THE PHALLUS

OF AETHER

THE CELESTIAL PHALLUS

I
"...the phallus that first procreated the aether" (Derveni Papyrus)

“Then the son (Cronos) from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his
right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own
father’s members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they
fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and
as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants
with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs who
they call Meliae all over the boundless earth.” (Hesiod)

“But Daimachus, in his treatise 'On Religion,' supports the view of Anaxagoras.
He says that before the stone fell, for seventy-five days continually, there was
seen in the heavens a fiery body of vast size, as if it had been a flaming cloud,
not resting in one place, but moving along with intricate and irregular motions, so
that fiery fragments, broken from it by its plunging and erratic course, were
carried in all directions and flashed fire, just as shooting stars do.” (Plutarch)

II
"That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like
that which is below..." (Hermes Trismegistus)

Central to this creation myth is the metaphor of the Nile as a river of semen
which by flooding its banks regularly fertilizes the fields. “That which, like a field,
was to receive the divine seed, he made round every way, and called that portion
of the marrow, brain, intending that, when an animal was perfected, the vessel
containing this substance should be the head; but that which was intended to
contain the remaining and mortal part of the soul…he called them all by the
name marrow.”1

The marrow encased in its container formed of bone and running as a channel
through the centre of the body corresponds to this image of the Nile. The spinal
column connects at one end with the brain and the other is in the vicinity of the
sexual organs. “From the passage of egress for the drink, where it receives and
joins in discharging the fluid which has come through the lungs beneath the
kidneys into the bladder and has been compressed by the air, they bored a hole
into the condensed marrow which comes from the head down by the neck and
along the spine which marrow, in our previous account, we termed ‘seed.’ And
the marrow, inasmuch as it is animate and has been granted an outlet, has
endowed the part where its outlet lies with a love for generating by implementing
therein a lively desire for emission.”2

Semen was described as a substance like brain matter that contained hot
vapour. From the hot aether in the semen the process of creation began. “But the
wiser of the priests call not only the Nile Osiris and the sea Typhon, but they
simply give the name of Osiris to the whole source and faculty creative of
moisture, believing this to be the cause of generation and the substance of life-
producing seed; and the name of Typhon they give to all that is dry, fiery and arid,
in general, and antagonistic to moisture.” 3

The foaming froth of the flooding Nile thus has a direct correlation with the warm
foamy substance of semen. Both are the originators of life. From this foaming
substance the human body would be created. From the foaming flood waters of
the Nile the seeds would germinate. “In fact, the tale is annexed to the legend to
the effect that Typhon cast the male member of Osiris into the river, and Isis
could not find it, but constructed and shaped a replica of it, and ordained that it
should be honoured and borne in processions, plainly comes round to this
doctrine, that the creative and germinal power of the god, at the very first,
acquired moisture as its substance, and through moisture combined with
whatever was by nature capable of participating in generation.” 4

Thus semen contained the life-giving moisture as its substance infused with a hot
aether to provide the spark of creation. The Nile could be seen as containing the
semen of Osiris which was deposited over the soil. The body of Osiris had been
slashed into pieces, with his genital parts hacked off and thrown into the Nile.
The other parts of the body of Osiris were located and reassembled by Isis but
the genital parts remained lost in the river. The Nile thus embodied the genital
parts of Osiris and contained the divine semen. ”As they regard the Nile as the
effusion of Osiris, so they hold and believe the earth to be the body of Isis, not all
of it, but so much of it as the Nile covers, fertilizing and uniting with it.” 5

There is here the direct linkage of religion symbolized by Osiris, lord of the
underworld and the deity representing resurrection, and the life-giving secretion
of moisture and semen by the Nile. This was a divine water that contained the
code for all generation. The vital water was celebrated as containing the divine
essence involved in creation. “They think that Homer, like Thales, had gained his
knowledge from the Egyptians when he postulated water as the source and
origin of all things…”6

In this way the Egyptian myth of Osiris was transferred to the Greeks and
became the basis of the Pythagorean construct. The Nile became symbolic of all
rivers which all eventually flowed into Oceanus, the ocean stream that encircled
the earth. The moisture of semen and the moisture of water were the source for
all creation. “Not only the Nile, but every form of moisture they call simply the
effusion of Osiris; and in their holy rites the water jar in honour of the god heads
the procession.”7

Rain itself could be linked to a shower of semen fertilizing the earth. The duality
of the heavens and the earth was likened to the copulation of humans. The
central element was the moisture without which life could not exist. The moisture
was in the rain, fructifying the earth, and part of the substance of semen. “In fact,
the Greeks call emission apousia and coition synousia, and the son (hyios) from
water (hydor) and rain (hysai); Dionysus also they call Hyes since he is lord of
the nature of moisture; and he is no other than Osiris.” 8

Moisture from the heavens was equivalent to a divine emission that fertilized the
earth. The sun or sky was considered the male, or active part; the earth was
represented as female and as the passive part. “The bright sky,” Aeschylus says,
“loves to penetrate the earth; the earth on her part, aspires to the heavenly
marriage. Rain falling from the watery sky impregnates the earth, and she
produces for mortals pastures of the flocks, and the gifts of Ceres.” “The sky,”
Plutarch says, “appeared to perform the functions of a father, as the earth those
of a mother. The sky was the father, for it cast seed into the bosom of the earth,
which on receiving them became fruitful and brought forth, and was the mother.”

