Part 2 (1/2)

The inao are peculiar, inasmuch as nothing exactly like them is known.

The feather prayer-plumes of some of the Western Indians are used for like purposes, but these are offered directly to the Great Spirit, and not to intermediaries. ”Inao, briefly described, are pieces of whittled willow wood, having the shavings attached to the top.”[35] Like the Aleutians, when these people kill a bear or other wild animal, they propitiate its spirit by bestowing upon it the most fulsome compliments, and, like the religion of these Indians, the religion of the Ainus has developed along natural lines, and shows certain phallic elements.

[35] Batchelor: _The Ainu of j.a.pan_, p. 87.

We see from the examples here given, that religious feeling had its origin in the idea of propitiation; in fact, that it was born in fear, and by fear was it fostered. We see, furthermore, that man was not created with religious feeling as a psychical trait, but that he acquired it later on. We see, finally, that religious feeling is based, primarily and fundamentally, on one of the chief laws of nature--self-protection. The evolution and growth of Ethics demonstrate this beyond peradventure.

It is not at all probable that man in the beginning, just after his evolution from his ape-like ancestor, had, at first, any belief whatever in supernatural agencies. In his struggle for existence, all of his powers were directed toward the procurement of his food and the preservation of life; the pithecoid man was only a degree higher than the beasts in the scale of animal life. His psychic being, as yet, remained, as it were, _in ovo_, and a long period of time must have elapsed before he began to formulate and to recognize a system of theogony. After years of experience, during which the laws of heredity and progressive evolution played prominent parts, he took precedence over other animals, and his struggle for existence became easier. He then had time to study the wonderful and, to him, mysterious phenomena of nature. His limited knowledge could not explain the various natural operations by which he was surrounded, therefore he looked upon them as being mysterious and supernatural. His psychical being became active and inquiring, to satisfy which he created a system of G.o.ds which was founded on natural phenomena. At first, the G.o.ds of primitive man were, probably, few in number, and the chief G.o.d of all was the sun. Man early recognized the sun's importance in the economy of nature; this beautiful star, rising in the east in the morning, marching through the heavens during the day, and sinking behind the western horizon in the evening, must have been, to the awakening soul of man, a source of endless conjecture and debate. What was more natural than his making the sun the greatest G.o.d in his system of theogony? Man recognized in him the source of all life, and, when he arrived at an age when he could use abstract ideation in formulating his religion, he deified the life-giving function as he noticed it in himself; he began to wors.h.i.+p the generative principle. Solar wors.h.i.+p and its direct descendant, phallic wors.h.i.+p, at one time or another were the religions of almost every race on the face of the globe. Solar wors.h.i.+p, owing to its material quality, has long since been abandoned by civilized man; but phallic wors.h.i.+p, the first _abstract_ religion evolved by man, has taken deeper root; its fundamental principles are still present, though they have their seat in our subliminal consciousness, and we are, therefore, not actively conscious of their existence. But before entering on the discussion of this last point, let us turn for a time to a study of phallic wors.h.i.+p.

CHAPTER II.

PHALLIC WORs.h.i.+P.

Phallic wors.h.i.+p, in some form or other, has been practiced by almost every race under the sun. Indeed, among primitive peoples, those who do not practice this cult are so few in number that they have, practically, no weight whatever in a discussion of this subject. Moreover, those primitive peoples who do not wors.h.i.+p the generative principle, either directly or indirectly, are without any religion whatsoever, and are the very lowest of all mankind in point of intelligence. I have only to cite the Tierra del Fuegians, the Bushmen, the Australians, and the Akka or Ticki-Ticki, the Pygmies of Central Africa, to prove the truthfulness of this a.s.sertion. There are other peoples who would serve as examples, but it would be a work of supererogation to enumerate them to even the casual reader.

D'Hancarville, in his magnificent work, has traced the progress of the wors.h.i.+p of the generative principle over the entire world, while Knight, in his scholarly essay,[36] has brought out its psychological truths in a manner which cannot be surpa.s.sed. It is not my purpose to enter into a detailed account of this cult; I propose rather to discuss its probable origin in the beginning, and to give a brief outline of its history, as it is to be observed among living peoples. I wish to show, also, its connection with certain religious ceremonies and festivals of Christian peoples, which had their origin, _ab initio_, in the wors.h.i.+p of Priapus.

