CORPUS PHALLUS

HERMETICUM

“In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asclepius, and one of Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly
worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male member upright on the pedestal.”

(Pausanias - Description of Greece 6.26.5)

AETHER (AIR)
“Their meaning was that the highest element of celestial aether or fire, which by itself generates all
things, is devoid of that bodily part which requires union with another for the work of procreation.”

(Cicero - De Natura Deorum)

Outside the gate of the temple complex in Samothrace stood two male statues in bronze. Hippolytus
states that these were phallic in nature. They were also, in his description, linked to the meanings that
informed the Samothracian Mysteries.

“This is, he says, the great and ineffable mystery of the Samothracians, which is allowable, he says, for us
only who are initiated to know. For the Samothracians expressly hand down, in the mysteries that are
celebrated among them, that (same) Adam as the primal man. And habitually there stand in the temple
of the Samothracians two images of naked men, having both hands stretched aloft towards heaven, and
their pudenda erecta, as with the statue of Mercury (Hermes) on Mount Cyllene. And the aforesaid
images are figures of the primal man, and of the spiritual one that is born again, in every respect of the
same substance with that man.”1

Pausanias states that the image of Hermes that was worshipped on Mount Cyllene and is referenced by
Hippolytus above was the pure form of a phallus. “In Cyllene is a sanctuary of Asclepius, and one of
Aphrodite. But the image of Hermes, most devoutly worshipped by the inhabitants, is merely the male
member upright on the pedestal.”2

Hippolytus describes the Samothracian statues as “having both hands stretched towards heaven.” Philo
of Byblos, quoting from the Phoenician history which he ascribes to Sanchuniathon, states that this
posture derives from rain-making rituals. These archaic rites would therefore seem to be the genesis of
the stance. The stretching of hands towards heaven is part of the earliest history of the Phoenicians
forming the second generation of their creation myth.

“Those that were begotten by these were called Genus and Genea and dwell in Phoenicia: But when
great drought came, they stretched their hands up to Heaven towards the Sun; for him, he saith, they
thought the only lord of Heaven…”3

Varro supports the contention that there were two virilis statues before the temple in Samothrace and
says that they represent the duality of heaven and earth. “For Earth and Sky, as the mysteries of the
Samothracians teach, are Great Gods, and these whom I have mentioned under many names, are not
those Great Gods whom Samothrace represents by two male statues of bronze which are set up before
the city gates, nor are they, as the populace thinks, the Samothracian gods, who are really Castor and
Pollux; but these are a male and a female, these are those whom the Books of the Augurs mention in
writing as potent deities for what the Samothracians call powerful gods.”4

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…” 5
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. This fiery
semen can be seen as the meteorites that fall to earth. Uranus (Ouranos), the god of the vault of the
heavens, sent the meteorites or baetyls to seed the earth. Urania (Ourania), 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 was represented by a black conical stone that was believed to be animated by the spirit of the
goddess. The baetyl was thought 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.’

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.”6

Aphrodite Urania was worshipped across Asia Minor and the sanctuary on Cyprus was one of the most
celebrated in antiquity. The Phoenicians identified her with their own Baalath or Astarte. “If two deities
were thus fused in one, we may suppose that they were both varieties of that great goddess of
motherhood and fertility whose worship appears to have spread all over Western Asia from a very early
time. The supposition is confirmed as well by the archaic shape of her image as by the licentious
character of her rites; for both that shape and those rites were shared by her with other Asiatic deities.” 7

Varro indicates that this goddess was worshipped in Samothrace by referring to her myth in close textual
proximity to the section describing the Samothracian statues. He also states that the goddess was born
from fiery seed that fell from the sky. “The poets, in that they say the fiery seed fell from the Sky into the
sea and Venus (Aphrodite) was born ‘from the foam-masses,’ through the conjunction of fire and
moisture, are indicating that this vis ‘force’ which they have is that of Venus. Those born of this vis have
what is called vita ‘life’…”8

The use of the expression ‘foam-masses’ clearly indicates that Varro is speaking of the myth recited by
Hesiod about the birth of Aphrodite Urania. In this vision the stars become the semen of the gods filling
the night sky with a shining heavenly foam. Ouranos (Uranus) was castrated with a gigantic scythe
wielded by Chronos (Saturn) leaving his disembodied phallus shining in the night sky. Aphrodite Urania
emerged from the foam surrounding the severed genitals of Uranus. According to Hesiod this seminal
foam formed the heavenly body of the goddess.

“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…” 9
The foaming clusters of stars are the source of all creation. These streams of semen were envisaged as
rivers of stars formed from the ejaculatory acts of the gods in the night sky. The semen spatter was
woven into an infinite network of stars that formed the shining constellations.

This vision draws direct comparison with the myth that is termed the ‘Kingship in Heaven,’ and describes
the castration of the archetypal Mesopotamian deity Anu. This deity is seen as equivalent to the archaic
Greek deity Ouranos in that both are original creator gods that symbolize the generalized concept of the
vault of the sky. Kumarbi castrates/genitally mutilates Anu in a remarkable parallel to the later text of
Hesiod in which Chronos castrates Ouranos.