In the creation myth of Hephaestus and Athena the semen from the gods in the
heavens impregnates the earth (Gaia) below. Hephaestus ejaculates his fiery
semen over Athena who casts it down upon earth, so impregnating it. Human life
is therefore formed by the Demiurge, Hephaestus or Vulcan, moulding his
creations from the fiery heat. “She (Athena) founded your city a thousand years
before ours, receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus the seed of your race…” 9

Semen then is the moisture containing the hot aether from the fire of creation.
The primordial fire contains the hot breath, the pneuma of the semen, forged by
the Demiurge, Hephaestus. “He (Hephaestus) began by making a large and
heavy shield, which he decorated all over and round which he placed a bright
triple rim of gleaming metal and fitted with a silver shoulder-strap. The shield
consisted of five layers, and he made all sorts of decorations for it, executed with
consummate skill. He made earth, sky and sea, the tireless sun, the full moon
and all the constellations with which the skies are crowned, the Pleiades, the
Hyades, great Orion and the Bear, also called the wagon. This is the only
constellation never to bathe in Ocean Stream, but always wheels round in the
same place and looks across at Orion the Hunter with a wary eye.” 10

III
“When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and
hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground.” (Exodus 9:23)

“It is related in our Annals, that by certain sacred rites and imprecations, thunder-
storms may be compelled or invoked. There is an old report in Etruria, that
thunder was invoked by King Porsenna. And L. Piso, a very respectable author,
states in the first book of his Annals, that this had been frequently done before
his time by Numa, and that Tullus Hostilius, imitating him, but not having properly
performed the ceremonies, was struck with the lightning. We have also groves,
and altars, and sacred places, and, among the titles of Jupiter, as Stator, Tonans,
and Feretrius, we have a Jupiter Elicius...To believe that we can command nature
is the mark of a bold mind…”11

The cult of Jupiter Elicius is associated with the belief that humans could
command lightning from the heavens. This phenomenon appears to derive its
origin from Egyptian practises that attempted to attract lightning strikes on their
architectural edifices.

The pyramidia or capstones of Egyptian pyramids were the apex of the structures
and were the closest point of contact between humans and thunderbolts thrown
towards earth. They were coated in conductive metals such as gold leaf or
electrum.
Obelisks were also surmounted by pyramidia and formed the tallest structures
framing the entrance to Egyptian temples. These were the structures that
humans devised to bring down lightning from the gods.

Electrum is an alloy of silver and gold and was used to cover the pyramidions
(capstones) of the pyramids and obelisks of ancient Egypt. The adornment of
buildings with electrum in antiquity is attested by Homer. “In all gold ore there is
some silver, in varying proportions...An artificial electrum, too, is made, by mixing
silver with gold...Electrum, too, was highly esteemed in ancient times, as we
learn from the testimony of Homer, who represents the palace of Menelaus as
refulgent with gold and electrum, silver and ivory.” 12

In the recent excavation of the Old Kingdom Sahure pyramid complex limestone
reliefs were discovered depicting the construction of the pyramid. The inscription
describes the pyramidion (capstone) as being covered in electrum.

The adornment of the summits of these tall structures with conductive metals
such as electrum created a highly alluring target for lightning strikes. This would
have created a sacred bond by binding the actions of the gods with the structures
of humans.

The Pyramid Texts clearly refer to lightning and it appears that the pharaoh was
carried up into the heavens by the action of lightning striking the tall edifices that
were designed for this purpose.

Utterance 261
Unas is he who burns before the wind to the limits of heaven, to the limits of
earth, as soon as the hands of Lightning are emptied of Unas.
Unas stands on the East side of the vault of heaven and what rises to the road
(of heaven) is brought to him.

Utterance 247
To the lord of the storm, wrath is forbidden when he carries you.
It is he who will carry Atum.

Utterance 313
The phallus of Babi is pulled out (lock of door), the doors of the sky are open.
The doors of the sky are locked, (the way leads) over the fire glow,
under that which assembles the gods.
What lets every Horus glide through will also let Unas glide through,
over the fire glow, under that which assemble the gods.
They make a way for Unas that Unas may pass along it.

Thus the soul of Unas traverses the air and passes over the earth. The hands of
the lightning make a path and allow the human to ascend towards the doors of
the sky. The lightning thrown by the gods is the path to immortality. “Unas
traverses the air and passes over the earth. He kisses the Red Crowns as one
hurled by a god.” (Utterance 261)

That the obelisks were struck by lightning and that these events were considered
significant is attested by the record of the lightning strike on the obelisk in the
Circus Maximus. By order of Constantius Augustus an obelisk was transported
from Egypt and erected in the Circus Maximus in Rome. Ammianus Marcellinus
documented this event.

The obelisk “was gradually drawn up on high through the empty air, and after
hanging for a long time, while many thousand men turned wheels resembling
millstones, it was finally placed in the middle of the circus and capped by a
bronze globe gleaming with gold leaf; this was immediately struck by a bolt of the
divine fire and therefore removed and replaced by a bronze figure of a torch,
likewise overlaid with gold foil and glowing like a mass of flame.” 13

In ancient Rome the stone, object or place struck by lightning was defined as
sacred. The Puteal Libonis in the Roman forum was a shrine marking a location
that had been struck by lightning. The space was defined as a bidental and was
tended by priests who affirmed its sacred category by sacrificing sheep there.

Seneca suggests that the sacred lightning could be brought down from the
heavens through entreaties to Jupiter. Humans could “summon or, to use a more
polite word, invite Jupiter to share a sacrificial feast with us. If he happens to be
angry with his host when he is invited, then his coming, Caecina says, is fraught
with danger to his entertainers.”14

Livy also describes the way humans by invoking sacred rites could bring down
lightning from the heavens. “Tradition records that the king, whilst examining the
commentaries of Numa, found there a description of certain sacrificial rites paid
to Jupiter Elicius: he withdrew into privacy whilst occupied with these rites, but
their performance was marred by omissions or mistakes. Not only was no sign
from heaven vouchsafed to him, but the anger of Jupiter was roused by the false
worship rendered to him, and he burnt up the king and his house by a stroke of
lightning.”15
The place or building that was struck by lightning thrown by the god assumed a
sacred status. Lightning was a manifestation of heavenly phenomena that
included meteorite strikes. Pliny draws parallels between meteorites and stones
that had been struck by lightning and consequently attained magical powers.