And, before beginning the discussion of this subject, I beg to remind the reader that a priest of Priapus regarded his sistrum as being just as sacred as a Catholic priest now considers any vessel or robe used in the service of ma.s.s, and that the priests of Brahma look on the Lingam with as much reverence and awe as did the Levites on the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies. Phallic wors.h.i.+p is a religion, the oldest _abstract_ religion in existence. Fundamentally the Creator--the Life Giver--is the phallic wors.h.i.+per's G.o.d. Is he very far wrong in all that is absolutely essential? ”Men think they know because they are sure they feel, and are firmly convinced because strongly agitated. Hence proceed that haste and violence with which devout persons of all religions condemn the rites and doctrines of others, and the furious zeal and bigotry with which they maintain their own, while, perhaps, if both were equally understood, both would be found to have the same meaning, and only to differ in the modes of conveying it.”[37]

[36] Knight: _The Wors.h.i.+p of Priapus_.

[37] Knight: _The Wors.h.i.+p of Priapus_, p. 14.

The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are wors.h.i.+pers of the generative principle, and, like most religious sects, have evolved some very curious rites and ceremonies. The ancient temples of Venus or Aphrodite were filled with _hetarae_, who were necessary adjuncts for the proper performance of the mysteries of Priapus. These Indians, however, will not allow women to enter into their sacred ceremonies, but, on the contrary, emasculate men (by occasioning organic and functional degeneration of the s.e.xual organs), who serve as hetarae to the chiefs and shamans or priests.[I] These androgynes are called _mujerados_, a term which aptly describes their s.e.xual condition.

[I] The Aleutians, according to the testimony of unimpeachable witnesses, make their neophytes pa.s.s through like physical exercises in preparing them for their duties in celebrating Priapic Rites.

”In order to cultivate a mujerado, a very powerful man is chosen, and he is made to m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e excessively and ride constantly. Gradually such irritable weakness of the genital organs is engendered that, in riding, great loss of s.e.m.e.n is induced. This condition of irritability pa.s.ses into paralytic impotence. Then the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and p.e.n.i.s atrophy, the hair of the beard falls out, the voice loses its depth and compa.s.s, and physical strength and energy decrease. Inclinations and disposition become feminine. The mujerado loses his position in society as a man. He takes on feminine manners and customs, and a.s.sociates with women; yet, for religious reasons, he is held in high honor.”[38] The phallic ceremonies of the Pueblos take place in the spring, when the life principle is exceedingly active throughout all nature.

[38] Krafft-Ebing: _Psychopathia s.e.xualis_, p. 201; see also Hammond: _Impotence in the Male_.

In all probability the ”botes” of the Montana Indians and the ”burdachs”

of the Was.h.i.+ngton tribes serve as masculine hetarae to the chiefs and medicine men, though this has not been definitely determined. Dr. Holder described a typical ”bote” of the Absaroke tribe in the New York Medical Journal, 1889. This androgyne, in many respects, resembled the mujerados of the Pueblo Indians, and probably served a like purpose in his tribe.

According to Ross, a Konyaga woman, when she has a good-looking boy, dresses him in girl's clothes and brings him up as a female. When he arrives at a suitable age he is sent to wait on the priests of the tribe and is introduced by them into the sacred mysteries of their cult; in fact, he becomes a masculine hetara.

When we read of such things we feel pretty much as Herodotus felt when he saw the naked women of Mendes submitting themselves openly e?

ep?de???? a????p?? [Transliteration: es epideixin anthropon] to the embraces of the sacred goat.[J] To the Greek historian this act was simply horrible (te?a? [Transliteration: teras]); and yet these Egyptians experienced no repugnance whatever. To them it represented the incarnation of the deity, and was, therefore, a sacred and holy action, just as masculine hetarism is regarded as a holy profession among the Konyagas. Phallic hetarism is one of the sacraments of the Konyaga church, and, as such, it is held in all that reverence and awe with which the savage devotee endows the mysteries of his faith.[K]

[J] Herodotus: _Euterpe_, 46.

[K] Masculine hetarism is still in vogue among many primitive peoples, and is distinctly a religious rite. ”The Kanats of New Caledonia frequently a.s.semble at night in a cabin to give themselves up to this kind of debauchery.... In the whole of America, from north to south, similar customs have existed or still exist.” Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 62. The same author says: ”It was also a widely spread custom throughout Polynesia, and even a special deity presided over it. The Southern Californians did the same, and the Spanish missionaries, on their arrival in the country, found men dressed as women and a.s.suming their part. They were trained to this from youth, and often publicly married to the chiefs. Nero was evidently a mere plagiarist. The existence of a.n.a.logous customs has been proved against the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois.”

The ancient Hebrews, ancestors of one of the most ancient of the civilized races of the earth, held it in high honor. Even wise King Solomon, in the days of his old age, turned from the abstractedly pure religion of his father ”to Astoreth, the G.o.ddess of the Zidonians, and to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.”[39] He was guilty of constructing a ”high place” for Chemosh, ”the abomination of Moab.”[40]

Any good modern biblical encyclopedia will tell the reader about Astoreth and her wors.h.i.+p, and what the ”high places” and the ”groves”

were.

[39] _I Kings_: chap xi, verse 5.