“He (Kumarbi) bit his (Anu’s) loins

(so that) his manhood united with Kumarbi’s interior like bronze.
When it united,
when Kumarbi swallowed Anu’s manhood,
he rejoiced and laughed.
Anu turned back
and to Kumarbi he began to speak:
‘Thou rejoicest about thine interior
because thou hast swallowed my manhood!
Do not rejoice about thine interior!
Into thine interior I have put a (heavy) load:
first I have made thee pregnant with the weighty Storm-god;
second I have made thee pregnant with the river Aranzakh (Tigris), the irresistible;
third I have made thee pregnant with the weighty god Tash-mishu,
and two (other) terrible gods have I put as load into thine interior …” 10

The semen of Anu fertilizes the interior of his male successor Kumarbi who is now laden with five gods.
“His manhood united with Kumarbi’s interior like bronze.” This pregnancy therefore results from male to
male insemination and is consistent with both Greek and Egyptian creation myths.

Arsenic was used as an agent in copper metallurgy to create a form of bronze. By breaking down the
original metal to create a new more powerful alloy it metaphorically castrated the smelted copper. This
conception is supported by the description of the progeny as weighty gods and heavy loads thus
indicating metals. The “weighty Storm-god” has an additional association with the air that was blown
into the furnace and the water that tempered the metal.

As metallurgy developed tin was added as the castrating element. The two metals (copper and tin) form
a new metal which contains the essence of all three in the new trinity. The addition of tin, or in earlier
times arsenic, to the copper not only created a synthesis of three elements in the new alloy but also can
be said to have castrated the original metal to create a new and more powerful metal (bronze).
This trinity is symbolized by the entity, Hermes Trismegistus, that personifies the alchemical trinity by his
title - ‘Trismegistus’ (the Thrice Greatest). The ancient Egyptian festival of the Pamylia involved a triple
phallus which was believed to be especially potent due to its three-fold nature.

“Moreover, when they celebrate the festival of the Pamylia which, as has been said, is of a phallic
member, they expose and carry about a statue of which the male member is triple; for the god is the
Source, and every source, by its fecundity, multiplies what proceeds from it; and for ‘many times’ we
have a habit of saying ‘thrice,’ as, for example, ‘thrice happy,’ and unless, indeed, the word ‘triple’ is used
by the early writers in its strict meaning; for the nature of moisture, being the source and origin of all
things, created out of itself three primal material substances, Earth, Air and Fire.” 11

Another ancient source, the Derveni Papyrus, supports this theory of creation. This appears to have been
inspired by Orphic doctrines and the charred remains of the document were recovered from a
Macedonian tomb. In this vision the clusters of stars are similarly seen as the foaming secretion of the
deified phallus.

The celestial phallus was consequently the originator of the firmament of stars. According to the Derveni
Papyrus “He (the deity) ingested/swallowed the phallus that first procreated the aether.”

Thus Cicero states that “... an ancient belief prevailed throughout Greece that Caelus (Uranus) was
mutilated (castrated) by his son Saturn, and Saturn himself thrown into bondage by his son Jove: now
these immoral fables enshrined a decidedly clever scientific theory. Their meaning was that the highest
element of celestial aether or fire, which by itself generates all things, is devoid of that bodily part which
requires union with another for the work of procreation.” 12

WATER
“On this lake they enact by night the story of the god’s sufferings, a rite which the Egyptians call the
Mysteries.”

(Herodotus - Histories 2.170-171)

In the Memphis Theology the Egyptian creator deity Atum constructs the constellations from his own
semen. According to the Shabaka Stone this was the original act of creation. “This Ennead of Atum came
into being through his semen and through his fingers.”
Therefore the universe is formed from an act of male-only procreation. In the Egytian creation myth the
creator is a single deity that procreates two further entities through an act of self-contained
autoeroticism.

Hephaestus is linked to the Memphis Theology via the Temple of Ptah in that city. The Greeks identified
this temple with Hephaestus as is attested by Herodotus. “... the shrine of Hephaestus, which he (Min)
instituted in Memphis itself.”13

The theology of the Shabaka Stone is supported by the Pyramid Texts of Sakkara which confirm this
theory of creation. The Pyramid Texts document the original Egyptian creation myth and are in
themselves among the most ancient evidence of recorded human thought.

The autoerotic act of Atum is elaborated in these ancient texts. The rivers of semen that flow from this
act fill the night sky with shining celestial foam. The Nile is replicated above by these celestial rivers. The
celestial river of the Milky Way is reflected in the Nile below.

“To say: Atum created by his masturbation in Heliopolis.

To put his phallus in his fist
to excite desire thereby.
The twins were born, Shu and Tefnut.”14

The single entity (the autoerotic mind of Atum) gives birth to two entities (Shu and Tefnut) without
recourse to procreative intercourse. This act avoids the chicken and egg syndrome by postulating the
original act of creation within the self-contained autoerotic mind of the creator.

Macrobius defines the difficulty in explaining the original act of creation through an act of conventional
procreation. “To say that the egg was produced before the chicken is like saying a womb came to be
before a woman: asking how a chicken could exist without an egg is like asking how humans were
produced before the genitals instrumental in their procreation.” 15

Therefore the act of primordial creation is explicitly linked to the autoerotic mind of Atum and visual
evidence of this was seen in the shining celestial trails of star clusters in the night sky. The foaming
celestial star clusters, formed from the primordial semen, were envisaged as the ejaculatory splatter of
the deity in the night sky.

The rivers of semen that stream from this act of deified autoeroticism define the creation myth of
ancient Egypt. Atum is self-created through this act which gives birth to the sacred primordial mound
that rises out of the undefined waters of the pre-existing state. Thus the rising of the phallus of Atum is
the first act of creation.

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.” 16

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. “... 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.”17

Semen was described as a substance like marrow 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.” 18

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 that 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.”19

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.