“Sotacus mentions also two other varieties of ceraunia, one black and the other
red; and he says that they resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and
round, he says, are looked upon as sacred, and by their assistance cities and
fleets are attacked and taken...They make out also that there is another kind
rarely to be met with, and much in request for the practises of magic, it never
being found in any place but one that has been struck by lightning.” 16

Thus when a specific location had been struck by lightning from the god then a
circular barrier was to be constructed around the sacred location and the space
above left open to the heavens. “Furthermore, it is said that Numa built the
temple of Vesta, where the perpetual fire was kept, of a circular form, not in
imitation of the shape of the earth, believing Vesta to be the earth, but of the
entire universe, at the centre of which the Pythagoreans place the element of fire,
and call it Vesta and Unit. And they hold that the earth is neither motionless nor
situated in the centre of surrounding space, but that it revolves in a circle around
the central fire, not being one of the most important, nor even one of the primary
elements of the universe.”17

This architectural format followed archaic instructions that laid out procedures
governing the sanctity of a location struck by lightning. These specified that the
space penetrated by the lightning strike should remain open to the heavens to
propitiate the gods. Hence the Pantheon in Rome has a large oculus that is open
to the sky.

The original building on the site of the Pantheon was struck by lightning and
destroyed in 110 CE. Orosius records that “lightning struck and burned the
Pantheon at Rome.” The new construction in the reign of Hadrian was designed
to commemorate this thunderbolt that had been hurled by the gods.

The Pantheon was therefore constructed on new foundations as a huge circular

drum that encased the area that had been struck by the lightning. The change in
the architectural format from a rectangular to a circular form reflects the new
purpose of the reconstructed building. In commemoration of the lightning that had
struck its predecessor the interior of the dome was originally gilded so reflecting
the celestial fire that the building celebrated.
By striking a specific location with lightning the gods defined a sacred space that
was their own. The space was contained by the circular confining drum of the
walls. Above these the open oculus allowed the god to enter and occupy the
space that the deity itself had chosen by striking it with lightning.

This then is the architectural genesis of the Pantheon that is defined by its
circular form and oculus that is open to the sky. Lightning also determined the
architecture of the Erectheion in Athens. The temple, adjacent to the Parthenon,
has a space in the roof of a porch that is open to the sky. This is bound to the
myth that Erechtheus was struck by lightning thrown by Zeus.

As in the Pantheon the space that was deliberately inserted into the roof
structure expresses the belief that the location struck by lightning should be left
open to the heavens. Beneath the aperture in the roof there is a gap in the
paving of the floor showing the rock beneath and so marking the specific location
of the lightning strike.

These structures celebrate the purifying celestial fire that came from the domain
of the gods. It was reasoned that as lightning was the pure fire of the gods it
purified the mortal bodies of the humans that were struck. The celestial fire also
allowed the humans that survived the strike to transcend their mortality and
achieve heroic status. The thunderbolt conferred a divine status on its victim.
“For no one who has been struck by a thunderbolt is without honour, wherefore
he is revered even as a god.”18

The ideas behind the sacred architecture that enclosed and protected the space
struck by lightning from the profane world were also applied to human victims.
Humans that were killed by the celestial fire acquired an incorruptible sacred
status. Like the place that had been struck the human body had to be fenced
around and left open to the sky. Plutarch informs us that there was a general
belief that the bodies of those killed by lightning never putrefy.

“But that which is most wonderful, and which everybody knows, is this - the
bodies of those that are killed by lightning never putrefy. For many neither burn
nor bury such bodies, but let them lie above ground with a fence about them, so
that every one may see they remain uncorrupted...And I believe brimstone is
called divine, because its smell is like that fiery offensive scent which rises from
bodies that are thunderstruck. And I suppose that, because of this scent, dogs
and birds will not prey on such carcasses.” 19
This belief also explains the ancient Egyptian desire to attract lightning to their
pyramids, temples, obelisks and funerary monuments. The purifying celestial fire
of the gods rendered the mortal bodies of humans incorruptible. The lightning
additionally laid out a burning forked path that allowed the purified body to
ascend to the stars.

“It is not generally known, what has been discovered by men who are most
eminent for their learning, in consequence of their assiduous observations of the
heavens, that the fires which fall upon the earth, and receive the name of
thunderbolts, proceed from the three superior stars, but principally from the one
which is situated in the middle. It may perhaps depend on the superabundance of
moisture from the superior orbit communicating with the heat from the inferior,
which are expelled in this manner; and hence it is commonly said, the
thunderbolts are darted by Jupiter. And as, in burning wood, the burnt part is cast
off with a crackling noise, so does the star throw off this celestial fire, bearing the
omens of future events…”20

IV
"Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut
off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (Genesis 17:14)

“...the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris’ army. I
myself guessed it...but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and
Ethiopians are the only nations that have from the first practised circumcision.
The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine acknowledge that they learned the
custom from the Egyptians, and the Syrians of the valleys of the Thermodon and
the Parthenius, as well as their neighbours the Macrones, say they learned it
lately from the Colchians. These are the only nations that circumcise, and it it is
seen that they do just as the Egyptians.”21
Herodotus here provides one of the first historical accounts of the practise of
circumcision. He explicitly states that the origin of circumcision arose amongst
the Egyptians and from there spread across the region. This is confirmed by
Strabo who states that the Jews learned the practise from the Egyptians.

“One of the customs most zealously observed among the Aegyptians is this, that
they rear every child that is born, and circumcise the males, and excise the
females, as is also customary among the Jews, who are also Aegyptians in
origin, as I have already stated in my account of them.” 22

The practise of circumcision in Egypt is documented by depictions in temples and

funerary monuments (Fifth Dynasty Djedkare funerary temple, Sixth Dynasty
tomb of Ankhmahor in Saqqara, Nineteenth or Twentieth Dynasty temple of
Khonsu the Child in Karnak). Circumcision also forms part of the seventeenth
spell of the Book of the Dead.

Because of the exhortation in the bible to create an Abrahamic Covenant with the
deity circumcision was adopted by the Christians. The clear command was to
form a covenant that bound the initiates with God and the tribal ancestors. The
practise was then fused with the rites of the emerging Islamic religion. The
geographic spread of the circumcision rite indicates that a common cultural belief
lies beneath these major monotheistic religions.

