Asis 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 andsilver. 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 prehistoric 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 inAssyrian Grove Worship. Here we see that the ancient Hindus gave a much more literal 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 earthwas 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 perpetuator eternally renewing itself. The universality of serpentine worship (or Phallic adoration) is attested byemblematic sculptures or architecture all the world over.”
The author of theRound Towers of Irelandin 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 constituent 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 tothe 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.
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 andthe 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.[15]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.
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.
An 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 meansthe 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.”[16]
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. Thephallus 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 at present.
In order to deal fully with this subject it is necessary to discuss another important phase in the worship of sex. We refer to thedecadenceordegeneracy of this worship, which occurred after people had outgrown these simple religious conceptions. The decadence of sex worship is observed during the early centuries of Christianity and traces of it are seen throughout the middle ages. In the decadenceof sex worship we are able to observe how an important motive in the race finds expression in the thoughts and conduct of people after the underlying promptings which originated it have long since ceased to be dynamic. This decadent stage of a motive is therefore of considerable importance; we shall return to its interpretation in the discussion of analogies of development between motives in the individual and motives in the race.
In India,[17]with the Hindus, there still exists an elaborate form of sex worship. The Phallus is carried on festive occasions, it still occupies the most sacred spot in the sanctuary, dancing girls are devoted to the service of the temple, and many other customs associated with phallic rites are carried on much as they were centuries ago in the Ancient World. It is said that there are thirty million phalli in India and that a phallus is found in nearly every Hindu household.
Whether phallic worship as now practiced by the Hindus has the same meaning or valuethat it had when at its height in ancient civilization is difficult to say; there are evidences to show that this worship in India is now carried out somewhat as a matter of form and custom only, and that its significance is not thoroughly appreciated except possibly by the few. If this observation is correct, the decadent state of sex worship which was so prevalent in Western Europe during the early centuries of Christianity and throughout the middle ages, may be developing in India as well.
Whatever may be the present condition in India regarding this worship, we are left in no uncertainty as to the condition of sex worship during its decadent period in Europe. It is not necessary here to dwell upon the licentiousness and extravagances of conduct which were manifest at this time, as a general outline will suffice for present purposes.
We have observed that the mysteries in which phallic principles were taught eventually became degraded in both Greece and Rome. When these mysteries originated, theyembodied serious religious conceptions, respected by all; they were the expression of racial feelings, and however out of accord with present day sentiments they may have been, they can in no way be considered immoral. This cannot be said of the mysteries of a subsequent period. Every sort of perversion and practice was indulged in. They were finally forbidden by the State, but were carried on secretly for some time longer. With the coming of Christianity they were very bitterly opposed, and finally as national institutions, they ceased to exist.
Later we shall indicate in more detail why the worship of sex was discarded. It may be stated here that as the development of the race continued these simple conceptions of a deity failed to express all religious desires; primitive phallic principles lost their dynamic value, and longings and desires, the result of higher mental development, found expression in new religious usages.
It has just been stated that the mysteries ceased to exist as national institutions. Thisis true, but while they were discarded by the great mass of the people, certain elements of the race clung to these primitive beliefs and practices for years. When the mysteries were officially forbidden they were carried on secretly in a somewhat altered form. Secret societies were formed, or some of the Eastern Mystic Cults were made use of in order to carry out their teachings. These secret societies took over many of the principles of phallicism such as were taught in the mysteries, and so, side by side with the Christian religion, the earlier beliefs continued.
The Gnostics[18]are an example of one of these societies. They existed in early Christian times and the society was probably formed long before the advent of Christianity. It is difficult to learn a great deal about the Gnostics, but some of their beliefs are known. Gnostic symbols consisted for a great part of phallic emblems, it having been shown that their gems and secret talismans were of phallic significance. The Gnostics also gave evidencesof reverting to a more primitive civilization in other than religious spheres. In their social organization they advocated communal marriage, wives being held in common. This type of social organization is quite general in primitive tribes. With the Gnostics we see a reversion to a more primitive form of religious and social life.
The Rosicrucians[19]of the middle ages are rather better known, although this order also is very obscure. The Rosicrucians as well as the Gnostics had phallic emblems. They worshipped in a form very similar to that under which Priapus was worshipped. Moreover, as was the case with a number of these secret societies, they introduced perverse sexual practices. They are said not only to have countenanced homosexuality, but to have made it one of the principles of their belief. At the same time, they scorned all association with women. Out of this belief they built up a philosophy in which the fire worship ofantiquity played a part, and with which alchemy was associated.
In the practice of homosexuality[20]and in the development of a philosophy in which women played no part, are seen sentiments quite similar to those which existed in the later days of Greece. At this time in Greece, patriarchy had driven out the last vestiges of matriarchy, female deities had lost their followers to a great extent, and the devotion was paid to male gods and heroes. This change seems to have produced a certain contempt for women. A number of writers have pointed out this reaction, and so probably in the philosophy of the Rosicrucians and in their practices, are seen an expression of these same sentiments. Similar sentiments were expressed by other secret organizations and in some philosophies of a latter period. In this respect, therefore, the Rosicrucians were probably reverting to beliefs and feelings of an earlier date.
