Fishesflowersfir 00 Read
Fishesflowersfir 00 Read
Fishesflowersfir 00 Read
FIRE
& FLOWERS.
151-
ton
.F
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE
WORSHIP.
]f isbes, Jf lowers, & five
AS
iiSi i
IN THE
OF THE
Ancient Religions
OP
WITH
PRIVATELY PRINTED.
1890.
PREFACE.
Vlll. Contexts.
Chapter V. (Fire) 43
Story of the Fire-god and his Secret Growth of Fire Worship
Fire an essential in Hindoo Worship The Chaldeans The
Persians The Hebrews Fire in Hindu Ceremonies Duties of
Hindu Life The Serpent and Fire Phallo-Pythic Solar Shrines
Fire and Phallic Worship Leaping through Fire-treading
fire
in Scotland Fire-leaping in Russia The Medes as Fire Wor-
shippers The Sabines Fire and the Ancient Christians The
Roman Church and Fire The Jews Temple of Vesta Fire
Worship in Ireland Phallo-fire-worship of the Greeks and
Romans.
CHAPTER I.
Frequent occurrence of the Fish Symbol Fish Heraldry
Earliest Devices Fish Devices in churches and other public
buildings
The Catacombs Ichthus Fish Devices in Glaston-
The
bury Abbey, (Sec.
Book Fish Glasgow Fish Arms The
Fish and Ring Story of Scotland Solomon and the Fish and
Ring The Hermit's Fish Pond of St. Neot's The Sacred
Perch The Dolphin Neptune.
FEW,
among
if any, symbols are of such frequent occurrence
the relics of bygone ages as that of the fish.
Whether we look upon the monuments of Babylon and Nineveh,
upon the walls of the Roman Catacombs where the early
Christians sought a refuge from the fury of their Pagan
persecutors, or amongst the heraldic devices adopted by our
ancestors as coats of arms in comparatively modern times,
the fish is ever prominent. With regard to the latter, it is
certainly remarkable to what an extent it prevails, and
several writers on Heraldry (particularly Moule) have given
us very full accounts and graphic illustrations of its use.
Nor is it one kind of fish only we find thus employed, which
might perhaps be associated with some special myth or
tradition the dolphin, the herring, the salmon, the trout, the
pike, the barbel, the roach, the sole, the turbot, the flounder,
the haddock, the cod, the hake, the ling, the whiting, the
mullet, the grayling and others have all been pressed into
the same service, and even the different modes of taking fish
by the spear, the net, or the hook, are found in the
armorial ensigns of the lords of manors deriving revenue from
the produce of the fishery. "The boats," says Moule, "em-
ployed in the same service, which were at the command of
the sovereign in time of war, and formed the original navy
of Britain, distinguish the ensigns of the maritime lords, and
the corporate bodies to whom the jurisdiction of the ports
was entrusted." b
'
To the coast, man, ride, Lent stuff provide ;
some think may have sprung from the Sanscrit De-Dev, and
A" or Ab, and be allied to the solar Ak, and Aqua,
water. Dagan was the fish-god (Alheim) of the Philistines,
and spelling Dag backwards as was so common and natural,
seeing some peoples read from right to left, and others from
left to right, we get Gad, the good one, that is God or
Goddess of Day, as in Isa. lxv. 11, where, in connection
with Meni the moon, we read 'Ye are they that prepare
:
;
a table for Gad, and that furnish the offering unto Meni
which Bagster's Comprehensive Bible admits to be stars or
such objects. Dag, says Calmet, signifies Preserver, and so
Saviour, which has many ancient connections with fish and
water, as we see in the case of Dagon. St. Augustine said
of Christ : He is the great Fish that lives in the midst
'
* Forl<>ng.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP. 5
of religious instruction, and for this purpose all the fine arts
have been put in requisition. Amongst many pictures by the
first masters in which the finny tribe are introduced, that
of Saint Anthony, of Padua, preaching to the fish, may be
mentioned. This fine picture, by Salvator Rosa, is in the
collection at ^lthorp House, in Northamptonshire; the sermon
itself given in Addison's Travels in Italy.