Strabo’s description of the peoples practising circumcision are preceded by a

passage describing a period of Egyptian imperial expansion. The text related to
circumcision should therefore be seen in this context. “The straits are formed
towards Aethiopia by a promontory called Deire, and by a town bearing the same
name, which is inhabited by the Ichthyophagi. And here, it is said, there is a pillar
of Sesostris the Aegyptian, which tells in hieroglyphics of his passage across the
gulf; for manifestly he was the first man to subdue the countries of the
Aethiopians and the Troglodytes; and he then crossed into Arabia, and thence
invaded the whole of Asia; and actually, for this reason, there are in many places
palisades of Sesostris, as they are called, and reproductions of temples of
Aegyptian gods.”23

Herodotus also refers to the pillars erected by Sesostris. The area of his
conquest was defined by these pillars. That they were phallic in nature is clear
from the text of Herodotus. “Leaving the latter aside, then, I shall speak of the
king who came after them, whose name was Sesostris. This king, the priests
said, set out with a fleet of long ships from the Arabian Gulf and subjugated all
those living by the Red Sea, until he came to a sea which was too shallow for his
vessels. After returning from there back to Egypt, he gathered a great army
(according to the account of the priests) and marched over the mainland,
subjugating every nation to which he came. When those that he met were valiant
men and strove hard for freedom, he set up pillars in their land, the inscription on
which showed his own name and his country’s, and how he had overcome them
with his own power…”24

The practise of circumcision seems to cover the same geographic area as this
ancient empire. Much later religions adopted the practise and absorbed it into
their rituals. The ancient origins were explained as the Abrahamic Covenant and
via this route the practise lasted into the present day.

“The age of Rameses is uncertain; but the generality of modern chronologers

suppose that he was the same person Sesostris, and reigned at Thebes about
1500 years before the Christian era, and about 300 before the Siege of Troy.
Their dates are however merely conjectural, when applied to events of this
remote antiquity. The Egyptian priests of the Augustan age had a tradition, which
they pretended to confirm by records written in hieroglyphics, that their country
had once possessed the dominion of all Asia and Ethiopia, which their king
Ramses, or Rameses, had conquered. Though this account may be
exaggerated, there can be no doubt, from the buildings still remaining, but that
they were once at the head of a great empire…” 25

The geographic area of this ancient empire corresponds to the crucible of

circumcision practises revealing an ancient rite of passage that leads into
modern times. Underneath these major monotheistic religions lies the ancient rite
of circumcision. The geographic spread of this practise appears to be associated
with an empire attributed by the ancient historians to Sesostris.

“Ancestors, give me your hands,

I am the one who comes to be among you.
What does it mean?
It is the blood falling from the phallus of Ra when he ended by cutting it himself,
turning into the ancestral gods,
it is Ra, it is Hu and Sia who are in the following of their father Atum in the course
of every day.”
(Book of the Dead - Chapter 17)
V
“This stone (the Black Stone) that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite
whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabar.” (John of Damascus)

In reference to the shrine of Astarte at Byblos, and her cult there, Philo of Byblos
states that “Astarte set the head of a bull upon her head as a mark of royalty; and
in travelling round the world she found a star that had fallen from the sky, which
she took up and consecrated in the holy island of Tyre. And the Phoenicians say
that Astarte is Aphrodite.”26

Aphrodite was represented by a black conical stone that was believed to be

animated by the spirit of the goddess. The black baetyl was believed to be a
meteorite that had come from the stars and to be a gift from the gods. ‘Baetyl’
derives from the Semitic languages and literally means ‘the house of god.’

A coin from Emesa clearly shows the conical Baetyl of El-Gabal. Herodian says
that the shrine containing the sacred conical stone was dedicated to the sun god
and was worshipped under the Phoenician name of El-Gabal. A great temple was
erected to this god and lavishly decorated in gold and silver.

“No statue made by man in the likeness of the god stands in this temple, as in
Greek and Roman temples, the temple does, however, contain a huge black
stone with a pointed end and round base in the shape of a cone. The
Phoenicians solemnly maintain that this stone came from Zeus; pointing out
certain small figures in relief, they assert that it is an unwraught image of the sun,
for naturally this is what they wish to see.”27

Some of the baetyls were carved to make them more anthropomorphic. The cult
object at Ephesus was believed to have been carved from a meteorite. The
Nabataeans similarly carved baetyls to emphasize certain cult features. Where
the baetyl was believed to be a meteorite it was considered to be a manifestation
of the power of the god now incorporated on the terrestrial plane.
Plutarch describes the tearing away of heavenly bodies from the revolving aether
of the heavens. He further describes the plunge of the heavenly bodies to earth
demonstrating the ancient fascination with the phenomenon of meteorites.

“...for according to the common belief, a stone of vast size had fallen from
heaven at Aegospotami, and it is shown to this day by the dwellers in the
Chersonese, who hold it in reverence. Anaxagoras is said to have predicted that
if the heavenly bodies should be loosened by some slip or shake, one of them
might be torn away, and might plunge and fall down to earth; and he said that
none of the stars was in its original position; for being of stone, and heavy, their
shining light is caused by friction with the revolving aether, and they are forced
along in fixed orbits by the whirling impulse which gave them their circular
motion, and this was what prevented them from falling to our earth in the first
place, when cold and heavy bodies were separated from universal matter.” 28

Thus the baetyl was the body of a star that enclosed the spirit of the deity. Pliny
describes the baetyls as sacred objects with supernatural powers. “Sotacus
mentions also two other varieties of ceraunia, one black and the other red; and
he says that they resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he
says, are looked upon as sacred, and by their assistance cities and fleets are
attacked and taken: the name given to them is baetyli, those of an elongated
form being known as cerauniae. They make out also that there is another kind,
rarely to be met with, and much in request for the practises of magic, it never
being found in any place but one that has been struck by lightning.” 29

These sacred objects functioned as a medium between the gods and humans
and contained the living gods. The stones were thus animated by the spirits of
the gods and functioned as a type of extraterrestrial relic that contained magical
powers. The Phoenicians believed that the god Uranus devised the baetyls and
contrived to put life into the stones.