The Knights Templar were another secret society of the middle ages of a somewhat later time. The same can be said of them as of the former societies. They carried on the old phallic and mystic rites in modified form, and set up their beliefs in opposition to Christianity. When the Knights Templar were initiated they were made to deny Christ and the Virgin Mary, to spit on the cross, etc. They also were charged with homosexuality, and with them as with the Rosicrucians and the Gnostics, homosexuality was a part of their teachings. They likewise advocated communal marriage. At their secret meetings and initiations many vices existed; idols were worshipped, phallic features were introduced, and the entire ceremony was similar to the mysteries of antiquity.
Should there be any doubt regarding the association of these secret societies of the middle ages with the mysteries of the Ancients, this doubt is at once dispelled when we read of the practices of a remarkable secret organization described as the “Witches’ Sabbath.”Any one who has read a description of the Ancient Mysteries and of the initiation ceremonies of primitive tribes cannot but see in the Witches’ Sabbath a remarkable similarity to the earlier mysteries. R. P. Knight[21]has given us a description of the Witches’ Sabbath and he quotes freely from a French writer[22]who has given full details. We shall use such parts of these descriptions as are necessary to illustrate these practices during the middle ages.
The Witches’ Sabbath is described by these writers as it existed during the latter part of the fourteenth century. It was held on four occasions during the year, being a festival corresponding to the Priapiea and Bacchanalia of former days. Women played the leading part just as in the Bacchanalia. There were minor and major festivals corresponding to the lesser and greater Eleusinia. Pilgrimages were made at this time, which “resembled a fair of merchants mingled together, furiousin transports, arriving from all parts—a meeting and a mingling of a hundred thousand subjects, sudden and transitory, novel, it is true, but of a frightful novelty which offends the eye and sickens you.”
A symbolic representation of Satan presided at the festivals, and he assumed a number of disguises, in all of which we recognize Priapus in degenerated form. He very often appeared in the disguise of a goat; in fact the meeting place is called “Goat’s Heath.”
The association of the goat with priapic ceremonies has already been mentioned. At times the meeting was at cross roads, a favorite location for Hermes, as stated elsewhere.
Satan assumed a number of forms on these occasions other than that of the bearded goat. He was at times a serpent, or again an ox of brass. He was also represented as the trunk of a tree, sometimes as the oak. Priapus is readily recognized in all these various disguises.
On these festive occasions we see remnants of the fire worship of primitive tribes. Satanoften carried fire in some form or other and the rite of purification by fire, a residual of the earlier need-fire rites, was enacted. Particular significance was attached to the generative organs, and it is needless to say that all kinds of sexual excesses ensued. Satan was held to be the father and protector of all. Some of the women referred to the Witches’ Sabbath as an earthly paradise and they said that the festival had all the features of a wedding celebration.
A number of absurd dances and other burlesques were introduced. In these one sees the burlesques and dances of the earlier mysteries and of the still more primitive initiation ceremonies of tribes in various countries. The dance was often held around a stone,—the significance of which has already been explained.
If in the above account of these mystic ceremonies in the middle ages a detailed enumeration of all forms of sexual depravities has not been given, it is not because they did not exist. Our main object has been to showthat sex worship as practiced during the middle ages, was an expression of the decadence of a racial motive. No odium was formerly connected with this motive, but when an attempt was made to associate these primitive feelings and beliefs with a civilization which had outgrown such conceptions, many undesirable features were in evidence.
Should further proof of the association of the Gnostics, the Rosicrucians, the Templars, etc., with the ancient priapic rites be necessary, this proof is found in numerous talismans, amulets, sculpture on earthen and glassware, which were associated with these societies. These amulets are all plainly phallic in design; R. P. Knight shows a number of vases, lamps, etc., on which phallic symbols are found. These articles were probably used at the secret rites.
Moreover, we find that many of these small phalli were worn for personal decoration; and here we come to a still lower decadence in sex worship,—the period of superstition. A phallus was worn as a charm, somewhat as a fetishto ward off disease. Such charms were supposed to bring good luck and prosperity to the owner and they were used particularly as a charm againstbarrennessin women. A sign which could be made by the hand, the phallic hand, was used as a protection against the evil eye. Ancient representations of Priapus have been found with the hand in this attitude. As further evidence to show the total degeneracy of these beliefs, it may be said that the phallic hand was adopted as a symbol of prostitution.
In this we see the worship of sex degenerated to its lowest form,i. e., a superstition to be followed by the lower classes and the ignorant. The phallus which once had been attended with all ceremony had become a mere charm.
