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more advanced races. Of the many phenomena of nature which were constantly attracting the attention and consideration of primitive man, who had already begun to think, wonder, question, and seek for answers, few perhaps appeared more mysterious, and excited his curiosity more than those of procreation and reproduction. Whithersoever he turned he beheld manifestations of these powers. The clouds poured forth rain, the sun its warmth and light and presently beautiful flowers, grasses, trees, and fruits sprang out of the ground. The acorn now rotting in the forest later grew into a mighty oak, which bore countless numbers of other acorns. From the eggs of birds and fowls, other birds and fowls issued forth; but more wonderful and mysterious than all was the mode of conception and birth of his own offspring as well as that of the higher animals. But who, and what, and whence are these hidden forces which bring new life, new beings into the world? These, and other similar questions must have perplexed the mind of the savage, as they do that of a child to-day. But primitive man was not so fortunate as are our children; he had no one to teach him and answer his questions; he was not the heir to the accumulated learning of thirty centuries or more. He had either to answer his questions himself or leave them unanswered. Now, of all mental states the most painful and distressing are doubt, uncertainty, perplexity, and the like. Man must have some kind of an answer to the questions which are most vital and perplexing to him, he will not rest satisfied without one. We moderns have no definite facts concerning many subjects; when we think of it there are surprisingly few subjects concerning which we do have definite and undisputed knowledge, but we have our theories, working hypotheses, beliefs, etc., which we hope either to verify or abandon in favor of better ones later on, but these are at present essential to our mental comfort and equipoise, and until we have more accurate knowledge we shall cling to them. So too with the primitive man. Every burning question received an answer immediately; generally a naïve and fanciful one, but satisfying none the less. Accordingly we find him giving a childish, and yet perfectly natural interpretation to the phenomena of To him nature was not so much organic and inor

nature.

1 For an excellent instance of this see James's Psychology, Vol. 1, p. 267, where he quotes from the reminiscences of Mr. Ballard, a deaf mute.

ganic matter; he was ignorant even of the distinction. Everything possessed life; everything, like himself had personality, feeling, intellect, passion, and performed similar functions. He was a brother to the rocks and rills, the trees and plants, to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth; he and they were children of the same Pangenitor, the same mysterious Power, which is still addressed as Father. But now, who is this father? and what is his nature? Different peoples, as we shall see, gave different answers, but they all seem to have agreed on one point, namely, the Power or Powers have sex. Indeed, it could hardly have been otherwise. Primitive man could not possibly have conceived of a living, active, creative and yet sexless being, and there are many to-day for whom such a conception is impossible. Consequently we find that the tribes who were first impressed with the grandeur and mystery of the celestial bodies, personified these, considering the sun or sky, father; the moon or earth, mother; the stars, their children or lesser divinities. Those, on the other hand, who were first drawn to contemplate peculiar shaped stones, trees, rivers, etc., personified and deified these, always careful to attribute to them the appropriate sex. Hence the countless male, female, and androgynous divinities of primitive, ancient, and even some modern peoples.

Sexuality, however, was more than a mere distinguishing characteristic of the gods; it was their most important attribute. The mysterious power which created the earth and all its living creatures, and transmitted to them the power to increase and multiply, that power is surely divine, and its form or body,-primitive man must invest every force or idea with a form is, most naturally, similar to that of his own sexual organs. Now, so long as these organs, or representations of them were regarded and perhaps reverenced as the most characteristic emblem or symbol of the Author of life, there was nothing pathological in the cult, nor even superstitious in the true sense of the word, but just so soon as their symbolic nature was forgotten, and the organs or their representations were worshipped as divinities themselves, or when the people continued to perform phallic ceremonies after they had outgrown the cult, then the religion and its practices became degenerate and pathological.) "Indecent rites," says Constant, "may be practiced by a religious peo

ple with the greatest purity of heart. But when incredulity has gained a footing amongst these peoples, these rites become then the cause and pretext of the most revolting corruption" 1 Likewise Voltaire: "Our ideas of propriety lead us to suppose that a ceremony which appears to us infamous. could only be invented by licentiousness; but it is impossible to believe that licentiousness and depravity of manners would ever have led among any people to the establishment of religious ceremonies; profligacy may have crept in in the lapse of time, but the original institution was always innocent and free from it; the early agape, in which boys and girls kissed one another modestly on the mouth, degenerated at last into secret meetings and licentiousness. It is, therefore, probable that this custom was first introduced in times of simplicity, that the first thought was to honor the Deity in the symbol of life which it has given us.'

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This, indeed, is true not only of phallicism, or phalloktenism, the worship of both male and female principles. (In all forms of fetichism and idolatry there are apparent several stages of degeneration from the original normal cult. At first, as has already been said, the symbol or idol is recognized as such; then it is revered and worshipped, perhaps, as the deity itself; later it becomes a mere charm or talisman against certain ills and evils; and lastly, it is used as a cloak for all kinds of licentiousness and debaucheries. After this stage, if the race or tribe is a progressive one, a reformation generally sets in.