Uranus, the god of the vault of the heavens, sent the meteorites or baetyls as
gifts to humans on earth. Urania, the daughter of Uranus, also symbolized the
heavens and by extension these sacred stones. She was combined with
Aphrodite to form a deity that encapsulated the qualities of the fallen stars.

Aphrodite Urania was worshipped across Asia Minor. The Nabataeans

considered her as the direct equivalent of the goddess al-’Uzza. She formed a
triad of goddesses worshipped at the pre-Islamic shrine at Mecca.
This triad sometimes formed a syncretism with al-Lat, one of the other
goddesses, who shared qualities with al-’Uzza. This enabled the triad to be
simply referred to as al-Lat, the generic name for goddess. Herodotus considered
that al-Lat was the equivalent of Aphrodite. “The Assyrian name for Aphrodite is
Mylitta, and the Arab name Alilat (al-Lat); the Persians call her Mitra.” 30

The great moon goddess of the Phoenicians was Ashtoreth. She was the
equivalent of the Assyro / Babylonian deity Ishtar and was the great goddess of
love and fertility. The Greeks called Ashtoreth by the name Astarte and
considered her the same as Aphrodite.

All of these identities were represented by the morning / evening star which is the
visible evidence of the path of the planet Venus. The worship of this star
suggests that al-’Uzza is associated with a wider fertility cult. Consequently
al-’Uzza was subsumed into the cult that was spread across a greater
geographic region.

This is confirmed by the importance of the morning and evening stars to the cult
of al-’Uzza. John of Damascus writes about the idolatrous rites of Mecca linking
the morning star to the goddess worshipped there. “These used to be idolaters
and worshipped the morning star and Aphrodite, whom in their own language
they called Khabar, which means great.”31

The Black Stone in the Kaaba is linked to the worship of these deities and this
worship also perfectly synchronizes with the Satanic Verses of the Qur’an. These
are the verses that Satan was said to have cast onto the tongue of Muhammad
and therefore to have contaminated the Qur’an. They seek the intercession of the
three pagan goddesses.

“Have ye thought upon al-Lat and al-’Uzza

and Manat the third, the other?
These are the exalted gharaniq
whose intercession is hoped for.”

‘Gharaniq’ is usually interpreted as meaning cranes. The last two lines of these
satanic words have been expunged from the Qur’an. They are said to be the
chanted invocation of the Quraysh as they made the seven ritual
circumambulations of the Kaaba and the Black Stone.
The worship of al-’Uzza is now a heresy and her shrine was destroyed in 630
CE. The worship of the Black Stone or Aphrodite is still however a central
component of the contemporary rites of Islam:

“Then God sent down the revelation. ‘By the star when it sets! Your companion
has not erred or gone astray, and does not speak from mere fancy…’ When he
reached God’s words, ‘Have you seen al-Lat and al-’Uzza and Manat, the third,
the other?’ Satan cast upon his tongue, because of what he had pondered in
himself and longed to bring to his people, ‘These are the high-flying cranes and
their intercession is hoped for.’”32

This intercession is sought by the worshippers of the Black Stone at Mecca, the
“head” of the satanic al-’Uzza / Aphrodite. The high-flying cranes symbolize these
sacred stones that either traverse or have fallen from the heavens.

An influential Persian text, The Dabistan, relates that “they also say that among
the images and statues left in the Kaaba by Mahabad and his renowned
successors, one is the Black Stone, the emblem of Saturn. They also say that the
prophet of Arabia worshipped the seven planets, and he therefore left
undisturbed the Black Stone or Saturn’s emblem, which had remained since the
time of the Abadian dynasty; but that he broke or carried away the other figures
introduced by the Kuraish, and which were not formed according to the images of
the stars.”33

In this passage The Dabistan says that “the prophet of Arabia worshipped the
seven planets” and also states unequivocally that the Black Stone is “the emblem
of Saturn.”

Therefore the worship of the Kaaba and the Black Stone revolves around the
worship of Saturn. This planet had a unique status in antiquity as the furthest of
the visible planets from the earth. The path traced by Saturn across the heavens
took approximately thirty years and the planet was seen as the ultimate
determinant of human history.

Saturn was the seventh of the known celestial bodies of the solar system (the
sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and is represented by the
seven circumambulations of the Kaaba. “The sun and moon and five other stars,
which are called the planets, were created by him in order to distinguish and
preserve the numbers of time; and when he had made their several bodies, he
placed them in the orbits in which the circle of the other was revolving in seven
orbits seven stars.”34
“It is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest, and therefore appears the
smallest, that he passes through the largest circuit, and that he is at least thirty
years in completing it.”35

“But above all in importance, they (the Chaldeans) say, is the study of the
influence of the five stars known as planets, which they call ‘Interpreters’ when
speaking of them as a group, but if referring to them singly, the one named
Cronus (Saturn) by the Greeks, which is the most conspicuous and presages
more events and such as are of greater importance than the others, they call the
star of Helius, whereas the other four they designate as the stars of Ares,
Aphrodite, Hermes, and Zeus (Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter), as do our
astrologers. The reason why they call them ‘Interpreters’ is that whereas all the
other stars are fixed and follow a singular circuit in a regular course, these alone,
by virtue of following each its own course, point out future events, thus
interpreting to mankind the design of the gods.” 36

“Others maintain that they do this in honour of Saturn, either because their
religious principles are derived from the Idaei, who are supposed to have been
driven out with Saturn and become the ancestors of the Jewish people; or else
because, of the seven stars which govern the lives of men, the star of Saturn
moves in the topmost orbit and exercises the mightiest influence, and also
because most of the heavenly bodies move round their courses in multiples of
seven.”37

The Black Stone then is a pagan entity and as such the rites connected with it
are those of pagan celestial worship. These rites invest the stone with the status
of an idol that celebrates the path of the stars.

