Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-08-12


various titles was surnamed Telessigama,
because she presided over marriage,
and PhalIomeda, from her affection for
the phallus.
The oyoid form of the upper member
Of the crux ansata was sometimes dis
played as handle, as in the Theban
catacombs and on a Babylonian cylin-
der. On a stele from Khorsabad, an
eagle-headed man holds the circle in
his right hand, and the tau in his left.
In the Ophite hierograms which remind
of an era Of widespread serpent wor-
ship it depicts a pennate circle, and as
circle is borne in the claws of the fly
ing Scarabeus, the sacred emblem OF
Pthah, and is found sculptured from
Europe to Mexico.
In a modified form and joined with
the tau it is the oldest ensign of majesty
in India, and is commonly found in
the hands of Brahma, Vishnu, and
silva. In Christian Europe it is adopted
by every potentate, including our queen,
as symbol of royalty" whose corona
ton orb surmounted by pectoral cross
is nothing more than the embodiment
Of the traditional cruX ansata.
The Rev. William Haslam, in his work
"The Cross and the Serpent" gives a
curiousand fanciful explanation of these
facts. He says: 81 have suggested that
the Cross was conceived when the
redemption of man was designed. [
cannot doubt that it was revealed with
the prophecies. K
at was in prophecy, as it is now, an
outward sign of au inward mystery,
connected with promise. 1t was the
sign and pledge of that promise, and as
such, in whatever sense the outward
observer regarded it, there seems little
doubt but that to the initiated it was a
holy and blessed sign of hope in fallen
age; and pledge of the promise of
light in period of darkness" In an
other passage he wakes still bolder:
1.-THE Cross was known to Noah before
the Dispersion, and even before the
Flood; and 1 will venture yet further,
and say the Cross was known to Adam
and that the knowledge as a sacred sign
was impaired to him by the Almighty"
We may admire the enthusiasm which
suggests all this, and which is eminently
theological and clerical, but unfortun-
ately the patriarchs and prophets never
once referred to the Sign of the Cross,
and the Hebrew and Samaritan Scrip
lures are equally silent. They were,
however, thoroughly familiar with it,
as it formed in their days a significant
part of all Pagan worship.
OF all its many forms, "there is not
one among them," says the Edinburgh
reviewer, "the existence of which may
not be traced to the remotest antiquity" !"
and we might add, nor the causes of
whose variance cannot also be traced.
The Maltese Cross-the battle-aXe of
Extraordinarily four huge PhalIi carved
out of the solid rock, but afterward
metamorphosed by the virtuous knights
of st. John, or the Cross of st. George
which marks the English flag, and every
other, is nothing more or less than a
Phallic symbol. Rude, upright stones,
especially those of a conical form, ap-
pear to haye been the earliest objects
of worship by mankind, and their
assistance by contact to produce fruit
fulness is still invoked by women in
many parts of the world. In every
mythology the cone was the emblem of
the mother of heaven, whatsoever her
name, and every altar and high place
of hers was originally conical or pyra-
mldal. One stone standing upon an
other, or inserted in the earth, repre-
sented a rude cross. The maystical
tree, "the tree of life," was also repre-
sented in the form of cross, or by the
hieratic sign of the deity across the
stem. Every circumstance pertaining
to this was peculiarly phallic. When
serpent worship began TO supercede
tree worship, the ophite emblems were
of a similar nature. The serpent with
its tail in its mouth has the same signif-
cance as the crux ansata. When, at a
later stage of civilization, the worship
of the moon and sun successfully pre-
vailed, the followers of the sun made
war upon those of the "Great Dragon, u
many of the old emblems were devoutly
adopted tand a composite religion was
formed.
And when in the fullness of time
Christianity made its appearance and
developed orders and hierarchies, il
incorporated within itself almost every
feature of Paganism, including the su
preme Pballic symbol, the Cross. Fro
tic Christianity worships the Divine
Child, adores Mary His mother, and
practically gives the Supreme Deity al
inferior place. Christ's wounds are
dwelt upon in almost every hymn Will
perfervid ecstacy, and the Cross of Cal
vary is the foundation of faith and hope
To have inserted the Virgin in the
Trinity would have been to literally i'm
itate the older cults, so the Arkite deity
of Thebes or Babylon, distinctly
phallic one, whose will was interpreted
by the Jonah or Doves, gave rise to the
Divine Messenger and Interpreter, the
Holy Ghost, the Dove of Christianity
At all points our religion is lineally des
cended from the older and most an
Gent We have our Tree of Life, ou