The conclusions which R. P. Knight reaches in relation to these decadent beliefs are worthy of remark. He states:[23]“We have thus seen in how many various forms the old phallic, or priapic worship presented itself in the middle ages, and how pertinaciously it held its groundthrough all the changes and development of society, until at length we find all the circumstances of the ancient priapic orgies, as well as the mediaeval additions combined in that great and extensivesuperstition,—witchcraft. At all times the initiated were believed to have obtained thereby powers which were not possessed by the uninitiated, and they only were supposed to know about the form of invocation of the deities who were the objects of this worship, which deities the Christian teachers invariably transformed into devils. The vows which people of antiquity addressed to Priapus, those of the middle ages addressed to Satan. The Witches’ Sabbath was simply the last form which the Priapeia and Libernalia assumed in Western Europe, and in its various decadences all the incidents of those great and licentious orgies of the Romans were reproduced.” It is little wonder that the persecution of witches by the Christians long survived the middle ages.
Hargrave Jennings[24]has referred to phallicprinciples in a number of the early chivalric societies of England. He states that the Knights of the Round Table of King Arthur had phallic emblems and other features similar to those of the Rosicrucians. The same author submits considerable evidence to indicate that the Order of the Garter is of much greater antiquity than is generally believed and that phallic principles were associated with it. A similar contention was made regarding the symbolism associated with the Holy Grail, a sacred vessel apparently connected with primitive rites at a time far antedating Christianity. Associated with the old Churches in Ireland similar phallic emblems have been found, as well as in Europe. These emblems were used as charms by the primitive people.
We stated above that the early deities of primitive tribes were regarded as demons during the Christian period. In Teutonic beliefs phallic deities were developed quite comparable to those of Greece and Rome. These Teutonic deities came to be regarded ashobgoblins during the middle ages. They were supposed to be found in lonely places and in forests, and to emerge at times in order to indulge in all sorts of sexual excesses, much as the fauns and satyrs of antiquity. The English had a similar hobgoblin in Robin Goodfellow. This fictitious character is represented in priapic attitudes in a number of illustrations of old English ballads. He was doubtless Priapus of antiquity transformed into a goblin.
Why should superstitions of this kind live century after century? Frazer[25]has given us the answer: “Superstitions survive because while they shock the views of the enlightened members of the community, they are still in harmony with the thoughts and feelings of others, who, though they are drilled by their betters into an appearance of civilization, remain barbarians or savages at heart ... I have been led into making these remarks by the wish to explain why it is that superstitions of all sorts, political, moral and religious, survive among people who have the opportunity of knowing better. The reason is that the better ideas, which are constantly forming in the upper stratum have not filtered through from the highest to the lowest minds. Such a filtration is generally slow, and by the time the new emotions have penetrated to the bottom, if indeed they ever get there, they are often obsolete and superseded by others at the top.”
Havingfollowed the worship of sex through its various phases, it is now desirable to offer such interpretations of its meaning as the facts appear to warrant. What was the significance of this elaborate ritual; why did it develop, and how is it to be interpreted from a biological standpoint in mental evolution. The history of the development of this ritual may be of considerable interest in itself but we wish now to consider the subject from the biological rather than the historical standpoint. It remains to be shown what ends these beliefs serve in the evolution of the primitive mind, or at least what they represent, and what vestiges of them remain in our thoughts and feelings of today. Only from this standpointcan the study of primitive motives be of value to the Psychologist and the Psychiatrist.
In order to answer the above questions, it is desirable to refer to a still more primitive form of religious belief, since our understanding of this earlier religion offers a key to the understanding of sex worship. We refer to the various forms of nature worship found in primitive tribes. These nature rites consist of rain making ceremonies, sun dances, and numerous other procedures which are carried out by primitive people because of their supposed service in increasing the products of the earth. Fortunately these rites are quite clearly understood. It has been shown by many investigators that they are enacted to increase the food supply. They are actuated by the desire on the part of primitive people to meet nutritive demands.
Now this knowledge enables us to understand phallic ceremonies. A very distinct parallelism is seen between the nature worship rites and phallic rites. We feel that it is not difficult to show that while the earlier riteswere in accord with nutritive demands, phallic ceremonies were an expression of the desire for human reproduction. We shall now digress somewhat in order to discuss nature rites in some detail, as thereby the phallic rites are very readily explained.
Among many of the Indian tribes of North America, the tribes of Central Africa, the primitive races of Australia, the lower hill tribes of India, and others, we find religious ceremonies all of which are carried out in much the same way and with the same object in view. We are all familiar with the rain making ceremonies of the North American Indians; we find frequent reference in literature to the various Spring festivals of the Egyptians at which grain is grown, etc., and in which vegetative nature is deified. A great many of the nations of antiquity had similar rites to increase the produce of the earth.