The Dabistan states that the Black Stone is the emblem of Saturn and also states
that the colour that symbolically represents Saturn is black. Black is the colour of
the Kiswah that is wrapped around the Kaaba and covers the shrine. “It is stated
in the Akhtaristan, that the image of the regent Saturn was cut out of black
stone...His temple was also of black stone…”38

Like the Black Stone the high-flying cranes were the emblems of Saturn and
represent the movements of celestial bodies. “Amongst birds those are
Saturnine, which have long necks, and harsh voices, as Cranes, Estriches
(ostriches), and Peacocks, which are dedicated to Saturn and Juno.” 39
The meteorites are the seed of the gods (or supreme deity) cast upon the earth.
The Dabistan refers to the Black Stone of Mecca as “the symbol of male energy”
and is “the symbol of female productiveness.” This male energy is clearly
referred to as a force of human fertility.

“In the Kabah and in the idol temple is his stone the symbol of male energy, and
his is the symbol of female productiveness; in one place it is the Black Stone of
the temple of Mecca; in another place an idol of the Hindus.” 40

Therefore the Black Stone is the emblem of Saturn cast down upon the earth as
a gift from the heavens and worshipped as a symbol of the universal procreative
energy.

“He says that before the stone fell, for seventy-five days continually, there was
seen in the heavens a fiery body of vast size, as if it had been a flaming cloud,
not resting in one place, but moving along with intricate and irregular motions, so
that fiery fragments, broken from it by its plunging and erratic course, were
carried in all directions and flashed fire, just as shooting stars do.” 41

VI
“As to the superstition of the Eleusinian Mysteries, what they conceal is the
shame of them. Therefore they make the admission tortuous, take time in the
initiation, set a seal on the tongue, and instruct the epoptae for five years, to
raise a high opinion of them by delay and expectation. But all the divinity in the
sacred domes, the whole of what they aspire to, what sealeth the tongue, is this:
simulacrum membri virilis revelatur. But for a cover of their sacrilege, they
pretend these figures are only a mystical representation of venerable nature.”
(Tertullian)

On the Day of Blood, during the rites of Attis, the Galli castrated themselves in a
frenzy of ecstasy and offered the severed parts to the goddess. These parts were
symbolized by the pomegranate with its blood-red flesh that encased the multiple
seeds.

“These broken instruments of fertility were afterwards wrapt up and buried in the
earth or in subterranean chambers sacred to Cybele, where, like the offering of
blood, they may have been deemed instrumental in recalling Attis to life and
hastening the general resurrection of nature, which was then bursting into leaf
and blossom in the vernal sunshine. Some confirmation of this conjecture is
furnished by the savage story that the mother of Attis conceived by putting in her
bosom a pomegranate sprung from the severed genitals of a man-monster
named Agdestis, a sort of double Attis.” 42

The vernal equinox of spring marked the resurrection of Attis from the
underworld. Human fertility is linked with the process of nature’s cycle of decay
and rebirth. This is the basis for human resurrection in the rites that were
performed in Eleusis.

The pomegranate formed a central part of the Eleusinian Mysteries where the
concept of natural mortality is followed by resurrection in the spring. In these
myths Persephone consumes pomegranate seed and is compelled to inhabit the
underworld for the duration of the gestation of the seed.

In the archaic ‘Hymn to Demeter’ the goddess demands to know if Persephone

has tasted the food of the underworld during her imprisonment there:

“...but if you have tasted food, you must go back again beneath the secret places
of the earth, there to dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two
parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods. But when the earth
shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm
of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a wonder for gods
and mortal men...Then beautiful Persephone answered her thus...he secretly put
in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my
will.”

Thus in the Eleusinian Mysteries the pomegranate is equated with human fertility
and represents the vial containing human seed. The concepts of violent
castration and resurrection also formed part of the myths of Dionysus. These
relate that, in similar fashion to Osiris, the body of the god was brutally torn apart.
From the blood shed by the act pomegranates spring to life.
“Pomegranates were supposed to have sprung from the blood of Dionysus, as
anemones from the blood of Adonis and violets from the blood of Attis: hence
women refrained from eating seeds of pomegranates at the festival of
Thesmophoria.”43

The pomegranate came to symbolize the rituals of Attis and Dionysus and
pomegranate seeds formed the core of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The
pomegranates are linked in concept to the symbolism of the lily-formed columns
of Egyptian temples. The architectural form of the column capital with the lily
flower in an open or closed state was intrinsic to Egyptian temples. The stalk of
the plant was represented by the shaft of the column.

The Nymphaea caerulea water lily (often referred to as the blue lotus) was
sacred to Egyptian myth. The flower tracked the course of the sun by opening in
the morning and closing at night. It visually represented the sun in the sky by
being constructed with a yellow centre contrasting with a surround of blue petals.
By being both immersed in water and blooming above the surface the plant
symbolized an existence both in the temporal and underworld realms.

“For everything pertaining to the lotos (lotus), both the forms in the leaves and
the appearance of the seed, is observed to be circular. This very energy is akin to
the unique circle-like motion of the mind, manifesting it in like manner according
to the same forms, in a single arrangement, and according to one principle.” 44

The psychoactive properties of the Nymphaea caerulea were used in the temple
rites to gain access to a passage to the afterlife. The water lily was evidently food
for the gods since depictions in Egyptian temples show the lily being offered to
the gods and suggest that it was consumed in the afterlife. The Nymphaea
caerulea is believed to be the lotus that is referred to by Homer in the Odyssey.

“...what they did was to give them some lotus to taste, and as soon as each had
eaten the honeyed fruit of the plant, all thoughts of reporting to us or escaping
were banished from his mind. All they now wished for was to stay where they
were with the Lotus-eaters, to browse on the lotus, and to forget that they had a
home to return to.”

