Phallic Worship

The term “phallic worship” or “phallicism” denotes religious veneration of the phallus, or erect penis. Nowadays, of course, “cock worship” is most prevalent among females and gay men, but in the past the practice was much more widespread, with the phallus representing the divine creative principle. Phallicism may involve worship of a phallic icon, as seen in this early 20th century illustration by Alméry Lobel-Riche, or it may be personified in the form of a God such as Priapus.

One of the first historians to appreciate the full extent of Phallicism was an Englishman named Hargrave Jennings, who produced numerous works on the subject in the last decades of the 19th century – either under his own name, or the pseudonym of “Sha Rocco”, or anonymously. In books like The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship (1874), Phallicism Celestial and Terrestrial (1884) and Phallic Miscellanies (1891) he showed that worship of the “male generative organ” is common to virtually all cultures of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Furthermore, the practice is not confined to supposedly primitive cultures – Christianity recognizes a number of Phallic saints, such as St Ters, St Guerlichon and St Foutin, who were benevolent symbols of fertility and objects of pious reverence amongst women in particular.

Taoist Sex: Two Dancing Phoenixes

Taoist Sex is the ancient Chinese equivalent of Tantric Sex. But whereas Tantra is the Way of the Goddess, Taoist Sex is focused more on enhancing the health and longevity of the male participant. While the sexual positions of the Kama Sutra are designed to heighten and prolong the pleasures of the female, their Taoist equivalents are aimed more at the pleasure of the male. This is particularly apparent in the position illustrated here (in a Japaneseshunga print of the late eighteenth century), in which a man is copulating simultaneously with two female partners. In this position, called “two dancing phoenixes”, one female lies on top of the other, both spreading their legs so that their vaginas (referred to in Taoism as “yin gates”) are easily accessible to alternate thrusts of the man’s erect penis (“yang spear”).

Phallic Symbolism

The erect penis is a powerful symbol in art, mythology and religion, and its size is often exaggerated for greater effect. However, if it is exaggerated too much the effect becomes comic, as in this image based on a book illustration by Aubrey Beardsley. The original drawing, dating from 1896, depicts a scene from a classic Greek drama called Lysistrata. It reflects the ancient Greek theatrical tradition whereby the actors in comedies wore enormous stage-prop phalluses.

Tantric Art

The Tantric tradition of India and Tibet is much broader in its scope than the subset of Tantric Sexuality taught in the West. While Western Tantra focuses on practical techniques, the Eastern form also uses sexual symbolism for purely meditational purposes. As such, Tantric art often contains imagery that can seem bizarre to Western eyes. This Tibetan-style devotional painting, for example, depicts an animal-headed female deity trampling on two small figures while she menstruates into a bowl they are holding. At the same time, she is balancing the Hindu elephant God Ganesha on her hands and performing fellatio on him – in other words, sucking his penis!

The Amazon

In the Missionary Position of sexual intercourse, the woman lies passively on her back with her legs apart, and the man thrusts his penis in and out of her vagina. The Amazon Position, illustrated here, is the exact opposite of this. It is named after the ruthless female warriors of ancient Greek mythology, the Amazons, who required complete control over their submissive male partners. To this end, the man lies passively on his back with his legs apart, while the woman grips his penis with her powerful vaginal muscles and thrusts energetically back and forth, mimicking the traditional “fucking” action of the male.

Bacchanal: A Frenzied Sex Ritual

The Bacchanal was a religious rite associated with worship of the Roman God Bacchus, also known by the Greek name of Dionysus. Bacchus is often euphemistically referred to as the “God of Wine”, which makes him sound genteel and sophisticated, but in fact he was the God of drunkenness, self-indulgence and decadent sexuality. Accordingly, the Bacchanal took the form of an uninhibited, drunken orgy. The Roman historian Livy wrote that “More uncleanness was committed by men with men than with women. To regard nothing as impious or criminal was the sum total of their religion.”

Over the years, many artists have chosen to depict Bacchanalian revels in their paintings. The one shown here is the work of the Belgian painter Auguste Levêque.