is
"On
the conventual seal of Glastonbury Abbey are
represented the figures of Saint Dunstan between Saint
Patrick and Saint Benignus ; each has his emblem beneath
his feet the last has a party of fish
; perhaps, adds the:
* Moule's Heraldry.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP. '
as she crossed
place in the country having lost her ring
husband waxing jealous, as if she
the river Clyde, and her
did mean
had bestowed the same on one of her lovers, she
the safety ot
herself unto Kentigern, entreating his help for
after he had
her honour ; and that he, going to the river
fish, to
used his devotion, willed one who was making to
he caught, which was done.
that In the
bring the first _
of them bear in
be, the see and city of Glasgow do both
their arms a fish with a ring in its mouth even to this
day." *
Moule remarks that "the classical tale of Polycrates
related Herodotus a thousand years before the time of
by
perhaps the earliest version of the fish
St. Kentigern, is
* Northern Tour.
S FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIR1S WORSHIP.
was the time the image had been worshipped in his house,
the devil flew away and threw the signet into the sea; the
signet was immediately swallowed by a fish, which being
taken and given to Solomon, he found the ring in its
belly, and having by this means recovered the kingdom,
took Sakhar, and, tying a great stone to his neck, threw
him into the lake of Tiberias."
One ofthe windows of St. Neot's Church, Cornwall,
contains the history of that saint known as the pious sacristan
of Glastonbury Abbey, "perhaps," says Moule "the only
instance of the legend of a local saint so represented, and
one of the most splendid specimens of stained glass in the
kingdom. The hermit's fish-pond, now remaining in the valley
near his cell, afforded materials for one of the legendary
tales now represented in the window. In this pool there
were three fishes, of which Neot had divine permission
to take one every day, with an assurance that the supply
should never be diminished. Being afflicted with a severe
indisposition, his disciple Barius one day caught two fishes,
and having boiled one and broiled the other, placed them
before him: 'What hast thou done?' exclaimed Neot; lo. '
"The fish was also associated with Isis, who, like Venus,
represented the female element in creation. It was likewise
a sacred emblem amongst the Buddhists.
"Since writing the above, I have ascertained that eating
fish for supper, on Friday night, is a Jewish custom or
institution. As amongst that nation fecundity is a blessing
specially promised by the Omnipotent, so it is thought proper
to use human means for ensuring the blessing on the day
set apart by the Almighty. The Jewish Sabbath begins at
sunset on Friday, and three meals are to be taken during
the day, which are supposed to have a powerful aphrodisiac
operation. The ingredients are meat and fish, garlic and
pepper ; and the particular fish selected, so far as I can
learn, is the skate
that which in the Isle of Man is still
supposed to be a powerful satyrion. The meal is repeated
twice on a Saturday. Mons. Lajard bears testimony to the
extent of this custom in the following passage, though he
does not directly associate it with the fish, except that the
latter are often seen on coins, with the other attributes of
Venus. After speaking of the probable origin of the cult,
he says In our days, indeed, the Druses of Lebanon, in
'
word from God, and a dove, so that the sum of the whole
points to the Sanscrit Yoni.
"Pan, Jove's senior brother, used to be called 'a whale-
like fish,' and he entangled Typhon in his nets and caught
him, and yet who so unlike a fish in character as the
goat-footed god.
" So Boodha is called Day-Po or Fishpo Vishnoo appears
;
* Rivers of Life.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP. 13
* Nineveh, &o.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP. 15
'
When Heaven grew weak and a successful fight,
The gaints raised and gods were saved by flight,
From snaky Typhon's arms, a fish's shape
Saved Venus and secured her from a rape.
Euphrates hid her, and from thence his streams
Owe all obedience to the fish's beams.'