“... the privates (of Osiris), according to them, were thrown by Typhon into the Nile... Yet Isis thought
them as worthy of divine honours as the other parts, for, fashioning a likeness of them, she set it up in
the temples, commanded that it be honoured, and made it the object of the highest regard and
reverence in the rites and sacrifices accorded to the god. Consequently the Greeks too, inasmuch as they
received from Egypt the celebrations of the orgies and the festivals connected with Dionysus, honour
this member in both the mysteries and the initiatory rites and sacrifices of this god, giving it the name
‘phallus.’”20
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…” 21

In this way the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Isis was transferred to the Greeks and became the basis of
the Pythagorean creation 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.” 22

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 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.” 23

In Egyptian myth the lotus or water lily rises out of the primordial waters at the dawn of creation. The
Nymphaea caerulea water lily (often referred to as the blue lotus) held a sacred status in Egyptian
theology. 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.

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.
Modern research appears to show that the plant contains chemical agents that could induce mind-
altering states. The Nymphaea caerulea is believed to be the lotus that is referenced 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.”

Egyptian temple depictions show humans holding the flower to their faces. The olfactory essence
contained in the nectar is also capable of altering the human perceptual state if ingested. The perfume
and its mind-altering effect are brought together in one magical construct.
The chemicals exuded from the nectar define the status of this type of lily as a sacred plant. The form of
this plant became representative of the phallus and especially became identified with the phallus of
Osiris. The shape of the seed vessel was seen as equivalent to the glans of the deified phallus.

The pillars of Egyptian temples symbolize this sacred status in their architectural form. The form of the
lily flower in an open or closed state was intrinsic to Egyptian temples. The stalk of this plant was
represented by the shaft of the column.

The lily-shaped capitals represent the container holding the seed and symbolize the encasement of
human seed in their phallic form. 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 Egyptan
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.” 24

The extensive array of surviving phallic columns that are based on the water lily/lotus concrete the
importance of this plant. Evidence of the relationship between the phallus and vegetative seed
containers are the explicit phallic monuments on the island of Delos. In contrast to Eleusis physical
evidence of the cults on Delos survives in the monumental phallic forms that dominate the Stoibadeion.
These must be related to the mysteries performed there and by extension those of Eleusis.

In these myths Pythagoras travels to Delos and so creates a confluence of concepts that ties the
Eleusinian Mysteries to those of Delos. This reveals an underground network of beliefs that united the
various threads of the mysteries. Pythagoras “was the author of a compound divine philosophy and
worship of the Gods; having learned some things from the followers of Orpheus; some from the
Chaldeans and Magi, and some also from the Mysteries performed in Eleusis, in Imbrus, Samothracia
and Delos, as well as in Iberia and by the Celtae.” 25

These Dionysian phallic monuments are partially destroyed but retain the bean/seed-shaped testicles
from which the phallus rises. The relationship between the plant and the human therefore has a
monumental physical presence that is made explicit by the stylized rounded shape of the testicles.

New research into the treatment for erectile dysfunction has now revealed the true secret behind the
phallic symbolism of the Nymphaea caerulea. This also reveals the role of this plant in the celebrations of
the Delos and Eleusinian Mysteries. Apomorphine, the chemical component contained in the Nymphaea
caerulea, was recently approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for erectile
dysfunction.
Apomorphine can therefore be used to enhance and prolong the sexual experience even when there is
no underlying erectile dysfunction. This then explains the use of this plant in the orgiastic rituals of the
mysteries. It also explains the numerous depictions in Egyptian temples that show serpents springing
erect from the lotus.

There is therefore a direct relationship between the plant and human sexuality since the chemicals
within it can induce an erection. This quality demonstrates a far more substantial symbiosis between the
plant and the human than a purely symbolic association. The consumption of the lotus leads to a real
observable physical effect that unites the human to the plant and opens the human mind to the
mysteries of the universe.

Iamblichus emphasizes the circular nature of the sacred lotus/lily and it is apparent from his words that
this quality had a religious significance. “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.” 26

This circular quality is a significant feature of the Egyptian Mysteries as inferred by Herodotus and this
significance is reflected in the Round Pond at Delos. The circular architectural form of this sacred pond
connects the Egyptian Mysteries to Delos and demonstrates the interrelationship between the Greek
and Egyptian and Mysteries.

In the Dionysian rites ritualistic orgies were performed beside the sacred lake that was believed to mark
the entrance to the underworld. Dionysus descended into the underworld in order to raise his mother
Semele from the unfathomable depths. “The local Argive tradition was that he went down through the
Alcyonian lake; and his return from the lower world, in other words his resurrection, was annually
celebrated by the Argives, who summoned him from the water by trumpet blasts, while they threw a
lamb into the lake as an offering to the warder of the dead.” 27

This worship was accompanied by frenzied orgiastic rituals that celebrated the resurrection of the
deified phallus from the depths of the lake. Dionysus as a phallic god was represented by depictions of
his immortal phallus by the celebrants of the nocturnal rituals. There is therefore a syncretism between
the Dionysian and Egyptian mysteries. “They call him (Dionysus) up out of the water by the sound of
trumpets, at the same time casting into the depths a lamb as an offering to the Keeper of the Gate. The
trumpets they conceal in Bacchic wands, as Socrates has stated in his treatise on The Holy Ones.
Furthermore, the tales regarding the Titans and the rites celebrated by night agree with the accounts of
the dismemberment of Osiris and his revivification and regenesis.” 28

The Alcyonian Lake from which Dionysus is summoned has an equivalence to the lake at Sais in Egypt
which was central to the Egyptian Mysteries and the resurrection of Osiris. Herodotus identifies the
nocturnal rites performed there with the Egyptian Mysteries.
“There is also at Sais the burial-place of one whose name (Osiris) I think it impious to mention in
speaking of such a matter; it is in the temple of Athena, behind and close to the length of the wall of the
shrine. Moreover, great stone obelisks stand in the precinct; and there is a lake nearby, adorned with a
stone margin and made in a complete circle; it is, as it seemed to me, the size of the lake at Delos which
they call the Round Pond. On this lake they enact by night the story of the god’s sufferings, a rite which
the Egyptians call the Mysteries.”29

FIRE
“Dionysus: I, the son of Zeus, have come to this land of the Thebans - Dionysus, whom once Semele,
Kadmos’ daughter, bore, delivered by a lightning-bearing flame.”