When the meaning of this general type of ceremony is understood, it is found that it has the same significance throughout. As stated above, these ceremonies are enacted toincrease the food supply, either directly or indirectly. If it is a dry and arid locality, as is the case with our Western Indians, a rain making rite is performed. This is a religious procedure in which various processes of magic are utilized. This explains the importance of the thunder god as a deity, so clearly illustrated by Miss J. Harrison. The thunder rites are to increase the rain fall, and the magic in such procedures is imitative; that is, a sound similar to thunder is produced, as primitive man believes thunder to cause the rainfall since it often precedes it. Miss Harrison[26]has given a picture of an early thunder god of the Chinese,—a deity surrounded by many objects, which he strikes to cause thunder. Rattles made of gourds are used for the same purpose with some tribes; or down, etc., may be used in imitation of clouds, and water spurted about to represent rain. In many instances a secret ceremonial object is used,—a bull roarer in the rain making ceremonies. This is an object which, whenwhirled about, makes a sound in imitation of thunder. It represents a sort of thunder deity and so is associated with rainfall. It is held very sacred, being carefully guarded from view and kept under custody by the head men of the tribe.
In a primitive civilization engaged in pastoral pursuits where the herd is the important source of food supply the ceremony centers about the dairy and the herd. In Southern India, among the Toda tribes,[27]where the buffalo herd is sacred, this is quite apparent. Certain buffaloes are attended by the priests only, special dairies are sacred, and the entire religious development has to do with the sanctity of milk. The dairy utensils are sacred, and one special vessel, the one which contains the fermenting material, is held in particular veneration. This vessel is kept in a special part of the dairy, its location corresponding to the sanctuary of a temple. If by chance the ferment does not act properly, it is manufactured again by an elaborate rite.Here we see that the religious rites have to do with the food supply and fitting sacred ceremonials are performed.
When the food supply depends upon animal food a direct analogy in the ceremonies is seen. Some Siberian tribes[28]perform a rite to increase the supply of bear meat. A young bear is captured, suckled by a woman, and assumes the aspects of a sacred animal. It is finally slain in a ritual way, and the entire performance is for the purpose of increasing the supply of bear meat.
A few references may be given to indicate the views of those who have made special studies of these ceremonies. G. A. Dorsey[29]speaking of the Hopi tribe of the Southwest, states: “When the Hopi are not at work they are worshipping in the Kivas. The underlying element of this worship is to be found in the environment. Mother nature does not deal kindly with man in the desert. Look where you will, across the drifting sands of theplains, and the cry of man and beast is ‘Water!’ And so, to the gods of the rain clouds does the Hopi address his prayer. His instruments of worship are so fashioned that his magic may surpass the magic of these gods, and compel them to loosen their stores, full to overflowing. Take any one of the great Hopi ceremonies, analyze the paraphernalia worn by the men, dissect the various components of the altar or sand paintings, examine the offerings made to the Spring and those placed upon the shrines, and in everything and everywhere we see prayers for rain.”
Dr. Clark Wissler,[30]in speaking of primitive ceremonies, states: “One striking feature of primitive ceremonies is the elaboration of ritualistic procedure relating to the food supply. Particularly in aboriginal America we have many curious and often highly complex rituals associated with the cultivation of maize and tobacco. These often impress the student of social phenomena as extremely unusual but still highly suggestive facts, chiefly becausethe association seems to be between things which are wholly unrelated. Thus, among the Pawnee we find an elaborate ritual in which a few ears of maize are raised almost to the status of gods. At a certain fixed time of the autumn the official priest of this ritual proceeds with great ceremony to the fields and selects a few ears, according to definite standards. These are further consecrated and carefully guarded throughout the winter. At planting time the women present themselves ceremonially to receive the seed, the necessary planting instructions, etc. Thus, it appears that during the whole year recital, there is a definite ritual in functions associated with maize culture.”
The primitive tribes of Australia afford an excellent example of this type of ceremony, and fortunately these tribes have been very carefully studied. At the puberty initiations of the young men, one of the main ceremonies is a yam ceremony,[31]i. e., a procedure to ensure a bountiful supply of the yams. Aspecial type of yam is secured, and cooked with much ceremony under fixed rules, much care and secrecy being observed throughout. After the cooking ceremony is finished, the yams are cut up and divided among the various members of the tribe. The ceremony is supposed to increase the supply of yams. Miss J. Harrison[32]in interpreting Australian ceremonies states: “The primitive Australian takes care that magic shall not be wanting, a magic of the most instructive kind. As soon as the season of fertility approaches he begins his rites with the avowed object of making and multiplying the plants, and chiefly the animals, by which he lives; he paints the figure of the emu on the sand with vermillion drawn from his own blood; he puts on emu feathers and gazes about him in stupid fashion, like an emu bird; he makes a structure of boughs like the chrysalis of a Witchetty grub—his favorite food, and drags his body through it in pantomime, gliding and shuffling to promote its birth. Here, difficult and intricate thoughthe ceremonies are, and uncertain in meaning as many of the details must always probably remain, the main emotional gist is clear. It is not that the Australian wonders at and admires the miracle of his Spring, the bursting of the flowers and the singing of the birds; it is not that his heart goes out in gratitude to All-Father who is the Giver of all good things; it is that, obedient to the push of life within him his impulse is towards food. He must eat that he and his tribe may grow and multiply. It is this, his will to live, that heutters and represents.”