" Or because a fish carried from the Euphrates an egg
of wonderful size, which a dove kept warm, and hatched
the Syrian goddess hence it was that they abstained from
;
* Forlonpr.
FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP. 21
# Rivers of Life.
22 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP.
CHAPTER III.
Universal Love of Flowers Indifference to Flowers Excessive
Love of Flowers leading to Adoration Myths and Legends
connected with Flowers, the Flos Adonis, Narcissus, Myrtle,
Silene inflata, Clover
The Hundred-leaved Rose The Worship
of the Lily Species Signification of the Lotos Hermaj^hroditic
Character of the Lotos The Indian Mutiny of 1857, part
played by the Lotos during its Instigation.
A
bladder campion (Silene inflata) is another curiosity.
Ancient writers say that it was formerly a youth named
Campion, whom Minerva employed to catch Hies for her
owls to eat during when their eyes did not serve
the day,
them to catch food themselves
for but Campion indulging
j
# Rivers of Life.
;
THE in
is a flower of such importance and prominence
Lotos
the subject before us, and especially in connection
with the ancient worship of the East notably of that of a
'phallic character, that we naturally look carefully about us
for the best descriptive information we can find respecting
A writer (M. C. Cooke, M.A.) in the "Popular Science
it.
D
"
repeated until the seed-vessel is ripe and the petals fall off.
It is said that in the Euphrates both the seed-vessel and
the petals sink down into the water from the evening until
midnight to a great depth, so that the hand cannot reach
them ; at daybreak they emerge, and as day comes on they
rise above the water; at sunrise the flowers open, and when
fully expanded they rise up still higher, and present the
appearance of a very double flower.' Dioscorides says :
'
The Lotos which grows in Egypt, in the water of the
inundated plains, has a stem like that of the Egyptian
bean. The flower is small and white like the lily, which
is said to expand at sunrise, and to close at sunset. It
is also said that the seed-vessel is then entirely hid in the
water, and that at sunrise it emerges again.' Athenseus
states that they grow in the lakes in the neighbourhood of
Alexandria, and blossom in the heat of summer. He also
mentions a rose-coloured and a blue variety. 'I know that
in that fine city they have a crown called Antinoean,
made of the plant which is there named Lotos, which plant
grows in the lakes in the heat of summer, and there are
two colours of it ; one of them is the colour of a rose, of
which the Antinoean crown is made the other is called
;
# Hindu Pantheon.
whole plant signifies both the earth and the two principles
of itsfecundation: the germ is both MSru and the Linga ;
the petals and filaments are the mountains which encircle
IVleru, and are also a type of the Yoni; the leaves of the
calyx are the four vast regions to the cardinal points of
Meru, and the leaves of the plant are the dwipas or isles
round the land of Jambu. Another of their emblems is
called Argha, which means a cup or dish, or any other
vessel, in which fruit and flowers are offered to the deities,
and which ought always to be shaped like a boat, though
we now see arghas of many different forms, oval, circular
or square ; and hence it is that Iswara has the title of
Arghanatha, or the lord of the boat-shaped vessel a rim :
THESouth
Rev. W. in his "Myths and Songs from the
Gill
supplies us with a story particularly
Pacific "
suitable for notice here, called the "Fire God's Secret." The
story tells us that originally fire was unknown to the
inhabitants of the world, who of necessity ate raw food.
That in the nether-world (Avaiki) lived four mighty ones :
around, he threw him a second time into the air, and caught
him in his hands. Assured that this was but a preparation
for a final toss which would seal his fate, the panting and
thoroughly exhausted Manike entreated Mani to stop and to
spare his life. Whatever he desired should be his.
The fire-god, now in miserable plight, was allowed to
breathe awhile. Mani said, "Only on one condition will I
spare you tell me the secret of fire. Where is it hidden ?