(Euripides - Bacchae 1)

“These customs, then, and others besides, which I shall indicate, were taken by the Greeks from the
Egyptians. It was not so with the ithyphallic images of Hermes; the production of these came from the
Pelasgians, from whom the Athenians were the first Greeks to take it, and then handed it on to others…
The Athenians, then, were the first Greeks to make ithyphallic images of Hermes, and they did this
because the Pelasgians taught them. The Pelasgians told a certain sacred tale about this, which is set
forth in the Samothracian mysteries.”30

Herodotus states here that the phallic images of Hermes incorporated a sacred tale that was revealed in
the Samothracian Mysteries. This archaic sacred myth, according to Clement of Alexandria, was the
phallus of Bacchus/Dionysus which was brought to Lemnos and this rite was celebrated by the Cabeiri.
These entities were the ministers to the deified phallus and performed ritualistic orgiastic performances
in its honour.

“Those Corybantes also they call Cabiric; and the ceremony itself they announce as the Cabiric mystery.
For those two identical fratricides, having abstracted the box in which the phallus of Bacchus was
deposited, took it to Etruria - dealers in honourable wares truly. They lived there as exiles, employing
themselves in communicating to precious teaching of their superstition, and presenting phallic symbols
and the box for the Tyrrhenians to worship.” 31

Zagreus was a deity associated with the Orphic Mysteries but the myth of his dismemberment by the
Titans was fused with those surrounding Dionysus/Bacchus and Osiris. The phallus of this deity was
recovered by the Cabeiri and enshrined in a cave on the island of Samothrace. This sacred myth became
the central inspiration of the Samothracian Mysteries.
Herodotus describes the Cabeiri as being formed in the shape of pygmies and being related to
Hephaestus. They were therefore associated with the forging of metals and were the denizens of the
labyrinthine substrata from which the ores were mined.

“Cambyses committed many such mad acts against the Persians and his allies; he stayed at Memphis,
and there opened ancient coffins and examined the dead bodies. Thus too he entered the temple of
Hephaestus and jeered at the image there. This image of Hephaestus is most like the Phoenician Pataici,
which the Phoenicians carry on the prows of their triremes. I will describe it for anyone who has not
seen these figures; it is the likeness of a dwarf. Also he entered the temple of the Cabeiri, into which no
one may enter save the priest; the images here he even burnt, with bitter mockery. These also are like
the images of Hephaestus, and are said to be his sons.” 32

These pygmies or dwarfish-formed deities had apotropaic powers and also were phallic in nature.
Depictions show their oversized phalli that dominate their diminutive bodies and define them as phallic
entities. The rituals are described by Strabo as being equivalent to those of the Dionysian satyrs that
engage in a ‘Bacchic frenzy.’ The Cabeiri perform a type of war-dance to the accompaniment of the noise
of cymbals, drums, flutes and chanted exhortations. This frenzy can be deduced as informing the spirit of
the Samothracian Mysteries.

“... those accounts which, although they are called ‘Curetan History’ and ‘History of the Curetes,’… are
more like the accounts of the Satyri, Sileni, Bacchae, and Tityri; for the Curetes, like these, are called
genii or ministers of gods by those who have handed down to us the Cretan and Phrygian traditions,
which are interwoven with certain sacred rites, some mystical, the others connected in part with the
rearing of the child Zeus in Crete and in part with the orgies in honour of the mother of the gods which
are celebrated in Phrygia and in the region of the Trojan Ida… they represent them, one and all, as a kind
of inspired people and as subject to Bacchic frenzy…” 33

Depictions of orgiastic rituals that are related to the Samothracian Mysteries can be seen in images that
have been excavated from Pompeii. In the House of the Physician/Doctor a depiction of pygmies
engaged in an orgy is presented as a voyeuristic spectacle.

Another depiction from Pompeii creates a vision of the pygmies engaged in Nilotic orgiastic celebrations.
The Nile is identified by the inclusion of hippopotami and crocodiles alongside the copulating pygmies.
The paintings of orgiastic pygmies from Pompeii are therefore linked to the mysteries in Egypt. The
dismemberment of Osiris is related to that of Zagreus/Dionysus/Bacchus and this supports the text of
Clement of Alexandria that posits the severed phallus as being at the centre of the Samothracian
Mysteries.

The oil lamps excavated from Pompeii/Herculaneum extend the theme of phallic pygmies into a
sculptured form. In some examples these pygmies are involved in a dance that matches the description
of the war-dance described by Strabo. These entities with their monstrous phalli engage in a war-like
dance with the potential aim of creating an ecstatic Bacchic state.