The following are cited as illustrations of rites and ceremonies, which have undoubtedly degenerated from earlier and more innocent forms, - degenerations of which the participants and witnesses may have been wholly unconscious.

The voyager Cook describes a religious ceremony he witnessed among a certain Indian tribe as follows: "A young man, near six feet high, performed the rites of Venus with a little girl, about eleven or twelve years of age, before several of our people and a great number of the natives; but, as appeared, in perfect conformity to the custom of the place. Among the spectators were several women of superior rank, particularly Oberea, who may properly be said to have assisted at the ceremony, for they gave instruction to the girl how to perform her part."2 Voltaire, in "Les Oreilles du

1 Human Polytheism.

2 Cook's First Voyage.

Comte de Chesterfield " gives a lengthy account of a similar

ceremony.

Herodotus, writing of the Chaldeans, says, "Every woman born in the country must enter once during her lifetime the enclosure of the temple of Aphrodite; must there sit down and unite herself to a stranger. Many who are wealthy are too proud to mix with the rest, and repair thither in closed chariots, followed by a considerable train of slaves. The greater number seat themselves on the sacred pavement, with a cord twisted about their heads. And there is always a crowd there, coming and going; the women being divided by ropes into long lanes, down which strangers pass to make their choice. A woman who has once taken her place here cannot return home until a stranger has thrown into her lap a silver coin, and has led her away with him beyond the limits of the sacred enclosure. As he throws the money he pronounces these words: May the goddess Mylitta (Aphrodite) make thee happy.' The woman follows the first man who throws her the money and repels no one. When once she has accompanied him, and has thereby satisfied the goddess, she returns to her home, and from thenceforth, however large the sum offered to her, she will yield to no one. Maspero states that this custom still existed in the fifth century B. C. A similar custom is recorded in the Book of Baruch VI, 43. Orgies of this nature were of common occurrence among the Algonkins and Iroquois, and are often mentioned in the Jesuit relations. Menegas describes them as frequent among the tribes of Lower California, and Oviedo writes of certain festivals among the Nicaraguans, "during which the women of all rank extended to whosoever wished, such privileges as the matrons of ancient Babylon used to grant even to the slaves and strangers in the temple of Mylitta, as one of the duties of religion.

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Excesses like these, and others even worse constituted, until quite recently, the religious rites and ceremonies of the natives of Mexico and Central America, of the Pueblo Indians of Arizona, the natives of Paraguay, the ancient Floridians, the Guaycurus of Brazil, and others.1

Turning again to the ancient Orient we find women in Mendes submitting themselves nude and openly to the embraces of the sacred goat, which represented the incarnation

1 See Brinton: The Myths of the New World, p. 175 ff.

act.

of the procreative deity. Among the Corinthians, in certain cities in Egypt, and among the Brahmins delubral hetarism was openly practiced, and regarded as a praiseworthy In the Temple of Venus at Corinth there were as many as a thousand sacred prostitutes, and as many in a temple of the same goddess at Eryx. Even princesses were pallicides and took pride in the title of pallakis. Of the Armenians, Strabo writes, 66 It is the custom of the most illustrious personages to consecrate their virgin daughters to this goddess (Anaitis). This in no way prevents them from finding husbands even after they have prostituted themselves for a long time in the temple of Anaitis. No man feels on this account any repugnance to take them as wives." 2 Many Greek and Roman temples were dedicated to the phallus, and filled with betarae. We need only mention such festivals as the Bacchanalia, Florolia, Saturnalia, the Liberalia, and the festival of Venus. The scathing satires of Juvenal, who tells us in one place that every temple in Rome was practically a licensed brothel, the writings of Suetonius, Tacitus and Seneca among pagan writers; and the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, and the writings of St. Augustine among Christians all show us to what depths of moral degradation and licentiousness the Romans had fallen in their religious ceremonies and festivals. "I myself, when a young man, says St. Augustine, "used sometimes to go to the sacrilegious entertainments and spectacles; I saw the priests raving in religious excitement, and heard the choristers; I took pleasure in the shameful games which were celebrated in the honor of gods and goddesses, of the virgin Cœlestis, and of Berecynthia, the mother of all gods. And on the day consecrated to her purification, there were sung before her couch productions so obscene and filthy to the ear-I do not say of the mother of the gods, but of the mother of any senator or honest man, nay, so impure that not even the mother of the foul-mouthed players themselves could have formed one of the audience."3

Mr. Lecky remarks that the pages of Seutonius are “an eternal witness of abysses of depravity, hideous and intolerable cruelty, and hitherto unimagined extravagances of nameless lust,' and Gibbon tells us that in writing his history

1 Wier: Religion and Lust, p. 48 ff.

2 Quoted by Letourneau, Evol. of Marriage, p. 46. 3 Civ. Dei, ii, 4.

4 Hist. of European Morals.

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