How produced ? Manike gladly promised to tell him all
is it
he knew, and led him inside his wonderful dwelling. In one
corner there was a quantity of fine cocoa-nut fibre; in another,
bundles of lire-yielding sticks the au, the oronga, the
tauinu, and particularly the aoa or banyan tree. These sticks
were all dry and ready for use. In the middle of the room
were two smaller sticks by themselves. One of these the
fire-god gave to Mani, desiring him to hold it firmly, while
he himself plied the other most vigorously. And thus runs
the Fire-god's Song :
Perform an incantation;
Utter a prayer to (the spirit of)
The banyan tree
Kindle a fire for Manike
Of the dust of the banyan tree."
&
and at last collectively, to have
heaven' seem successively,
become objects of worship to the Arian race; but first of
all light, which was to them pre-eminently the object of
adoration in Northern India previous to the period of the
earliest Hindu
collection or composition of the hymns of the
Veda, or, in round numbers, thirty-five centuries ago.
"According to Herodotus, the Persians venerated fire as
a divinity, and Pliny explains that the magic
of Persia
"Fire seems to have always had the firmest hold upon the
wonderment and then the adoration of the infant mind. To
all Hindoo
the present moment it is an essential part of
worship and ceremonies. From his cradle to his grave, when
ancient races
the Hindoo is folded in the god's embrace, the
around me seek for it, use it, offer sacrifices to it, and
adore it." #
11
Pyrsea," fire temples set apart solely for the preservation of
the sacred fire. They are said to have in that empire fires
still subsisting which have burnt many thousand years.
the first (Tree) very little, and the last (Sun) very abun-
dantly ; and if so, then we see the cause why European
writers so pugnaciously hold out, some for Sun, some for
Eire; one that they are mere places for sacrifices or burial,
or for assembly of rulers, clans, &c.j whilst a few outlying
writers hint that the large stones are Lingams, or mere
groups of such stones as that of Kerloaz the Newton stone,
&c. Colonel Forbes Leslie, in his 'Ancient Races of Scotland,'
has very nearly told us the truth, his long residence and
travels in Asia having enabled him almost to pierce the
cloud, though he seems at first not to have fully appreciated
the ever very close connection between Sun, Fire, Serpent
and Lingam faiths, which I believe he does now."
"The European mind having once lost the old ideas of
what these words meant, and from having still such objects
as Sun, Fire, and Serpent before them, is always thinking
of these visible objects, which I might almost say a true
Sivaite never recognises per se ; for in fire the true Phallic
worshipper sees no flame, and in the sun no far-out
resplendent orb as we know, standing apart, as it were, in
space, and to which we all gravitate; he sees simply a
source of fertility, without which the Serpent has no power
or passion, and in whose absence the animal and vegetable
world must cease to exist. The fire here, then, is not that
52 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP.
which the real Sivaite sees or cooks by, but Hot or Holy
Fire, or the Holy Spirit,' or the fire of passion, which to
'
first impresses him with the Arkite, the second with the
Phallic and Arkite, and the third with the purely feminine
idea ; in all, he merely sees representative male and female
energies which are excited and fructified by the Sun, Apollo,
or the Sun-Serpent, as in his old coin, where fertility fed by
fire feeds the shell. In a column, be it wood, stone, or fire,
he sees the Sun-stone, such as the Mudros of Phoenicia, the
Mindir of Ireland, and obelisk of Egypt; and in the cist,
shell, or Akros, the womb, Yoni, or sUn-box in all, the
;
thirteen persons trod this fire, and one died from the effects.
They followed each other, some with tabors, others ringing
a bell, and each, after passing through the fire, went into a
pit filled with water, called the "milk pit." All merely
wore a waist cloth, and had their bodies daubed over with
sandal. The one who died, fell into the fire, and had to be
pulled out. The fire was lit at noon, and "walking it" took
place at two p.m., when it had become very bright and hot.
The Poojore, or priest of the temple, said it was his duty
to walk annually through the fire, and that he had done so
for seven or eight years. It was the mother of the dead
man who had vowed that if her son recovered from an attack
of jaundice she would tread the fire, but the old woman
being blind, her son fulfilled the vow. Some said that the
dead man himself had vowed thus to the Goddess Drupadi
"Mother, if I recover, I shall tread on your fire." Death
is rarely the result of this practice, but Mr. Stokes adds that
a few years ago, a mother and her infant died from the
effects.