In a monograph[33]of the Shinto religion of the Japanese, R. Hitchcock states that the leading function of the female deity is to increase the food supply. She is given the name of the Goddess of Food, or the Producer of Trees and the Parent of Grasses. She is spoken of as Abundant-Food-Lady, and seems to be a personification of the earth.
A further description of these rites is unnecessary, as wherever found they are all ofthe same general type. They have been described in North America, in Central Africa, in Japan, in Siberia, in India and they probably exist in many other localities. The above references indicate that they were primitive man’s expression of his desire for food, this fundamental motive finding expression in an elaborate ritual.
Now since in the above rites, where the increase of the food supply is the main motive, the entire development and symbolism centers about articles of food, and since in the phallic rites an entirely analagous development and symbolism centers about the generative organs, it is only reasonable to infer that the phallic rites have to do with the desire for children. In this we have the meaning of sex worship. It is primitive man’s expression of his desire for the perpetuation of the race and so it represents a biological necessity, the earlier motive being for the preservation of the individual.
Fortunately the conclusions which the above arguments would appear to warrant are borneout by the statements of those who have studied these matters in great detail. Miss J. Harrison,[34]who also quotes Dr. Frazer, states: “The two great interests of primitive man are food and children. As Dr. Frazer has well said, if man the individual is to live he must have food; if his race is to persist he must have children, ‘to live and to cause to live, to eat food and to beget children, these were the primary wants of man in the past, and they will be the primary wants of men in the future so long as the world lasts.’ Other things may be added to enrich and beautify human life, but, unless these wants are first satisfied, humanity itself must cease to exist. These two things, therefore, food and children, were what man chiefly sought to secure by the performance of magical rites for the regulation of the seasons. They are the very foundation stones of that ritual from which art, if we are right, took its rise.”
There is a very striking parallelism between these two rites. It would be interesting totrace out these analogies step by step, but we shall refer to them only in a general way.
The outward form of the two rites is very similar. In both a religious ceremony is enacted. In the development of this ceremony a system, in which a priesthood forms a prominent part, is developed in both instances. The element of mystery runs through both procedures and, as Steven D. Peet[35]has stated, the nature worship ceremony of the North American Indians bears a remarkable resemblance to the mysteries of the Eleusis and of the Bacchanalia.
In both the nature rites and the phallic rites, a sacred ceremonial object develops, and about this object a very elaborate symbolism evolves. Just as in the most primitive form of sex worship we saw that the deity consisted of a rude representation of the generative organs, so in nature worship we find that the ceremonial object is at first a rude representative of the deified animal orplant. This sacred symbol is eventually conventionalized. We have observed this in sex worship, as explained by Inman, Payne Knight and others. In the same way in nature worship, ceremonial objects are conventionalized. Spencer has shown this in the case of the Australians, the ceremonial objects eventually coming to bear a remote resemblance only to the original animal or plant representation. A. L. Kroeber[36]has observed the same development in the Arapaho Indians. The buffalo symbol for example, (a very important one in this tribe since the buffalo is the chief food) has become highly conventionalized, and is finally represented by a formal rectangular design. This design now means the earth, and it is also used as a life symbol.
Again, just as we saw how in sex worship the religious symbol came to be expressed throughout decorative art, and in fact eventually became a leading motive, so it has been shown that in the nature worship of theIndians this same evolution takes place. A. L. Kroeber and Clark Wissler, among others, have shown that the decorative art on the moccasins, leggings, tents, food bags, etc., of the Indians, all representing a highly conventionalized symbol, expresses religious motives throughout. This symbolism can be interpreted only by an understanding of religious motives. The analogy of this symbolic development to that associated with sex worship is at once apparent.
Finally, just as in sex worship the motive came to dominate most of the practices and usages of civil life, so it can be shown that in tribes practicing nature worship, the religious motive has a very powerful influence. The performance of rites to increase the food supply are among the most important of primitive man’s duties. Any man who enters into these rites listlessly is not respected, and the leaders of the rite are the head men of the tribe. In Australia, one of the main functions of each Totem group is to increase the supply of itsown Totem animal or plant by magic ceremony.
