith] has stated in her Life Symbols as related to Sex Symbolism, worship of this mysterious, impersonal quickening power explains the beliefs of mankind which at one time or another have exalted every phase of life: "At the beginning of things," she writes, "the physical was reverenced, not as distinct from the spiritual but simply as the form through which the spiritual manifested itself. It has taken the passage of many centuries for us to return to what was a very sound and fruitful conception at an early stage of religion." The medieval view, therefore, of the sinfulness of the flesh must from this standpoint be regarded as a retrograde step.' [243].

PAGE 759

Additional References

Sexual Symbolism, A History of Phallic Worship, Includes two complete Volumes A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus [Richard Payne Knight, 1786] The Worship of the Generative Powers [Thomas Wright, 1866], Introduction by Ashley Montagu, The Julian Press, 1961 (1957). [two Classics!].

Manual of Classical Erotology [De Figuris Veneris], Karl Friedrich Forberg [1770 -1848], 2 volumes in 1, Grove Press, 1966 (1824 Latin). [a Classic!].

The Plague of Lust, Julius Rosenbaum [1807 - 1874], Frederick Publications, 1955 (1845 German) ("1839 -" German). [a Classic!].

Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, Volume IX, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1961 (1908). [Phallism. E.S. Hartland [1848 - 1927]. 815-831].

Pictorial History of Morals, edited by Harry E. Wedeck, Philosophical Library, 1963.

Phallic Worship, George Ryley Scott, Senate, 1996 (1966). [Superb Bibliography!].

The History of Prostitution, George Ryley Scott, Senate, 1996 (1968).

Sacred Sexuality, A T Mann and Jane Lyle, Element, 1995.

Love in the Ancient World, Christopher Miles with John Julius Norwich, Photographs by Christopher Miles, St. Martins, 1997. [Gorgeous Book!].

PAGE 760

HOME