"On the 29th of June, men, and even babes, had to be
passed through the fire. 'On this night,' says Dr. Moresin,
'
did the Highlanders run about on the mountains and high
grounds with lighted torches, like the Cicilian women of old,
in search of Proserpine,' and Scotch farmers then used to go
round their corn-fields with blazing torches, as was the custom
at the Cerealia. The ancient Roman Kalenclar states, among
other matter, that fires are made on the 23rd Boys dress
;
'
by the same ; for has not the thistle a cap like the lotus,
'
'
there are certain prayers appropriated to this festival, and
among the rest one in praise of God, who hath ordained
the lighting up of lamps upon Solemn Days.' Here we see
a close resemblance between the faith of the Jew and the
Islami, whose wives are enjoined personally to see to the
lighting of the household lamps on Venus' Eve. Jerusalem,
we know, acknowledges the God of Agni to the present
hour, by annually giving out that holy Fire descends from
heaven at a stated season into the dark Adyta of the
Sacred Shrine; all old fires must be extinguished at this
the season of Sol's renewed vigour, so when the priest
emerges from the adytum with the new fire in his hand
(and Christian priests have often done this, if they do not
do so still), crowds of every hue and creed rush towards
him, light their tapers, and bear away the new fire to their
homes."
Referring to the Temple of Vesta mentioned by Davies,
Forlong says "Now, what was this Temple of Vesta? In
its rites surroundings, its duties social and political,
and
it was one with the temples still existing in Asia devoted
to Phallic and Fire-worship combined, or perhaps I should
say a temple to Phallic worship only, but the cult in the
dawn of brighter faiths was somewhat hid away by the
priests in the darkest recesses of their temples, and not
well-known by many of the worshippers, and scarcely at all
by European writers even of the middle ages. Any student
of Delphic lore and of Eastern travel, however, will recognise
ate a cake with him. Fire was also the God who witnessed
the separation of husband and wife, which, if there were
offspring, was a rare and difficult act but if the couple
;
the precedence'
in the top
existed among the primitive monuments of
Scotland. (In Kincardineshire, at Auchincorthie, there were
five of stones.
circles On the top of one of the stones
which stood on the east side of the largest circle, there
was a hollow three inches deep, along the bottom of which,
and down the side of the stone, a channel was cut. Another
of the stones in this group had a similar cavity and
channel. Other examples of such artificial cavities in ancient
British monuments could be pointed out.
vol. ii., p. 291.) The same traveller
(Gibson's Camden,
remarked a few old
trees which grew near this column, and these he supposed
to be the remains of a consecrated grove. One of the trees
was thickly hung with rags, the native offerings of the in-
habitants of the country.
Trees with such garniture may
commonly be observed the Dekhan and other parts of
in
India, and not long since might be seen in many places in
Britain. The Monolith thus described, and adjacent to the
grove, was called by an expression equivalent to " Stone of
the Fire Temple." We
know from Herodotus that the
ancient Persians, like their expatriated descendants the
Parsees, were worshippers of the sun and fire, and the
mysterious rites of the heathen inhabitants of Britain must
have closely resembled those of the Persians, when the
similarity induced Pliny to remark that Britain cultivates
magic with ceremonial so august that it might be supposed
that the art was first communicated from them to the
people of Persia.