This establishes a visual image of the mysteries that confirms their central phallic character. In the words
of Strabo the revelers are “subject to Bacchic frenzy, and, in the guise of ministers, as inspiring terror at
the celebration of the sacred rites by means of war-dances, accompanied by uproar and noise and
cymbals and drums and arms, and also by flute and outcry; and consequently these rites are in a way
regarded as having a common relationship, I mean these and those of the Samothracians and those in
Lemnos and in several other places, because the divine ministers are called the same.” 34

Herodotus connects the mysteries, especially in their phallic aspect, to Hermes. The caduceus is
composed of two copulating snakes on either side of the staff that mirror each other and symbolize polar
opposites. “The Athenians, then, were the first Greeks to make ithyphallic images of Hermes, and they
did this because the Pelasgians taught them. The Pelasgians told a certain sacred tale about this, which is
set forth in the Samothracian mysteries.”35

The snake was revered for its ability to signal resurrection by shedding its skin but also because of its
ability, particularly manifested in the cobra, to rear up in the manner of an engorged phallus. In addition
it was evident that this cold-blooded reptile was infused and energized by the power of the sun. The
wings on the caduceus also express the ability of the snakes and the implied phallus to rise erect. They
thus symbolize the concept of resurrection.

An original source for the contention that there were two statues at the gates of the temple complex in
Samothrace is the text by Varro. He describes the two male statues as virilis and a male and a female.
This would seem impossible unless the modern terms of positive or negative polarity are understood as
the basis of the male/female duality. Like the caduceus with the two mirrored snakes the two male
statues form a positive and negative polarity at the city gates.

“For Earth and Sky, as the mysteries of the Samothracians teach, are Great Gods, and these whom I have
mentioned under many names, are not those Great Gods whom Samothrace represents by two male
statues of bronze which are set up before the city gates (ante portas statuit duas virilis species aeneas
dei magni), nor are they, as the populace thinks, the Samothracian gods, who are really Castor and
Pollux; but these are a male and a female, these are those whom the Books of the Augurs mention in
writing as potent deities for what the Samothracians call powerful gods.”36

Varro states that these great gods which he describes as powerful and potent represent the duality of
heaven and earth. The sky or sun is male and fertilizes the earth which is female and moist. “Therefore
the conditions of procreation are two: fire and water. Thus these are used at the threshold in weddings,
because there is union here, and fire is male, which the semen is in the other case, and the water is
female, because the embryo develops from her moisture, and the force that brings their vinctio ‘binding’
is Venus ‘love.’”37
Moisture from the heavens was equivalent to a divine emission that fertilized the earth. Archaic
shamanic rain-making rituals were incorporated into later religious practises. The cult of Jupiter Elicius is
associated with the belief that humans could command lightning from the heavens.

“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 Posenna… and
that Tullus Hostilius imitating him, but not having properly performed the ceremonies, was struck by 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…” 38

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 Egytian 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 pyramidia (capstones) of the pyramids
and obelisks of ancient Egypt. 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 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 deceased pharaoh was carried up into the heavens by the action of lightning striking the tall
edifices that were designed for this purpose.

“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. It is Unas, the message of the Storm.”39

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.

Evidence that the obelisks were struck by lightning and that these events were considered significant is
the documented 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.”40

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
classified 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.”41

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.” 42

In legend the birth of Romulus and Remus and consequently the founding of Rome is caused by a fiery
phallus. The phantom phallus of fire appears in the hearth of Tarchetius and is understood to be the
phallus of Mars. The deified phallus impregnates a virgin who gives birth to Romulus and Remus who are
then cast off on the river to be discovered and suckled by a wolf.

“... they say that Tarchetius, king of the Albans, who was most lawless and cruel, was visited with a
strange phantom in his house, namely, a phallus rising out of the hearth and remaining there many days.
Now there was an oracle of Tethys in Tuscany, from which there was brought to Tarchetius a response
that a virgin must have intercourse with this phantom, and she should bear a son most illustrious for his
valour, and of surpassing good fortune and strength.” 43

Plutarch also describes another version of this myth in which a Vestal Virgin gives birth to the twins. The
myth therefore incorporates the fire that is famously tended by the Vestals. These sacred flames in the
temple of the Vestals symbolize the hearth of Rome itself. The fiery phallus of the deity protects the city
and wards off evil. In the words of Plutarch the phallus of fire confers “surpassing good fortune and
strength.”
The fire that was tended by the Vestals had itself originated from the sun. Plutarch describes the
elaborate ritualistic process that was followed in order to capture this pure fire.

“... the altar was demolished and the fire extinguished, then they say it must not be kindled again from
another fire, but made fresh and new, by lighting a pure and unpolluted flame from the rays of the sun.
And this they usually effect by means of metallic mirrors… The sun’s rays now acquiring the substance
and force of fire. Some, moreover, are of the opinion that nothing but this perpetual fire is guarded by
the sacred virgins; while some say that certain objects, which none others may behold, are kept in
concealment by them…”44

The place or building that was struck by lightning thrown by the god assumed a sacred status. Thus when
a specific location had been struck by lightning thrown 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 called it Vesta and
Unit.”45

This circular 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 lightning strike 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 Erechtheion in Athens. The temple,
adjacent to the Parthenon, has a space in the roof of a porch that is open to the sky.
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, whereof he is revered even as a god.” 46

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 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.”47

This belief also explains the ancient Egyptian desire to attract lightning to their pyramids, obelisks,
temples 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.

This burning forked path is represented in one of its manifestations by the trident wielded by Poseidon.
This tri-forked instrument is also connected in myth to the Erechtheion. 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.