At Hierapolis the castration rituals were performed before the monumental phallic
pillars that stood in front of the temple. Their dual presence linked the
monumental phallic forms to the castration rituals of the eunuch priests. The two
giant phalli framed the entrance to the temple.
“In this entrance those phalli stand which Dionysus erected: they stand thirty
fathoms high. Onto one of these a man mounts twice every year, and he abides
on the summit of the phallus for the space of seven days. The reason of this
ascent is given as follows: the people believe that the man who is aloft holds
converse with the gods, and prays for good fortune for the whole of Syria, and
that the gods from their neighbourhood hear his prayers.” 45

The pomegranate as the metaphorical container of human seed can be

compared to Egyptian temple columns whose lily-shaped capitals also encase
the human seed. In these temples the phallic columnar forms based on the water
lily contained in their bulbous capitals the seeds of creative generation.

“...from under the body of the serpent springs the lotus or water lily...The figures
of Isis, upon the Isiac Table, hold the stem of this plant, surmounted by the seed-
vessel in one hand, and the cross, representing the male organs of generation, in
the other; thus signifying the universal power, both active and passive, attributed
to that goddess. On the same Isiac Table is also the representation of an
Egyptian temple, the columns of which are exactly like the plant which Isis holds
in her hand, except that the stem is made larger, in order to give it that stability
which is necessary to support a roof and entablature. Columns and capitals of
the same kind are still existing, in great numbers, among the ruins of Thebes, in
Egypt…”46

In this Arcadian garden infused with the spirit of Dionysus / Osiris and Pan
existed the fauns and satyrs. Part human and part animal the satyrs were formed
with the legs and hooves of the goat with an equine tail and an equine phallus.
By being part human the satyrs allowed the human mind to gain access to this
archaic magical world.

“These mixed beings are derived from Pan, the principle of universal order; of
whose personified image they partake. Pan is addressed in the Orphic Litanies
as the first-begotten love, or creator incorporated in universal matter, and so
forming the world. The heaven, the earth, water, and fire are said to be members
of him; and he is described as the origin and source of all things, as representing
matter animated by the Divine Spirit.” 47

It was these entities that witnessed the slaying and dismemberment of Osiris and
communicated the event to the world. They are thus inextricably bound to his cult
and gave to us the concept of human panic.
“According to legend it was Isis which was responsible for the phallic worship of
Osiris. After killing Osiris his brother Typhon dismembered the body and
scattered the various parts around Egypt...The first to learn of the deed and to
bring to men’s knowledge an account of what had been done were the Pans and
Satyrs who lived in the region around Chemmis, and so, even to this day, the
sudden confusion and consternation of a crowd is called a panic…” 48

The image of the phallus relates back to Osiris and the myth of his death and
resurrection. In Egyptian myth Typhon divided the body of Osiris into multiple
parts and scattered them. Plutarch explains why the phallus of Osiris became the
object of veneration. “Of the parts of Osiris’s body the only one which Isis did not
find was the male member...But Isis made a replica of the member to take its
place, and consecrated the phallus, in honour of which the Egyptians even at the
present day celebrate a festival.”49

Plutarch states that everywhere the Egyptians worshipped the phallus of Osiris
and that this veneration was associated with the power of the sun. “Everywhere
they point out statues of Osiris in human form of the ithyphallic type, on account
of his creative and fostering power; and they clothe his statues in a flame-
coloured garment, since they regard the body of the Sun as a visible
manifestation of the perceptible substance of the power for good.” 50

This idea is contained in the oil lamps that have been excavated from Pompeii
which display a phallic form with the flame arising from the head of the phallus.
The oil lamps show an association between the flame of the burning oil and the
phallic form.

In the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii the images are interpreted as illustrating a
Dionysian ceremony and potentially referring to the Eleusinian Mysteries. The
revelation of the mysteries revolves around the unveiling of the phallus. Also
revealed is the mystica vannus, the winnowing fan or basket, that formed part of
the Eleusinian Mysteries. This separated the corn from the chaff and functioned
as a metaphor for the capture of human seed.

“It was from producing this separation, that the universal Bacchus, or double
Apollo, the creator and destroyer, whose essence was fire, was also called the
purifier, by a metaphor taken from the winnow, which purified the corn from the
dust and chaff, as fire purified the soul from its terrestrial pollutions. Hence this
instrument is called by Virgil the mystic winnow of Bacchus.” 51
The unveiling of the phallus is the central depiction at the end of the series of
images in the Villa of Mysteries. The generating and purifying power of the sun is
contained in the body of the phallus. Its erect form is the pure expression of the
element of fire.

Fire is emblematic of the sun and infuses the form of the phallus. The path of the
sun starts with its resurrection at the beginning of every day and its decline into a
state of repose at the end. The shape-shifting nature of the phallus must have
held a magical fascination for humans from the earliest dawn of their existence.
This was related to the procreative power of the sun.

“In the sacred hymns of Osiris they call upon him who is hidden in the arms of
the Sun...On the waning of the month Phaophi they conduct the birthday of the
Staff of the Sun following upon the autumnal equinox, and by this they declare,
as it were, that he is in need of support and strength, since he becomes lacking
in warmth and light, and undergoes decline, and is carried away from us to one
side.”52

In this garden of unearthly delights the phallus formed of blood and fire forms the
central pillar of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Fire was the element that was
embodied by the phallus.

Therefore “we remark that the planting of ‘phallic images’ is a special

representing of the procreative power by conventional symbols, and that we
regard this practise as an invocation to the generative energy of the universe. On
this account many of these images are consecrated in the spring, when all the
world is receiving from the gods the prolific force of the whole creation.” 53

VII
“...the brightest part is called the aether." (Plato - Timaeus)
During the phallic rites of Attis the Galli castrated themselves thereby offering
themselves in sacrifice to the deity. This sacred ritual is documented by Lucian.
“As the Galli sing and celebrate their orgies, frenzy falls on many of them and
many who had come as mere spectators afterwards are found to have committed
the great act. I will narrate what they do. Any young man who has resolved on
this action, strips off his clothes, and with a loud shout bursts into the midst of the
crowd, and picks up a sword from a number of swords which I suppose have
been kept ready for many years for this purpose. He takes it and castrates
himself and runs wild through the city, bearing in his hands what he has cut off.” 54

Thus the act of castration is exemplified as the ultimate form of sacrifice to the
deity. The human phallus, as the creative and generative principle of the
individual human, is sacrificed to the supreme creative force that infuses all
matter. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, as in those of Vesta, the celestial phallus is
the central component of the revelation. The foaming clusters of stars are the
source of all creation.