In summing up, therefore, the analogies between sex worship and nature worship, the following features may be reviewed: the outward form is the same,i. e., that of a religious ceremonial rite in which a sacred object is the representation of the deity. The symbolism associated with this object develops in the same way in both instances. In the course of time this symbolism becomes conventionalized, and eventually it finds its way into primitive art. It then becomes the leading motive in primitive art and finally the religious motive is forgotten and the aesthetic motive alone remains. Were further proof necessary, these analogies alone would be sufficient to enable us to understand the meaning of sex worship.
The ritual associated with the worship of sex then, arose in response to emotions which are grouped around the instinct of reproduction. These feelings are so primitive and at the same time so fundamental, that it is difficultfor us to realize that early man should dignify them by religious ritual. They stand out as expressions of a biological demand. As stated above, sex worship was not a conscious expression on the part of certain individuals, but it was the unconscious expression of longings and desires on the part of the race. It represents a phase in man’s mental evolution, a process of mental development. Its dynamic value, from a biological standpoint, is at once apparent. In order to survive man must reproduce his kind, and the emotions associated with reproductive instincts must be of adequate dynamic value.
It has been stated that sex worship, as practiced during the primitive state of civilization, was a healthy phase in racial evolution. In a higher degree of civilization, however, the reversion to this motive was a regression, and decadent sex worship as it existed during the middle ages was an attempt by certain unhealthy elements in the race to revert to the primitive. In decadent sex worship we aredealing with an instance of faulty mental adaptation in a way in which we had not been accustomed to consider it. It is a case of faulty adaptation in the race, or at least in certain elements of it, rather than in the individual. These general analogies are noteworthy from the standpoints of mental evolution and abnormal psychology.
In order to show how sex worship as practiced by a later civilization was the expression of an unhealthy tendency, we must digress sufficiently to show the setting in which decadent sex worship existed. It is necessary to give a chronological outline indicating how primitive beliefs succeeded each other as a result of man’s progressive development.
The earlier beliefs were an expression of nature worship. This as we have shown, was mostly associated with the question of food supply. It has been shown that during this period of primitive man’s existence group thinking predominated, and man thought of himself as part of the group rather than as an individual. At this time, therefore, the ideaof the deity which was evolved was not that of an individual god. Generally speaking, it was the “vegetation spirit” existing throughout nature which was deified. This was the general period of earth worship,—the forces of nature associated with the earth being man’s main interest. The earth at this time was highest in primitive man’s regard.
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.
With the social state of matriarchy, the mother cults developed. These mother cultsevolved the numerous female deities of antiquity, Themis, Demeter, Cybele, and many others being the expression of mother worship. These deities were generally associated with the wild elements of nature,—with the wind, and the hills and the forests.
Associated with the mother religion in a way which at first does not appear to be very clear arose the phallic cults. It should be here stated that the mother religion was not the religion of the mother alone, but also that of the mother and child. The child was the adolescent,—a youth about to be initiated at the public ceremony, at which he was often circumcised and after which he was able to take up the reproductive functions of the male. Miss J. Harrison has shown that Dionysus was the embodiment of this conception. Here the youth was necessary only to the extent that he could become a father. It was his generative attribute which was sanctified, rather than that he was a male being existing as an individual. For this reason, the deification of the phallic principle,i. e., the generativeattribute, preceded the deification of the male as an individual. At least this is the impression one gains of this development. In any case, we note that the phallic ceremonies were associated with the mother religion. The period in which both existed was mostly prehistoric.
We see the beginning of the evolution of the male god in the phallic cults. This was eventually followed by the patriarchal system and here we are on more familiar ground. 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[37]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 deitywas 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 formof the earlier worship has been retained in the modern.
The above outline of the changes and evolution of early religions is most schematic. It enables us, however, to see that sex worship was entirely out of place during the middle ages, in a civilization which had long before discarded matriarchy. The questions of the food supply, and of children, were no longer so immediately pressing, and the faith in magical performances had been shaken. Man had emerged from the group as a definite personality, and the development of a new religion which expressed other feelings and desires had taken place. What we wish to emphasize at present is, then, that sex worship as it was carried on during the middle ages was a distinctly unnatural tendency in the race.
At this time opportunity may be taken to reconcile different interpretations which some writers have given regarding early religious motives. Considerable variation and some contradiction may be observed in the writingsof different authors in describing a religious development of much the same period. 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.
While we should not as a rule expect to find phallic rites associated with the earlier forms of nature worship, since sex worship developed at a somewhat later period, still in this connection we cannot be too dogmatic; the primitive Australians appear to be at the stage ofmental development when simple nature worship predominated, yet, fromMutter Erde[38]we learn that with the Australians a ceremony consisting of the throwing of a spear into the earth was of phallic significance. This co-existence of these two related motives is not unnatural since they both equally represent fundamental biological demands on the part of the race.
