İnanç Dosyası 5 | Phallicism

Peru – Lima, The National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru. Drum representing a deity, Nasca period, 200 – 600 CE.

Belief in the sanctity of the male sexual organ is known as phallicism. The phallus is seen in both primitive and developed societies as the symbol of fertility. It may also be defined as the adoration of fertility and fecundity, symbolised by sexual organs or the act of sexual intercourse. 

The sexual organ is the subject of worship not for itself but rather because it represents creativity and fertility. Adherents of the phallus cult existed all over the world, from south-east Asia as far as the western regions of the Celtic lands.

Morocco – Roman city Volubilis, 3^rd century

In certain cultures, the objects of worship are models of various sexual organs. In the carnivals celebrating Dionysus of Ancient Greece and Bacchus in Ancient Rome, a model of a giant phallus featured in the parades. Again in Ancient Greece, the nature-god, Priapus, was a deity whose sexual organ was accorded an exaggerated description. It symbolised revitalisation, creativity, plentiful progeny, abundance and fertility. In other words, the entire realm of nature. To the Romans it was the symbol of male potency, eroticism and carnal love. The phallus of Priapus was believed to express defiance of death, and to symbolise the hope of rebirth and return to earth. Even today, the posts driven into the ground in fields are said to hark back to Priapus, and their erection in fields is supposed to fertilise the ground with the aim of bringing prosperity to the land. This is also true of the tall standing-stones the Incas called chichic or huanca, which were set into the soil to ensure a good yield and an abundance of products from all the farm lands. Known as Lord of the Fields and exalted as nobility, the huancas were offered sacrifices especially at seed-sowing time. 

There are many legends about severing the male organ and throwing it into the ground and about the seed from it producing an increase in crops. Priests of Cybele would cut off the male organ and bury it under Cybele's stone in order to fertilise the soil and ensure a high yield. The Jewish and Muslim tradition of circumcision is an extension of this belief and of the belief that the male organ of Adonis was severed, through Attis and Agdistis. In some places in Anatolia, after circumcision, the foreskin is buried in the ground. 

The most important religious services associated with sexuality are those which permit direct sexual intercourse in the belief that this will increase productivity. In Tantric Hinduism, the aim is to arrive at a spiritual purpose by removing all restrictions and permitting sexual intercourse between different castes, thus ensuring a return to the pre-civilisation state of chaos, which, through generating sexual energy, releases creative power. In Hinduism, sexual intercourse symbolises the union of opposites. Like the god Min, of Ancient Egypt, in India also, Shiva is represented by a male organ.

In the Hindu religion, models are worshipped of the sexual organs, symbolising lingam (male) and yoni (female) of the god Shiva and his wife Shakti. Lingam and yoni are generally depicted joined together. In this way, we may say that male and female relations are inseparable for ever, and together they represent the unity of existence. 

Mexico – The city of Uxmal (Maya 600 – 900 CE), Yucatan Peninsula.

The model of the lingam is usually highly stylised, sometimes like a column, so that it may be perceived as a pillar supportive to the world, emphasizing male power. The phallic symbol in Thailand is often carved out of wood and is worn as a pendant or hung from a belt. These symbols were traditionally given to young boys to serve as protection against snake-bite and to drive off evil spirits. They also found favour with merchants, believing that they possessed the power to promote business. Today, they are highly thought of by men of all ages. It was formerly supposed that phallic symbols originally were derived from the worship of the Shiva lingam in India, but similar emblems decorating pots dating from about 1000 BCE have more recently been discovered by archaeologists in Thailand. These artefacts existed long before southeast Asia was subject to the influence of Indian culture. So the phallic symbol is more likely to have originated from a fertility symbol and its associated ideas of prosperity and power. The phallus and the vulva signified that the fundamental act of creation was an enduring system of symbols that illustrated the relationship of mankind to the universe.

The linga emerging from the yoni is a sexual symbol of male and female energy as personified by Shiva and Shakti.  India – Bhubaneshwar, Parasumaresvara Mandir, 7th century CE.