The Black Mass

The Satanic rite known as the Black Mass is replete with sexual imagery and orgiastic debauchery, as described in this quotation from Dennis Wheatley: “The salient feature is that the representative of the Power of Light should be abjured and the Power of Darkness invoked by the offering up of blood and semen. To be of maximum potency a Black Mass should be performed by a priest, and, should he have been unfrocked, this makes no difference to the power inherent in him. But anyone sufficiently debased can perform a ritual of this kind. At a black mass everything possible is done the opposite way to the correct procedure. The cross on the altar is upside down, crooked or broken. The acolytes should be young men who readily give themselves to anal intercourse. The celebrant wears a cape embroidered with serpents and other Satanic emblems. He is naked beneath it, and it is open down the front, exposing his erect penis. The congregation should, preferably, be wearing animal costumes and masks. The litany and prayers are recited backwards. The ceremony is performed over the naked body of a young woman, who lies on the altar. The celebrant sacrifices an offering by cutting its throat and catching its blood in a chalice. Finally the priest copulates with the woman on the altar, plunging his lust-hardened penis in and out of her lissome young vagina. The congregation, as though possessed by demons, frantically slake their lust on one another in every way possible.”

The image above shows a depiction of the Black Mass by the early 20th century artist, Martin van Maële.

Adoration of the Anus

In Tantric Sex, anal intercourse is known as adhorata. This Sanskrit word has no direct linguistic connection to the English word “adoration”, although the meaning is much the same. To a skilled Tantric practitioner anal sex is a form of worship, in which the object of worship – or adoration – is the underlying reality of the cosmos, which in its eternally receptive nature is symbolized by the human anus.

Ancient Egyptian Autofellatio

The image above comes from an Egyptian papyrus called “The Book of the Dead of Henuttawy”, which dates from the Third Intermediate Period circa 1000 BC. The large upper figure is the God Osiris, who is depicted in ithyphallic form – in other words, with an erect penis. As well as being erect, the God’s penis is shown as being abnormally long.

The smaller figure below Osiris is Geb, the Egyptian God of the Earth. Geb is also shown with an erect and abnormally long penis. Moreover, he is indulging in an act of autofellatio – sucking his own penis.

For clarity, the penises of the two Gods have been highlighted in red in this image. For the original version, and more information about the papyrus, see the British Museum website.

The Goddess Juno

Juno was one of the most powerful deities in ancient Roman Mythology. Alongside Minerva, she was one of the top two Goddesses of the Roman Pantheon. But whereas Minerva was a virgin Goddess, Juno was an expert in sex. She was married to Jupiter, but like Jupiter she often had sexual intercourse with mortals. Juno symbolized feminine power and sexual liberation, and the word “Junoesque” is used to this day to refer to a tall, powerfully built woman.

Circle Sex Ritual

The Sanskrit term Chakra Puja refers to a sex ritual undertaken by a group of participants. The word Chakra literally means “wheel”, and the ritual takes the form of a circle in which sexual energy is transmitted from one participant to the next.

The picture above shows a group of men engaged in a circular sex ritual. This particular ritual is known as Trenecito.

The Great Goddess Kunda

Thousands of years ago the supreme deity was not a God but a Goddess. Referred to by slightly different names in different cultures, she was known as Kundaor Kunti in Asia, and Cunina orCunnus in Europe. She was generally depicted with capaciously large, sexually aroused genitals—and so by association the vagina became known by the same name. This survives to the present day in the English word “cunt”. Many New Agers believe the word was deliberately made into a “curse word” by the Powers That Be in order to toxify the memory of the Great Goddess.

Tantric Services

Here are a few panels taken from the new Kindle comic-book Fifty Shades of Tantric Sex. It shows just two of the 50 characters featured in the book. What do they have in common? They’re all stereotypes of the different sorts of people who make their money by offering “Tantric” sexual services.

With its cartoony caricatures and photo-manipulations, the book’s witty tongue-in-cheek style will be familiar to readers of this blog. Fifty Shades of Tantric Sex is available for just $2.99 from the U.S. Kindle Store.

Sappho

Sappho was one of the greatest poets of the ancient world. She was born on the Greek island of Lesbos in the 7th century BC. A native of Lesbos is known as a Lesbian, and in English this word has come to mean a homosexual female due to the homoerotic nature of some of Sappho’s poems. The word “Sapphic” is sometimes used as a synonym of Lesbian.

The picture above is adapted from the painting “Sappho’s bedtime” by Charles Gleyre (1806 – 1874). The one below is from Édouard-Henri Avril (1849 –1928). Both scenes include a lyre, which was a harp-like musical instrument used to accompany poetry in ancient times.