We may now return to the interpretation of decadent sex worship. When we understand the setting in which sex worship was practiced in the middle ages we are better able to appreciate its significance. As stated above, it was the attempt by certain elements of the race to return to more primitive motives, and to derive satisfaction from beliefs which had long been outgrown by advancing civilization. This clinging to an early type of reaction, or the return to more primitive feelings, must be regarded as an unhealthy tendency. Moreover, at this time, the motive itself was no longer expressed in the naturaland healthy way of primitive times. Sex worship during the middle ages became depraved; excesses and perversions appeared and the entire development, as it existed at that time, was biologically undesirable.
It also appeared that at certain times in the mental evolution of the race a degree of development is reached from which no further progress is made. At least, we are aware of such an instance in the case of a very primitive community in Southern Italy. A writer, Norman Douglas,[39]in 1914 found the existence of a phallic cult in Calabria. The women sanctified a crack of one of the walls of the temple, their attitude toward it corresponding to the yoni worship of India. Near by was an ancient stone pillar held in great veneration, which was the representative of the phallus.
It is observed that in this small community some remnants of phallic belief of a very primitive type have been retained for centuries. The religious development, an index ofmental development, has become “set” as it were and no further progress is possible. It is not entirely for want of opportunity that this locality has not taken up higher religious beliefs. The Catholic Church has introduced its teachings, but the people have represented the images of the Saints, of the Virgin Mary, and of Christ somewhat after the fashion of toy dolls. These are used as fetishes to ward off disease and no higher conceptions are grasped. Ideas regarding after life and immortality are disregarded in favor of the immediate need of protection against supposed evil influences. With these people, therefore, motives are utilized which satisfy only the most fundamental and immediate desires.
We have now followed a definite motive in mental development through its rise, its elaboration and its decadence. We therefore have its life history in the race before us; we have been enabled by analogies of other motives and by utilizing the conclusions of various writers, to understand its meaning andto give its interpretation. It remains to be seen what general conclusions regarding either racial or individual development in this sphere may be drawn.
It appears that when an important motive of this sort develops in the race, it embodies the expression of fundamental desires. Since it carries with it a strong and ever present desire in this way, it is strikinglydynamicin nature. It dominates all social organization, and with primitive people it dominates much of the conduct of the individual. When such a motive is seriously entertained it is pragmatic,i. e., it serves a useful end, or at least the conceptions which it embodies are entertained because they are thought to be of the highest value to the race.
As mental development continues, these more fundamental and primitive motives cease to be all absorbing. Eventually, the subject of the food supply becomes less pressing. Races continue to increase and multiply with or without the performance of sacred rites and man begins to question the utility ofhis imitative magic. Higher desires force themselves into consciousness, and earlier motives are no longer outwardly expressed; the form of the early motives is retained however: usages, symbols and practices which have long ceased to be dynamic and whose meaning is entirely forgotten are still observed; so 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 thisto 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.
To what extent may we utilize the evolution of this motive in the race, in understanding certain phases of mental development associated with reproductive instincts in the individual? In interpreting the racial history of this motive we have seen that it is dynamic; it develops in response to biological demands. It is a very elementary and primitive desire to be raised to the dignity of a religion, but none the less it is a very essential one. We have seen that when this motive is replaced by higher ones, a return to it bespoke faulty mental adaptations on the part of those who did so. Analogies between the individual and the race in this sphere exist in a general way, and their presence is significant.
Analogies in the sphere in the normal mental development of the individual may be considered first. In dealing with the developing thoughts of childhood, we shall refer to one particular tendency,i. e., that ofday dreaming. We know that a certain amount of the day dreaming of the child has to do with the feelings and emotions associated with the questionsof reproduction, considered in its broadest sense;i. e., including fictitious lovers, marriages, children, etc. Now probably with the child, the day dreaming associated with these feelings is of biological significance, just as the rituals associated with similar feelings are of value to the race. The little girl who is the mother of her doll, who plays at housekeeping, who fictitiously assumes the responsibilities of married life and what not,—the child by developing this feature of her existence in fancy is probably preparing herself for reality. The little boy who becomes a hero in his own fancy, marries a princess, and who overcomes all sorts of difficulties; or the small boy who in his play enters into all the activities of adult life,—probably this child, by entertaining the thoughts of his future life, prepares himself to some extent for future life. These fundamental motives, therefore, which arise in response to biological demands, are the expression of desires, both in the case of the individual and of the race, and they act not only harmlesslybut probably beneficially at a certain stage of mental evolution.
Again, we have shown how in the race remnants of early and primitive motives continue to appear in various ways long after their outward dynamic value has been lost and when their meaning is no longer understood. Is this not true of the individual? Do we not all recognize in the moods and mental attitudes and even in some of the actions of the adult, remnants of feelings and forces which were dynamic in childhood? These feelings exist although they are not consciously appreciated. The actual experiences are forgotten but the moods and emotions remain. This is analagous to the influence which primitive racial thoughts, beliefs and usages have on present day civilization. The meaning of these usages and symbols is forgotten in many cases but the outward form still exists.