“... Athena came to Hephaestus, desirous of fashioning arms. But he, being forsaken by Aphrodite, fell in
love with Athena, and began to pursue her; but she fled. When he got near her with much ado (for he
was lame), he attempted to embrace her; but she, being a chaste virgin, would not submit to him, and
he dropped his seed on the leg of the goddess. In disgust, she wiped off the seed with wool and threw it
on the ground; and as she fled the seed fell on the ground, and Erichthonius was produced.” 48
Erichthonius is either conflated with Erechtheus or his progenitor. Either way the Erechtheion was
constructed in their honour and to propitiate Poseidon. The myths that celebrate Poseidon striking the
rock with his trident function as a metaphor for a lightning strike.

“There is also a building called the Erechtheum. Before the entrance is an altar of Zeus the Most High…
Inside the entrance are altars, one to Poseidon, on which in obedience to an oracle they sacrifice also to
Erechtheus, the second to the hero Butes, and the third to Hephaestus… On the rock is the outline of a
trident. Legend says that these appeared as evidence in support of Poseidon’s claim to the land.” 49

Thus another deity is produced from an act of male-only procreation. Like Aphrodite Urania the birth is
effected entirely within a nexus of deified semen. Athena placed the progeny in a chest in order to hide
him from the other gods. But the chest was surreptitiously opened and revealed a serpent that was
coiled around Erichthonius.

“But the sisters of Pandrosus opened it out of curiosity, and beheld a serpent coiled about the babe; and,
as some say, they were destroyed by the serpent, but according to others they were driven mad by
reason of the anger of Athena and threw themselves down from the acropolis.” 50

EARTH
“... Attis snatches the pipe borne by him who was goading them to frenzy; and he, too, now filled with
furious passion, raving frantically (and) tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree
mutilates himself, saying, ‘Take these Acdestis, for which you have stirred so great and terribly perilous
commotions.’ With the streaming blood his life flies; but the Great Mother of the gods gathers the parts
which had been cut off, and throws earth on them, having first covered them, and wrapped them in the
garment of the dead. From the blood which had flowed springs a flower, the violet, and with this the
tree is girt.”

(Arnobius - Adversus Gentes 5.7)

“From the blood which had flowed springs a flower, the violet, and with this the tree is girt.” The blood
that was shed during the act of castration by Attis fell to the earth and from this sprang violets. This was
a colour that was associated with the bruising of skin and ultimately with death. Violets therefore had a
funerary colour and were used in wreaths that were presented to the deities.
The theme of transformation or metamorphosis is here related to resurrection. Zeus had ordained that
the body of Attis should not be corrupted in death. The act of castration is therefore linked to a
transaction with the deities that ultimately purifies the mortal nature of humans.

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. Lucian of Samosata describes the ecstatic rites.

“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 then runs wild through the
city, bearing in his hands what he has cut off… Thus they act during their ceremonies of castration.” 51

The castrated parts were buried in the earth in a ritual that invokes a process of alchemical fermentation.
“These broken instruments of fertility were afterwards reverently 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 (Acdestis/Agdistis), a sort of double of
Attis.”52

The process of burying an object in the earth which engenders some form of birth or rebirth is an
indication that the mysteries are being referenced. In this magical garden exists the field of beans that
forms part of the history of Pythagoras wherein his disciples are unable to cross a field of beans despite
being pursued. Porphyry offers an explanation for this myth which extends the understanding of the
symbolism of seeds in the mysteries.

“Beans were interdicted, it is said, because the particular plants grow and individualize only after (the
earth) which is the principle and origin of all things, is mixed together, so that many things underground
are confused, and coalesce; after which everything rots together. Then living creatures were produced
together with plants, so that both men and beans arose out of putrefaction whereof he alleged many
manifest arguments.”53

Putrefaction is one of the stages in alchemy and the statement that “both men and beans arose out of
putrefaction” seems to have an alchemical genesis. The synthesis of vegetative fertility and human
reproduction is a known feature of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We can recognize these mysteries in the
description of the ritual process of burying the beans in an earthen container which then gives birth to
human infants or human sexual organs.
“For if anyone should chew a bean, and having ground it to a pulp with his teeth, and should expose that
pulp to the warm sun, for a short while, and then return to it, he will perceive the scent of human blood.
Moreover, if at the time when beans bloom, one should take a little of the flower, which then is black,
and should put it into an earthen vessel, and cover it closely, and bury it in the ground for ninety days,
and at the end thereof take it up, and uncover it, instead of the bean he will find either the head of an
infant, or the pudenda of a woman.”54

In the text from Arnobius that relates the myth about the birth of Agdestis he states that Jupiter (Zeus)
“spent his lust on the stone.” The stone became pregnant from this act and after ten months gave birth
to Agdestis. This allegorical and alchemical myth appears to refer to lightning striking the rock. This was
the mechanism by which the deities interacted with the physical plane.

“Within the confines of Phrygia, he (Timotheus) says, there is a rock of unheard-of wildness in every
respect, the name of which is Agdus, so named by the natives of that district. Stones taken from it, as
Themis by her oracle had enjoined, Deucalion and Pyrrha threw upon the earth, at that time emptied of
men, from which the Great Mother, too, as she is called, was fashioned along with the others, and
animated by the Deity. Her, given over to rest and sleep on the very summit of the rock, Jupiter (Zeus)
assailed with (the) lewdest desires. But when, after long strife, he could not accomplish what he had
proposed to himself, he, baffled, spent his lust on the stone. This the rock received, and… Acdestis
(Agdestis/Agdistis) is born in the tenth month, being named from his mother rock.” 55

Lightning, the phallus of the gods, strikes the earth and through this deified sexual act fertilizes the
goddess. In the myth related by Arnobius the stones are described as being “animated by the Deity.”
They thus bear a direct comparison to the alchemical magnetic stone that animated the Samothracian
Mysteries. Varro refers to the ‘potent’ deities that determined the mysteries. “... these are those whom
the Books of the Augurs mention in writing as potent deities, for what the Samothracians call powerful
gods.”56

Archaeological evidence links these myths to magnetized iron rings that have been found on Samothrace
which are undeniably connected to the mysteries. Iron rings appear to have been a central feature of the
cult and probably became souvenirs upon initiation. In addition the advanced metallurgy of the island is
shown by the reported invention of a new type of gilding that was applied to iron rings. They were
known as ‘Samothracian rings’ and are attested by Pliny.