“...their shining light is caused by friction with the revolving aether, and they are
forced along in fixed orbits by the whirling impulse which gave them their circular
motion, and this was what prevented them from falling to our earth in the first
place, when cold and heavy bodies were separated from universal matter.” 55

Uranus, the god of the vault of the heavens, sent meteorites or baetyls as gifts to
humans on earth. Urania, the daughter of Uranus, also symbolized these sacred
stones. She was combined with Aphrodite to form a deity that encapsulated the
qualities of the fallen stars. According to Philo of Byblos "Astarte set the head of
a bull upon her head as a mark of royalty; and in travelling round the world she
found a star that had fallen from the sky, which she took up and consecrated in
the holy island of Tyre. And the Phoenicians say that Astarte is Aphrodite."

The path of the falling stars across the heavens left a trail of shining celestial
foam. Hesiod states that Aphrodite Urania was born in this foam that spread from
the castration of Uranus.

“And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the
land into the surging sea, and they were swept away over the main a long time;
and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there
grew a maiden...Her gods and men call Aphrodite and the foam-born goddess
and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam…” 56
Therefore this shining aetherial foam represented the ejaculatory trace of the
gods in the night sky. This is the vision contained in the Derveni Papyrus where it
states that the deity “ingested the phallus that first procreated the aether.” The
ancients believed, as is still the contemporary belief, that the genesis of human
life lay in the foaming clusters of stars that they perceived in the heavens. The
phallus of the deity that first created this foaming starry aether was related to the
human phallus through its magical creative power.

An image of this celestial phallus comes to the present day from the Derveni
Papyrus. This phallus formed of the foaming aetherial clouds at the centre of the
universe was replicated by the human phallus which contains a fiery fragment
from the original creation.

“But Daimachus, in his treatise ‘On Religion,’ supports the view of Anaxagoras.
He says that before the stone fell, for seventy-five days continually, there was
seen in the heavens a fiery body of vast size, as if it had been a flaming cloud,
not resting in one place, but moving along with intricate and irregular motions, so
that fiery fragments, broken from it by its plunging and erratic course, were
carried in all directions and flashed fire, just as shooting stars do.” 57

This primordial semen is the moisture containing the hot aether from the fire of
creation. In the Derveni Papyrus the clusters of stars become the foaming
secretion of the deified phallus. The celestial phallus was consequently the
originator of the firmament of stars. "He (the deity) ingested the penis that first
procreated the aether.”58

In this vision the stars become the semen of the gods filling the night sky with a
shining heavenly foam. The foaming clusters of stars are the source for all
creation.

The vision is extended by Hesiod. A white foam spreads around the castrated
phallus and fills the night sky with this shining aetherial foam.

“Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took
the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father’s
members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from
his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and as the
seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with
gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs who they
call Meliae all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the
members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were
swept away over the main a long time; and a white foam spread around them
from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden...Her gods and men call
Aphrodite and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she
grew amid the foam…”59

"The male organs of generation are sometimes found represented by signs of the
same sort, which might properly be called the symbols of symbols. One of the
most remarkable of these is a cross, in the form of the letter T, which thus served
as the emblem of creation and generation, before the church adopted it as the
sign of salvation; a lucky coincidence of ideas, which, without doubt, facilitated
the reception of it among the faithful. To the reresentative of the male organs was
sometimes added a human head, which gives it the exact appearance of a
crucifix..."60

"Ancestors, give me your hands,

I am the one who comes to be among you.
What does it mean?
It is the blood falling from the phallus of Ra when he ended by cutting it himself,
turning into the ancestral gods,
it is Ra, it is Hu and Sia who are in the following of their father Atum in the course
of every day."

(Book of the Dead - Chapter 17)

1. Plato - Timaeus 73
2. Ibid. 91
3. Plutarch - Moralia - Isis and Osiris 33
4. Ibid. 36
5. Ibid. 38
6. Ibid. 34
7. Ibid. 36
8. Ibid. 34
9. Plato - Timaeus 23
10. Homer - The Iliad
11. Pliny - Natural History 2.54
12. Ibid. 33.23
13. Ammianus Marcellinus - Res Gestae 17.4
14. Seneca - Quaestiones Naturales 2.49
15. Livy - History of Rome 1.31
16. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
17. Plutarch - The Life of Numa
18. Artemidorus - Oneirocritica 2.9
19. Plutarch - Quaestiones Convivales 4.2
20. Pliny - Natural History 2.18
21. Herodotus - Histories 2.104
22. Strabo - Geography 17.2.4
23. Ibid. 16.4.4
24. Herodotus - Histories 2.102-103
25. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus
26. Philo of Byblos
27. Herodian - History of the Roman Empire 5.3:4-5
28. Plutarch - Lysander 12.1-2
29. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
30. Herodotus - Histories 1.131
31. John of Damascus - Heresies
32. Al-Tabari - Ta’rikh
33. The Dabistan
34. Plato - Timaeus
35. Pliny - Natural History 2.6
36. Diodorus Siculus - Library of History 2.30
37. Tacitus - Histories 5.4
38. The Dabistan
39. Agrippa - De Occulta
40. The Dabistan
41. Plutarch - Lysander 12.4
42. James Frazer - The Golden Bough
43. Ibid.
44. Iamblichus - Theurgia 7.15
45. Lucian of Samosata - De Dea Syria
46. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus
47. Ibid.
48. Plutarch - Moralia - Isis and Osiris 14
49. Ibid. 18
50. Ibid. 18
51. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus
52. Plutarch - Moralia - Isis and Osiris 52
53. Iamblichus - Theurgia 1.4
54. Lucian of Samosata - De Dea Syria
55. Plutarch - Lysander 12.1-2
56. Hesiod - Theogony
57. Plutarch - Lysander 12.4
58. Derveni Papyrus 13
59. Hesiod - Theogony
60. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus