A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus: And its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients by Richard Payne Knight

HAVING last made a curious discovery, that in a Province of this Kingdom, and not fifty miles from its Capital, a sort of devotion is still paid to PRIAPUS, the obscene Divinity of the Ancients (though under another denomination), I thought it circumstance worth recording; particularly, as it offers a fresh proof of the similitude of the Popish and Pagan Religion, so well observed by Dr. Middleton, in his celebrated Letter from Rome: and therefore I mean to deposit the authentic proofs of this assertion in the British Museum, when a proper opportunity shall offer. In the meantime I send you the following account, which, I flatter myself, will amuse you for the present, and may in future serve to illustrate those proofs. I had long ago discovered, that the women and children of the lower class, at Naples, and in its neighbourhood, frequently wore, as an ornament of dress, a sort of Amulets, (which they imagine to be a preservative from the mal occhii, evil eyes, or enchantment) exactly similar to those which were worn by the ancient Inhabitants of this Country for the very same purpose, as likewise for their supposed invigorating influence; and all of which have evidently a relation to the Cult of Priapus. Struck with this conformity in ancient and modern superstition, I made a collection of both the ancient and modern Amulets of this sort, and placed them together in the British Museum, where they remain. The modern Amulet most in vogue represents a hand clinched, with the point of the thumb thrust betwixt the index and middle finger.

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Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians of the 16th and 17th Centuries

This invaluable Rosicrucian resource includes explanations and exact reproductions of the original Rosicrucian symbols from the 16th and 17th centuries.

This book gets to the meaning behind all those mystical symbols of the 16th century. It is enough information to provide study and meditation material for a long time. It is more like a course of study than a book to read in a short time.

Book One
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Book Two
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The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East by John M. Allegro

Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This book challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion. • The ancient fertility cult at the heart of Christianity • The living power of cultic rites and symbols • The sacred mushroom as the emblem and embodiment of divinity • The secret meaning of biblical myths • The language of religion that links us to our ancestors The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross sets out John Allegro's quest through a family tree of languages to find the truth about where Christianity came from.

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Worship of the Generative Powers During the Middle Ages of Western Europe by Thomas Wright

The author presents this book on the origin and history of the worship of Priapus among the ancients. This worship, which was just a part of the generative powers, appears to have been the most ancient of the superstitions of the human race. It has prevailed more or less among all known peoples before the introduction of Christianity and so deeply it seems to have been implanted in the human nature that it continued to exist, accepted and often encouraged, by the medieval clergy. Illustrated throughout.

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