“At the present day, too, the very slaves even, encase their iron rings with gold (while other articles
belonging to them, they decorate with pure gold), a licence which first originated in the Isle of
Samothrace, as the name given to the invention clearly shows.” 57

The magnetic power of the lodestone is extensively documented in antiquity. Numerous references to
the phenomenon, when combined with the archaeological evidence of the magnetized iron rings, enable
an understanding of the concepts behind the Samothracian Mysteries. It appears that the rings were
strung in a chain with only magnetic power as the binding force. This magical chain can be imagined as a
prototype of the initiation.

According to Plato, in the words of Socrates, this magnetic attraction was “… a divine power, which
moves you like that in the stone which Euripides named a magnet, but most people call ‘Heraclea stone.’
For this stone not only attracts iron rings, but also imparts to them a power whereby they in turn are
able to do the very same thing as the stone, and attract other rings; so that sometimes there is formed
quite a long chain of bits of iron and rings, suspended one from another; and they all depend for this
power on that one stone. In the same manner also the Muse inspires men herself, and then by means of
these inspired persons the inspiration spreads to others, and holds them in a connected chain.” 58

Lucretius makes explicitly clear that these texts are referring to the Samothracian Mysteries. He
describes brazen bowls that hold iron filings which are excited by the action of the lodestone beneath
the bowl.

“Those Samothracian iron rings leap up,

And iron filings in the brazen bowls
Seethe furiously, when underneath was set
The magnet stone.”59

This force is described by Pliny as animating the iron rings and propelling them to leap towards the
magnetic stone as if they possessed hands and feet. “What is there more stubborn than hard iron?
Nature has, in this instance, bestowed upon it both feet and intelligence. It allows itself, in fact, to be
attracted by the magnet, and, itself a metal which subdues all other elements, it precipitates itself
towards the source of an influence at once mysterious and unseen. The moment the metal comes near
it, it springs towards the magnet, and, as it clasps it, is held fast in the magnet’s embraces.” 60

This is also equivalent to the force that is exerted by the gods on humans driving the participants in the
mysteries into various ecstatic states. There is a similar equivalence to the forces that drive the lyric
poets to create works that are inspired by the pull of the gods. Plato compares this momentum to the
forces that lie within the magnetic stone. These unseen forces drive the souls of both the bacchants and
the poets.

“... just as the Corybantian worshippers do not dance when in their senses, so the lyric poets do not
indite those fine songs in their senses, but when they have started on the melody and rhythm they begin
to be frantic, and it is under possession - as the bacchants are possessed, and not in their senses, when
they draw honey and milk from the rivers - that the soul of the lyric poets does the same thing, by their
own report.”61

Pliny states that stones that had been struck by lightning acquired magical powers. They are compared
to meteorites which were believed to contain the spirits of the gods.
“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
(meteorites), 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.” 62

The idea that a stone that had been struck by lightning could accrue magical powers seemed until
recently an ancient superstition. But this magical quality now lies at the forefront of scientific research.
Magnetite naturally exhibits a low level of magnetism but the high level of magnetic polarity in rare
examples was unexplained. New scientific research has revealed that a lightning strike on magnetite
creates a powerful magnetic field that magnetizes the stone giving it a potent magnetic polarity.

Given the strong magnetic polarity that is attested by ancient texts documenting the Samothracian
Mysteries it appears that this was the type of stone that was used. The magnetic stone or lodestone of
Samothrace was therefore a magnetite rock that had been struck by lightning.

The two male statues that stood outside the temple in Samothrace are described by Varro as “a male
and a female.” The evident contradiction could be explained if they symbolized positive and negative
polarity. Pliny applies the terms of male and female in his discussion on magnetism and so indicates that
magnetic polarity was described in these terms. “The leading distinction in magnets is the sex, male and
female…”63

Both lightning strikes and magnetism could be seen to be driven by forces that united opposing entities.
This could apply to otherwise inert iron objects or the division between the sky and the earth.

Varro further refers to the ‘potent’ deities that determined the mysteries. “... these are those whom the
Books of the Augurs mention in writing as potent deities, for what the Samothracians call powerful gods.”

Arsenic derives from the Persian zarnikh (yellow orpiment) which is the origin of the Greek word
arsenikon (Latin - arsenicum). This is related to arsenikos which means ‘masculine’ or ‘potent.’ The use of
the word ‘potent’ in Varro’s text therefore functions as a code word for metallurgy or alchemy.

Arsenic was used in copper smelting as a chemical agent to create bronze. By binding with copper and
thus creating a new more powerful alloy it could be said to have castrated the original metal. The agent
acted as a catalyst equivalent to semen in this alchemical process.

Meteoric iron, as the product of baetyls (meteorites), represented the seed or semen of the gods in the
hard form of heavenly vegetative seeds or the liquid form of deified semen that flows from the forge. It
is speculated that the first discovery of terrestrial iron came as a by-product of copper smelting where an
iron ore such as haematite was used as a flux.
The concept that iron was the fiery semen of the gods is evident in the mysteries of Egypt. One of the
most revered artefacts in the tomb of Tutankhamun, as defined by its placement in relation to the body,
was an iron dagger. The blade of this dagger was crafted from iron that had come from a meteorite.

