Worship of Priapus by Poisoned Spoon

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Right now I am reading the Discourse on the Worship of Priapus  and I thought of all of you. You can find the text online as it was originally written in 1786. I am enjoying it because it documents the end of the obvious phallic cults of Calabria in 1780. 

Something that I find particularly interesting is the role of women in the depiction of the Priapus ritual activities. Women are seen making the ex-voto offerings, making the prayers and standing before the deity. While we might be inclined to think of only the vulgar connotations of a woman standing before a statue of a fully erect male body, kissing a small phallic shaped ex-voto and giving it to a priest there was probably a whole lot more going on than hyper-sexuality. 

"Whatever the Greeks and Egyptians meant by the symbol in question, it was certainly nothing ludicrous or licentious; of which we need no other proof, than its having been carried in solemn procession at the celebration of those mysteries in which the first principles of their religion, the knowledge of the God of Nature, the First, the Supreme, the Intellectual, 1 were preserved free from the vulgar superstitions, and communicated, under the strictest oaths of secrecy, to the iniated (initiated); who were obliged to purify themselves, prior to their initiation, by abstaining from venery, and all impure food."

Priapus is/was the God of Creation, Abundance and Civilization; the eternally creative force that pulls life from Chaos. 

"The Creator, delivering the fructified seeds of things from the restraints of inert matter by his divine strength, is represented on innumerable Greek medals by the Urns, or wild Bull, in the act of butting against the Egg of Chaos, and breaking it with his horns."

This quote from the text contains a Latin Hymn to Priapus that I thought noteworthy and a bit of an explanation of the way the god was viewed:

"This general emanation of the pervading Spirit of God, by which all things are generated and maintained, is beautifully described by Virgil, in the following lines:

                        Deum namque ire per omnes
Terrasque, tractusque maris, cœlumque profundum.
Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum,
Quemque sibi tenues nascentum arcessere vitas.
Scilicet huc reddi deinde, ac resoluta referri
Omnia: nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare
Sideris in numerum, atque alto succedere cœlo. 3

The Ethereal Spirit is here described as expanding itself through the universe, and giving life and motion to the inhabitants of earth, water, and air, by a participation of its own essence, each particle of which returned to its native source, at the dissolution of the body which it animated. Hence, not only men, but all animals, and even vegetables, were supposed to be impregnated with some particles of the Divine Nature infused into them, from which their various qualities and dispositions, as well as their powers of propagation, were supposed to be derived." 

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

by SIN
In essence, anything created by god, is god.

Just as the female genitals were perceived as having generative powers, god created this and so this is a representation of the generative powers of god.

The female genitals are represented by a shell, Concha Veneris (veneration of body parts).

I've always liked the Botticellie 'VENUS', I have it on a ceramic platter in my kitchen - to represent the creation power of the sexes. This scene, represents the birth of Venus - and as you can see she is standing in a shell.

I know, that Italian women wear the shell as jewelry or some form of amulet in some cases.

Most of the types I've seen on little old Italian women look like this. Both my aunt and grandmother wore something similar for years, though I'm not entirely sure if they knew the symbolism or just liked the 'sea scape' type stuff. I'll have to make it a point to ask them.
Post-Christianity, the Phallus was represented by the Cross.




*god: I'm using this to represent any 'Divine' personification or ideal.