Turning to Herodotus as here suggested, speaking of
the order given by Cambyses to burn the corpse of Amasis,
after his people had failed to tear it apart, owing to its
having been embalmed, the historian says " This was truly
:
an impious command to give, for the Persians hold fire to
be a god, and never by any chance burn their dead. Indeed
this practice is unlawful, both with them and with the
Egyptians with them for the reason above mentioned, since
they deem it wrong to give the corpse if a man to a god
and with the Egyptians, because they believe fire to be a
live animal, which eats whatever it can seize, and then
glutted with the food, dies with the matter it feeds upon." *
Leslie says "it is important, as a prelude to the descrip-
tion of rites in a worship common to the early inhabitants
of the Indian Peninsula and to the Celtic population of Gaul
them, the fires were kindled in each family, and never till
then. In those days malefactors were burnt between two
fires; hence when they would express a man in a great
strait, they say, He is between two fires of Bel, which in
their language they express thus, Edir cla hin Veaul or Bel."
It has been remarked
that the Pagan rites of the
festival of the Summer Solstice may be
Midsummer Eve,
considered as a counterpart of those used at the Winter
Solstice of Yule-tide. "There is one thing," says Brand,
"that seems to prove this beyond the possibility of a doubt.
In the old Runic Fasti, a wheel was used to denote the
festival of Christmas. Thus Durandus, when speaking of
the Rites of the Feast of St. John Baptist, informs us
of this curious circumstance, that in some places they roll
a wheel about to signify that the Sun, then occupying the
highest place in the Zodiac, is beginning to descend and ;
CHAPTER VII.
Paradise Lost and Moloch The God of the Ammonites The
slaughter of Children by Fire, notices in the Scriptures
Fire Ceremonies and Moloch Sacred Fires or' the Phoenicians
The Carthaginians Custom of the Oziese Sardinian
Customs and Moloch The Cuthites Persian Fire Worship
The House-Fires of Greece and Rome Sacred Books of the
East Laws of Manu
The Rig Veda and Hymns to Ac/ni,
the God of Fire
Vesta, ivorship of
The Magi Zoroaster.
Milton's " Paradise Lost " we read
IN " First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
:
led, and on this account and the love of their children they
hastened to do that which was so easy, and there was no
other way of saving the children from the fire. There are
some who say that the father in due form delivered the
child to the priests to be given back, and that he led it
through, carrying it on his shoulders. It is nevertheless
true that the children were not only led between the fires,
but were also burnt in the sacrifices of the idols. See
Psalm cvi. 37 and 38, and read, "Yea, they sacrificed their
sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent
blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land
was polluted with the blood."
Philastrius says "that they placed an altar in the valley
of the children of Hinnom, and so called after the name of
a certain Tophet, and in that place the Jews sacrificed their
sons and daughters to demons." There are other places
which sufficiently indicate immolation of children in those
regions of Syria where Moloch was adored. Thus, see Wisdom
of Solomon,xii. 5, "And also those merciless murders of
;
from the sacred rites of the Persian Mithra, for he also had
seven sacred doors, which referred to the number of the
planets, and men, women and children were likewise sacrificed
to him.
It to such as were initiated to this god
was necessary
to pass through eighty kinds of sufferings, that is, through
fire and cold and most serious dangers of every kind, before
they could be received as epoptas, or regularly initiated.
It is proper to add that neither elsewhere than in Moloch
will be found Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of
Sepharvaim. See II. Kings xviii. 31 "And they burnt
:
high places, and cut down Chamanicem, that is, your images,'
&c. The Hebrews understand that their idols were dedicated
in honour of the sun. In that place in Leviticus and
elsewhere Chamanim and other sacred rites borrowed from
the Persians are reproved, and among these high places,' '
earth, and for the last time fall before thee, and address thee.
Protect my infant children give to my boy a tender wife,
;
" 2. No
indeed, no mortal, is beyond the might
god,
of thee, the mighty one with the Maruts come hither, O
;
Agni ?
"3. Those who know of the great sky, the Visne Devas
"
without guile ; with those Maruts come hither, O Agni !
" 7. They who shoot with their darts across the sea
"
with might with the Maruts come hither, O Agni
; !
11
9. pour out to thee for the early draught the sweet
I
juice of with the Maruts come hither, O Agni "
Soma
Another one says
;
" O Agni, thou art the life, thou
:
!
The End.
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