The discovery of a shining silvery liquid metal that was separate to the smelted copper was equivalent to
extracting the essence from the ore. The ultimate realization that this was the same metal contained in
some meteorites meant that theology and metallurgy were bound together much like a new religious
alloy.

Porphyry states that a person chewing the pulp of a bean would perceive the scent of human blood. “For
if anyone should chew a bean, and having ground it to a pulp with his teeth, and should expose that pulp
to the warm sun, for a short while, and then return to it, he will perceive the scent of human blood.” 64

Haematite (hematite) was used as a flux in the smelting of copper and was also a primary ore in the
smelting of iron. Haematite is defined as a reddish-black iron oxide. The name is derived from the Greek
haimatites lithos - ‘blood-like stone.’ Haemoglobin and haematology both derive from the same Greek
root word haima - ‘blood.’

Therefore metallurgy and the human body are inextricably linked by these words. The numerous myths
that envisage castrated deities seem to mirror the addition of arsenic or tin to copper and thus castrating
the original metal to create a powerful new alloy. To this day we still speak of ‘cutting’ one substance
with another in contemporary discourse. Chemical castration of humans also forms part of modern
medicine. The new alloy was stronger than the original metal and therefore had metaphorically
castrated the original metal or deity.

The sexual acts of the gods in these myths can therefore be seen to reflect the metallurgy of antiquity.
These concepts can be divined in the texts and images of alchemy which preserved elements of the
earliest human theologies.

“Ignis ‘fire’ is named from gnasci ‘to be born,’ because from it there is birth, and everything which is
born the fire enkindles; therefore it is hot, just as he who dies loses the fire and becomes cold. From that
fire’s vis ac violentia ‘force and violence,’ now in greater measure, Vulcan (Hephaestus) was named.
From the fact that fire on account of its brightness fulget ‘flashes,’ come fulgur ‘lightning flash’ and
fulmen ‘thunderbolt,’ and what has been called fulmine ictum ‘hit by a thunderbolt’ is called
fulguritum.”65

“Meanwhile Cyllenian Hermes called forth the spirits … He held in his hands his wand, a fair wand of
gold, wherewith he lulls to sleep the eyes of whom he will, while others again he wakens even out of
slumber…”66
“... the laws of nature conspiring to alter, Sithon became of indeterminate sex, now man, now woman:
how Celmis, you too, now changed to steel, were a most loyal friend to the infant Jupiter: how the
Curetes were born from vast showers of rain: how Crocus and Smilax were turned into tiny flowers.”

(Ovid - Metamorphoses 4)

“... that image shall become thy Guide itself, because the Sight (Divine) hath this peculiar (charm), it
holdeth fast and draweth unto it those who succeed in opening their eyes, just as, they say, the magnet
(draweth) iron.”

(Corpus Hermeticum 4.11)

1. Hippolytus - Refutation of All Heresies 5

2. Pausanias - Description of Greece 6.26.5
3. Philo of Byblos
4. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
5. Plato - Timaeus 23
6. Philo of Byblos
7. James Frazer - The Golden Bough
8. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.63
9. Hesiod - Theogony 176-180
10. Kingship in Heaven
11. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 34
12. Cicero - De Natura Deorum
13. Herodotus - Histories 2.99
14. Pyramid Text - Utterance 527
15. Macrobius - Saturnalia 7.16.10
16. Plato - Timaeus 73
17. Ibid. 91
18. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 33
19. Ibid. 36
20. Diodorus Siculus - Library of History 1.22
21. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 34
22. Ibid. 36
23. Ibid. 34
24. Richard Payne Knight - A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus
25. Iamblichus - The Lfe of Pythagoras
26. Iamblichus - Theurgia 7.15
27. James Frazer - The Golden Bough
28. Plutarch - Isis and Osiris 35
29. Herodotus - Histories 2.170-171
30. Ibid. 2.51
31. Clement of Alexandria - Exhortation to the Heathen 2
32. Herodotus - Histories 3.37
33. Strabo - Geography 10.3.7-9
34. Ibid. 10.3.8-9
35. Herodotus - Histories 2.51
36. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
37. Ibid. 61
38. Pliny - Natural History 2.54
39. Pyramid Text - Utterance 261
40. Ammianus Marcellinus - Res Gestae 17.4
41. Seneca - Quaestiones Naturales 2.49
42. Livy - History of Rome 1.31
43. Plutarch - The Life of Romulus 2
44. Plutarch - The Life of Numa
45. Ibid.
46. Artemidorus - Oneirocritica 2.9
47. Plutarch - Quaestiones Convivales 4.2
48. Apollodorus - Library 3.14.6
49. Pausanias - Description of Greece 1.26.5
50. Ibid.
51. Lucian of Samosata - De Dea Syria
52. James Frazer - The Golden Bough
53. Porphyry - The Life of Pythagoras 44
54. Ibid.
55. Arnobius - Adversus Gentes 5.5
56. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.58
57. Pliny - Natural History 33.6
58. Plato - Ion 533
59. Lucretius - De Rerum Natura 6
60. Pliny - Natural History 36.25
61. Plato - Ion 534
62. Pliny - Natural History 37.51
63. Ibid. 36.25
64. Porphyry - Life of Pythagoras 44
65. Varro - On the Latin Language 5.70
66. Homer - Odyssey 24. 1-14