In the individual, a motive of this kind does not become a religion or a ritual as in the case with the race, but it nevertheless is forcefullyexpressed in that it excites an absorbing interest and forces itself strongly into consciousness, during the phase of its dynamic development. As stated above, just as in the early mental evolution of the race, we find that the question of reproduction comes prominently to the fore, so with the individual we find that at the adolescent period of life the sexual instinct is very fully elaborated. Just as with the race reproduction is necessary for the continuation of the race, so with the individual, elaboration of sexual instinct is necessary in order that adult sexual responsibilities may be assumed. This consists of much more than mere physical development. In a complex state of civilization many adjustments in the sphere of sexual indulgence and continence and marriage have to be made. This phase of the individual’s life is a very important one. It is the rule for proper reactions to occur at this time, in which case the reproductive instincts assume their proper place in mental life. But if satisfactory adjustments do not occur the consequences may be serious. In the healthymental evolution of the individual, therefore, just as in the normal mental evolution of the race, we see that motives arise, assume a dynamic character, play their part in the developing mind, and leave lasting impressions. They serve a useful purpose during one phase of mental evolution. We have seen that they may be harmful in the race if utilized at a later period. Let us see to what extent this is true of the individual.
Psychiatrists during recent years have come to believe that in certain mental states we see a reversion to a more primitive type of reaction,—a tendency to utilize earlier adaptations, the reactions of infancy and childhood in meeting situations which arise in adult life. If this assumption is correct it is seen that a reversion to something more primitive is an undesirable reaction in the individual as well as in the race. Here too we find that the emotions and feelings associated with the reproductive instinct may be inadequately developed. It has been shown above that theday dreams of the child are probably beneficial rather than harmful. Is this day dreaming beneficial to the adult? We know from our experience that it is not, and in its relation to the reproductive sphere this is particularly true. The adult who substitutes the realities of life by elaborate day dreams is approaching dangerous ground. The young woman who in adult life is constantly dreaming of an ideal but fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from unhealthy sources; and the young man who ecstatically becomes a hero or a racial benefactor is equally at fault. In instances where such thoughts are believed in and acted upon as we observe again and again in mental disorders, a serious condition of the mind has arisen. When an attempt is made to gain satisfaction in these immature ways at a later stage of development, or when there is a failure to develop at a certain point, the reaction is harmful in both the individual and in the race.
It is during the adolescent period that these failures of adaptation generally occur. Atthis time, the whole development in the reproductive sphere, particularly in the mental characteristics associated with the sexual instinct, considered in its broadest sense, does not take place. There may be much rumination about this topic, but the responsibilities of adult sexual life, of marriage, of child bearing with the female, are not adequately met. Fancies are substituted for reality, and while, as stated above, young women may dream of ideal lovers, they at the same time are shy and unnatural in their attitude toward the opposite sex. Young men, instead of taking their place in the life of the adult community, realize adult ambitions only by elaborate day dreams. In abnormal mental states, we see young men in their fancies become important personages, religious benefactors and national heroes. They may shun all association with women but at the same time maintain that they have a cultural mission to populate the earth. We see here how the feelings associated with reproductive instincts have been faulty or inadequate. This return tosomething more primitive is an unhealthy atavistic tendency and makes for both racial and individual inferiority.
A word may be said regarding symbolism of the race as applied to the individual. We have stated that symbolism is a primitive and rudimentary way of expressing thought. It would seem logical therefore that if in some abnormal mental states there is a return to more primitive reactions, we may find a tendency to symbolize. This tendency is frequently observed and the symbolism is often very elaborate. A knowledge of the interpretation of racial symbolism is doubtless of value in the case of the individual. When men’s thoughts deal with the same subject and when they tend to symbolize, they are likely to express themselves in much the same way symbolically. If in abnormal mental states thoughts are entertained which have to do with the motives we have been discussing, it is reasonable to suppose that the racial and individual symbolism will show certain analogies.
Again, in the pages of recent psychiatry, we learn that in abnormal mental states there is a reversion not only to the primitive motives of childhood, but also to the primitive motives of the race. Just to what extent this tendency exists remains for studies of the future to show. Certainly, striking instances may be cited; for example, let us quote from a recent study in psychiatry:[40]“One such patient with a very complicated delusional system states that he is the father of Adam, that he has lived in his present human body thirty-five years, but in other bodies thirty million years, and that during this time he has occupied six million different bodies. He has been the great men in the history in the development of the human race; he himself created the human race. It took him three hundred million years to perfect the first fully developed human being; he is both male and female and identifies all the different parts of the Universe with his own body; heaven, hell and purgatory are located in his limbs, the starsare pieces of his body which had been torn apart by torture and persecution in various ages of past history; he is the father and creator of the various races and elements of the human organization, etc.” Any one who has done even a cursory reading in mythology cannot but be struck by the similarity in form as well as in thought between this production and what we find in myths.